Wednesday's rumours - David Villa to Arsenal?

Emile Heskey's exquisite volley past Petr Cech on Monday night may have looked like a freak occurrence to a casual observer, but the seasoned eye of the Mill is not so easily fooled. With the summer transfer window almost upon us (OK, still a month-and-a-half away), Heskey's equaliser heralded more than just the beginning of the end of Chelsea's title challenge. It also told us that Stamford Bridge's annual silly season is upon us.

Any lingering doubts were this morning dispelled by Roman Abramovich, who is apparently so impressed with the way Avram Grant has failed to match the achievements of Jose Mourinho that he plans to reward him with a £100m summer transfer kitty. Chunks of said feline will, according to the Mirror, be bartered away in exchange for Milan's Kaka', Barcelona's Lionel Messi, and Bayern Munich's Gary Nevil ... sorry, Franck Ribéry.

But wait, what's this - the Sun has been speaking to a TOP CHELSEA STAR, who says he would never have even joined Chelsea if he had known that the Special One was about to be replaced by Grant. When they say TOP CHELSEA STAR, of course, what they actually mean is WE DON'T THINK YOU'LL READ ANY FURTHER THAN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH IF WE ACTUALLY TELL YOU WHO HE IS AT THE OUTSET.Tal Ben-Haim - league appearances in 2008: two - is the dissenter in the otherwise harmonious Chelsea ranks.

Indeed, Your Super Soaraway Red Top seems to be particularly keen to riff on Avram's Blues this morning, also claiming that Valencia's David Villa is more interested in joining Arsenal than Chelsea. Which is convenient really, since Arsène Wenger has been bragging to all and sundry about how ready he is to splash the cash this summer. Expect the Gunners to reach the end of August having added three 16-year-olds you've never heard of and Guimaraes' Algeria striker Kamel Ghilas to their books. And having also lost Mathieu Flamini to Milan or Juventus, if the Italian press is to be believed.

All of which has nothing to do with Liverpool's plans to trade in Peter Crouch for Manchester City's Michael Johnson.

Over in East London, West Ham want to add Barnet's 20-year-old midfielder Albert Adomah to the 14 midfielders already on their books. In a snub as thinly veiled as Elizabeth Taylor at her eighth wedding, meanwhile, Rangers' player of the year Carlos Cuellar is set to reject "loser" Keegan's bid to lure him to St James Park because the defender would rather win trophies than play for "a club at the bottom". That's ninth from bottom now Carlos - do keep up.

King Kev will console himself by gathering up Derby winger Giles Barnes and 17-year-old Cardiff playmaker Aaron Ramsey. Derby, in turn, will console themselves by getting shot of Robert Earnshaw.