Unlikely Villa swoop for Spaniard appears to be just that

Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague has cast doubt on the rumour that there is anything brewing that would have Real Sociedad playmaker Sergio Canales heading to Aston Villa anytime soon. Balague covers La Liga a lot for Sky, so there is reason to trust what he says, but he also is one of those pundits who loves saying things to make it seem as if he knows more than he actually does.

No way whatsover that Canales leaves Real Sociedad to sign for Aston Villa

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) September 1, 2014

That said, I'm leaning towards trusting him, here, as the Canales rumours came out of the blue. Yes, it's a move that makes some sense, especially if it can be done relatively cheaply, but why would this suddenly happen? It's got all the markings of your standard deadline day fare.

To help further push this rumour towards its death, plenty of people on twitter are reporting that somewhere Alan Nixon, the go-to transfer guy for the Mirror is saying this is dead, too. Not sure where he said this, but enough varied people are reporting it that I've got some faith in it.

So don't get too excited over Canales. This rumour may already be dead.

But if you want to keep the faith, remember that Balague also had this to say:

Not sure who is coming with the idea but there is no way at all that Xabi Alonso is leaving Real Madrid

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 21, 2014

Xabi Alonso started for Bayern Munich this weekend.