And so the inevitable has happened, West Ham, Man Utd, the Premier League and Kia Joorabchian have failed to reach an agreement over the transfer of Carlos Tevez and so FIFA have been called in to settle the dispute. All the parties decided this was the best way to go and so FIFA have set up a 'Dispute Resolution Chamber', which will deal with the issue in the next few weeks. What an absolute mess this has turned out to be, and who knows what FIFA will decide in the end. I can only hope that the decision of FIFA will be viewed as final by the parties involved, but if FIFA make a decision against the Premier League then I can't see them just accepting a public attack on their authority. I'm afraid that this will not end well unless FIFA can somehow reach a deal that satisfies all parties, and the likelyhood of that is pretty slim at the moment. Still, at least it will take a few weeks to reach any decision, so we can concentrate on other footballing matters until we know more.
It looks like Arjen Robben is on his way out of Chelsea after he apparently agreed personal terms with Real Madrid. The fee between the two cluns still has to be settled, but after that he will be on his way. A big loss to the Premiership, he is an incredibly talented player who has been unlucky with injuries since his move to Chelsea, but has shown us what he can do in those brief glimpses. Some take issue with his play-acting, but unfortunately that is part of the modern game now, I'm not excusing it and I would have loved to have seen him stay up on his feet more often, but this bad side is far outweighed by the excitement he causes when he has the ball. There are few better sights in the game then Arjen Robben in full flow. The way he ducks his shoulder, looks down and then sets off with the ball seemingly stuck to his foot is absolutely joyful to behold, he is one of a few players who doesn't even need to touch the ball to trick his opponents. He can just send them in the wrong direction with a shoulder move, and then use his pace and skill to take advantage of the space offered, so so dangerous. Chelsea will miss him but they have got a good number of wingers, and Malouda offers more consistency then Arjen, so they should be ok for next season. Still, you hate to see a good player leave, no matter who you support.
Elsewhere, Newcastle are now officially a privately owned club with Mike Ashley completing his takeover. He now owns about 95% of the shares and so the club has been de-listed from the Stock Exchange.
Birmingham are close to taking Mido on loan for the season from Tottenham. I still can't get over his change from fat Mido to fit Mido, and I'm not sure whether that was the best move as since he changed the goals have dried up. But he didn't really get a look-in last season at Spurs since Keane and Berbatov were playing so well, so hopefully he can recapture some form with first-team football. I, however, am pretty sure that he will not do a huge amount at Birmingham, but his experience might be helpful.
Not much else to report so it's bedtime for me, no rest for the wicked.
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Having had all the excitment of the Copa America for the last few weeks receiving a small amount of coverage in the media, the 2007 Asia Cup seems to have been somewhat overshadowed.
It would be fair to say that the talent on show certainly isn't to the standard of the South American football, but all the same it is a shame to see the tournament getting no attention.
The skills on show in the China, Uzbekistan match yesterday were certainly low; speculative shooting, brutally wild tackling and dubious referring, but the tempo and 'route-one' football on show were very entertaining.
What with Australia stuttering in the tournament, China now knocked out and Iraq progressing to the next round; the tournament is proving to be a bit unpredictable.
Would love to see a bit of coverage as the final few rounds draw to a close.
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