Craig Gardner and Tranquillo Barnetta?

It emerged yesterday that we are rivalling Sunderland for the signature of Birmingham City midfielder Craig Gardner, well according to Sky Sports News anyway.

The thing is, I have absolutely no idea why.

Now I know this is more than likely going to be a bit of press rumour mongering, and in fact I wouldn't put it past our unwashed neighbours to pimp the story themselves just so they can say the beat us to a signature of a player that we were both after. They are a bit like that. But realistically we just don't need another central midfielder!

Granted Gardner has his best season last season, in a team that ended up relegated I'll add, but that doesn't mean that he'll be capable of dislodging any of our current midfielders. Is he any better than Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Yohan Cabaye or Cheik Tiote? I think not. In fact I'd put him in the backup queue with the likes of Dan Gosling and Danny Guthrie.

You see midfield is a position where we are well stocked at the moment. Circumstances could change of course dependant on the futures of Barton and Nolan, but for now we are pretty much spot on in the middle of the park. In fact I would go as far as to say that we have one of the best central midfields outside the top four!

Alas this Craig Gardner talk will more than likely just be a rumour. It will be someone somewhere "understanding" something and translating it as us being in for Gardner. I wouldn't be against it, but I would wonder what the point of it would be.

Now it's a different matter when you talk about our wings. There is most definitely room for improvement in terms of our wide players as we've had to put up with a right-winger playing on the left for three seasons now and a central midfielder playing on the right for the last season and a half. That is our real need - not the middle.

Step forward Tranquillo Barnetta who has apparently made it crystal clear to the Bayer Leverkusen top brass that he wants to leave. A fee of about £6 million would be enough to secure the services of the player who scored both goals for Switzerland at Wembley earlier in the month.

Barnetta is usually a right-winger, which to be fair is a position which needs addressing. However, he does have the bonus of being able to cover in a more defensive role in the middle of midfield - handy when you have a yellow card machine like Chiek Tiote currently occupying that role.

So there you go, two bits of gossip for you to dissect and discuss. To me there is just no point in the first option of Craig Gardner, but the Tranquillo Barnetta one is something that interests me, even if it is just speculation at the moment.

What do you think?