<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.4/97906?ns=guardian&pageName=Football+transfer+rumours%3A+Manchester+United+to+sign+Ajax%27s+Christian+Er%3AArticle%3A1706641&ch=Football&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Football%2CSport&c5=&c6=Simon+Burnton&c7=12-Feb-21&c8=1706641&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Football&c13=Rumour+Mill+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&c51=MVT+group+&h2=GU%2FFootball%2F" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Today's rumours have always wanted <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdGrB3Za4_o" title="">every face punch from Road House collated in one place</a></p><p>Manchester United are after the Ajax starlet Viktor Fischer, who may sound like a fictional chess player in a 1970s cold war movie but is in fact <strong>a 17-year-old Danish midfielder</strong>. And no, they haven't got him confused with Ajax's even more highly-rated Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen – they want him too. Sir Alex Ferguson says he once considered signing a teenage Joe Hart for £100,000, but decided he wasn't up to much. He also thinks Rio Ferdinand invented Twitter, but he's not totally technologyphobic. "I have Spotify," he told the BBC. "It's fantastic – 15 million songs on it. Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, that kind of stuff." And also other kinds of stuff, it has to be said.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't end with Stewart Downing – <strong>Liverpool's ongoing quest to sign as many wingers as possible</strong> before watching them disappoint miserably and selling them 18 months later to somewhere in Greece has been going on for 15 years and has now led them to the door of Sampdoria's fleet-footed Frenchman <strong>Jonathan Biabiany</strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>Demba Ba</strong> will be sold for a song this summer. This is the prediction of <strong>West Ham</strong> co-owner David Sullivan, who has told the press all about the Senegalese hitman's lucrative contractual secrets, saying that the free-scoring <strong>Newcastle</strong> ace "has got a £7m get-out clause and he gets half the money over that". "They keep denying it but you'll see in the summer he will leave – or he'll get a monstrous rise to stay there," the smoking-jacket-loving tycoon said. "If they sell him for £7m, they'll only get about £3m because they paid his agent £2m to get him out of here. Getting £3m is not bad but for a player of his quality, it's not great."</p><p></p><p>North London news now, and <strong>Arsenal have taken a shine to Daniel Opare</strong>, Standad Liège's Ghanaian defender. Tottenham are back in for Internacional's Leandro Damiao, the £1.5m-rated 22-year-old striker. "In July, if a proposal comes, it will be discussed," a clearly extremely excited and emotional Damiao said.</p><p></p><p>Reading's Brian McDermott and Brighton's Gus Poyet are on Wolves's shortlist to replace Mick McCarthy, though Steve Bruce remains favourite for the role. McDermott is clearly not letting the speculation distract him from his current job, getting busy trying to sign Ipswich's out-of-favour smile-for-hire <strong>Jimmy Bullard</strong> on loan.</p><p></p><p><strong>Sunderland are preparing a summer clear-out</strong> to raise funds for Martin O'Neill's rebuilding plans. Kieran Richardson, Michael Turner, Titus Bramble, Craig Gordon, Matthew Kilgallon and Ahmed Elmohamady are all going to be made available. Striker Ryan Nouble may leave even sooner, with Hartlepool the latest club to want him on loan.</p><p></p><p>Blackburn's <strong>Scott Dann says rupturing his tescticle was "even more painful than it sounds"</strong>. And let's face it, it sounds quite painful. Leeds United, meanwhile, are offering former Neil Warnock favourite Danny Webber a route back into football following eight months out of the game.</p><p></p><p><strong>Napoli</strong> are ready to sell all their best players for loads of money, with Ezequiel Lavezzi, Chelsea target Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik among those frequently linked with moves to European superpowers. "If they have the money to pay, I am waiting for the offers," the club's owner Aurelio Di Laurentiis said. "There is never a real price. The price is what the clubs need and what is the hot moment of negotiation. Thanks to God, I don't need the money from anyone. I am rich enough to survive. But if somebody wants to make an offer, we are here to listen. In life, there is always a price for everything."</p><p></p><p><strong>Diego Maradona</strong>, the best player in Napoli's history, spent the weekend showcasing his ball skills to a select audience in Handforth, Cheshire. He was there, <strong>hanging out in a soft play centre</strong>, for the birthday party of his grandson Benjamin, also known as Sergio Agüero Jr. "Diego was on good form and mucked about with the kids," a source told the Sun. "It was strange to see arguably the greatest player ever to play the game having fun in a ball pit."</p><p></p><p>And<strong> The Prince of Wales</strong> has told a footballer about his own playing days, when apparently he toiled at centre-half and was absolutely apalling. Coincidentally, he told this to Danny $$$$tu, perhaps uniquely well-placed among Premier League stars to empathise with the potential future monarch's plight. "It was a pleasure to meet him," said QPR's outcast man-mountain.</p><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/simonburnton">Simon Burnton</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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