Real or Rumor? Stories recently regarding Arsenal and Fulham make me ask that question

Almost immediately after Fulham played their last game against Atletico Madrid I started reading and watching stories regarding links to Fulham players and their manager. When a team gets to a Final of a European competition I guess it should be expected to read and hear stories regarding the club.

In the case of Arsenal I would imagine a fan expects their to be stories linking their players to other clubs. Arsenal is a big club that has many great players. Many of the top teams in Europe in my opinion will most likely always look to upgrade their club. A good place to look for talent would be a team like Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea. Their has been many stories lately regarding an Arsenal star player.  

For fans of these two clubs, they see stories in the media with links to their players or in the case of Fulham their manager. I would think no fan of either club wants to see a part of their team linked to somewhere else. Over the past week after reading and hearing stories about these 2 clubs I started to ask myself this question. When is a story real and when is it a rumor?     

My example for Fulham is the links to Roy Hodgson this week. Last Saturday I saw two different stories in the media regarding Hodgson. One story was a link to the Juventus job. The other story had the now new coach Luigi Del Neri about to become the Juventus coach. I wrote a post about these conflicting stories in my Daily Cottagers Rumor Mill last Saturday. I decided to present both stories in my column to show that their were two completely different views regarding who might be the next coach of Juventus.   

The first story from the Daily Mail had  the headline "Italian job for Roy Hodgson as Juventus target Fulham chief".This story started with a mention that Hodgson could be going back to Italy.  The story also mentions that he is on a rolling one year contract from Fulham. The Daily Mail story also has this quote from Hodgson. 'If the day comes when a so-called big club wants me, and I'm available, then I would be happy to do it.'  Hodgson stated. I read the Daily Mail often and happen to think they do a very good job at covering football. I don't doubt the validity of the story. I am sure there were source or sources for this article. This was their version on the Juventus coaching job.

Now, Goal.com had a story on the same day regarding the Juventus coaching job. The headline for this story was "Report: Juventus To Name Luigi Del Neri As Boss Next Week" .  This story mentions that Del Neri is set to quit Sampdoria to be the next coach of Juventus. This information is according to La Gazzetta dello Sport Newspaper. This story also had details that he had not signed yet but had agreed to a two-year contract  worth €1.5 million a season to coach Juventus. Now, this Goal.com story had some pertinent information regarding a contract.

Both stories I believe were completely legitimate news stories. The Goal.com story became a reality when Del Neri signed with Juventus. My advice on these stories for the fan is you have to wait and see how the story develops. Before you think a player is gone or a manager has left just wait until there is confirmation. Trust me it is tough to hear these stories about the club you follow. I also need to take my own advice and wait until the story becomes reality.

My example for Arsenal fans is the story of Cesc Fabregas.  A few days ago a story broke that Cesc Fabregas wanted to leave Arsenal and go play for Barcelona. Multiple media outlets had this story including Sky Sports and the Guardian. I personally saw this story on Sky Sports News. The rumor was that Fabregas had told Wenger that he wanted to go to Barcelona. All of these publications I believe had a very valid story that they should report.

However, there was no word yet from Fabregas or Wenger regarding this story. I was told by an Aresenal fan that you need to wait until you hear from Wenger on these types of stories. I believe this story is legitimate, but like I mentioned earlier my advice is to wait and see how the story plays itself out.

Well, today the Daily Mail has a story entitled "  Cesc Fabregas is staying! Arsenal chief Peter Hill-Wood hits back at Barcelona bid.  This article in my opinion is showing the desire of Arsenal to keep Fabregas. This story has several quotes from Arsenal chief Peter Hill-Wood according to Goal.com.

Hill - Wood stated "'The message has been given to them we don’t want to lose him and will do our damnedest to keep him. 'We haven’t had an official approach from them and have made it perfectly clear we don’t want to lose him. I don’t know if he will stay. I’ve really got little to say but we very much hope he stays with us and we’re confident he will." All of these quotes are from Hill - Wood according to Goal.com.

In my opinion this Fabregas story in ongoing. This story is far from over. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans they will probably read about this until there is a confirmation from both sides on the result of the situation. To the fans of Arsenal let's just wait and see. Let's hope he stays at the Emirates.

My point in writing this post is fans of Fulham and Arsenal will just have to deal with these type of stories. When your clubs has success these stories will happen. Unfortunately, fans just have to wait until these stories play out and become reality.