The Emanuele Giaccherini-to-Sunderland rumors aren't going away

Sometimes when an agent comes out in the press and says something to kill any kind of transfer nonsense, the situation gets calmed down. Other times, it really does nothing at all. That's exactly work in the case of Emanuele Giaccherini's representative, who has been trying his damnedest to do damage control ever since rumors of a possible exit started to

Here's what Giaccherini's agent, Furio Valcareggi, said on Monday (via Football Italia):

"Giaccherini gets on very well with Conte. He has a great relationship with the Coach. The club have absolutely no intention of selling him."

And then we had this on Tuesday, also courtesy of Football Italia:

La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Emanuele Giaccherini is on the verge of moving from Juventus to Sunderland.

An initial €8m offer had been turned down, but when the bid was raised above €10m the negotiations began in earnest.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport this evening, Sunderland are on the verge of completing the transfer for Giaccherini.

Welp. So much for all that agent speak, huh?

Giaccherini's stock is obviously as high as it has ever been after he had one of the best showings out of anybody in an Italy jersey at the Confederations Cup. The diminutive 28-year-old midfielder started three of the Azzurri's five games during the two-week tournament in Brazil last month. Many were second-guessing Cesare Prandelli for even considering to start Giaccherini when Italy were about to open up the group stages against Mexico. Instead, he repaid his manager's faith by having a very good tournament and winning over a whole lot of people in the process.

But now, as Giaccherini's agent is probably thinking of another way to say that his client isn't leaving Turin any time soon, the rumors continue to pick up steam as a reported €10 million bid is currently on the table.

It may all be just a big, stinkin' load of you-know-what. Or, it could be Beppe Marotta seeing that there's serious money on the table for a player who is going to only start a handful of games in all likelihood with how his team is currently constructed and seeing it may not get any better than this.