Manchester United Winger Not Leaving

Rumours that a transfer request had been handed in to Manchester United by their French winger Gabriel Obertan were rubbished by his agent today, who insisted that Obertan is happy at Manchester United and no transfer request had been handed in at any time.

Obertan, who was brought in by Sir Alex Ferguson in July 2009 - a £3 million buy from French club Bordeaux, was rumoured to have come to the conclusion that he is not good enough to make the grade at Old Trafford. He has not had a lot of pitch time in his short stay at the club, but this is to be expected from a player that was relatively unknown in the English Premier League at the time of his aquisition.
Obertan's representative, Karim Djaziri, claimed the Frenchman has not handed in a transfer request and is happy to stay at Old Trafford:

"I have read that Gabriel has handed in a transfer request, but no he has not done this. He is very happy at Manchester United and he doesn't want to leave.

Obertan was signed and unveiled along with Antonio Valencia, who came from Wigan, and although Valencia is currently out injured (but soon to return), the Ecuadorian winger is one of a few players whom fight for a place on the wings. Obertan should be taking tips from players such as Nani, Ryan Giggs and Antonia Valencia, in the hope that he can learn how to become an accomplished wing man. It seems his representative acknowledges this:

"He is still learning and he knows he is not ready to be a regular starter in the team, but he is working hard to be a member of the first team."

It is true that Obertan hasn't set United alight, and his career in Manchester hasn't really taken off yet, but at the young age of 21, and still quite inexperienced in English football, the Frenchman has much to learn, and has plenty of time to learn it. Who and where better to learn his trade than under the wing of Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, who knows what it is like to be coming up through the United ranks?

Obertan has scored only one goal in the first team for United, which was in a Champions League game against Bursaspor, but he has been impressive in the reserves, scoring a handful of quality goals which must have impressed Ferguson. Young players like this need a chance, and therefore must be patient and prepared to work hard to prove that he is good enough to make the grade at United, because at United, only the best will do.

Carroll to Liverpool Confirmed, Adam on His Way

Liverpool announced on their website that the club have agreed a fee for Newcastle and England striker Andy Carroll. The deal is apparently worth in excess of £35 million, which is absolute madness when you consider Torres was bought for £20 million in 2007, while David Villa, World Cup winner and proven goalscorer was bought by Barcelona for £34 million.

 There is a whole host of players that can be named who were bought for better value in the market, and considering Carroll has only spent 6 months in the Premier League with a newly promoted side, it is certainly a big gamble for Liverpool as they throw over half the expected transfer money from the Torres sale at Newcastle's gaping mouth and impossibly wide eyes probably filled with pound signs.

I suspect the hefty price is to do with the fact that Carroll is English, which always raises the price of players; Darren Bent and James Milner for example. Not to mention the fact that Liverpool are desperate to find a Torres replacement before the window closes, and will evidently do all they can to find one.

Charlie Adam of Blackpool is on his way to Liverpool in a car sent by Liverpool to sign for Liverpool. The car is an Audi, if that is of any importance. Oh yes, and the deal is reportedly worth £14 million. Madness.

But let us remember, that it is goals that win games, not massive transfer fees, so the players that are bought, although massively overpriced with inflated figures of stunning magnitude, must have time to prove their worth with the thing that counts the most - match winning goals.

L.A Galaxy Agree to Beckham Tottenham Loan

It looks as if David Beckham will definitely be returning to England to play for Tottenham, as L.A Galaxy have agreed to let him leave on loan. A Tottenham spokesperson confirmed: "LA Galaxy say they will loan."

Tottenham have always been the favourites to sign Beckham - and not only because they are the biggest club to have shown an interest. The presence of Philip Anschutz, the L.A Galaxy owner has most probably been the biggest factor in the MLS sides preference to let Beckham leave for Tottenham too; his company, 'The Anschutz Entertainment Group' are in partnership with Tottenham over plans to take over the Olympic Stadium, and it is thought, he has had the final say in Beckhams short term future.

There had been some anger in America that Beckham was seeking to leave the MLS on loan again, as he has no World cup to "prepare for" and his chances of gaining his spot in the England team are now quite slim. Some critics of the move have said that Beckham is being disloyal to Galaxy, and he isn't paying the club enough respect, while others claimed it was all just about grabbing headlines and making money. The Tottenham manager said on the week end:

 "One thing is for sure - David is not coming here for the money. He is a multi-millionaire. He just wants to play football and that tells you everything you need to know about him."

Quite right.

Beckham and his wife have also had their sons enrolled in a private school in England, confirming that the move to Tottenham will go ahead, as the family prepares for life back home.

Beckham is likely to join his new Tottenham team-mates in the next few days - meaning he will have settled back in England by the time Spurs play the midfielders former club, Manchester United on the 16th January.

Tevez Withdraws his Transfer Request

The latest twist in the Tevez transfer tale is that the former Manchester United striker has withdrawn his request to leave City. A Manchester City statement read:

"Carlos expressed his absolute commitment to the Club and formally withdrew his transfer request. Carlos’ contract remains unchanged and both Carlos and the Football Club are keen to focus on the opportunities that lie ahead."   

So what has changed the Argentinians mind? Probably nothing at all. Earlier in the month he was absolutely certain he wanted to leave the club because he had fallen out with certain members of the club, and that there was no way he would re think his decision - thus handing in a transfer request. Clubs like Real Madrid and Chelsea were reportedly ready to swoop for the uncommitted player who was also apparently thinking of retirement.

Now, just before tonight's game against Everton - at Manchester City's ground, he withdraws his transfer request and praised by his manager:

 "Carlos is a world class player whose contribution since he joined the club has been invaluable"

He may have changed his mind because he knows that if City want to keep him at the club, they will. They are under no pressure to sell as they don't need the money, and they certainly won't want to sell to a title rival in England. Or is it simply an attempt to avoid a frosty reception from the home crowd tonight aimed at the disloyal former captain? Rooney didn't totally avoid a controversial reception after his contract ordeal at Manchester United and there will be certain members of tonight's crowd that take a disliking to the Tevez situation.

Watch: Newcaste 3 - 1 Liverpool

Manchester United Target Schweinsteiger signs New Deal

Bastein Schweinsteiger, reported target of Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid, has signed a new contract at Bayern Munich which runs until 2016. This news leaves Sir Alex Ferguson still looking for a central midfielder of real quality to come in and take the reigns from Paul Scholes in leading the United midfield line.

It had been widely suggested that the German was ready to leave Bayern for England, with him admitting that his brother begs him regularly to join the Old Trafford side, but this news has dashed his brothers (and United fans') chances of seeing the 26 year-old proudly wearing the red of United.

Schweinsteiger announced his future in a microphone after a win at the Allianz Arena. He told the fans:

"I have extended my contract and will stay at FC Bayern until 2016. Long live Bayern!"

United do look likely to sign Steven Defour of Standard Liege in the close future however. The Belgian has been a long term target of Ferguson and it is highly likely that the Scotsman will swoop for the central midfielder before any other team does as he looks to strenghten his midfield.


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Manchester City Striker wants to leave in January

Frustrated Figure: Santa Cruz

Competition for first team places are tough to come by nowadays at Manchester City, as Roberto Mancini, backed by the billionaire owners, has always got his sights on new, top quality players to add to the already talented team.

This competition however, is proving too tough for Roque Santa Cruz, as he told a radio station that his intention is to leave Manchester City in January because of the lack of first team opportunities.
The South American striker said:

"Unfortunately I'm not playing as I'd like. The club has invested heavily, competition for places is great and I'm working every day to try and convince the coach ... but I'm still not getting picked. The situation is very complicated, I wanted to think well of it, but I'm not getting the playing time to convince anybody and my priority is to leave in the January transfer market.

"The coach has opted for certain players and on top of that his system plays with just the one striker, so I have even fewer options.

"I'm 29 years old and still hope to fulfill my dream of playing in Spain. It is the dream of most South American players, so let's see, hopefully it will happen. I wanted to play again because I'm not getting playing time here. My intention is to leave City in the January transfer window and I hope that it could be for the Spanish League."

Since joining the club in 2009 for a fee of around £17.5 million from Blackburn, the former Bayern Munich star hasn't really been able to hold on to a first team place, and his form has suffered, thanks in no small part to injuries.

At 29 years of age he won't fetch much money in the transfer window. His lack of form has reduced the asking price considerably, and it doesn't seem likely that City will make a profit from him.
With billions of pounds to spend on a new replacement, and with strikers like Tevez, Adebayor, Balotelli and Jo still at the club, it also doesn't seem likely that the Eastlands club will miss him.

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez Scores for Mexico Again

Hernandez has been described by the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as two footed, very quick, has a good spring and a natural goalscorer. So Ferguson certainly knows what he is talking about!
The exciting young Mexican once again showed his potential with a clever run, onside, with a simple tap in. If you don't get in the positions, you don't score the goals. Chicharito does both.
It was his eleventh international goal - scoring two in he World Cup against Argentina and France, with the rest coming in friendly games - one against World Champions Spain. More of this form and Hernandez could be nailing himself to the Manchester United team-sheet. Good to see.

Michael Owen Should Leave Manchester United

Michael Owen is a fantastic striker. His finishing is fantastic and his vision and ability to find space in the box is brilliant, but his inability to get a fair run in the United team to make an impact is his downfall.

Nowadays, with his lack of real pace to get around players and unpredictable fitness, it can be difficult for Ferguson to start him in a big game or a game against a physical team - such as Sunderland on Saturday. Owen, like most predatory strikers, relies on good service from the wings and creative players. He didn't get that at all against Sunderland, with United not creating much as a whole. There is no doubt, that if he was given the chance, he would have taken it with ease.

At other clubs, Owen would be given much more of a chance. He could show his real talent, and score many more goals in a lot more games than he is getting at United. With Ferguson favouring Rooney and Berbatov, as well as Hernandez and Macheda getting more and more first team oppurtunities over Owen, it seems Owen is going to have to find a new club.

Aston Villa and Gerard Houllier have shown interest in the English striker, but they are surely not the only team interested. Many other clubs would jump at the chance of signing such an experienced and talented player. He can still add a lot of quality to many teams in the Premier League. Maybe even his struggling old club Liverpool?

Hernandez Lifts United

It was a tricky game for Manchester United last night. A game away to the La Liga leaders with both Rooney and Scholes not travelling is a tough job to complete. But they did it.

United had to resist a lot of pressure from Valencia, but they knew this would happen away from home. Valencia wanted to put on a show for their fans, who, so far this season have been very pleased with what they have seen. However, Valencia could not penetrate the United defence with their play, although they tried other tactics, such as an aggressive stamp on Vidic's chest by one of the Valencia attackers, and then Soldados ridiculously desperate attempt to remove Nani's boots as the winger had the ball, when Soldado was on the floor. Astonishingly, in both occasions, the offender got away with it, but ultimately payed the price by conceding a late goal, and losing the game.

Valencia were a compact force. It was hard for United to create anything through the midfield, although this was probably thanks to the absence of Scholes, and the poor performances from Nani, Park, and Anderson. Nani, once again was giving the ball away with silly decisions, when a simple pass was on, and often, when he did choose the right pass, hit it too short, leaving the receiver with more work to do. It adds to the frustration, when it seems Nani doesn't realise the mistakes he makes, when they are schoolboy errors, which a man of his ability doesn't need to make. The sooner he realises that the small things like accurate, simple passing make him a better player as well as the big things like scoring a few goals, the better, because otherwise, he won't improve.

Berbatov had a tough game. His excellent season so far has relied on space and time on the ball, with options around him, as well as a good supplier from the wings. Last night, he had very little of any of those things, and therefore struggled to make an impact due to insufficient support. "Chicharito" saved United's day with a great little finish in the 85th minute to win the game. His first touch was to hit the post, while his second and third were controlling the ball and scoring. The young Mexican has brilliant pace, a great finish, and now a boost in confidence after his first Champions League goal for Manchester United. Is he the improved, young version of Michael Owen? Of course, he has a while to go before he eclipes the English legend, but the attributes are there.

United are now level on points with Rangers in their Champions League group, and their next game is against the Turkish club, Bursaspor, who have lost their first two games against Rangers last night, and Valencia. It should prove an easy qualification through to the knock-out rounds this year for United, but with their current form, you don't know what will happen.

Hargreaves is Back!

After what seemed like ages out of football with persitent injuries which seemed like never leaving him and even threatened his career, Owen Hargreaves is back in training for Manchester United.

Not only is he back in training, but he is also giving Sir Alex Ferguson headaches which may even keep him up at night. He is impressing Ferguson so much that he could be in a Manchester United squad - and therefore replacing a current regular in the very near future if he keeps his good form in training. The cure for Ferguson's headache, is quite simply the cause. Owen Hargreaves is an excellent weapon that can be injected into United side, and will add a great deal of stability to a defence which at the moment seems to be leaking silly goals like never before.

Carlo Ancelotti has recently said that having Michael Essien play for Chelsea again is like having a new player because he was out for most of last season. Manchester United having Hargreaves back is even better. He has been out for most of the time since signing for United, and his introduction now will be an excellent boost for the club and could prove the engine in the Manchester United side that this season could over-take Liverpool in the amount of titles won.

Great Teams Need Great Goalkeepers. Joe Hart can Be Great.

Take a look at the winning teams from recent Premier League years. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal. All had reliable, trustworthy, established and confident goalkeepers. United had Schmeichel and now have Van Der Sar, Chelsea had, and still have Petr Cech when they won consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and Arsenal had Jens Lehmann in their "Invincibles" team of 2004. Who was in goal in 1966 when England won the World Cup for the first and so far only (and possibly last) time? Gordon Banks - elected in a poll by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History Statistics) as the second best goalkeeper of the 20th Century.

 

Joe Hart is showing all of the qualities to become a top quality goalkeeper - on the same, and with his potential, possibly higher level as the goalkeepers listed above. His confidence brings so much to his game as well as others around him. He has bravery - to come out and put his body on the line for the good of the team. He has a great personality - one which shows his love of playing football - something which is rarely seen in modern football, with pressure often getting to players. And most importantly, he is reliable. His defenders know that he can catch the ball from crosses with conviction, and his reactions are second to none.

This can only mean good things for his team-mates. His defenders know how good he is, which gives them the confidence to push further forward, which, in turn, makes the midfielders push further forward, which helps to pressurise the opposition higher up the pitch. The defenders know that they can trust Hart. He lifts pressure off of his team-mates, which then helps them to play with more freedom.
Before Hart, the players couldn't do that. David James was known for his great reactions, but unfortunately, his erratic behaviour and often poor decision making too. This meant the players were always cautious and worried that a mistake could happen at any time, and they simply couldn't trust him.

The good thing is, that not only do the players trust Hart, but the manager, Capello, does as well.

"Roberto Mancini has chosen him for Manchester City and I have chosen him for the England team. He improved a lot last year when he played at Birmingham. That was really important. The two keepers we had who stayed with us [including Ben Foster] are in really good form."

England have struggled with goalkeepers for a while, with the last consistently good one in David Seaman. Have England found a long term successor? Is he a player who has the confidence and the right amount of arrogance to handle the pressure of being England Number One? Yes. And he's only 23.

Rafael Van Der Vaart on Moving to Tottenham

So Van Der Vaart moving to Tottenham was one of the transfer headlines of the final day of this years summer transfer window. Have a look at what the player himself has to say about his new club as well as his old club by clicking the link below.

Click Here to watch interview

Transfer Deadline day Summary

"Deadline Day". Here, I found a definition for you all:

Designates the approximate point in time at which work begins in earnest; employee motivation is frequently observed to be "dead" before the deadline draws near.


"Christ, it's the nearly deadline already?! Hey Pete, put down the controller my friend - it's time that we looked at these shuttle schematics."

 

Football managers may not be studying the ways in human beings can safely be transported to the moon in a space shuttle, but they are spending millions on young men who kick a ball around for ninety minutes every week. To many, like me, it is extremely important. Yes, today is "Deadline Day" and that means SkySports reporters getting extremely excited about exclusive reports and proceeding in giving us all a headaches as they scream down the expensive camera lenses to us at our homes.

 

I'm going to then start with a transfer which surprised me somewhat. Alexander Hleb has joined Birmingham City on a season long loan. The former Arsenal man who is currently owned by Barcelona, has been described by Alex McLeish, City's manager as "top quality" and a player whom he thought he would only realistically get in his dreams (or on the FIFA football games maybe?). Birmingham's spending doesn't stop there though! No, because Hleb joins fellow new signing Jiranek (Centre Back) who came from Russian club Spartak Moscow for an undisclosed fee, while the Chilean winger Jean Beausejour is expected to complete his transfer to St Andrew's later today. The arrivals take Birmingham's summer signings to six in total, as McLeish has already added Nikola Zigic, Ben Foster, Enric Valles and Matt Derbyshire to his squad. With all those signings strengthening their squad, I am tipping Birmingham to finish in the top half of the table, creeping into the Europa League spots. This Carson Yeung fellow who has pumped millions in for new signings is sure to get his reward! Isn't he?

Next, and we are with Liverpool. They have completed the signing of Paul Konchesky on a four year deal. Some are surprised by the signing of the former Charlton, West Ham and Fulham left-back who has never really attracted interest from the top clubs, but Hodgson obviously got along well with his former player and believes he can fill the somewhat problematic postition (one of many at Liverpool) of left-back.

In addition, with only Fernando Torres and David N'gog as their star strikers - and I use "star striker" loosley with N'gog, Hodgson is trying to hammer out a deal for Carlton Cole - West Ham's "star striker". With reports that Ryan Babel had been in a helicopter over London today, you could be forgiven if you thought that maybe Hodgson was trying to use Babel as a makeweight for the deal, with Babel heading to Upton Park. However Babel dashed Liverpool's fans hopes that they will be getting rid of the dissapointing, un prolific and waster-of-the-ball-almost-every-time-he-gets-it, by telling his followers on Twitter that he is "going nowhere".

Owen Coyle supported claim's saying that he like to play "good football" by buying a young Brazilian. Rodrigo Moreno came from Benfica and will bolster Bolton's side with his ermm.... quickness. He can also play in the wide positions as well as up-front.

Moving from one Brazilian to another, and Manchester City uber-flop Robinho has joined AC Milan for around £12 million. The figure will increse, not that City need the money, to £18 million depending on how well he does etc.

With Wigan losing 4 - 0 to Blackpool and 6 - 0 to Chelsea on their opening to games, you would think they would improve their defence. Instead, Martinez has opted for better attacking options. He has signed Manchester United 21 year old promising center midfielder, Tom Cleverley on a season long loan as well as Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo.

Sunderland have smashed their transfer record fee with the signing of Ghana international, Asamoah Gyan for £13 million. It breaks their former record of £10 million which they paid Tottenham for Darren Bent.
Finally, speaking of Tottenham, they have signed a new goalkeeper in Stipe Pletikosa from Spartak Moscow on a season long loan.
AND BREATHE!

Transfer Deadline Day

Asamoah Gyan is at the Stadium of Light discussing a move from Rennes

Klaas Jan Huntelaar has joined Schalke

Reading's Gylfi Sigurdsson has moved to Hoffenheim

Marcus Bent has joined Wolves on loan from Birmingham

Stipe Pletikosa has joined Spurs on loan from Spartak Moscow

Birmingham Sign Alexander Hleb on season long loan


Robinho to have medical at Milan this afternoon, with a view to signing four-year deal

Fulham say Mark Schwarzer is not leaving

Two Liverpool youngsters heading to Fulham as part of Konchesky deal

Tottenham have made a Robbie Keane plus cash bid for Steven Pienaar

Chelsea Begovic deal is definitely dead

Eidur Gudjohnssen is heading to Stoke

Ryan Babel on his way to West Ham in a helicopter

Platini's refusal to admit that he is wrong is stupidity of the highest degree

Irritating

With calls for technology in the game of football being as loud as can be, you would think there would be a response from the heads of UEFA. Well there has been a response. But it isn't a good one. Michel Platini, who is still fiercely against technology in football despite so many big decisions being judged wrongly, believes that the resolution to refereeing mistakes is to have two more referees. Not only that, but he is, with the help of Pierluigi Collina is going to make all referees as fit as the footballers themselves. With such a magnificent idea as that, he must be so proud of himself *extreme sarcasm*.

He believes that this new, revolutionary idea (again, oozing sarcasm) will, according to him, provide a "99 to 100 percent" guarantee of no more mistakes. 5 referees were present and supposedly working together to get all the decisions correct in the game between Tottenham and the Young Boys on Wednesday, and all five of them missed Jermaine Defoe's handball. Conveniently, when asked, Platini hadn't seen the incident. But this means, that this incident is down to the referees fitness. Is that what your telling us Platini?

Embarrassing: Referees Decision

It just makes you want to laugh it's so ridiculous. If there is a guarantee that 99 to 100 percent of the time, there will be no mistakes, which I doubt very very much, then why not make it a 100% guarantee that there will be no mistakes by introducing video technology?

I have seen no evidence as yet that five referees makes any difference to the final decision. There have been very few times when the officials behind the goal in Europa League games have intervened during the big decisions, either because they haven't seen it, or they are too scared to over-rule the referees decision. It takes less than 20 seconds for us watching at home to see on the replays what actually happened, yet Platini and Blatter's ego's are to vast for them to admit that they are wrong and turn to video technology to make football decisions accurate, but most importantly, fair.

If Players Refuse to Play, Clubs should Refuse to Pay.

Refusing to play: Mascherano

Football clubs and the F.A should come down much harder on these players who refuse to play for their clubs in the hope that they can encourage a move to another club which will make them, and their agents more money. Some football players must understand that they are owned by their football club, and they are under contract to them, and so when they are available to play a match, and they are picked, then they have no choice but to do as their clubs say.

However, with the recent transfer story involving Barcelona and Javier Mascherano of Liverpool, this was not the case. Mascherano refused to play for his club last week in the hope that his little "strike" would be noticed, and he would get his wish and move away from the club. With news today that Liverpool have now agreed to let Mascherano hold talks with Barcelona over a possible move, he has gotten what he wants. Surely this only encourages more players like Mascherano to do wrong and refuse to play in the hope of moving to another club.

Mascherano is not the only player of recent weeks to do this either. The Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic also refused to play in the hope that he could make a move to Chelsea possible. In addition, Hatem Ben Arfa of Marseille is presently refusing to play for the French club because he wants to play for Newcastle. In my opinion, it seems like most moves like this are mainly money related. Harry Redknapp said that when players do this it is usually down to the agents wanting more money and suggesting the player use tactics like these to fuel a move for more lucrative deals.

If a player wants to move to another club, he should go about it in a more mature manner. It seems so immature and a bit of a disgrace for them to just say "Well I won't play until I get what I want" like a spoilt little brat. And frankly, if I was an owner or a manager, I wouldn't pay them their wages and would fine them on top of that for refusing to play. If they are fit and able to play, and get picked for the team but refuse, why should they be payed for doing nothing?

Champions League Draw

Group A: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, FC Twente

Group B: Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group C: Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor

Group D: Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan

Group E: Bayern Munich, Roma, Basle, Cluj

Group F: Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina

Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre

Group H: Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Braga, Partizan Belgrade

Fabio Coentrao, Ashley Cole and Karim Benzema thrown together in Transfer Window Speculation

Coentrao in, Cole out?

Today's transfer news begins with Chelsea and Real Madrid, as Jose Mourinho is apparently very keen to bring his former left back Ashley Cole to his new club Real Madrid. He seems like he will try everything to get what he wants. The Portuguese tactician regards Cole as one of the best left-backs in the world, and so in order to get him, he is willing to offer Karim Benzema as part of a deal, according to the Mail. The Mirror, also reporting that Mourinho wants Cole, states that even though Carlo Ancelotti claimed that Cole was going no-where, he is prepared to do a U-turn and allow him to leave, just as long as he gets the Portuguese World Cup left-back Fabio Coentrao. Coentrao looked very bright in the World Cup. He bombed down the left side, skipping passed players like they weren't there, and delivered beautiful crosses in the box for his attacking colleagues such as Ronaldo to blast into the back of the net. He created a lot for Portugal, and prompted the commentators to suggest that English clubs may take an interest in this bright young talent, their prophecy may yet become a reality with Chelsea.

Next, and to the team with strikers to burn, Manchester City. Yes, even though they have probably enough strikers to create a whole squad , apparently, they are monitoring Zlatan Ibrahimovich and his situation at Barcelona. The Swede didn't really win the Spanish fans over last season, and hasn't really lived up to expectation at the Nou Camp, much like Berbatov's situation at Old Trafford. However, Mancini isn't reportedley interested in Berbatov - despite being reportedley interested in every other striker.

I'm Staying!

Meanwhile, Adebayor has told reporters that he would like to move to Juventus. Maybe he sees challenging for a place in Manchester City's over-populated team as too much, or maybe he wants a change of scenery. Who knows? He was speaking too fast to understand.

Cesc Fabregas' boring and annoying transfer saga has stopped - at least for one more year, as he told Sky Sports that he is sorry for not speaking sooner to clarify his position, but he is an Arsenal player and 100% commited for the up-coming season. Even though, he says it now, there is probably no doubt that he will leave for Barcelona at some point in the next 2 years.

Arsenal are still trying to find a new defender. This time, reports suggest that they want Roma defender, Phillipe Mexes. They have wanted Phil Jagielka, Per Mertescaker, as well as a few other defender's and were also intereted in a few goalkeeper's, including Joe Hart, Rene Adler, and Mark Schwarzer, but either their clubs won't let them move, or they just don't want to move. One things for sure though, Arsenal need a new goalkeeper.

£150 Miwwion?

Liverpool are closer and closer to being taken over by the Chinese business-man Kenny Huang by the day and he has told Liverpool that he will give Roy Hodgson £150 million to spend on transfers if he takes over the club before the end of the transfer window. That's quite a transfer kitty, and one Hodgson isn't used to, and so he will stick to what he knows and try to prise Shaun Wright Phillips from Manchester City - instead of using all £150 million to try and get Messi.

Almunia "Doen't need to convince anyone"

Almunia: Something to prove?

There are times when Arsenal fans thank God that they have Almunia as their goalkeeper. He sometimes makes some match winning saves that can keep Arsenal in a game, or help Arsenal to win a game. This, after all is a goalkeepers job. However, there are times when the opposition thanks God that Arsenal have Almunia in goal for he can be very uncertain and untrustworthy as he stands there, staring bitterly at his opposite number, wishing they could swap bodies as the ball is picked out of his net after another terrible blunder.

He said "I don't need to convince anybody – I just do my job". I tend to agree with the latter, yes, he does do his job, and he can do it well; last season he played 36 times and kept 13 clean sheets. Nevertheless, I have trouble agreeing with the first part. I know a few Arsenal fans who may disagree. His blunders last season cost Arsenal a few games, and this is not what you look for in a goalkeeper. Of course, you can allow for a few mistakes - everyone makes them, but Almunia has probably made a few too many, and for that reason he really does need to prove himself. I think, if Arsene Wenger shows a huge amount of faith and sticks with Almunia next season, the Spaniard does need to convince his fans of his abilities and his consistency, because so far in his career, consistency has been what is lacking.

Rumours have circulated that Wenger is interested in bringing a new goalkeeper to London. With a £2 million bid for Mark Schwarzer being rejected, and rumours that German keeper Rene Adler is also wanted by Wenger, if one of the deals is completed, then Almunia will have something to prove.

What keeper, if any do you think Arsenal should buy to add some strength to their defence, and do you think Almunia has something to prove?