:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/41251204/450826552.0.jpg)
When the transfer window shuts, the transfer rumours don't stop. At least not any more. What do tend to largely dry up are the more reliable sorts of rumours, as reporters with legitimate ties to the clubs largely shift their attention to the actual football being played rather than continuing to focus on the sideshow of player ins and outs.
What's left can at times still make a certain sense and have a solid foundation, as with rumours Liverpool continue to work towards signing out of contract goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Brendan Rodgers has long been a fan, and he was solidly linked to the club over the summer, but any deal was always likely to be delayed due to his injury.
There can also be some extreme silliness, as despite suggestions Valdes is nearing fitness and will be handed a trial to prove he's good to go before being given a contract, a handful of papers in England have this week linked the club to two more Spanish goalkeepers. Or maybe it's just one and there's some confusion over the last name.
The undercard for this flurry of Spanish 'keeper mongering is Espanyol's Kiko Casilla, a 28-year-old Spaniard who plays for Espanyol. Casilla has a reputation for being a decent goalkeeper for a poor side, but he's never gotten close to representing Spain at the senior level and few would peg him for a move to one of the bigger sides in any league.
Then, the headliner: Iker Casillas, who has one more letter in his last name than Casilla and who pretty much everybody knows as the best Spanish 'keeper of his generation. He's also 33 years of age and into the third season where he's looked a shadow of his former self and, worryingly often, a complete liability for both club and country.
Neither seems likely, and neither would leave their current clubs until next summer in any case, making for the kind of mind-numbingly daft mid-season mongering that's become more prevalent. Plus there's still Victor Valdes sat right over there. Who could be a Liverpool player before the international break ends.
