For the past two weeks the sports pages have been rife with stories surrounding Ryan Babel and Liverpool, with many rumours about where he was going to go and what the potential deal would entail. Some of the more promising were swap deals for either Roman Pavlyuchenko of Spurs or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of AC Milan, both players who have failed to settle and find themselves down the pecking order of their current clubs.

Neither have come to fruition however, and I'd safely put money on them not to do so before Monday. This, however, has lead to one of the most boring transfer sagas of the January window, with Steve Bruce expressing interest in the player while complaining that Benitez was "tapping up" his striker Kenwyne Jones in his desire for a swap deal. The whole affair got very tedious very quickly, and still doesn't look like going away.



It all came to head when Babel, who was vocal about his desire for first-team football, started against Reading in the FA Cup and was not fit to aspire to the level of a Premiership footballer. With the exit from the tournament that night and a rant on twitter after he was left out of the team's next game against Stoke, Rafa's last thread of patience was snapped, and so were those of the few fans still on his side.

Liverpool fans are desperate to see a stand-in for their resident sick-note Fernando Torres, who you would be forgiven for forgetting plays for the reds on Merseyside. Huntelaar and Pavlyuchenko I am sure would excite them as a loan signing, but Jones, I feel, will not.