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.