The little transfer rumor that couldn't

Every once in awhile, you come across a football transfer rumor that just. refuses. to. die. This past summer, it was impossible to get through a day without seeing Aston Villa linked to Hiroshi Kiyotake. That was tiresome enough. But being linked with the same players, year in and year out, is enough to make supporters start tearing out their hair.

Case in point? Villa being linked, again, with Moussa Dembélé. Or Mousa Dembélé. Double the transfer rumor at half the price!

It feels as though Villa and Dembélé have been sharing newspaper space for years -- or, at least, since August 2010, as there's no way we were hunting down an Eredivisie player in the time of Martin. But after he landed at Craven Cottage, the rumors started up. The midfielder is ready to move from Fulham? Ok, sign him up. Now he's not having much fun at Tottenham Hotspur? Well, he must be on his way to Villa Park.

This is just flat out lazy journalism. It's picking a past transfer target and connecting the dots again, simply to fill column inches. Or it's a writer thinking hey, Villa have a Belgian, Dembélé is a Belgian, ergo: they're in the hunt. Finally, it could simply be pulling names out of a hat.

But let's face it: Dembélé is 26 years old, is an attacking midfielder, has four years remaining on his contract and is currently playing in the Premier League. Just which of these statements screams "Paul Lambert wants this man"? He'll be overpriced in January and he doesn't fill what Lambert feels is an immediate need.

Let it go. At least give us something new and fun to work with.