"OLYMPSICK" barf the Sun today, adding with a retch: "England flops KO Games joy". What a spoilt childish nation the Sun think we live in, a land where folks lurch continually between euphoria and outrage, their moods swinging like Tarzan on a vine of idiocy amid a jungle of complexity. Those dastardly footballers only went and didn't win against a decent football team! They're not fit to clean the boots of our valiant dancing horses! Get rid of those overpaid traitors and replace them with Phillips Idowu! Or possibly with Team GB's 4x100m relay team, or that Dutch coach who's honour-bound to resign because Britain didn't reach his athletics medal target, or how about one of the many Olympians who were busted for cheating, or some of the ones who haven't been rumbled but are so full of dope they could be touring with Hawkwind as we speak? Some gold medal-standard bilge being spewed today and no mistake.
Coincidentally, the Mill is starting to think that Liverpool may be running a spurious campaign of their own at the moment and we don't mean their carefully edited fly-on-the-wall documentary, nor their attempt to challenge for the Premier League. What the Mill's talking about is all the hearsay linking Liverpool with moves for a variety of fine footballers, exactly the sort of rumours that the Mill would start if it was in charge of restoring Liverpool fans' faith in their club after the recent deadline day fiasco suggested it was run by a contemptible bunch of penny-pinching bunglers.
Are the club that offered Fulham Jordan Henderson and a couple of Nectar card points for Clint Dempsey really prepared to outbid Tottenham and Arsenal for the services of Fernando Llorente? Racing Club de Avellaneda's teenage midfielder Luciano Vietto seems a plausible target, but will Liverpool really show enough to prevent Juventus getting the youngster instead? And as for Theo Walcott, who really believes that John W Henry is willing to fork out enough to prise the winger away from Arsenal – especially now that Juventus have shown an interest too?
Funnily enough, Liverpool could have got Stevan Jovetic several years ago if it wasn't for the dim-wittedness of a previous pair of American owners, or so says Rafa Benítez, who always tells it like it is and not merely the way that ingratiates him most with his adopted people. Now Roberto Mancini is about to agree a deal to bring Jovetic to Manchester City in time for next season's attempt to avoid a hat-trick of Champions League failures.
Meanwhile, Manchester United and Arsenal are browsing at different ends of the market, with United eyeing up 18-year-old striker Domenico Berardi, who is currently playing in Serie B for Phil Collins's Sassuolo . Meanwhile, Arsenal are seeing if they can't salvage Didier Drogba from Shanghai Shenua, who appear to be disintegrating.
