According to several reports (like this one by Sky Sports or this one by Football Italia), Queens Park Rangers have agree da deal to take AC Milan defender Taye Taiwo to Loftus Road. You may remember Taiwo from his time are Marseille, because you probably don't remember him playing for Milan - he's made just seven starts for the Scudetto holders, joining former Roma man Philippe Mexes as 'defenders who sit on the bench looking pensive'.

Anyway, this has Chelsea ramifications because it sounded like QPR were the team most likely to take Alex off our hands, with some reports suggesting that a transfer fee had been agreed (since denied by Andre Villas-Boas) and that Alex had subsequently had trouble negotiating personal terms as Rangers were reluctant to match his 25%-less-than-Gary-Cahill £60,000 per week. On the face of things, this may mean that their pursuit of the Brazilian is off - Taiwo plays at the back and can't have come particularly cheap. However, if Mark Hughes is really serious about revamping his defence, the additions of Alex and Taiwo could prove strong enough to avoid relegation.

Regardless of the possibility of Hughes going crazy in the defender market like that, I think we should probably acknowledge that the Taiwo deal lowers the chances of Alex moving to QPR. That's not particularly good news, even if you didn't want him to head in that direction, because lowering demand from suitors means that ultimately we won't be able to sell him for as much money down the line. Now that Cahill's all official and everything, there's no reason we should expect Chelsea to retain him through the end of the month. He's going somewhere, even if it isn't Loftus Road.