Soldado talks very much real: Hunter

Twitter is on fire this evening reporting that Franco Baldini has been sighted in Valencia, Spain and is meeting with Valencia CF officials regarding Roberto Soldado. We at Cartilage Free Captain have been tracking this chatter all day, but you know how we all feel about transfer rumors, so we've been playing the long game and waiting to see if any actual information comes from reputable sources and not just tweets of people who look vaguely like Baldini riding around in cars.

Welp, that didn't take long. Noted football journalist Graham Hunter tweeted this earlier this afternoon.

#Soldado Baldini is in Valencia. Meeting club now. Spurs and Liverpool have offered. Valencia want €30m, which is the clause. Doubt will get

— Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) July 22, 2013

#Soldado Interviewed the player a year ago when he confirmed to me that Spurs offered for him and he was interested. Fact they are back in

— Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) July 22, 2013

#Soldado ... plus the fact that Baldini has gone over there must give them a slight edge over Liverpool you´d say.

— Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) July 22, 2013

This isn't ITK, guys. Graham Hunter isn't a football transfer rumor reporter – he's a REAL ACTUAL JOURNALIST with lots of credibility, having covered Spanish football for Sky Sports and the BBC. If Graham Hunter is saying something, then the odds are very good that this is a real and actual thing.

So, we know that Spurs are interested in Soldado, we know that Liverpool has also offered, and we know that Baldini is meeting right now with Valencia officials about the transfer. But that's all we know. I'm not holding my breath that this is a done deal yet, and it's quite possible that negotiations are going to drag out until the cows come home to roost (or something like that).

But if you want some #ITK with your real hard-hitting football journalistic scoop, then try this rumor out. Spanish radio station Cadena SER Valencia is claiming that Spurs have offered €26m plus "variables" which is just under Soldado's buyout clause of €30m, and that the Valencia board will decide. But this is hardly a reliable source, so I wouldn't believe a word of it yet.

I'd say it's a positive development in the search for a new striker, wouldn't you?