Can Thomas Ince be prised from his daddy's apron strings?

The only reason there hasn't been intense and fevered transfer speculation surrounding Tom Ince is that he turned down flat the chance to play in the Premier League with Cardiff City only last month.

Malky Mackay thought he'd got his man. A fee - believed to be in the region of £8 million - had been agreed with Blackpool and Ince's agent had agreed personal terms. However, young Tom had just become a new dad and seemingly didn't want to lose the security that came with working for and living in close proximity to his father, self-styled Guv'nor Paul.

Surprisingly, even this didn't stop other interested parties - most notably Tottenham and Newcastle - from keeping close tabs on the situation.

Now, Villa and Everton are strongly rumoured to have entered the fray, although it would be a shift in Villa transfer policy to pay the sort of money Cardiff City were prepared to pay for a player with no Premier League experience, although at 21 years old, he fits the "young and hungry" requirement.

Paul Ince has made it clear of late that he feels he is a bit short when it comes to the size of his squad, a situation exacerbated when QPR pounced for Matt Phillips.

We understand that the Tangerines wouldn't be averse to letting the player go though and that using Barry Bannan as a makeweight could make a deal palatable to both sides. Little Barry has had a successful spell on loan for the seaside club.

The other rumour doing the rounds concerns gargantuan Porto defender Abdoulaye Ba.  The lad impressed for Senegal at the 2012 London Olympics but has had difficulty making a definitive first team breakthrough for the Portugese outfit, going off on loan and picking up red cards along the way. However the raw talent is definitely there and with Lambo forced to change central defence partnerships almost as often as he changes his socks, extra cover would not be amiss.