Transfer Rumours: Steven Pienaar to Chelsea Rumour Still Spreading

Everton manager David Moyes managed to fan the flames of the Steven Pienaar transfer saga today after his club's 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the Merseyside derby, admitting that his South African winger did not feature because of the ongoing situation and re-revealing that Chelsea have had a bid accepted for his services, believed to be in the region of £3M - but that rival suitor Tottenham Hotspur have had no such luck. This has naturally led to a new string of speculation regarding Pienaar moving to Stamford Bridge, but seems to contain very little in the way of actual news.

Here's what we think we know:

1. Everton have accepted a bid from Chelsea for the transfer of Stephen Pienaar and have allowed the club to speak to his representatives.
   
2. Pienaar is asking for £70,000 per week in wages, while Chelsea are unwilling to offer him that much money.
3. Therefore, talks between Chelsea and Pienaar broke down soon after they opened.

This was all reported on the 14th of January, so nothing Moyes has said is new news. It's difficult to see how his comments today change anything about the Pienaar situation, but the omission of the talks' supposed breakdown might suggest that the conversation between Chelsea and the winger's representatives aren't as dead as first believed. However, Moyes may not be as informed as to the state of the negotiations as we might expect - he's had to attend to a game this weekend and may not have heard all the news that's been flying in.

I'd like to reiterate my personal belief that Pienaar would be a bad fit on this Chelsea team and represents a player we simply don't need. He's an interesting, creative player, and if he were right footed I'd be more inclined to give him a hearing out, but even a relatively cut-price left-sided attacker is not what this team needs at the moment.