National newspaper speculation today that Mo Diame is a £5 million target for Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle is odd …and that’s putting it mildly!

A popular tabloid claims that the midfielder is at loggerheads with the club over signing a new deal and wants £80,000 a week to do  so.

The story looks like a re-run of the saga we saw a year back when almost daily Arsenal, Everton and Spurs were linked with the player.

With agents beating the publicity drum, there was even a Sky Sports News report an hour before deadline that an unnamed club had made an undisclosed bid. It was of course untrue.

The latest version claims a £5 million fee is required and that despite his having a £3.5 m release clause, another £1.5 million would be added in appearance clauses!

A source told ClaretandHugh: “That one has a few people scratching their heads. There have only been very preliminary usual talks with Mo’s people- exploratory discussions about possibilities but nothing in detail.

“Were anybody willing to offer £80k in wages, they wouldn’t include West Ham United and at no stage has there even been a single enquiry for Mo.

“As for appearance deals we would be a very long way from that given the situation.”