Strikers Steal the Spotlight

It seems to be mainly strikers in the spotlight this week, with the big news today being that Atletico and Liverpool seem to have agreed a fee for Torres. The fee seems to be about 24 million pounds with Luis Garcia heading the other way, and though Atletico still refuse to acknowledge any deal for Torres, the fact that they have just signed Diego Forlan from Villarreal for 14 million does make it clear that Torres will be on his way soon. Good buy for Liverpool, Torres will grab a fair few goals for them and I never though Luis Garcia was that good anyway, too inconsistent in his displays in the Premiership, much like Liverpool themselves.

Dider Drogba is questioning his future at Chelsea. The striker is not sure whether he wants to stay at Chelsea or experience football in another League. Leaving Chelsea would be a very bad idea for Drogba, he top scored for them last season, he finally looked like he had settled in the Premiership and another season would allow him to build on the reputation he has created for himself. Chelsea would be sad at losing their top striker but they have the resources to bring in someone else and not feel the loss. If Drogba leaves, he's going to have to spend time to settle in to a new area, a new lifestlye, and a new style of play. Considering it took him a couple of seasons to really adapt to the Premiership, he doesn't want to make a move and give up a couple of years adapting to a new club when he is in his prime. Still I wouldn't be suprised if he spends a couple of weeks thinking about a move in the press, and then goes on to sign a slightly bigger contract then he already has at Chelsea...it's how football works.

It seems like Fulham are getting closer to signing Diomansy Kamara. The deal is still being negotiatated but the deal will probably be about 4 million plus Heidar Helguson for the striker. Kamara had a cracking season for West Brom in the Championship and has definitely matured as a player since we last saw him in the Premiership. He has good natural pace but I'm not sure whether a move to Fulham will really be in his best interests, if the rumours are to be believed then Sanchez is planning on building up a team that won't be keeping the ball on the ground too much, and though Kamara can use his pace to get on to any long balls, I just feel that he'd be better off in a side that plays the ball around a bit more. I do feel that Fulham will get relegated this season, but players like Kamara are definitely a step in the right direction for Sanchez, and if he can build a strong defence then they might just have a chance of beating the drop.

Not much on the Copa America, no games played last night, though it was interesting to see the anti-government chants at the US - Argentina game. Chavez has taken a lot of steps to seperate the political situation in Venezuela from the football and it was great to see that these fans used the occasion to register their contempt of the political regime. It is an interesting debate, how much should politics and sport should be entwined? I do think that sportsmen and women, especially in England, don't seem to voice enough opinions on the politics of the country. Though this may be due to the fact that they don't have any opinions, apart from which new Bentley they want. It is a hard situation for sportspeople as if they voice an opinion on politics then they need to make sure that it is well-researched and well though out. They can't just throw around opinions willy-nilly like most of us because their words can effect a massive amount of people, this is why most sportspeople will keep quiet, because they fear the backlash of any political comments. But I do think that they need to cast off a bit of this fear and speak up about issues that are important in their respective countries...sadly I cannot see this happening any time soon.

I'm off for now, but never fear, I shall be back tomorrow.

Bent Makes his Move

It's all transfer talk today, with the big news being Darrent Bent signing for Tottenham in a 16.5 million pound deal. I talked about this transfer yesterday so there's not much more to say. It's a lot of money but Bent is a young English goalscorer with a proven ability in the Premiership, and Tottenham obviously have the money to spend, so it looks like good negotiations all round. It does look like Defoe will now be on his way, with Man Utd and Villa interested. Personally I would rather have Bent over Defoe but it is a hard decision. What tips it for me is that Bent could play off a target man or as a target man, he could play up front on his own and still get goals, whereas Defoe is great playing off another striker but wouldn't be so good on his own. I do hope that Defoe gets regular first team football wherever he heads to next, as he does have the talent to be a great striker, he just needs the confidence that goes with playing games every week, and when he gets that, he will start to score a truckload of goals.

Robert Earnshaw has completed his move to Derby for 3.5 million pounds, which is a very astute signing by Billy Davies. Earnshaw is a striker who has never really had a chance to shine in the premiership before, and I do think he'll have a good season if he's playing regularly. I watched the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against Southampton and was not impressed by them, they will have to improve a lot to stay up in the Premiership and I just can't see them surviving this season.

The Copa America saw Argentina start off their campaign against the USA last night with a 4-1 win to the Argies. Tevez was amongst the scorers, as was Eddie Johnson for USA, who is a decent striker to watch out for in the future, definitely has potential to play for a big European club. In the other game, Paraguay destroyed Colombia 5-0 with Roque Santa Cruz getting a hat-trick, a harsh scoreline on the Colombians who had a penalty saved during the game.

Not much else to report today, but there does seem to be a definite build-up in the number of transfers going through, and I think that the next week will see a few big-name transfers going through...or so we hope.

Toodlepip.

Capello cops it as Tevez times out.

A couple of managers and a couple of strikers lead the news today. Firstly, we have the managers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the red corner, coming in at 37 years old, we have Chris Coleman. The Welsman who recently managed Fulham has been appointed as manager of Real Sociedad, who have just been relegated from the Primera Liga in Spain. He was reccomended to the role by John Toshack, the current Welsh manager, who holds a legendary status among the Real Sociedad fans. Congratulations to Chris, I always thought he did a really good job with Fulham and should not have been fired, he kept them in the Premiership with minimum backing from Al-Fayed, who then proceeded to fire him the moment there was any trouble at the Club. I've always liked Fulham but the way Coleman was treated was disgraceful, and I can't see them staying up with Sanchez in charge. But, for Coleman, his sacking may have been a blessing in disguise. At Sociedad he will have the chance to experience foreign football, a different culture and hopefully make a good reputation for himself whilst learning new managerial skills. It's not often you see British managers in charge of foreign clubs, so good luck to him and I hope that he succeeds.

In the white corner we had Fabio Capello,an experienced, tactically astute, and successful manager who has won a league title with every team he has managed...I say 'had' because this manager has been fired from Real Madrid after one season in charge. In this season he won the Primera Liga title, which Real hadn't won for 4 years, but apparently this wasn't good enough for the Real Madrid Board members who 'unanimously' decided to sack him because he didn't play enough beautiful football in the course of winning the league. Where can you start with news like this? I can't believe that Real have sacked him, it absolutely beggars belief, and you just wonder who the hell is in charge over there that they can get rid of the only manager to win them silverware in the past 4 years, crazy.

The next manager looks like being Bernd Schuster, and as long as he wins the league, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup, whilst playing exactly the perfect type of football then he'll be fine...good luck to him.

It looks like Tevez will not be heading to Inter after they imposed a time limit on his decision-making process. Inter had emerged as definite favourites for his signature this summer and though the end of talks may seem like good news for West Ham fans, the fact that he was holding talks with another club in the first place shows that he's probably on the way out of West Ham. I hope the man stays in the Premiership but I don't think he'll be at West Ham this coming season.

It also looks like Darren Bent could be on his way to Tottenham after they apparently reached an agreement with Charlton for the player. I mentioned in an earlier post that Bent may have rejected West Ham because he was holding out for a move to a club playing in Europe, and it looks like Tottenham is the club for him. With a strike force of Bent, Berbatov and Keane, Tottenham are beginning to look very dangerous for this coming season, and they should be pushing for a Champions League spot. Though this probably spells the end for Defoe who looks like he may be on the way to Man Utd, but we shall wait and see on that story.

Copa America round up, and the big news being the Brazil lost 2-0 to Mexico in their opening fixture. 2 brilliant goals with Castillo and Morales scoring. Castillo's goal was a delightful finish and you can see it here, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ear1_brazil-0-1-mexico-castillo, it seems that quite a few European club scouts are taking a peek at him, and on this evidence I wouldn;t be suprised to see him heading to a new club soon. Another player to watch out for in the Mexico side, who was injured for the Brazilian game, is winger Andres Guardado, someone I expect to see in Europe in the future. In the other game, Chile came from behind to beat Ecuador 3-2.

Busy day today, bring on tomorrow.

Torres Linked to Liverpool

Not the most exciting day in the footballing world with the main news being that apparently Liverpool are locked in talks to sign Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid. Liverpool are stalling over the 27 million pound fee that Atletico want, and since Atletico are reluctant to sell their star striker, it looks as if they are holding the cards. Torres has been Atletico's top scorer for the past five seasons, and would be a great asset to Liverpool and the Premiership. At the moment Liverpool need a proper striker, someone who can get on the end of crosses and convert any half-chances into goals, and Torres can fulfil that type of role. He has the pace and instict to score 20 odd goals a season, and also has that flair to make something out of nothing. The reason that he has never been seen as an out-and-out striker is because he has to work hard at Atletico to create and score chances on his own, but at Liverpool he will have slightly more quality behind him, with Kuyt doing the hard work up front, which will allow him to stay up front and convert chances. But we shall see how the negotiations fare, if Liverpool manage to knock the fee down slightly then I wouldn't be suprised to see Arsenal or Man Utd trying a cheeky late bid to prise him away from Liverpool.

Carson Yeung has bough his shares in Birmingham, 29.9% of them to be exact. It doesn't give him full control of the club, but it does make him the largest single shareholder, and he does have an open door to buy more shares if he wants. This should be good news for Birmingham fans as this will give Steve Bruce a few more quid to spend on players, which leads on nicely to news that Flamini, of Arsenal, has been linked to Birmingham. A decent midfield scurrier, he never really had the talent to break through into the Arsenal first team but always tried his heart out, he should fit in well with the other ex-Arsenal players that Bruce seems to like. He is building a decent squad for the Premiership, and players like Flamini can make the difference in a relegation battle so I wouldn't be suprised to see this move finalised pretty soon.

Peter Hill-Wood has come out and said he thinks Wenger will stay but he's not completely sure. It's all been said before but this isn't a huge deal, Wenger likes to leave his contract extensions late and he will definitely be at Arsenal for this season, so we shall leave his future for next year.

The Copa America round up, Venezuela drew 2-2 with Bolivia, and Peru shocked Uruguay 3-0 in their opener. Was a definite suprise to see Uruguay lose their opening game but I can't see any of these teams really challenging for honours, though it would be great to have Venezuela doing well. Juan Carlos Marino scored a cracker in the Uruguay game and you can see that here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heuvc6T5G8c.

Until Tomorrow.

Sven Heads for Machester City

After all the reports surrounding the Henry transfer, the dust has now settled, and it has gone pretty quiet in the football world today.

The biggest news is that Sven-Goran Eriksson has apparently agreed a 3 year deal to manage Manchester City, as long as the Shinawatra bid goes through. This is good news for City fans, Sven may not have the best reputation after his spell as England manager but people forget that he had a very good record in club management before his spell at England, and even as England manager his competitive record was very good. England may not have played the most attractive football under his management but I think that the break from management would have done him good and he'll come back to football refreshed and ready to build a decent team at City. Of course, this may not actually happen, as it all depends on Shinawatra's bid being allowed to go through. So we shall wait and see.

There could be another takeover going on in the Premiership with Carson Yeung interested in buying Birmingham. That bid is in its early stages though so we shall find out more about it in the coming week.

The same old transfer rumours going around, not much of note except that Ryan Babel has stated that he will not be moving to Arsenal this season, although he does see himself as an Arsenal player sometime in the future.

Finally, the Copa America is starting tonight in Venezuela, so in honour of the tournament I shall be doing a Copa report each day with match results and any players that could be the next big thing. hasta luego all.

Thierry unveiled and Charlton Ladies fade away

It's official, Thierry Henry is now a Barcelona player. After passing a medical earlier on today, he was officially unveiled at 5pm in Barcelona, with the transfer fee being about 16.1 million pounds. I don't think there's much more that can be said about this transfer, Arsenal and the Premiership are losing a great player, but I do believe that Arsenal will recover from this and still challenge for the title this season. The youngsters are going to be forced to take more responsibilty for their roles in the team and this can only be a good thing. Good luck to Thierry and I hope that Barcelona don't meet Arsenal in the Champions League knockout stages!

Plenty of other news to keep us busy, starting with an issue that hasn't gained a huge amount of press but I feel is an important issue in the modern game. It is about women's football in England. Charlton ladies team has been forced to disband because of the relegation of the mens side from the Premiership, it is all about cost-cutting. Now I appreciate the fact that Charlton do have to cut some costs but surely they could have cut the wage-bill from the mens team a little? Plus they are receiving a generous amount of money from the Premiership as part of their parachute payments after getting relegated. The Charlton ladies team was the main challenger to the Arsenal ladies team this season for domestic honours, and how will women's football grow in England if they are considered so expendable by the big teams? I know that the football quality is not close to the premiership but having watched some women's football in the past couple of seasons, I was pretty impressed by the level of play and will always watch women's football when it's on tv. This closure is sending out the wrong message to te women's game, and does not reflect well on the men's game either, I hope the players and staff quickly find new clubs to work at.

There's been a few interesting pieces of news with regards to managers, with Paul Ince becoming the new manager of MK Dons, continued uncertainty over Capello's job at Real madrid and Neil Warnock coming out and saying he'd do a better job then Sven at Man City.

Firstly Mr. Warnock's comments were just his opinion on his own abilities, which he is entitled to, but I personally believe that most people out there would rather have Sven over Neil any day. But hey, if Sven declines the Man City job then maybe Neil can expect a call from Shinawatra...or maybe he should start looking elsewhere for a job.

Good on MK Dons for taking a chance on Paul Ince, he did a good job in keeping Macclesfield in the Football League and he does seem like he has the type of personality suited for management. I don't want to get into a racism debate, but it does strike me as odd that Roy Keane and Stuart Pearce can gain top management jobs straight away but Ince starts off at Macclesfield. However, this may be just down to Ince wanting to gain experience in the lower league before joining a top club, a very good idea as the demise of Stuart Pearce showed. Whatever the reasons behind his original move, I hope that he does well at the Dons as it's always good to have young English managers in the game.

I shall finish with poor Capello at Real Madrid. I have already mentioned his situation in a previous post but to have uncertainty over your job after winning the League title is pretty harsh. They may not have played brilliantly all season but they won the title for the first time in 4 years, syrely he deserves another season to build on this success. But who knows what will happen, Real Madrid is not a normal club and so we cannot expect them to make any normal decisions!

Au Revoir football lovers, I shall be back tomorrow.

The Calm after the Storm

As the news of Thierry's transfer reverbarates around the football world, here at deadballdispute we must keep an eye on the other happenings in this football world...but the truth is, there's not a whole lot going on. Keith Harris, a banker, claims that the money Thaksin Shinawatra is using for the takeover of Man City is 'clean' money that "has been legitimately and transparently transferred to the UK". It defintely makes the money legal, but whether the money is 'clean' is another matter entirely. Anyway, I've said enough about this takeover bid, so read the previous posts for my thoughts on Mr. Shinawatra.

It seems that Arsenal are already being linked to a number of strikers to replace Thierry. Nicolas Anelka is the favourite, at the moment, to move to Arsenal in a 11 million pound deal but I'm not sure that Wenger will want to gamble again on Anelka. He's a very good striker, quick, strong, creative and a good finisher, and he has also matured a lot since his last stint at Arsenal, but there's always a fear that he might implode at any given moment leading to a massive sulk and a transfer out. Plus if he still has his brother as an agent then he can't really be trusted. Also being linked to Arsenal are Torres, Huntelaar and Babel. Babel is someone who might have come anyway, and I would love to see Huntelaar in an Arsenal shirt, 37 goals in 48 games last season for Ajax is a bloody good return and he is rated very highly.

Finally I leave with news that Chelsea are hunting down Alexandre Pato, a 17 year old brazilian who will move to Chelsea for 17 million pounds. From what I hear, he's going to be the next big thing but Chelsea have to be careful as sometimes players who move too early from South America fail to adapt well, the best thing to do would be to close the deal and then let him stay playing regular football for another season. Still, he looks like he's going to be brilliant but as with all youngsters, spending big is definitely a gamble.

Thierry's move should officially go through in the next couple of days so things might quiet down after that, but who knows, in football anything can happen. Toodlepip.

Thierry Moves On

The big news today is that Thierry Henry is set to leave Arsenal and join Barcelona for 16 million pounds. It is a move that seemed inevitable over the past few weeks, and once Thierry has completed a medical, the transfer should be confirmed. In his explanation of the move, Thierry has cited the departure of David Dein, and the uncertainty over Arsene Wenger's future as part of his reason for moving, but this seems like some excuses on his part. The departure of a board member should not have an effect on the players, and Wenger is definitely staying another year at Arsenal so if Henry was that bothered, he could have waited another year. But, it would be sad to remember him for his exit, rather then for the sensational impact he made on the Premiership. He's a great player, and one that fans of other teams recognised as a true great, he will be sorely missed by Arsenal, and the Premiership. So where does this move leave Henry and Arsenal?

For Thierry, it is a chance to link up with Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Deco, Xavi and Inesta, players capable of creating chances with one touch, and Thierry will be there to finish those chances. Barcelona now look a whole lot more dangerous, and if they can find a player to protect their back 4, they will be pushing for the Champions League this season. Thierry is 29, and heading towards his twilight years, to him, this move is the chance to win the Champions League. If you asked any football fan who had more of a chance of winning the Champions League in the next couple of seasons, he would say Barcelona over Arsenal, 9 times out of 10. So Thierry has made the decision and I wish him all the best.

Over at Arsenal there may not be the crisis that everyone thinks there is. Wenger has a proven track record at knowing when to offload his top players so Arsenal fans should trust his judgement on this one. The board are now working with Kroenke to see what happens, and our transfer budget is starting to look pretty good. 16 million may not be the greatest amount for a player like Henry, but added to all the other transfer fees they have received all season, they have a fair bit of money to spend. If they continue the development of the youngsters and the board back Wenger in the transfer market to bring in a few quality and experienced players, then Arsenal will rise again and Wenger might sign a new contract. The most important thing for the board to do in the next few weeks, is to let Wenger know that any transfer target he wants, they will do the utmost to sign. Arsenal may not look strong at the moment, but come the beginning of the next season, they might have a few suprises up their sleeve.

Apart from Thierry, there are a few other bits of Transfer news. Gary O'Connor is on his way to Birmingham for about 2.65 million. He's a decent fox-in-the-box and could bag them a few goals this season. Rozehnal is on his way to Newcastle for about 3 millon. He's a central defender, which Newcastle definitely need, and he has International experience, but PSG didn't have a great season in the French Championship (15th out of 20) so I shall reserve judgement on Rozehnal till I see him in action.

So, Adios Thierry, good luck in Barcelona, the Premiership will be a lesser place without you. Adios all.

Calderon's at it Again

All's fair in Love, war and football. Spot the mistake. It's amazing what teams do to unsettle possible targets, they use agents to release rumours, papers to release rumours, they announce their targets and they meet their targets before agreeing a fee with the club, but most Clubs know that they can only get away with so much, that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. We saw this with the whole Chelsea and Ashley Cole saga, Chelsea's mistake wasn't that they were illegally talking to Ashley, but that they did it so publicly that they were bound to get caught, silly boys. But there is one Club that seems to consistently cross any sort of line, any guesses who? That's right, Real Madrid.

So, what have they done now? Well, today our favourite President, Mr. Roman Calderon, announced that if Capello was fired from Madrid then they had some candidates lines up, including Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup and Arsene Wenger. Where can we start? Firstly, Capello has got to be pissed, he's just brought the club their first league title in 4 years and has 2 years left on his contract, but his job is being thrown around like he's already gone. If the President and board had any sort of respect they'd be reassuring Capello that his job was safe and starting to plan out their defence of their title, but no, instead Calderon makes a casual remark about future managers that he knows is going to be all over the press the next day, so that if Capello does leave, he's already started to unsettle any future targets. He's a clever man, but soon opposition clubs are going to get tired of his constant chatter and a backlash will start.

This comes off the back of a photo in a Spanish Newspaper called "AS", which showed the Milan player Kaka holding up a picture of a newspaper proclaiming Madrid champions. Milan have reacted furiously to this, stating that the Newspaper took an official picture of Kaka and photoshopped it to show him holding the Spanish newspaper. Basically, the whole thing's a fake, and the Spanish press are up to their usual fun and games, but it definitely has the Madrid tinge to it, and since Calderon has already come out and stated that Kaka is one of his top transfer targets, I wouldn't be suprised if their was some sort of link between the photo and Real Madrid. Of course I don't have any proof of this but hey, it's just a thought.

Lots and lots of transfer rumours flying about today, way too many to comment on i'm afraid, so use the links to the side and take a look at the football news. The one I'm interested in is Man Utd's continued link with Fabio Quagliarella, striker for Sampdoria and Italy. He scored 13 goals in Serie A last year and scored twice on his debut for Italy, with a transfer fee of around 10 million pounds being mentioned he might turn out to be a decent signing. However, he's 23 and has just had his first decent goalscoring season so a bit of a risk, in that this season might have been a flash in the pan, but if Man Utd wait around and he has another good season, is price will probably double. So, is he worth the risk? We shall find out soon. Toodlepip.

The City Takeover Is On

And so the Man City saga continues with news that Thaksin Shinawatra has lodged an 81.6 million pound takeover of the club, backed by the City board. This was always going to happen because yesterday I wrote about it not happening for a while, writer's curse. Anyway, I stick to the point made yesterday that Thaksin is still trying to put a good public face on his situation, and I'm sure the man does have 81.6 million pounds to spend, but I still think the City board should not have backed this bid. There is too much cloud over the deal for it to go ahead. What happens if Thaksin is charged by the Thai government and extradited? Where does that leave City? There is no way that a man who's assets are being frozen, and who is under investigation for corruption, should be allowed to take over a Premiership Club. Even if he is innocent, the fact that he is under investigation should rule him out of a bid, and though City could certainly use the backing, this deal should be stopped as soon as possible. If Thaksin is cleared of charges, then fair enough, let him make another bid, but I hope the Premier League realies that, at the moment, the circumstances around this deal are too volatile to let the bid go through.

Yesterday saw our U21's go out to Holland at the semi-final stage of the European U21 chamionship. It was a very brave performance for a group of tired players, we lost 13-12 on penalties after holding out for 20 mins of Extra time with 10 men, and drawing 1-1 in normal time. It was a fantastic effort, and for England to have actually got 12 penalties was, in itself, an achievement. It should give the youngsters a good experience of the pressure situations they will come up against later in their careers. To be honest, the Dutch were the better side but we countered their technical ability by playing ugly English football, and the Dutch equaliser in the 89th minute of normal was a cruel blow. But, it was a good learning experience, and hopefully these guys will have a good break and come back refreshed for next season. A note on Stuart Pearce, I have never thought that he had the tactical knowledge to succeed as a top level manager but he has done a pretty good job with the U21's considering the injuries, suspensions and the Bentley situation, so fair play to him and I hope that they give him the job on a permanent basis so he can develop as a manager.

Not much else going on, few transfer rumours flying about but nothing we haven't heard before so I shall comment later if there are any developments. I'll be back...tomorrow.

Chaos at Man City

Today we start with the circus that is Manchester City. The BBC are reporting that if Thaksin Shinawatra completes his takeover of City, then he will appoint Sven-Goran Eriksson as the new manager, but Sky Sports are telling us that more of his assets have been frozen, about 300 million pound's worth of assets. As i've said before, it's just a big mess up there, and one that doesn't look as if it will be sorted out quickly. Shinawatra's bid is now looking like an absolute mess, but City realistically need the investment if they want to attract a top manager and new players. So, what to do? Well, first things first, they need to sort out the bid from Thaksin. This obviously sounds a lot easier then it actually is, but if they choose to carry on with the bid and then he pulls out in a few weeks time, they're going to be in a very weak position. Thaksin is in a bad position, his accounts are being investigated and his assets are being frozen, there's even the possibility of him being arrested by the Thai government for corruption, which means that he's very concerned with his public image at the moment. If he doesn't have enough to buy City, he's not going to admit it for a while, which means that City are going to suffer because of this political situation. If they stop the buy-out now, they can re-consider their position and then move on in the search for a new manager. They may not have as much money as with Shinawatra, but they'll be able to sort their club out, put a stop to any unrest, and start building their team for the season ahead. Unfortunately, this does not seem likely, and I feel that City may be staring at relegation this season.

Transfer news today, Wigan may have placed a 5 million bid for Jason Koumas, with Everton and Reading also sniffing around the player. As I've mentioned before, it's important that he plays in the right position and Wigan may be the best bet as they might build a team around him, but we shall wait and see. As with all transfer rumours, no sooner has one come out then it's being refuted. Lyon have come out and stated that there has been no contact with Chelsea over Malouda. It isn't a huge deal, he's already said he wants to go, and Chelsea and Liverpool are still favourites to make the signing. Liverpool may be in for Torres, which'll be a great signing, but most of the big teams in Europe willl also be interested so any possible talks will take a while to compete. Also, West Ham are in the chase of Benni McCarthy who has had a great first season in the Premiership. Can't see why he would move to West Ham this season, they're pretty much in the same place as Blackburn so he might as well stay there, have another good season and hope one of the big boys comes in for him next summer.

Finally, bit of Championship news, Southampton's Chris Baird is still looking for an exit with Fulham favourites for the signing. I mention this because the Saints are my tip to go up to the Premiership this season and I'd like to see them retain their best players. Mind you, they were my tip last season as well, anyway, definitely worth a flutter! And on that note, I bid you goodbye.

Malouda on the move

The news today, in transfer talk it seems that Chesea may be leading the race to sign Malouda with a reported fee of around 17 million pounds. Liverpool are in second place, which will not make Benitez happy. Decent winger at about the same price that Man Utd paid for Nani, but with more experience and a good World Cup run under his belt, but having two top teams interested obviously pushed the money up a fair bit. He's usually deployed as a winger, so it seems that Mourinho may be rejigging his tactics for next season aftre deploying the more narrow diamond midfield for much of last season. If he gets Malouda and keeps Robben, then he'll have some pretty decent attacking wingers along with Joe Cole and Kalou. Could see a return to the 5 man midfield with Ballack, Lampard and Essien forming the centre with the others fighting for a place on the wing, Mikel and Sidwell would rotate in the midfield, though thsi does mean only one striker out of Sheva, Drogba and Pizarro...will be interesting to see what happens. The other decent transfer talk of the day involves Tottenham closing in on Younes Kaboul, a young central defender from Auxerre who carries around a 8 million price tag, hefty weight for a young defender. Never seen him, but reports make him sound highly promising and he has captained the French U-21 side. He'll probably start on the bench this season since central defence is such an important position that any new players have to be bedded in slowly, but with King never far from the operating table, he may get some starts sooner then he thinks.

More takeover talk, Blackburn are in talks with American based businessman Daniel Williams who stresses that he is in the early stages of a takeover process. He makes all the right noises about not changing a huge amount to the club, but this is obviously going to be a long drawn out process so I'll keep you updated. Thaksin Shinawatra's bid for Man City is apparently still on track despite his frozen bank accounts and the corruption investigation. Not sure what to believe on this one so think I'll just play it safe and wait and see. Our final takeover gossip involves talks between Stan Kroenke, Peter Hill-Wood and Keith Edelman in the USA, as you should all know Kroenke has been buying up Arsenal shares and this was a clear-the-air meeting. It seems as if some air was cleared and reports seem quietly encouraging with the Arsenal directors stating that they might work with him in the future, though another statement shall be made soon. The Arsenal board are doing the right thing, squaring off against Kroenke was never going to solve any uncertanties so this is a step in the right direction, and hopefully more should be known later this week.

Finally, the verdict on the Sheffield United hearing should be out by the end of the month so I shall be waiting to give my brilliant opinion on the issue. Night all.

England Investigated

Not a huge amount going on in the Footballing world today with only a few bits of interest. The FA have lodged a complaint over the racism in the U21 game last night, which is definitely the right move, but Huddlestone has been suspended for 2 games after his sending off, which means he'll miss the sem-final and the final of the tournament. Very silly sending off, he was only on the pitch for 3 minutes, and the kid should've known better, he's got a lot of talent and hopefully he'll learn from this. The English players are also under investigation for the eveents after the final whistle, when both sets of playes were in the tunnel. I hope that UEFA take into account the context of their actions, I'm not excusing whatever they did, but they had been through a game where their teammates had been racially abused by the Serbian fans and had to put up with the Serbian players becoming more and more agitated and aggressive. They're only young players and it's not suprising that the situation boiled over, I just hope that UEFA shows some common sense for once, and takes this into account when handing out punishments.

Francesco Totti has won the European Golden Boot award, I'm a fan of his footballing skills, though some of his conduct has been pretty bad, so congatulations to the fella. He may be back playing for Italy soon, which is great news for them as their European qualifying campaign hasn't been great so far.

Halfway through the Sheffield United hearing, with Liverpool's Chief Executive Rick Parry being called as a suprise witness for Sheffield United. McCabe of Sheffield United remains confident but we shall see. The hearing ends tomorrow.

Finally a few transfer rumours to keep you going, Milan have insisted that Eto'o remains their number one target for the summer. I feel sorry for him, he came out with a clear statement on staying at Barcelona, yet other clubs still try and unsettle him, in this case I'm not sure he'll be leaving unless Barcelona receive a huge transfer fee. Another Spanish club, Real Madrid, have apparently confirmed their interest in Tevez, though his agent tells us that he could still stay at West Ham. I very much doubt that he'll be staying and it seems like he'll be heading to either Inter or Real this summer, which'll be a big loss for the Premiership but in the interests of Tevez.

Here's hoping that things pick up soon, Night.

Becks Bows out of Spain

Tonight the headlines have been stolen by Beckham. In his final game for Real Madrid, they came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and secure the La Liga title...unfortunately for Dave, he was subbed off pretty early due to his foot injury but still, it was a good night for him and a good way to finish his career. A lot has been said about Dave, both good and bad, and his move to LA Galaxy has been anylised by a lot of pundits, so I figure I might as well have my say too. People say he wouldn't have gone to LA if he hadn't been frozen out of the England side, and it's a good point, publicly he claimed that he would never give up on England but over Christmas he must have thought he'd had his last game. But I also think the move to LA is about escaping his fame lifestyle. He has never looked entirely comfortable under the spotlight, despite his huge amount of publicity, and in LA he can life a more sheltered lifestyle, along with the hundreds of filmstars, and possibly let his kids get to school without being pursued by huge amounts of paparrazzi. Of course, he will not be entirely out of spotlight, but in an area where Victoria and himself can control their publicity in a way that they could never achieve whilst in England or Spain, or even Italy, which is the one league that could have tempted him away from LA. If he had still been part of the England squad a move to Italy would have been very tempting, a slower, more technical league where he could've played for a few more seasons, but he still would have had to put up with the press. LA looks more and more like the right decision for his family and him, he gets to try and change a whole country into loving football, Victoria is at the centre of celebrity fashion, and the kids can actually get to school without being mobbed. He will still play for England, and hopefully his game won't suffer, but good luck to him anyway.

In other news, the U21's made it through to the semi-final of the Euro Championship after beating Serbia 2-0 in a very controversial game. Lita got the first but the game then had be stopped, when the referee got the stadium announcer to broadcast an anti-racism message after English defender Nedum Onuaha was abused by the crowd, the game carried on but the second goal was scored whilst a Serbian player was down injured, which sparked a mass brawl between the two teams. Where to start, firstly racism has no place in the game and I hope FIFA punish the crowd members that abused the player, racism is something that is very rare in Holland and there can be no dithering about in this type fo situation, the Serbian footballing body is responsible for their fans and must be punished. With the second goal, the new rules brought in to football state that the referee is the one who has the power to stop the game when a player is injured, and that the players should carry on, so the players cannot be held to blame. However, I do dislike this rule and still believe that players should put out the ball, though I appreciate this is hard considering the amount of diving that goes on. It should still be an unwritten rule to put the ball out but you can no longer blame players for carrying on the brawl shouldn't have happened and I hope no England players are suspended for the next few games, Pearce has had enough to deal with already.

Well, no real transfer news, just the same old rumours, so goodnight all and I await the Sheffiel United hearing tomorrow with baited breath.

All dead in the world

Pretty dead today in the football world, with the same transfer rumours running the wire! We've talked about Henry before but it seems as if he is heading towards the exit, and in to the waiting arms of Barcelona. Not sure how the exact deal will work out but seems Arsenal may get Eto'o in a part exchange deal or a lot of money. Thierry will be a real loss to the Prem but I trust Wenger knows what he's doing, so watch this space.

Not much else, transfer probe going on but won't know more till later and that's bout it really. Hope tomorrow's a better day!

Bent Stays Put

Transfer news leads the way today starting with Darren Bent rejecting a move to West Ham. The deal was thought to have been about 16 million punds plus Hayden Mullins for the striker but in an unforseen move, Darren has decided that the move isn't for him, but why has he rejected this move? It's a no-brainer, a great deal for Charlton who get a very good amount of money for losing their top striker, and Darren gets to go back to the premiership, work under the same manager who bought him originally, play in a team that looks as if it'll make a push for Europe, and try and push for a place in the England squad. So what would make him reject a move? It could be said that his England chances have never looked great, and with Ashton and Owen coming back to fitness as well as Rooney and Crouch he may not be so positive about his chances there, but if Alan Smith can play for England then surely he's got to fancy his chances at some point in the season? Conclusions? Well, he could have decided to be loyal to his club and help return Charlton to the Premiership next season, he's still young and he's got a long future ahead of him, so one season in the Championship is not going to kill him, though it'll probably destroy his chances of going to Euro 2008. The only other possibility is that a bigger club might have let his agent know of a possible interest and he's holding out for a bigger move. I personally like to believe that he had some loyalty to his club because, let's face it, how often does that happen these days?

The other transfer news sees Joey Barton complete his move to Newcastle after they upped their bid by 300k to allow City to pay Joey's "loyalty" money, overall transfer fee now stands at 5.8 million. Tal Ben-Haim has moved to Chelsea on a free transfer, which is a very decent signing. Chelsea's defensive problems should now be solved as any injuries to Terry and Carvalho canbe covered by Alex, as well as Ben-Haim. Alex should even be pushing for a starting berth, his performance against Arsenal in the Chmpions League last season was one of the best defensive displays i've ever seen, and he'll be a real asset this season. They just need a right-back now.

Season fixtures out today, hopefully your teams have decent start to the season as that is vitally important. Newcastle at Bolton should be an interesting start. Also, U21s in action today with a 2-2 draw against Italy. Good result, although they did chuck away a 2-0 lead, and a win against Serbia will definitely see them through, though they have beaten both the Czechs and Italians so the result isn't guaranteed. Good luck to them anyway, they may need it. And on that note, I take my leave, till the morning.

Blades attempt to Bounce Back

Kevin McCabe leads the news today after saying that he would turn to the European commission for compensation if an independent court of arbitration fails to overturn the relegation of Sheffield United. Mr. McCabe is chairman of the Blades and will not look to the European commission to appeal any decision made by the court of arbitration, but rather to gain compensation for those who will lose their jobs and other “human rights” issues. Well well, where to start? I have got to say that I couldn’t believe that West Ham weren’t docked points by the Premier league, especially due to the precedent set by docking Middlesbrough points in 1997 when they didn’t fulfil a fixture. The record fine of 5.5 million was intended to gloss over this point, but backfired and brought more attention to it, and since then the issue hasn’t gone away. I have sympathy for both sets of fans but West Ham should’ve been docked point and should’ve gone down, however the Premiership has already ruled on the matter and any sort of challenge to that ruling will open up a door to the clubs that may never close. It’s a hard one to sort out, but the most important factor is how far can the ruling body be held accountable for its decisions? By joining the Premier League, the clubs gave the ruling body complete power to make these decisions and I’m afraid that Sheffield United may just have to face another season in the Championship, however unfair it may be. We shall watch, with interest, how it turns out on Monday.

Over at Manchester City, their managerial search has been in the news today with Sevilla manager Juande Ramos and ex-Porto manager Co Adriaanse both emerging as front runners for the job. Tonight they both distanced themselves from the job, which is understandable considering the situation at City and the fact that Ramos is fighting for the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey in Spain. Both have big reputations but Ramos is probably top of the list, he has won the UEFA cup twice, and has given the big boys of Spanish football a run for their money this season. He must see more potential at City if he is to consider this job so everything may hinge on the takeover talks and how they go. Again, we shall observe with fascination.

As always we finish with transfer news: Middlesbrough have signed Turkish international striker Tuncay on a free transfer, which looks to be a nice bit of business. He famously scored a hat-trick against Man Utd and bolsters their striking options, good deal all round. Sunderland have apparently made an offer for David Nugent, who I’m a fan of, and he’ll be a decent signing, though at 6 million he is overpriced, like all English players. Lastly, Wigan have had a 4 million pound offer for Jason Koumas rejected. He’s a lovely player to watch when he’s on form but he’s need to play in his best position, behind the 2 strikers, and there aren’t very many managers willing to employ that type of role so if he does come to the Premiership, I hope he gets the chance to shine.

Night all.

Eto'o shows how it's done

If there is one way to stop any transfer rumours, we have seen it today from Samuel Eto’o who has dismissed all links with any possible move away from the Nou Camp. Today he said this,
"The club can't get rid of me because of my contract and as we both want to continue anyway, there is nothing more to talk about. I am staying at Barcelona and I don't know where these stories saying I'm going come from."
It’s refreshing to see such a strong statement of loyalty from a top player and it’s something that a lot of players could do emulate stop silly transfer rumours, but then they would never get bigger contracts and agents wouldn’t earn any money so this will definitely turn out to be the exception rather then the rule. Thierry Henry certainly hasn’t come out with such a statement, although his agent is suing the French paper that reported he’d signed a provisional 3-year deal with Barcelona, and he’s stated,
“In my head I’m still an Arsenal player and my departure is not a current issue”
Unfortunately for us, we will never be able to get into his head and, unfortunately for him, his departure is a current issue. I’m beginning to wonder just what game he’s playing at the moment? Yesterday I believed that he wouldn’t be on his way, but such is the fickle nature of football that now I’m beginning to wonder if he might be edging towards the exit door. It also could be that he’s trying create a situation where he can cause enough unrest at the club to bring back David Dein (as explained on Arseblog), but since we can’t read his mind, we’ll just have to wait this one out. If he is sold then Arsenal do hold all the cards so expect another big transfer fee.

Also hogging the headlines is news of a couple of takeovers! First up, Thaksin Shinawatra’s bid to takeover Man City apparently about to collapse after the Thai government froze his bank accounts and started investigating his offshore assets. From the little I know about this situation, its seems that the new military government are attempting to assert their power over the man they threw out and pre-empt any future moves by Thaskin to regain a power base in Thailand, much like what the Russian government has also been doing to its rich opponents. This, of course, spells bad news for City, who need to find a new manager quickly to start building a squad for next season, but who would’ve thought that the political situation in Thailand could ever effect a Premiership club, football never ceases to amaze.

Our second takeover news is just at the rumour stage, but what a rumour. Apparently the fifth richest man in the world is eying up Birmingham City! Lakshmi Mittal, worth 19.25 Billion pounds (roughly double what Abramovich is worth) has emerged as a contender to buy Birmingham along with a mysterious Far East businessman. It is only a rumour but imagine what might happen to Birmingham if he comes along. I suspect Birmingham fans will be keeping their fingers crossed so watch this space.

Finally I leave you with news that Inter and Carlos Tevez have confirmed their interest in each other. I suspect that he might be on his way, which is a pity for the premiership since he was a star last season but I don’t think he was ever going to stay at West Ham even with the investment going on, a player of his talent wants Champions League football and Inter look like they’ll be bringing him over to Italy. Ciao.

Henry's Agent Fights Back

Today sees the clearest indication that all is well at Arsenal with news that Thierry Henry’s agent has slammed reports of a provisional 3 year contract with Barcelona. Jeff Weston, the man in charge of the group looking after Henry, stated,
“There’s never been any question of him not being at Arsenal next season”
Considering that agents are usually the trouble-stirrers, this is a pretty clear indication that Thierry is most likely going to stay at Arsenal next season, which is great news for the Arse and for the premiership. The only possibility of him going is in a part-exchange move for Eto’o and since Barcelona do not want to sell him, I think that Henry is staying put. Mind you, it is a long summer and anything can happen in football but I just can’t see him leaving, all a bit tiring really.

Our U21’s got off to a stuttering start today with a 0-0 draw against the Czech Republic; not a great performance with Leroy Lita missing a penalty in the last 5 minutes, but, at least we did better then the Italians who lost 1-0 to Serbia in their opener. It’s not the greatest start but we do have enough quality in our side to make it through to the semis at least. I see Stuart Pearce as more of a hindrance then a help, he’s got plenty of passion and he’s the most honourable manager out there but he doesn’t have the tactical nous to succeed at a high level. Luckily, passion is probably what’s needed in these shorter tournaments, so fingers crossed the team perk up and goes on a good run.

And to end with, some transfer news: Greg Halford has signed for Sunderland in a 3 million pound deal from Reading. Bit of a weird transfer, he’d only had 3 appearances for Reading, but as a Colchester local I’ve seen a fair bit of him and he was always head-and-shoulders above the over players! Seriously, he’s definitely one for the future. Alou Diarra wants to leave Lyon and Portsmouth are rumoured to be leading the chase. He’s a highly rated central midfielder and I’m not sure whether Portsmouth have enough clout to sign the man, he’ll definitely be wanting Champions League football in the next couple of seasons and with interest from Bayern Munich, I’m not sure Portsmouth will win this battle.

Goodnight all, let’s hope tomorrow perks up a little.

Galaxy Beckons

So Calderon’s at it again, and boy this guy just won’t stay out of the news. Today he’s trying to persuade Becks to stay at Real Madrid after stating that he has a clause in his contract that allows him to stop his move to LA Galaxy. Galaxy have come out and said they know of no clause, and sources close to Becks say he’s set on his move. So Mr. Calderon loses again but before we have any sympathy, this is the man who called Dave, “an average cinema actor living in Hollywood”, when Becks first announced his move Galaxy. Put simply, he does not deserve any sort of sympathy and though I would have liked Dave to stay around in European football for another few years, it is fully understandable why he chose to move to Galaxy. At the time he looked like he had no chance of playing for England and Madrid again, so before people start labelling him a sell-out for his move, they should put themselves in his shoes and see just why he made the decision to go to the US.

All still quiet on the transfer front with the only news of interest being that Bolton may cash in on Kevin Nolan and that Dave Nugent is looking to leave Preston. Nolan is a hugely underrated player and would be an asset at any premiership club, and I wonder what the odds are on him joining Big Sam at Newcastle? Nugent is someone I’m a big fan of, saw his goal against Southampton when he coolly finished in front of goal with the outside of his right foot, and from what I hear he would definitely score goals in the Premiership. Everton are the favourites but Boro may come in since they desperately need some striking power.

Kudos to Wenger for saying he’ll honour his contract, though we shouldn’t have doubted that in the first place. If you want to read a good opinion on the whole going ons at Arsenal then go to arseblog.com where your man cuts through the crap and explains the whole thing a lot better then I ever could…which is probably why he has sponsors and I have nothing…and on that sad note, I shall make my exit…but only till tomorrow, when the fun shall renew. Night all.

Calderon Chokes Up

Pretty quiet today on the transfer front with no major news to report. Ancelotti of AC Milan has come out and said that getting Henry from Arsenal will be very difficult but then I think pretty much everyone could work that out. Sneijder may snub both Villa and Spurs and stay at Ajax for another season, which would be a pity since he would be a major asset to the premiership, though I do hope he doesn’t end up at Spurs! Robben is close to signing a new deal with Chelsea, which might make Calderon keep his mouth shut for a few hours though pigs might fly first. Liverpool have apparently enquired about Darren Bent with rumours of an 18 million pound price tag coming up, he’s a quality striker with a proven goal-scoring record in the premiership but 18 million is way too much money, no wonder clubs aren’t buying English players anymore.

And speaking of strikers, Man Utd are actively in the hunt for one to partner Rooney up front as they have lost patience with Saha,, and Solskjaer is not the same player as he used to be. You’ve hear them all before but just in case, the names being thrown around are Torres, Berbatov, Anelka and Huntelaar and they are all going to cost an arm and leg so watch this space.

To finish up today, a quick note on the announcement that all the England players are donating their England match-fees to Team England Footballers charity. A great idea, and though it isn’t a huge amount to the players, it’ll make a big difference to others so good on ‘em, it isn’t always that we applaud the English team so they deserve credit where it’s due.

Thierry Talks and Bentley Bolts

And so it begins again, Thierry “va va voom” Henry has come out and talked about how “devastated” he was to see David Dein go and how “flattered” he is to hear about interest from AC Milan. Every fan, whether Arsenal or not, knows that the Arsenal board had no other choice then to get rid of Dein, the man was working behind the backs of the board members to bring in Kroenke and there’s no way that he could have retained his position on the board after they stated that they would not welcome any takeover attempt by Kroenke. Thierry seems to be a clever chap and he should have realised this, so even if he was devastated by the news, which is fair enough seeing as they were quite close, he should not have come out and said it in public. Who knows what kind of game he’s playing? To me it doesn’t seem like he wants to leave, but he is trying to draw attention to the insecurities at Arsenal at the moment, albeit in the wrong fashion. The board need to come out and say a few things in the next week, they should tie up Wenger’s contract, make a signing, state that Henry is going nowhere and outline what the club will do over the summer. This will hopefully put a stop to all the mutterings coming out of the Emirates.

Lots of games being played in other clubs too, Malouda has come out and stated that he wants to leave Lyon and has had contact with Chelsea and Liverpool, though nothing has been sorted out yet. Another classic move by a want-away player and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in a Chelsea shirt within the next couple of weeks. Our favourite president, Mr. Calderon of Real Madrid, has told the world that he’d welcome Kaka with open arms. Brilliant PR from the Madrid man but Kaka will not be going anywhere this summer.

Tottenham and Aston Villa have both been linked with Wesley Sneijder of Ajax. I have bought him a number of times in Football Manager and he’s always done the job for me. But seriously, seen him play a few times and he’s a class act so would love to see him in the premiership…but preferably not for Tottenham. Chimbonda of Tottenham also may be on his way to Chelsea who are in the market for a right-back but I can’t see this one happening, it would take a lot of money to prise him away from Spurs and Chelsea would be better off looking on the continent for a right back, Daniel Alves would make the most sense.

Finally, a quick rant about David Bentley. Fair enough he’s played a lot of games this season and been involved with the main Enlgand squad, but leaving the U21 squad now because of “fatigue” is a fucking joke. Stuart Pearce cannot call up a replacement as he can only replace injured players and so is now left with 22 players for the European U21 Championship. The guy knows he’s tired so why leave it till this late to tell the boss? All he had to do was to tell Stuart Pearce a couple of weeks ago that he was going to train with the main squad then have a break, and we would’ve been able to call up another player. It just pisses me off that he’ll get out of this without any sort of punishment after letting his country and his team mates down. He should not be picked for England for a lengthy period of time. Rant over now, hope everyone has a good day…apart from Bentley, I hope he can’t sleep for the next week.

England stutter on

First up, good win for England last night, a decent performance but not one we should measure the team by. The fact that a qualifying game against Estonia became so important is a sad reflection on the England management, players and press. The real tests are coming up and I’m in that horrible place where I want England to win but I also, kind of, want them to lose so that McClaren will get fired. It seems very unpatriotic but I know most English fans out there are feeling the same way but don’t want to admit it, which is fair enough because no one knows who I am!

Transfer news now, Mark Viduka has sealed his free transfer move to Newcastle and the strikeforce of Owen, Viduka and Martins looks pretty tasty. Middlesbrough apparently offered him an “outstanding” offer to stay but Newcastle would have been able to match any financial terms and are also, no offence to Boro supporters out there, the team more likely to do better this season. The Boro are in a bad way and desperately need some strikers with Aliadiere being the only striker who looks like joining. Speaking as an Arsenal fan, he is too hit-and-miss to replace a man like Viduka though his pace does mean he’ll always look dangerous.

Now keep it quiet everyone but Chelsea and Arjen Robben have apparently opened up talks with Real Madrid over a possible transfer. This has been loudly announced to the world press by their president, Roman Calderon. Chelsea have denied any talks and are now writing to FIFA to investigate any illegal talks between the player Real Madrid. President Calderon joins the ranks of other Presidents across the world who seem not to know when to keep their mouth shut…weapons of mass destruction anyone?

There has also been a string denial by Samuel Eto’o of any transfer talk between himself and Rafa Benitez. Both Barcelona and the player seem to want the same thing, for him to be at Barca next season, and I can’t see why he’d swap Barcelona for Liverpool. No offence to Liverpool fans but he seems like the type of player who prefers a free-flowing type of football to the more direct tactical football that Rafa likes to play, and Barca is perfect for him in that way. And just in case, that wasn’t a criticism, just a comment!

Finally, Ribery is off to Bayern so no more Arsenal rumours on that front and Parker has finally completed his move to West Ham. Another busy day in the funny world of football.

Midfield Movement

Once again West Ham and Newcastle are in the headlines with Scotty Parker sealing his move to West Ham from Newcastle for 7 Million. He's had a decent couple of seasons at Newcastle but hasn't really set the world alight though that was probably more down to the quality of his team-mates then his own performances, plus he first rose to form under Curbishley at Charlton so he should slot in pretty easily and we might be seeing some much-improved displays from him next season. He will replace Mr. Reo-Coker who looks like he's on his way to Villa with only a fee between the two clubs standing in the way of this potential move. And to complete this little transfer dance, Joey Barton has agreed personal terms with Newcastle who should sign him for about 5.5 million in the next couple of days. So, who has done best out of this? Out of the three I'd definitely have Barton, he's cheaper, just as good as the other two, and sounds like he might have grown up. However he may still go to jail, which is a slight downside but still better then listening to Reo-Coker go on about how he wasn't wanted enough. Both West Ham and Newcastle have done good business and it's quite interesting to note that Joey and Scotty both resemble their managers...the reserved midfielder and the psycho midfielder under the reserved and psycho managers...I’ll leave you to work out which one is which.

Poor Ben Foster has cruciate knee ligament damage, which means we won't be seeing him for a while. It's a pity because he looks like he could have pushed both Van Der Sar and Robinson for the Man Utd and England jersey respectively, but that's football. Good luck to his recovery.

Incredibly, Newcastle are rumoured to be interested in a central defender....sorry, what's that? 2 central defenders! Amazing, I thought I’d never see the day that a manager comes into Newcastle and sees what any football fan has seen for a long time...the defence is shite. So Ben-Haim may be joining his old manager, and David Rozenhal of PSG looking like he's on his way. Don't know much about Rozenhal but it looks like Big Sam is crafting a decent little side together, if Owen can stay fit (much touching of wood) then I’m looking forward to seeing how they gel.

Finally, sorry about the first post, technical issues with blog, and good luck to England tonight. We're making an awfully big fuss about beating Estonia, even Big John Terry has come out and told us to blame him if it all goes wrong...I hate to ruin his grand gesture but maybe if he saved statements like that for World Cup quarter finals, rather then a qualifier against a team ranked 110th in the world, we would all take a little bit more notice.

Here we go again

So Gerrard has backed Lampard to regain his form, Gilberto SIlva has also backed Lampard and next up I think my Labrador might come out and back him, just in case no one was getting the point that Lampard hasn't hit form for England since....forever! I feel that the age-old debate of "can Gerrard and Lampard play in the centre together?" has now turned into the "does Lampard deserve to be in the centre at all?" debate, and the answer to this has got to be a resounding NO. As much as he has played well for Chelsea, I just don't think that he is international standard, he seems to become very average as soon as he doesn't have the quality of Chelsea's midfield around him and I’m afraid that I’d definitely have Carrick and Hargreaves over him....though I'm not sure why I’m afraid because I'm pretty sure that he will ever read this....better safe then sorry.

Don't get me wrong, he's a very good player but he's had his chance to stamp his mark on England and has failed to produce, he may play brilliantly against Estonia but that won't prove anything and it's time to give Carrick a chance to show what he's got, on the back of a brilliant season for United, before Hargreaves comes back from injury.

The Usual Suspects

Welcome to the blog as I start off with news that Mr. Joey Barton has undergone a medical at Newcastle but that West Ham have also had a bid for him accepted. 5.5 million is the apparent price that Man City have accepted from both clubs and it remains to be seen where he will end up. Both teams are undergoing their respective facelifts with Curbishley looking to form an interesting central midfield partnership of Barton and Parker, and Big Sam looking to bring in a man who will make sure that any Newcastle underachievers won't hang around if they know that Barton is after them on the training pitch! God knows what night happen with Barton and Butt training together, there's an accident waiting to happen. Saying that, I've always been a fan of Barton on the pitch, a decent box-to-box midfielder who always brought a bit of quality to their side, as well as some decent arse-cheeks, and i reckon that he'd fit in more with the Toon army then the Hammers as Big Sam might be the man to mellow him out and get the best out of him whereas Curbishley does not strike me as a man who handles conflict particularly well, but then again he has more money to offer then Sam which will probably mean that Joey's already polishing his new Bentley for the journey down south.

West Ham has also hit the headlines with the possible departures of Harewood and Reo-Coker. Personally I've never liked either player who both flatter to deceive but if pushed, would probably bid for Reo-Coker over Harewood, and this is what has happened. Aston Villa have come in for Reo-Coker with a 7 Million bid and....no-one has come in for Harewood yet, but don't worry Marlon, I hear that Charlton might be interested. As for Reo-Coker, I hope that O'Neill gives him a good talking to if Villa get him because he obviously has talent but seems to have this entire season moaning rather then playing. Admittedly he was made a scapegoat for the decline of West Ham but instead of trying to play his way out of this role, he just chucked his toys out of the pram instead, not the world's greatest move and something that O'Neill will not tolerate.

In other news: Henry continues to be linked with Barcelona (yawn) but if anyone actually read Cesc Fabregas's quotes then they'd realise that the press are making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Viduka has agreed to sign for Newcastle in principle, which means that a strike force of Owen, Martins and Viduka sounds bloody good as long as Owen stays at Newcastle and stays fit but it seems to me that Big Sam should spend more time looking for a couple of centre-backs then for strikers and midfielders.

And finally a quick note on Shevchenko, it seems that he shall be staying with Chelsea as Milan have admitted defeat in trying to re-sign him, this may not be a fashionable point of view but I think this is brilliant news. He is a class player that has had a difficult season adjusting to tactics that don't suit him and a manager who did not seem to want him around. He may not have scored a lot of goals this season but Drogba wouldn't have scored nearly as many goals without him in the team this season, his running and presence took a lot of defensive pressure off Drogba and allowed him to thrive. People have short memories but as long as Chelsea keep him, I think we'll see the best of him next year.

The usual suspects involved and I think we’ll be hearing a lot more from West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa during the summer…and I don’t even get paid for these gems of wisdom!