Dying for Diamé?

Both before and after Arsenal's brilliant 5-1 win over West Ham, transfer rumours have surrounded midfielder Mohamed Diamé. Today, no less than 10 - ten - different items in the media link him with Arsenal. And that's just in the media I check myself (more or less) on a daily basis. You can see for yourself here.

But why all the hassle about a player West Ham got for free from Wigan at the beginning of the season? Clutching at straws, are we?!

After months of foreplay and three weeks and counting in the proper transfer window, still nothing has happened at Arsenal. It's all well and good that manager Arsène Wenger confirms that there is hard work being done to beef up the first team squad with two new players. It doesn't mean that anything's actually happening.

That's why the media aren't chasing one story anymore. Diamé is the pick of the rumours this week, but it has the added attraction of his club playing at the Emirates this week. Which means Wenger was asked about him by the press and felt obliged to answer.

But there are others: on this single day, Arsenal have been linked with 13 players! Diamé is but one. Three of the 13 haven't been linked before in this transfer window: Swansea and Wales captain Ashley Williams, Verona midfielder Jorginho and Barcelona midfield talent Isaac Cuenca.

Williams is supposedly an £8m target for both Arsenal and Liverpool. I should think there are bigger chances of seeing contract talks underway at Swansea than seeing any transfer being done within the week. And hand on my heart, Jorginho is one I've never heard about. Then again, some of Wenger's memorable signings have sprung from places like Serie B.

Cuenca was actually linked with Arsenal about a year ago, in what looked like a yarn about Barcelona selling the cream of their youth teams to the Premier League in order to sign Christian Bale from Tottenham. Like that ever happened.

That's the kind of crisp precision we need from the media during a transfer window, eh?