Surely the oddest transfer of the window. Few would have seen Matt Derbyshire swapping the pies of East Lancashire for the souvlaki and taramasalata on offer at Greek champions Olympiakos.

The Blackburn striker has headed to Piraeus on a six-month loan, as his small build and poaching skills are obviously not wanted by Sam Allarydce at this moment in time.

With Roque Santa Cruz on his way to either Manchester City or Spurs then it seems Big Sam might fancy having a local lad around. But no, off to Greece it is and a last 32 place in the UEFA Cup, 11 points clear of the rest of the Greek league and, as this Lancastrian blogger puts it, this is the opportunity to make a name on the big stage in a place far away from his comfort zone. We wish Derbs all the luck too.

Couple of requests coming in to do more on the Andrei Arshavin deal. Doesn't seem to be much more to it other than our previous report that Zenit want £15m and Arsenal will only give it to them in installements. Arsene Wenger says the deal is 90% complete but the final tenth is obviously the difficult bit. Word of caution from Le Prof in The Guardian after he estimated the deal would be done "maybe in two days" but said "in this kind of job it can be difficult at this stage because people can change their minds completely."

Hope that helps.

Stephen Hunt is a name that Petr Cech will never forget and may back to haunt him if he gets his way. However, Hunt, doing very well in tandem at Reading with brother Noel, says the Royals are stopping him being able to move to Tottenham, Wigan and Everton. Reading have disputed those claims in The Reading Chronicle.

Another name that's entered the transfer picture in recent days is Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, a man with a mullet to be proud of. Manchester City, the club of Coogan comedy creation Paul Calf, are in for him, according to his agent. Though that could be a case of him being touted around to get more cash and bigger wages. Bolton look to be out of the race while, improbably, say the BBC, Newcastle are in for him too. Check the feedback comment - I have to agree. It will never happen.

Toulouse right-back Albin Ebondo is a man they're more likely to get after he said he wanted to go to St James' Park and Joe Kinnear said he wanted him. We'll see.

Talking of comedians, our lead story this morning was Shay Given being certain to head to Manchester City. Not so, according to Joe Kinnear, who said City offered just £5m for the keeper. That won't pay back the supposed £2bn that Mike Ashley lost in the credit crunch, though that figure was again according to Joe Kinnear.

More "Jumpin' Joe". He wants to sellGeremi now. And needs to after two of his meal tickets in Joey Barton and Michael Owen both succumbed to injuries. Again.

Lost an energetic all-action midfielder? Who better to turn to than human turbine Tom Huddlestone to replace Jimmy Bullard. Fulham are linked with the Spurs dynamo in London's Evening Standard, who may be eyeing a Harrods' hamper from this deal.

Silly rumour time. Bild, the German tabloid, says both Chelsea and Manchester City want to sign Franck Ribery. Not likely in my view. Not now anyway.

And talking of rumours, Spanish daily AS have begun the phoney war of Real Madrid chasing Antonio Valencia by saying that he wants Champions League football. If that isn't a hint then what is? They also think Manchester United are in for him too.

And, no shocks here: Dirk Kuyt has told Dutch publication Voetball International that rumours linking him with Juventus are wide of the mark. They're going with the Ribery rumour too. Maybe it does have legs after all...

Things are hotting up and the rumours are getting sillier. No sleep till Monday.