Today’s fluff looks at what might have been

This is a Rumour Mill with a difference. The day after the day self-importantly known as Deadline Day is generally no time for fresh gossip. After all, even evil sleeps occasionally. So instead of drip-feeding you rumours of what might happen in the future, today’s Mill will give you rumours of what didn’t happen yesterday!



Yes, it really has come to this.

But first, let’s push things forward. There is one bit of gossip about what could occur when the transfer window breezes open at the end of the season: Borussia Dortmund’s magnificent striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wants to move to Real Madrid. “If I want to reach the next level, I must leave in the summer. Real Madrid is still a dream, but there has been too much noise,” he noised yesterday.

Transfer window January 2017: every deal in Europe's top five leagues Read more

That aside, it’s all about what might have been.

Let’s start with the champions: according to various bits of emergency loo roll in Italy, Chelsea had a £26m bid rejected for Internazionale wing-back Antonio Candreva. They also failed to sign Craig Gordon and Moussa Dembélé from unlikely feeder club Celtic, which in turn jiggered Asmir Begovic’s possible move to Bournemouth.

Hull were keen on bringing Nani back to England, in the same way the Mill was keen on those Jimmy Choos. They’d have looked great with some stiff denim and a mauve V-neck.

The Chinese transfer window is open until the end of February, which will mean plenty of hopeful glances from Premier League managers hoping to shift some premium deadwood. But not Jose Mourinho! He does not want Wayne Rooney or Ashley Young to board flight DO1 to China until the summer at the earliest.