Arsène Wenger calls Karim Benzema on the phone (allegedly)

A transfer rumor from someone known as Paco Gonzalez (a "respected Spanish journalist," they say) has made it all the way to the Telegraph. They're sharing the news that Arsène Wenger has evidently called Real Madrid striker and perennial Arsenal transfer target Karim Benzema using a telephone to discuss the possibility of a transfer. Unfortunately, Benzema (supposedly) says he'd prefer to stay in Madrid, as he's happy there. So there goes all that.

I haven't heard of Paco Gonzalez before, and it doesn't sound like the Telegraph has either, which makes me feel a little better about that. So I don't think either of us really knows whether this is legitimate or not. It sounds like they don't, and I tend toward doubting pretty much everything that's reported by a journalist whose credentials have to be explained in quotation marks in a newspaper. Maybe he is respected! (If you respect him, feel free to share your respect in the comments!) But maybe he's just a guy the Metro uses when they want to make their rumors sound more solid.

All of this is to say: this is a thing that happened, but you probably shouldn't pay a lot of attention to it for the moment. After reading this post, at least.