Liverpool and Tottenham in for Babacar

Reports out of England (which are always totally reliable 100% great job journalism) claim that Liverpool and Tottenham are lining up bids for Khouma Babacar. While we normally address baseless speculation and vicious rumor-mongering in the Transfer Tuesday feature, this one is pressing enough to require immediate discussion, so we'll make an exception.

Fact: Liverpool and Tottenham need some depth up front. The former has injury-prone Christian Benteke and the tragic husk of a man that we once called Daniel Sturridge, as well as youngsters Divcok Origi and Danny Ings. The latter has Harry Kane and oh my gosh they actually don't have any other strikers. So far, so good. Clearly, both of these English clubs could do with another striker.

And that, friends, is pretty much the entire basis for this rumor. Let us ignore, for a moment, the fact that the Baba has been with Fiorentina since 2008 when he was just 16. Let us ignore that he debuted for the club that year. Let us ignore that he's never said anything about wanting a move away, and has in fact said the opposite frequently and recently; in fact, his agent just praised the club and reiterated how happy his client is in Florence. Let us ignore the fact that the player signed an extension the 2019 just five months ago.

So, even if we sweep all that aside, Babacar is staying in Florence. He's the longest-tenured player on the team, after club captain Manuel Pasqual. He's enjoying his partnership with Nikola Kalinic. He and Federico Bernardeschi are super good friends. He's the king of Instagram. He loves the city and the city loves him. Oh, and Fiorentina don't need to sell him. Sure, the team could use some reinforcements (right back, anyone?), but there's no way that Babacar leaves town for anything less than stupid money.

So, yeah. The English media think that Babacar is a viable target, which is stupid. This is probably something we're going to have to hear about for the next few months, but let's not even worry about it too much. Habemus Babam, et Babam habebimus.