Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase transfer rumour.

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is transfer rumour.

Jack: Let’s start by breaking down this phrase into its two words. Let’s start with the word transfer.

Rich: Transfer has a number of meanings but most of them are connected to moving things from one place to another.

Jack: You might ask for a transfer at work which involves moving from one department to another or even moving from one city to another.

Rich: A data transfer involves moving information from one place to another. This is often done digitally - transferring data from one computer to another.

Jack: When you go on holiday we sometimes hear the phrase airport transfer. An airport transfer is usually a bus or a car that moves travellers from the airport to their hotel.

Rich: In football, a transfer is the movement of a player from one club to another.

Jack: There are a few useful football phrases here. We talk about the transfer fee which is the cost of the player, a free transfer which is a player that moves without a fee, the transfer window which is when transfers are allowed to be made and the transfer list which is where clubs place unwanted players they want to sell.

Rich: The phrase we’re looking at is transfer rumour so let’s look at the second word: rumour.

Jack: A rumour is some information or a story that might or might not be true.

Rich: Rumours are bits of information that are not official and they often move from person to person very quickly.

Jack: We talk about spreading rumours. People might spread rumours about other people. Rumours can often be malicious which means that they are intended to cause harm or hurt someone’s feelings.

Rich: People might spread malicious rumours about a person they don’t like or because they feel they’ve been wronged in some way.

Jack: But rumours can be less malicious, too. Rumours are often connected to gossip which might not necessarily be meant to be harmful. Gossip is informal chat about other people that may or may not be true.

Rich: We might say things like I’ve heard a rumour that Steve is moving house or I’ve heard a rumour that Debbie is going to get the promotion.

Jack: A transfer rumour, therefore, is a bit of unofficial information about the possibility of a player moving from one club to another.

Rich: These types of rumours are not usually malicious and is just gossip more than anything.

Jack: We usually find lots of transfer rumours and football gossip in sports pages in the summer when there is no football being played.

Rich: One transfer rumour that I’ve heard is that Messi, Neymar and Mbappe are signing for Liverpool this summer.

Jack: That’s not true.

Rich: No, I just made it up. We don’t need them anyway.

Jack: A transfer rumour. Unofficial information that spreads very quickly about a footballer moving clubs.

Rich: There is the final whistle!

Jack: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

• Have you heard any transfer rumours recently?

Write your answers in the comments section below.