Real Madrid : Champions League draw examined

UEFA came out with the draw for the group stages on Thursday in Monaco. This time around there was a different pattern of qualifications thus enabling many lesser known clubs to also get the opportunity to play in the most illustrious club competition in Europe.



Getting straight to the draw and specifically to Group C featuring Real Madrid (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), Marseille (France) and FC Zurich (Switzerland).



Without a shadow of a doubt the Real Madrid vs. AC Milan tie is the biggest game of the group and it looks tantalisingly delicious. It brings together two powerhouses of European football and not to forget two clubs that lead the number of Champions League titles won. Real Madrid leads with nine followed by AC Milan with seven.



It would also mark the debut of two managers who are new at the clubs. Manuel Pellegrini has taken charge of Real Madrid after the exit of Juande Ramos and Leonardo has taken over the reigns of the Rossoneri from Carlo Ancelotti.



On a personal level, it will mark the return to San Siro for Kaka who made a £56million transfer during the summer away from AC Milan. The Brazilian has publicly claimed he's a Milan supporter through and through and his reason for moving to Bernabeu was to help the financially troubled Italian giant. However, no one can question his professionalism be it for club or for country.



On the other side, it would be tables reversed as Dutchman Huntelaar would form the forward line against Real Madrid. Real have (at the time of writing) offloaded many of their attacking options possibly to pave way for a possible Ribery move.



The latest to join the list have been Sneijder (to Inter Milan) and Robben (to Bayern Munich) . Huntelaar was only purchased last season from Ajax, but was found to be surplus by the manager/board during the recent summer.



Real Madrid have enhanced their attacking options by acquiring the services of World Player of the Year (2008) Cristiano Ronaldo for whom they paid staggering £90million, Kaka, and Karim Benzema from French club, Lyon. Aside from these, Raul Albiol has been added into the defence from Valencia to bolster the weak side of Real's game. Alongside they have acquired Xabi Alonso from Liverpool to become a mixture of attacking option as well as defensive to protect the back four.



AC Milan, on the other side, have added Thiago Silva and American Oguchi Onyewu to their squad to fill up the void created by the retirement of Maldini and release of experienced players like Emerson.



Despite a disappointing summer for the club in terms of inward transfers they have managed to maintain their other strong men, Alexando Pato and Andrea Pirlo who were heavily linked to Chelsea.



If one goes by the statistics, it would be very hard to pick between the two as they have faced each other on eleven occasions and both clubs have won five teams and one game ended in a draw.



An interesting and notable stat is that Milan have won all their home games against Los Blancos. The last meeting came in 2002/03 which Real Madrid won 3-1 in the second group stage. AC Milan won the title that year.



It would be highly interesting to see if AC Milan's defensive wall will be able to withstand the might and force of Real Madrid's attack.



Real Madrid v Marseille would also see former Madrid players representing the other side in the form of Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Morientes. Heinze was offloaded during the summer for an undisclosed fee whereas Morientes reconciled with his former Monaco manager, Didier Deschamps from Valencia. French youngster Hatem Ben Arfa is also highly rated and has the ability to trouble Casillas' goal.



The last tie (Real Madrid v FC Zurich) does not seem likely to bring out a surprise for the 31-time La Liga Champions. However, Swiss sides are known for their resilience and never say die attitude which might make it an interesting battle. You know what they say, Football is unpredictable.



Matchday 1: 15th/16th September
Matchday 2: 29th/30th September
Matchday 3: 20th/21st October
Matchday 4: 3rd/4th November
Matchday 5: 24th/25th November
Matchday 6: 8th/9th December

What are your predictions for the group? Are Marseille capable of bothering Milan or Madrid? Can FC Zurich pull out a surprise somewhere?

Alonso joins Madrid..finally!

Liverpool have finally sold Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid for a fee of nearly £30million. Real Madrid had earlier claimed they would pull out of the deal if Liverpool asked for more than £25million, however that seems to have not been the case in the end.

Real get their long term target and second Liverpool player after Arbeloa joined Los Blancos a few days ago. This also continues the revolution to setup a formidable attacking lineup with world record deals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka from Manchester United and AC Milan respectively.

This concludes Alonso's Liverpool tenure which started in 2004 when he moved from Real Sociedad which saw him make 143 Premier league appearances for the Merseysiders.

From a formation point of view, it would be very difficult for Madrid manager, Pellegerini to pick his side now and then to choose the formation to play. Richard Farley, a fellow football blogger, suggests many options which Madrid could opt for. One of them being following the same approach as Liverpool does with two deep midfielders, 1 attacking midfielder who can play as an additional striker in some situations, an out and out striker and then eventually two wingers. Or Higuain could partner Benzema upfront with Kaka and Ronaldo playing behind them and Marcelo,Robben,Sergio Ramos providing the width. Alonso and Lass to be the defensive midfielders or the holding midfielders.

As for Liverpool, they would be pretty happy with the money they've received and if the reports are to be believed then they've found a replacement already in the form of Roma's Alberto Aquilani in a £20million move. Another player who is linked with a move to Spain is Mascherano, who is wanted by champions Barcelona. Although Barcelona haven't made any public comments in their approach for the Argentine but it could all change in a few days. Liverpool are also linked with Standard Liege's Steven Defour but that seems to be a false rumour.

Leave comments if you have any idea for Real's formation or how Liverpool should approach this major change with only days to go for the season to start.

Tuesday's Transfer Gossip

Not everything in the paper can be believed,right? So why not try to distinguish the "Oh yeah that might be true!" from "What crap!".


Lescott himself asks for a transfer to Manchester City (Daily Star)

What we Think? : With Swiss FA agreeing that Philippe Senderos looks likely to join Everton this could pave way for his move to Eastlands after all. Everton have turned down bids for £15million and £18million but can they hold up a player who wants to leave and with City's next offer likely to be around £25million. City on the other hand can look for their backup options of Bassong (Newcastle) and Alex (Chelsea) if they fail to get the Englishman.

Liverpool deal with Roma's Alberto Aquilani almost done (The Sun)

What we think? : This deal wouldn't happen until and unless Alonso moves to Madrid. The holdup there being on the Spaniards valuation which as per Liverpool is £30million but Real Madrid wouldn't want to pay more than £25million. Liverpool would most likely budge and get something rather than nothing and still be in a profit.

Arsenal offer £6million for Kalou (The Sun)

What we think? : AC Milan's Pirlo looks likely to follow the Italian to Chelsea which would put Kalou's place in a place of bother but Arsenal offering that much money along with raise in salary is highly unlikely. Its also difficult to see two London rivals trading players.

Bent deal expected to be finalised soon, Huntelaar for Spurs? (Daily Express)

What we think? : After Bent's outburst on Twitter and his imminent transfer to Sunderland where he passed the medical yesterday this has made way for Spurs now to use that money to buy Real Madrid want away Klaas Huntelaar. Huntelaar has already turned down the option of going to Stuttgart and a number of Premier league clubs have shown interest in him but none more than Harry Redknapp.

Number of clubs after Standard Liege's Steven Defour (Daily Mirror , Daily Mail)

What we think? : Real Madrid, Everton and Liverpool all are reported to be interested in bringing the Belgian to their sides. Real Madrid would most definitely pull out of the running if they get Xabi Alonso from Liverpool. Liverpool are in the running for Roma's Alberto and that's where their spending is diverted. That leaves Everton in the frame and they don't seem that interested in spending that much cash. Overall, too much hype , no real substance.

Chimbonda to be Hull's backup for Beye (The Sun)

What we think? : Hull and Newcastle haven't been able to decide on Habib Beye's valuation which has held up the move. However, if Hull does turn to Chimbonda then its expected that Spurs would be happy to let go of Chimbonda who has had very little playing time with the Londoners.

Do you disagree with us on any of the transfers or did we miss out any? Comment away!

Real Madrid want Udinese Player

Udinese have confirmed that Real Madrid are interested in signing their midfielder Gaetano D'Agostino for at least a €25million buyout clause that he has or a cash + player swap stipulation. Udinese president Giampaolo Pozzo said:

I confirm that they (Real) are interested.

My son was set to meet them yesterday but he was unable to so we postponed everything until next week.

The buy-out clause of the player remains the same, €25m, but there's always room to reason. There are players they have that could interest us. It's an open negotiation.

D'Agostino is under contract with Udinese until 2014, has expressed his desire to play for the 9 time European champions.

It's the dream of any player to play at Real Madrid.They have a spectacular team.

That is why I'm nervous and excited. I thank Real for their interest, I am happy, but there's nothing official just yet.

Who is Gaetano D'Agostino?
This 27 year old player is described as a good passer of the ball and his ability to create chances upfront.He also has command in goal scoring from the midfield.

He has represented Roma, Bari, Messina and then Udinese in his senior career beginning from 2000 which has spanned a total of 232 games and has scored 34 goals in the process. The most coming for Udinese with 13 goals in his 3 seasons at the club.

He was swapped by Roma and Bari with Antonio Cassano joining Roma and both the clubs having ownership of the player.

He was instrumental in Messina's seventh place at the end of 2004-05 which is quite a feat for a newly promoted club.

It was at Udinese however that he made his regular place.He played 94 games for the Bianconeri.

On the international front, he has been part of the U-21 side for Italy since 2002 but has only made one appearance against Northern Ireland for the Azzurri.

Challenge for signing

Real Madrid would face the battle of acquiring the player from Juventus. The Old Lady had been in the picture to bring in the player to possible replace Nedved but the bid was rejected by Udinese because it was too low.

Another contender in the past had been Liverpool who were rumoured to be looking for the player if Real Madrid got their long time interest Xabi Alonso to bring in to the Bernabeu.

The deadline for signing the player was believed to be 6th July but that could be extended now that the talks have reached a crucial stage.

Good deal?

In my opinion, its not a good deal. We would be better off in pursuing a defensive midfielder rather than a midfielder who is better at going upfront and creating chances. We already have quite an impressive lineup going upfront with Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema in the bag. Except for the new signings we would most certainly retain quite a few of the earlier squad members (which is still not clear). Raul would be the choice upfront unless Pellegerini could do the improbable and bench the legend, which would be the correct decision if the 2008/09 season is to be seen.

Xabi Alonso would be a better choice for me. He has the ability to hold up play as well as move the ball around covering the whole width of the pitch. Not to forget he can score some beauties from the halfline which is something which could some serious problems for the opposition goal keepers.

Except for the formation issues, the asking price is too steep for the player. We should rather look for some cheaper options to strengthen the defense if Alonso deal does break through.

What do you guys think? Leave your comments below.

P.S.: I would like to mention here that am a Real Madrid fan but totally unbiased otherwise.

Friday's Transfer Gossip

Not everything in the paper can be believed,right? So why not try to distinguish the "Oh yeah that might be true!" from "What crap!".

Manchester United,Chelsea,Real Madrid,Inter Milan make bids for Lyon's striker - Karim Benzema [The Independent]

What we think? : It would be very hard for Lyon to deny a 40million euro bid for the striker. It always happens with the smaller leagues who develop a player at a young age and the bigger fishes in the sea swoop in with their money might. Manchester United have been long admirers of him over the years but haven't made any offers but all this could change with Ronaldo going to Madrid and Sir Alex could use that money.Manchester United seem the front runners for me.

Chelsea pip Liverpool for Portsmouth's Johnson [The Sun]

What we think? : Liverpool bid £17million. Chelsea bid £17.5million.Its not a matter of big money between the two clubs.Glen Johnson had a bad time with Chelsea at London and that could be the big difference between his preference in the two clubs despite Chelsea's lucrative offer and bigger pay packet.

United agree on Tevez's permanent price,fail to agree on personal terms [The Sun]

What we think? : With the response Tevez received at the end of the season and his reaction when substituted at Old Trafford shows he most definitely wouldn't stay. Manchester City seem the way to go for the Argentine.

Manchester City have agreed an £18m deal to sign Blackburn forward Roque Santa Cruz. [Daily Mail]

What we think? : Mark Hughes would be elated to reunite with his goal scoring machine who he brings in from Rovers to Eastlands after an injury spell for the Paraguayan. He would definitely give prospective City signings Eto'o and Tevez a run for their money.

Bayern closing in on Chelsea's Boswinga [The Times]

What we think? : Chelsea might see Carvalho leave for Inter Milan and neither Paulo Ferreira or Beletti have been impressive under Hiddink at least.Things might change with Ancelotti at the helm now but Chelsea would look for a replacement for the former Porto man before they would allow him to leave to Germany.

Scharner set for a move to Fulham from Wigan [Daily Mail]

What we think? : Scharner would be better off in moving to a side who would be playing Europa League next season.While new Wigan boss Roberto Martinez wants to sign Jordi Gomez,who he managed at Swansea earlier. The Austrian has quality to play for a team who would play in Europe and Fulham will give him that opportunity.

Cristiano Ronaldo : 5 Personal terms

After Real Madrid's bid to acquire Ronaldo was confirmed today by Manchester United it was only down to resolving the personal terms between the club and the player himself. From our very secretly placed sources inside the Bernabeu board room we present to you the top 5 personal terms he wanted the club to agree upon.So here we go.

1.50 Condoms a week.Ok make that Weekdays only. More on weekends and for every goal scored over the weekend.

2.Prostitutes to be sent to the apartment as an after practice "cool down" effect.

3.$10,000 for every penalty earned.Money is hard to get!

4.Pink caps and lilies for goals against Barcelona and Manchester United(if it were to take place).So that makes it condoms + lilies + caps. A great day at the office!

5.He can go on a "rampage" like Pepe and the club would be liable to get him out of being banned.He can do what he wants!

If we get more information from underneath the table where Perez sits with his chequebook leafs already signed and it looks like the next cheque is to pay Valencia for a player whose name starts with a D.Its hazy!

Manchester United accept £80mn bid for Ronaldo

At last the Ronaldo saga with Real Madrid is set to end.Manchester United's official website has confirmed that they have reached an agreement with the Spanish giants for the Portuguese winger.

The fee quoted for the world's biggest transfer is £80 million which beats the previous transfer fee (in terms of Great Britain Pound) which Real Madrid paid for Kaka earlier in the week.

This ends the flirtatious summer of 2008 where Manchester United denied any interest in selling the World player of the year who then went on to score 26 goals in the season.Which further led to Manchester United reporting Madrid to FIFA, who then cleared the Los Blancos. To make matters worse and send the media into a frenzy, Ronaldo himself seemed to be interested in the move to Bernabeu this year.

The statement on the website read :

"Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.'

"At Cristiano's request - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

"Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice."

This could prove to be a setback for Sir Alex Ferguson and his wonderful squad who most definitely lose Carlos Tevez to local rivals,Manchester City.It would also give Rooney the role of main man upfront which he takes up with the national team.

Manchester United have been linked with some quality players this summer already and could use this money.Benzema has been long admired by Sir Alex and to fill Ronaldo's shoes,Wigan Athletic's,Antonio Valencia is the leading candidate.

Reds would want to complete one signing before they head to Asia in five weeks time.

The Summer's just begun!

Real Madrid - Galactico Era Part II

With summer comes the transfer speculation and some other baseless and senseless rumours which actually make for great entertainment if you're a fiction lover. Real Madrid had a shockingly disappointing season with yet another loss in the last 16 of Champions league to Liverpool where they were mauled 5-0 on aggregate,Went out in the last 32 in the Kings Cup and were truly pathetic in the final few games of the league starting with the bashing by Barcelona at home. There has been change at the top. Florentino Perez has taken over the presidency,Zizou is back as an advisor to Perez and Valdano is back as director general. Along with the change in board there would be change in playing style and staff too with former Villareal manager, Pellegrini taking over. Obviously with the change in administration there are bound to be changes in squad too.

The managers used a total of 33 players in the 2008/09 season. An astounding number showing the club has a huge squad and might need some trimming down considering the huge wages they would be accumulating in these economic crisis. With Perez being the creator of "The Galacticos", the legendary workforce for Madrid with players like Zidane,Figo,Beckham and Ronaldo all playing on the same pitch for the same team. He has returned and would want to reignite the same period and bring the same glory that the club has seen missing ever since. A Galactico Part II. Let's get to the candidates shall we?

Kaka
This 27 year old Milan faithful has pledged his future to the club and has spent 6 seasons with the Rossoneri. Carlo Ancelotti has left the San Siro club and his exit has left many players in the squad with unanswered status over their future. Kaka is a player with good feet and a good vision to spot lapses in the defense going forward. Its been reported that Madrid have bid £65million for the player with Chelsea also on the fray to claim the services of the Brazilian. However, Chelsea have since denied the reports but nothing can be said in the strange world of football transfers. His decision about his future is expected to come out soon.

UPDATE : AC Milan announce Kaka's switch to Real Madrid for world record fee of £56million. [BBC]

Ronaldo
After the whole summer was spent(read wasted) by the club to acquire the Portuguese winger last time around, the saga has started again. £75 million is the quoted price. Add to that the huge wages he would take home which would most definitely be more than £150,000 a week.This flamboyant, highly motivated and skilled player has the ability to turn the game on its head almost single handedly.He is good not only with his feet but also in the air and his prowess with free kicks is very well known.Although many Madridistas are not in the favour of the club spending huge amounts of money for him due to his arrogance.It is also expected that he would definitely move on from Manchester United after their loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final. The club would also expect him to replicate what Beckham did for the club when he joined that is to sell T-shirts and bring in revenue in terms of his popularity all over the globe.

UPDATE : Manchester United accept an unconditional bid for Ronaldo worth £80million. [Man Utd's official website]

Ribery
The Frenchman currently with the Bayern Munich has also raised Perez's interest which also goes to show the club has moved beyond their dependance on facial features as compared to the footballing skills which was shown when they withdrew from the race to sign Ronaldinho who ended up going to Barcelona and being a huge force for the rivals. Zidane is good friends with Ribbery so the deal might come through after all and prefers to play on the left as a winger.Along with Real Madrid, Barcelona,Chelsea and Manchester United are in the picture to sign him over the summer.He's not quite the household name as the two above are but the situation would most definitely change if he arrives at the Santiago Bernabeu.

David Villa
Valencia are in turmoils with their financial situation and have ambitions of building a new stadium but would want funding for that. Villa is young,talented and has a nack of scoring goals. With David Silva looking like heading to Liverpool, Valencia look set to lose two talented parts of their squad. Last year,Real Madrid had been reported to have placed a bid for €35million but it didn't take place.Chelsea are also interested in 'El Guaje' after snubbing their interest in Kaka.The Spaniard could well take Raul's place in the team as the legendary striker doesn't have the legs now to play week in,week out and looks more of a burden than an asset.

Xabi Alonso
Reports in Spain suggest the player has agreed to a £22million deal with the club and Liverpool has also given the nod with manager Rafa Benitez showing interest in a cash + Gabriel Heinze deal or Alvaro Negredo,who is with Almeria but under a buy back clause.Alonso has the ability to control midfield both in an attacking sense and in the defensive sense.His ability to spread the ball upfield also creates chances for the strikers.His partnership with Lass would also make it difficult for the opposition to bother the defence.


Other players linked with Real Madrid are Carlos Tevez(Manchester United) and Antonio Valencia(Wigan Athletic) who would be great for the club but I'm not sure they would form the part of the Galactico II.With Cannavaro leaving for Turin there is an urgent need for good quality defence personnel who could prevent Casillas some very jittery moments.

Who would you like to see part of Real Madrid?And are you happy with the contenders so far?

Champions League : Match Day 2 : Tuesday

Scores from Match Day 2 action on Tuesday (30/09)

Aalborg BK 0 - 3 Manchester United
Rooney 22'
Berbatov 55'
Berbatov 79'

Manchester United's new last day signing Dimitar Berbatov finally struck his first goal for his new side.Two goals from the Bulgarian and Rooney's low strike removed the memories of a shaky performance two weeks back by the defending champions against Villareal.

Manchester United however have their concerns coming out of the win too.Scholes was taken off on the stretcher and Rooney limped off in the second half.News reports say Scholes would be out for upto eight weeks due to a knee injury.

Villareal 1 - 0 Celtic
Senna 67'

Villareal continued to showcase the performance that has been keeping them on the top of the La Liga now in the Champions League.Celtic as again failed to win on the road.

The only goal of the game came courtesy Marcos Senna's free kick which the keeper wasn't able to stop.

Bayern Munich 1 - 1 Lyon

Demichelis (o.g.) 25'
Ze Roberto 52'

German Champions Bayern Munich continued their unbeaten ways in the Champions League despite turmoils in their domestic campaign.Lyon also were able to manage the same feat as both sides drew 1-1 at the Allianz Arena.

Demichelis inadvertently put Juninho's long range free kick on his own net to give visiting team the lead.

Bayern equalised 7minutes into the second half courtesy a thumping header by Brazilian Ze Roberto past Lloris.

Fiorentina 0 - 0 Steaua Bucharest

In a disappointing game for the Italians who tried their best they couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and had to share the spoils with the Romanian side.

This leaves Fiorentina with 2 points from as many games and Bucharest won their first point of the season.

Arsenal 4 - 0 Porto

Van Persie 31'
Adebayor 40'
Van Persie 48'
Adebayor(pen.) 71'

Arsenal showed their resilience as a footballing side after their shock loss at the hands of Hull City over the weekend at the Emirates Stadium.

Gunners have a fabulous record in the Champions League at home with no losses since its inauguration last season.

Arsenal were in the mood to continue their record and send out a message to Premiership title hopefuls that they have their bad days and Saturday was one of them.

Robbie Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor scored two goals each to give Arsenal a well deserved victory.Arsenal could have scored many more with many chances being created by Walcott and for him as well.The game also saw the return of Nasri after a 5 game injury lay-off.

Porto on the other hand looked to be in an attacking mood when the game was evenly poised at 0-0 but didn't bother Almunia much after Arsenal scored.Portuguese giants would be sick of coming to England after 5th defeat in 5 years and the biggest loss in 11 years in the competition.

Fenerbahce 0 - 0 Dynamo Kiev

Fenerbahce's impressive run of eight consecutive European home wins came to an end after Ukranian side stopped the Turkish sides' dominance at home.This earned Kiev their second draw in their second game.

Fenerbahce earned their first point in the competition in the process after their loss at Porto on Match Day 1.They would look for a better performance in front of goal when they face Arsenal next.

Zenith St Petersburg 1 - 2 Real Madrid
Hubocan (o.g.) 4'
Danny 25'
Van Nistelrooy 31'

Real Madrid sent out a strong message to other European contenders and pundits after their slender victory in St. Petersburg.

Like all games taking place in Russia this one took off early and an own goal by Hubocan helped the 9 time Champions League winners to take a 1-0 lead.

Zenith equalised soon afterwards as Arshavin's cross was met by Danny who put the ball behind Casillas as a despairing header came from the defender on a very low cross.

Van Nistelrooy got Real Madrid back on track after he was on the end of a deflection by the defender to strike it in the home sides' goal.

Thereafter it was all for Madrid to defend who were helped by Casilla's keeping,the woodwork and the defensive numbers to get their act together.

Bate Borisov 2 - 2 Juventus
Kryvets 17'
Stasevich 23'
Iaquinta 29'
Iaquinta 45'


FC Bate's dream home start to the Champions League were cut short by the Old Lady of Italian Football.

Kryvets and Stasevich provided the dream start to the Belarussian side inside the first 23minutes.

The dream however didn't last long as Iaquinta's double before halftime brought them back on their feet and out of dream land.Iaquinta who had come in for David Trezeguet didn't disappoint manager Claudio Ranieri.

This result leaves Juventus in the second spot of Group H behind Real Madrid with four points.

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Transfer Madness : Last day!

I bring this post at 4am (IST) or around midnight in GMT and the day for transfers isn't over yet.There is still almost an hour and a half left for the transfer deadline to complete.










It would be hard to give details of all deals that were completed today so I would give all the major signings and the clubs involved along with the transfer value.

Real Madrid have confirmed the transfer of Robinho to Manchester City instead of Chelsea who had been pursuing the Brazilian for the past few weeks.The fee is around 32.5million pounds.The contract is for a span of four years.
Mark Hughes had this to say on Manchester City's official website:

"I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho."

It would be interesting to see Chelsea's reaction to the late twist in the Robinho saga.





Berbatov has undergone a medical at Manchester United and looks likely to snub Manchester City who were also linked to the Bulgarian after Abu Dhabi based consortium purchased the Eastlands club.To add to that,Manchester United have added youngster Frazier Campbell.
However,Spurs manager Juande Ramos isn't too happy and has claimed he hasn't spoken with the player and Manchester United are accused of contacting the player without the approval of the London club.

UPDATE:Berbatov's move has been confirmed by both Spurs and Manchester United with the player signing a four year deal worth a record British fee of 30.7million pounds and Frazier Campbell has been added as an on loan player.






Inter Milan have confirmed the signing of Ricardo Quaresma from Porto.Pele would go in the other direction as part of a swap deal.Quaresma signed a deal for 5years with the Italian champions.The deal is made for around 30.6million euros which also adds Pele as a swap player.
This marks an end to months of speculation with Quaresma joining Inter and former Porto manager,Jose Mourinho.





Liverpool have signed Albert Riera from Espanyol for an undisclosed fee but believed to be around 8million pounds.
Riera had also been pursued by Everton and he had been Rafa Benitez' number one signing after he failed to bring Gareth Barry from Aston Villa.





Irishman,Steve Finnan has signed for Espanyol from Liverpool for a 2year contract.Finnan had been a Liverpool player for the past 5years.
Finnan would be out for international duty for the next week or so but Espanyol expect him back in time for the game against Getafe on September 21.





Hertha Berlin have acquired the services of Andriy Voronin from Liverpool on a one year loan deal.
The Ukranian joined Liverpool last year from Leverkusen on a free transfer but couldn't make way into the starting lineup for Liverpool.He scored 6 goals in his 27 appearances. He was further not expected to get a start after reds signed Robbie Keane during the summer.




Roman Pavlyuchenko has signed a five year contract with Spurs worth 14.2million pounds.The Russian player arrived in London yesterday to complete the medical and by today morning the deal was complete.
Spurs were otherwise looking for Andrei Arshavin but no consent was reached between Spurs and Zenith St Petersburg.




Spurs also signed veteran Manchester City defender,Vedran Corluka on a six year deal.The fee is reported to be 8.5million pounds.
The Croat had earlier decided to join Spurs last month only to be recalled by City but after City signed Zableta,Corluka handed in the transfer request.
He joins his national side team mate,Luka Modric.




Newcastle United have confirmed the double signing of Xisco from Deportivo La Coruna and Ignacio Gonzalez from Valencia.
Xisco has agreed for a five year contract at St.James' Park.Gonzales joined on a one year loan deal irrespective of the fact that the player had penned a four year deal with the Mestalla club.

If anything more happens,you know where to find it...

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Transfer News : Toffees to try for Saha,Arshavin misses flight to London and more..

Toffees to try for Louis Saha


Louis Saha looks set to leave Old Trafford for Everton only if he succeeds in his medical to be conducted by the Merseyside doctors.
Saha who has had injury plagued past two seasons and has been overshadowed by Rooney and now probably by Berbatov.(if transfer goes through that is!)
This would be Everton's third signing this week after a dull summer of no signings and the Frenchman would join for an undisclosed fee and the contract is for a span of two years.

Arshavin would not be a Spurs player



Andrei Arshavin's move to White Hart Lane looks highly in doubt says the player himself.
Arshavin who had a fabulous Euro 2008 and caught the eye of many clubs especially Spurs boss Juande Ramos who was interested in signing the player.The deal now looks dead and buried after both clubs couldn't decide on the transfer fee after the Russian club,Zenith St Petersburg asked 24million pounds for the player which Spurs weren't interested in paying.
On the other hand,Spurs are expected to announce the signing of Arshavin's national team mate,Pavlyuchenko in the next 48 hours.
Arshavin looks set to another season in Russia and has a big game coming up against Manchester United in Monaco on Friday as part of the Super Cup.

Robinho move to Chelsea in doubt



Robinho's "dream" move to Chelsea looks set to have hit a road block after Real Madrid claimed he is under contract with them for two years.

Brazilian midfielder who was to travel to London and complete the move for 30million pounds now looks doubtful.

The reason stated however sounds ridiculous coming from Real Madrid who have been known for signing players with some years left in their contract but the real reason however is that they haven't found a suitable replacement for the winger.

Robinho's agent claimed the deal would be done before Chelsea play Spurs on Sunday but that doesn't look possible now.

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Baptista a Roma player : Reports

Reports : AS Roma have signed Julio Baptista.

Reports in the Spanish dailies AS and Marca the deal has been finalised.

Roma had been highly linked with "The Beast" after they failed to bring Mutu to the capital club.

Reportedly,Roma directorss were in Madrid last night to complete the transfer and sign the Brazilian.

The fee is speculated to be around 13million Euros and Baptista is expected to fly to Rome tomorrow to complete the signing and would be officially unveiled as a Roma player by the weekend.

If the reports were true then Madrid need to step up their gear in signing a forward after they are left with Raul and Van Nistelrooy as the only two recognized strikers with Saviola as a make do striker.

Van Der Vaart move to Real Madrid is confirmed

Tomorrow Rafael Van Der Vaart will officially be pronounced as a Real Madrid player.


Dutch international confirmed the news on his personal website after Madrid and Hamburg officials met in London where both the clubs were playing in the Emirates Cup.

His official website read these words :

"Last night (Sunday) everything came together, and I am now moving to Real Madrid,"

"As everybody might know I have always wanted to move to Spain, because I have a strong bond with that country. Now I'm going to play for Real Madrid... it's a dream come true!

"Tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) I will be presented at Real Madrid. This will be the start of a new chapter in my life. I will do everything to help the team and the club to win trophies!"

The news comes as a positive for the Real Madrid fans who had seen Van Der Vaart's dutch team mate Wesley Senijder being taken off on a stretcher after a strong challenge from Abo Diaby in the game against Arsenal.This has put Sneijder out for at least 6months.

There have also been reports of Real Madrid upping their pursuits for Cristiano Ronaldo,who has been their target throughout the summer.

Good move for Madridistas??

Real Madrid news

Real Madrid tid-bits from football-o-sphere.

Real Madrid have decided against buying back Alvaro Negredo from Almeria.The deadline expired last night and no deal was struck.If Madrid does plan to buy the player next season they would have to shell out a further million euros to the asking price of £2.5 million.


Real Madrid keeper Jordi Codina admits he's on his way to Benefica.Benefica have already acquired Javier Balboa and would top it off with the keeper deal.
The youngster revealed: "I look forward with confidence the prospect of playing for Benfica."


Atletico Madrid have raided city rivals Real Madrid and have the future in mind where they are looking for young midfielder,Claudio Giraldez.
Giraldez,19,was a regular with Real Madrid B and is part of the U-19 Spanish national side.He has been with Madrid since the age of 13.
He is likely to start with Atletico B but may get the chance to play the senior squad as well in the pre season matches.

Plantini speaks out on Ronaldo

Platini speaks out about Real Madrid's pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.

UEFA President,Michel Platini spoke to the press about Real Madrid's pursuit of Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo.
Earlier Real Madrid were cleared by FIFA after Manchester United's complaint.
He had this to say,

"Every club in the world would like to have Ronaldo.

"It's part of the system we have today. Players move from club to club and I can understand why Real Madrid want him.

"They had di Stefano and Puskas in the past, and as Ronaldo is considered one of the best or the best player in the world it's normal.

"If the club has the finances they can do it so, if they don't have the money they can't."

This is certainly good news for Real Madrid who haven't left sight of the Portuguese ever since his return from Euro 2008 and there have been comments originating every now and then from Berbaneu.

Sneijder - I won't join United

Dutchman,Wesley Sneijder has denied the move to Manchester United.


He was speaking to his official website and denied any plans of moving to Old Trafford.
Reports have been doing the rounds about Sneijder being offered to Manchester United for a cash + swap deal for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Robinho has been linked too for the swap deal and looked more eager of the two players to play in England.

As I’ve said already, when I left Ajax, all I wanted was to go to Real Madrid. They are the best club in the world. And now that I'm here, all I want is to win as many trophies as I can with them and wear the white shirt for as long as possible.

I wonder if the swap deal players have any say in the matter either?

Ronaldo not for sale - Manchester United

Ronaldo had earlier dropped a little ball from his sack but this time he has dropped a bombshell.

Talking to Guillem Balague,he said :

It is a dream, a step forward, you can call it what you want. For me it is a great opportunity, and as (Luiz Felipe) Scolari says, that train passes by only once, and we have to take advantage of it.

"You will soon know what I want. You do know what I want and that is why I don't want to say anything else. Let's wait. I want to give more details that is why I cannot say much more."

(read full interview here)


Although come Friday morning ManUtd has cleared its stance again saying Ronaldo is not for sale and they will not be listening to any offers.


Real Madrid had been chasing Ronaldo throughout the summer with the matter reaching as far as FIFA although they were cleared of any wrong doings.The Portuguese winger spoke after Portugal's loss to Germany in the quarter finals of Euro 2008.


Frankly Ronaldo transfer saga has been annoying and bugging me a lot throughout with so many speculations and rumours going around along with my apprehensions of him being as great at Bernabeu as he as in his "last" season at Manchester United and the huge amount of salary that would be paid to him and the transfer money to be given to Manchester United.Its bloody atrocious!

FIFA clear Real Madrid

FIFA have cleared Real Madrid over allegations of "poaching" for Cristiano Ronaldo,currently under contract with Manchester United.
Newspapers both in England and Spain have been abuzz with conflicting reports about the future of Ronaldo currently with Portugal at the Euro 2008.
FIFA's issued statement read :

"We can confirm that we received last week a formal complaint from Manchester United related to the player Cristiano Ronaldo and the club Real Madrid. From the documentation received, no breach of contract appears to have occurred yet.

"Therefore, in accordance with the applicable practice, no kind of formal procedure has been opened by FIFA regarding this matter.

"The Spanish Football Federation has been informed of the complaint lodged by the English club and been asked to remind its member club Real Madrid about the potential legal consequences of a breach of contract without just cause during the protected period and of a possible inducement to such a breach of contract, as established by the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players."

The story had earlier been reported here.

Man U report Real to FIFA

Manchester United have officially complained to FIFA over Real Madrid's pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Manchester United had earlier threatened to take Real Madrid's constant efforts and comments about Ronaldo's moving to Madrid to FIFA on May 27.It comes days after Ronaldo told a Brazilian website about his interest to join Real Madrid if they pay Manchester United an agreed sum.However,Man U don't want to let go of their winger(rightly so!) to Madrid and as claimed by the officials at Old Trafford,they would rather see him rot in the stands.

"Unfortunately, Real Madrid has not kept its own counsel and the club feels it has no alternative but to make a formal complaint to the world governing body, which it has done today."

were the words of a source at Manchester United.
FIFA have confirmed that they have received the complaint but still have to read into it.
This is totally unfair in my view.Earlier Manchester United had the same way of creating unrest in their targets.Example Hargreaves who they speculated to transfer from Bayern Munich for a long time.Hypocrites,eh?

Ronaldo for Real?

Cristiano Ronaldo has this time not hinted anything.He's dropped a bombshell!
Speaking to a Brazilian website(Terra),Ronaldo said, "Yes I would like to play for Real Madrid".
He further goes on to say that its all dependent now on Real Madrid and Manchester United for the deal value.Earlier reports stated Real Madrid can pay Ronaldo a whooping $590,000 a week after tax which is a cool $75million a year!
Manchester United had earlier threatened Real Madrid to report them to FIFA over comments to acquire Ronaldo as he's on contract with Old Trafford.
Sir Alex,Glazer family and chief executive David Gill had been adamant not to allow their star midfielder to leave but they may have to let go if they get a huge profit from the sale.
Real Madrid president Roman Calderon told spanish newspaper AS,"For Madrid it is an honour to know that a player like him thinks that playing at Real Madrid would be good,"
I fail to understand how a player who shines in one season can overcome the price paid to the likes of Zizou,Figo who had more experience than what Ronaldo does.Well as my brother said,"make hay while the sun shines" but isn't this way too much hay!!?