Football transfer rumours: Wolves' Matt Jarvis to Liverpool?

What a difference a fairly unremarkable performance against Bolton Wanderers makes, eh? A number of wingers feature in today's simmering gumbo of spicy speculation, but Gareth Bale isn't among them, possibly because there are no clubs left with which to link him after last week's frenzy. Possibly because of his well-documented handicap of being Welsh, an affliction some English football writers seem to have likened to a heart condition or osteoporosis, the Tottenham winger was comparatively subdued in defeat against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday after his Champions League heroics against Internazionale, failing to add to his tally of zero Premier League assists in 11 Premier League excursions so far this season. "He's not the best player in the world, he's still got miles to go to learn the game and improve," his manager, Harry Redknapp, said after Tottenham's defeat at the Reebok Stadium, giving some of the more excitable members of the Fourth Estate a long overdue reality check. "I don't expect the kid doing miracles. He does what he does and he'll have good days, bad days." The Wolves winger Matt Jarvis is another young wide receiver who is attracting rave reviews despite still learning his craft at the knee of Mick McCarthy, an erudite teacher for whom the phrase "no nonsense" could well have been coined, and whose coaching methods one can imagine involving such mundane Miyagi-esque chores as car-waxing and fence creosoting. According to caughtoffside.com , the £8m-rated Middlesbrough-born 24-year-old has an admirer in the Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson, who hopes to bring him to Anfield in January. According to the Mirror , Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has stopped complaining about the Lee Cattermole handball inexplicably missed by referee Martin Atkinson on Saturday for long enough to declare that he wants to extend the stay of tousle-haired touchline-hugger Jermaine Pennant at the Britannia Stadium when his loan spell from Real Zaragoza expires in January. Once hyped to within an inch of his life in much the same way as Bale has been for the past fortnight, Pennant's more cautionary tale than potential-filling superstar, but that hasn't stopped Pulis taking a liking to the cut of his jib. "The big thing with Jermaine is getting him at a place where he is comfortable and happy, and then making sure you look after him properly," he said, in much the same way you might talk about an ageing Labrador who's just been diagnosed with cancer. Continuing the theme of ridiculously overhyped wingers who turn out to be nowhere near as good as the football press predicted they would, Shaun Wright-Phiillips is one of several disaffected players the Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini hopes to get rid of in a bid to end the dressing-room discord he keeps insisting doesn't exist at Eastlands. Wright-Phillips, full-back Wayne Bridge , striker Roque Santa Cruz and goalkeeper Shay Given are all up for grabs. According to our friends at caughtoffside , Liverpool may lower one of their dressing-room pegs a few feet for Wright-Phillips, Fulham and Tottenham will duke it out to see who gets Santa Cruz and Given will only be sold to any club his employers don't consider rivals for a top four spot. In the meantime, spare a thought for poor old "Bridgey", who appears to be more unwanted than a red-haired stepchild. The Mirror claims that Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is "leading the chase" for highly coveted Blackburn centre-half-cum-midfielder Phil Jones and had "top spy" Frank Arneson watch him this weekend, possible while pretending to read a newspaper with holes cut out so he could see through it. Meanwhile in Spain, Real Madrid are plotting an "audacious" move for Manchester United's new superstar Javier Hernández , which is almost certain to be greeted with the kind of contempt Alex Ferguson normally reserves for match officials who don't add enough stoppage time at Old Trafford when required. Fenerbahce are plotting a £3m bid for in-form Bolton striker Johan " Blue Steel " Elmander in the January transfer window, which is likely to get short shrift considering the Swedish striker cost the Trotters over three times that amount and has only recently started proving it may have been a shrewd investment. And finally, heavy metal-loving Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann has announced he may retire from football and go to play in the MLS when his contract at Molineux expires at the end of the season, while Nicky Butt was so bored by his own charisma-free appearance on Football Focus on Saturday that he's believed to be on the verge of interrupting his retirement to play for Hong Kong champions South China.