Chelsea have competition from Manchester City for Taison, sayeth The Mail

Football journalism's Holy Grail, The Daily Mail, has in the last few hours reported that Chelsea are now facing competition for the signature of Metalist Kharkiv winger Taison. That competition is from none other than Manchester City. Who'd have thought it?

Less than a day ago the Brazilian appeared to be almost certainly on his way to Chelsea. Now, according to Neil Ashton, Metalist are seeking more than the £11 million transfer fee that apparently had been agreed upon with the Blues. City's interest is no doubt the key factor in the Ukrainian's club's reason for holding out, and, really, could you blame them?

This is all well and good, but the question I think we all should be asking is: Should we believe Mr. Ashton. I, as you probably expected, am hesitant. Why?

Well, for one, Ashton reported 10 hours earlier that Chelsea were hesitant to meet the £11m fee and had been put on deadline by Metalist because of this. Not only that but Ashton unequivocally said that Taison had already received a work permit.

Taison, who has yet to be capped by the national team in Brazil, has already secured a work permit to play in England.

OK. That's great. However, in this latest piece from Ashton he says the exact opposite.

Steps for Taison to obtain a United Kingdom work permit have already been taken but the application could prove tricky given that the 24-year-old is not a full Brazil international.

Which is it, Neil? I'm not saying the man is a fibber, but something's not quite right with this picture he's painted. Either way, we'll keep you posted on when/if this Taison transfer is completed.