Most memorable transfer rumours that came to nowt (25 replies)

Seeing N'Zogbia mentioned on another thread got me thinking of some of the outrageous and embarrassing transfer rumours we've had to put up with over the last 30-odd years since Sully and Brady arrived in town. Transfers that were never going to happen, or were actually being negotiated, only for the owners to offer contracts that wouldn't even attract players to the league below.

The craziest were surely Diego Maradonna and Jean-Pierre Papin. I can also think of Gareth Bale and Roman Pavlyuchencko (the latter of course came back to haunt us with the final blow in the 2011 relegation game at Spurs).

Any other stand-out rumours from years gone by?