Peter Odemwingie leaving West Bromwich Albion might be easy copy for websites which thrive on rehashing any old gossip – true or not.
But Roy Hodgson shrugs it off. As manager of Internazionale (twice) during the 1990s the number of players he was linked with, he claims, stretched into four figures.
So when Odemwingie was linked with Juventus – both Albion and agent denied there had been talks – then the Baggies boss took it in his stride.
He has seen it before. And he has no intention allowing the 13-goal Nigerian to venture off to Italy or, for that matter, anywhere else.
Odemwingie was linked with a move to Tottenham this week on the basis of – wait for it – scoring a goal against them last week.
Hodgson said: “I don’t take a lot of notice of the Juventus thing. Any agent in the world can always drum up an Italian club.
“When I was at Inter there wasn’t a day that went by when there weren’t 10 players we were supposedly signing. It would have run into thousands over two years.
“When I hear about Juventus I just shrug my shoulders. If you’re an English journalists thinking ‘who can I like him with?’ Inter and Juventus are always good bets.
“He’s a good player and we would like to keep him. Whether we receive any offers or not, who can say?
“Certainly we wouldn’t be looking to get rid of him so it would have to be the type of offer you can’t refuse and we know what top front players cost in the market.
“I’m not suggesting £50m but they certainly cost top money, so it would be a question of what teams are out there with that sort of money to spend and whether Peter Odemwingie is the type of player they are looking for, so there are a lots of ifs and buts.”
