“Refusing to rule out” is an interesting concept. When you refuse to rule a thing out, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have any intention of doing that thing, but it invariably fuels speculation that you do.

For example, if a lunatic accosted Theresa May in the street shouting, “You are having an affair with Lenny Henry!” and the Prime Minister ignored the lunatic and ran away, the tabloids would feel completely within their rights to print the headline, “PM refuses to rule out adulterous sex with Lenny Henry”.

Strictly speaking, there would be nothing factually incorrect in that headline. But it wouldn’t necessarily paint an accurate picture of May’s intentions either.

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As such we should perhaps take with a pinch of salt the splash in Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo, “Neymar refuses to rule out move to Manchester City”. We should, but we won’t.

The sensational claim, which appears to be based on absolutely nothing of substance, is that City manager Pep Guardiola has “sneaked into” the list of prospective suitors for the Paris Saint-Germain superstar.

Neymar has “always admired” Pep, while City’s ability to meet the player’s extravagant financial demands is “beyond doubt”.

There are at least two other teams on that list of suitors – Real Madrid and Manchester United, who apparently want a “great star” to replace the departing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Neymar has also not ruled out signing for West Ham, Ipswich or Police Machine FC.

Bale wants Man Utd switch

Another big name being linked with a move to Man Utd – and not for the first time – is Gareth Bale. The Mirror says the Welshman will quit Real Madrid this summer and move to Old Trafford “if Zinedine Zidane remains in charge at the Bernabeu”.

That, at least, is the alleged view of Bale’s team-mates, who are “convinced” the 28-year-old will return to the Premier League in a £90m deal if the Frenchman sticks around. However, there is still a chance Gaz will stay in Spain if Zidane is replaced by, for instance, Chris Coleman.

Raising the possibility of a potentially interesting swap deal, the Mail says Zidane is also interested in one of United’s players – Marcus Rashford. The European champions are said to be “considering a bid” for the 20-year-old as they look to “revamp” their ageing attack.

To bolster its claim, the Mail points to evidence that Rashford once expressed his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.

“He was obviously a top player who won a lot of things in his career,” Rashford said – explosive comments that prove he will almost definitely be moving to the Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, the Red Devils are also considering a £40m bid for Bayern Munich’s 27-year-old winger Douglas Costa, who is currently on loan at Juventus (Mirror). Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly “monitored” the player as a youngster playing in Brazil, but he ended up signing Nene instead.

Elsewhere, Fulham’s left-sided sensation Ryan Sessegnon could reject big-money moves to the Premier League elite if the Cottagers gain promotion from the Championship (Sun), Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dubravka will join Newcastle permanently if the Magpies avoid relegation (Northern Echo) and Everton manager has stepped up his charm offensive towards Jack Wilshere by saying he has “always admired” the Arsenal midfielder (Mirror). And very few people, women or men, have ever failed to be seduced by one of Big Sam’s charm offensives.