WE recorded a total of 95 players being linked with Boro before the transfer deadline at the end of last month.

It all started early in the summer with strong reports about Diomansy Kamara, who ended up joining Wigan.

Some got it spot on as the weeks went on. The first report we saw suggesting Boro had renewed their interest in Jeremie Aliadiere came from the Sunday Times while the Sunday Mirror had an early shout with Gary O'Neil, long before the deal became a reality.

The Guardian spotted the Luke Young deal was in the offing and Sky Sports was first to break the Tuncay story.

The People were on the ball when they said Mido was a target while Boro's interest in Shawky was revealed in the African press.   

As for the others, who knows?

Some may no doubt reflected genuine enquiries, others may report deals which came close to being pulled off, while it's a fair guess that Gareth Southgate won't have even heard of some of the more fanciful suggestions on the list as agents, selling clubs and players all played their part in getting the stories in the papers.

The list is in date order, earliest first.

The Linked List

1. Diomansy Kamara - News Of The World
2. Steve Sidwell (Reading) - Guardian
3. Nicky Shorey (Reading) - Sunday Sun
4. Zoltan Gera (West Brom) - Daily Mirror
5. Jloyd Samuel (Aston Villa) - Northern Echo
6. Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow) - Internet
7. Scott Brown (Hibs, now Celtic) - Daily Record
8. Steven Whittaker - (Hibs) - Daily Record
9. David Murphy - (Hibs) - Daily Record
10. Stephen Appiah (Fenerbahce) - News of the World
11. Michael Chopra (Cardiff City) - Internet
12. Sean Davis (Portsmouth) - Daily Mirror
13. Luke Varney (Crewe) - Daily Star 
14. Lee Hendrie (Aston Villa) - Daily Star Sunday
15. Jose Bosingwa (Porto) - Daily Star Sunday
16. Cristian Pulhac (Dinamo Bucharest) - Sunday Sun
17. Phillipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund) - Northern Echo
18. David Degen (Borussia Moenchengladbach) - Northern Echo
19. Mohamed Kallon (Monaco) - The Sun
20. Russell Anderson (Aberdeen) - The Sun
21. Igor Tudor (Juventus) - (Internet sites)
22. David Healy (Leeds) - Daily Mail
23. Rolando Bianchi (Reggiana) - Sunday Times 
24. Jeremie Aliadiere (Arsenal) - Sunday Times
25. Steve Howard (Derby County) - Daily Star
26. Joey Barton (Manchester City) - Daily Mirror
27: Michael Brown (Fulham) - Daily Mirror
28. Gary O'Neil (Portsmouth) - Sunday Mirror
29. David Hellbuyck (Paris St Germain) - Internet reports
30. Darren Purse (Cardiff City) - Internet reports
31: Ian Harte (Levante) - Internet reports
32. Chris Porter (Oldham Athletic) - Internet reports
33. Mauro Camoranesi - (Juventus) - Daily Mail
34. Mustapha Riga (Levante) - Evening Gazette
35. Cristian Riveros(Libertad) - Internet reports
36. Luke Moore (Aston Villa) - Birmingham Mail
37. Marcelo (Corinthians) - The Times
38. Paul McShane (West Brom) - Evening Gazette
39. Asamoah Gyan (Udinese) - Daily Mirror
40. Jermaine Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) - Sunday Mirror
41. Wagner Love (CSKA Moscow) - The Sun
42. Marlon Harewood (West Ham) - London Evening Standard
43. Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham) - London Evening Standard
44. Rowan Fernandez (Kaiser Chiefs) - Sky Sports
45. Geremi (Chelsea) - Sky Sports 
46. Kerlon (Cruzeiros) - Sporting Life
47. Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno) - Sky Sports
48. Bolo Zenden (Liverpool) - Algemeen Dagblad, Rotterdam
49. Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege) - Website report
50. Alan Smith (Manchester United) - Sky Sports
51. Collins John (Fulham) - Daily Mirror 
52. Phil Jagielka (Sheffield United) - Yorkshire Post
53. Luke Young (Charlton) - Guardian
54. Tuncay Sanli (Fenerbahce) - Sky Sports
55. Romeo Castelen (Feyenoord) - Evening Gazette
56. Gretar Steinsson (AZ Alkmaar) - Sky Sports 
57. Izale McLeod (MK Dons) - Internet reports
58: Bobby Zamora (West Ham) - Northern Echo
59: Julien Faubert (Bordeaux) - Internet reports
60: James Beattie (Everton) - Northern Echo
61: Andy van der Meyde (Everton) - Northern Echo
62. Javier Saviola (Barcelona) - People
63. Kevin Nolan (Bolton)  - People
64. Kyle Lafferty (Burnley) - Mirror
65. Djibril Cisse (Liverpool) - News of the World
66. Steve Davis (Aston Villa) - News of the World
67. Liam Rosenior (Fulham) - Observer
68. Jonathan Greening (West Brom) - People 
69. Andranik Teymourian (Bolton) - Evening Gazette
70. David Nugent (Preston) - Match Magazine  
71. Daniel De Ridder (Celta Vigo) - Internet reports
72. Peter Crouch  (Liverpool) - Evening Gazette
73. Thiago Motta (Barcelona) -Mirror
74. Chris Gunter (Cardiff City) - People  
75. Rob Hulse (Sheffield United) - People
76. Mido (Spurs) - People
77. Simon Whaley (Preston) - Sun
78. Dusan Svento (Slavia Prague) - Mail
79. Mohamed Shawky (Al-Ahly) - African reports
80. Emab Motaeb (Al-Ahly) - African reports
81. Luigi Pieroni (Nantes) - Mirror
82. Dusan Svento (Slavia Prague) - Mail
83. Christian Wilhelmsson (Nates) - Star
84. Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew) BBC
85. Milan Baros (Lyon) - Websites
86. Dejan Stefanovic (Portsmouth) People
87. Fred (Lyon) - Star
88. Thomas Gravesen (Celtic) - News of the World
89. Arouna Kone (PSV) - Websites
90. Jefferson Farfan (PSV) - Websites
91. Afonso Alves ( Heerenveen) - Telegraph
92. Adriano (Inter Milan) - Mail
93. Kevin Nolan (Bolton) - Times
94. Giorgios Samaras (Manchester City) - Mirror 
95. Alessandro Pistone (Free agent) - Northern Echo 

Here's our Linked List from summer 2005