Footballs Coming Home

Tuesday’s deadline day drama was relatively placid but for the late commotion caused by the proposed move of Rafael Van der Vaart to Tottenham.

Despite Harry Redknapp insisting there would be no more signings at White Hart Lane, the Real Madrid midfielder’s reasonable asking price lured Tottenham into bidding for the player.

“I think he was going to Bayern Munich yesterday for £18m and suddenly he became much cheaper,” said Redknapp, whose team are still waiting to hear if the Premier League will allow the transfer to go through.

“They let me know around 4pm that he was available for £8m and, for that money, he is a top player who will definitely improve us. The fee has come crashing down because the deadline is so close.”

Meanwhile, in the North East Sunderland spent lavishly on Ghana international Asamoah Gyan. The striker was a long-term target for Steve Bruce, the 24-year-old commanding a club record transfer fee in the region of £13m.

“It’s been a long day, but finally I’m happy to be here and my family and friends are also happy for me,” Gyan told the club’s official website.

“The Sunderland coach has faith in me because he has been following me for two years now. I am pleased I have the opportunity to come to England.”

Stoke City officials were also kept busy at the Britannia Stadium, where the club welcomed new arrivals Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jermaine Pennant on loan.

Elsewhere, Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish secured the exciting signing of Barcelona attacking midfielder Alexander Hleb on loan.

“Birmingham are a stable club and the manager, Alex McLeish, is a good professional,” said Hleb. “They are not Arsenal, who play every year in the Champions League, but for me it is important now to be playing regularly and returning to my previous level.

“To be honest, the last year-and-a-half hasn’t been what it should. But the deal with Birmingham is my chance and I must take it.”

Spartak Moscow captain Martin Jiránek also joined the St Andrews side for an undisclosed fee.

Inter Milan have confirmed they have made a bid for Liverpool’s wantaway midfielder Javier Mascherano.

The 26-year-old Argentina captain has not travelled with the Reds for their Europa League clash away to Trabzonspor on Thursday, after being left out of the squad to face Manchester City on Monday. Mascherano trained on his own earlier in the week and is expected to leave Anfield before the close of the transfer window, but manager Roy Hodgson has warned that he will not be sold at a cut price.

Inter are keen on bringing the tough tackler to the San Siro, where he would be reunited with former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, and Nerazzurri sporting director Marco Branca has confirmed an offer is on the table.

“I sent an offer to Liverpool by fax on Tuesday and I am waiting for a reply from them,” he said in The Sun.

“We’re not speaking to the player at the moment because we want to do this in the right way and make sure that Liverpool are happy.

“Everybody knows that Mascherano would like to change team and to change country. He also has a good relationship with our manager Rafa Benitez.

“We’ve made a very good offer, around the amount they are asking for. We have a strong team here, the best in Europe, but we would like to add one or two players to make us even stronger.”

After three seasons with the club, Mascherano is thought to be desperate for a move away as his family have not settled in England. Barcelona are also known to be interested in bringing him to the Camp Nou, and compatriot Lionel Messi has urged Liverpool to let him leave. He told the Daily Express: “Javier won’t play for the club again, I can assure you of that, and I think the Liverpool coach knows that now.

“Javier’s family are unhappy and the pressure of seeing that is making him depressed. Liverpool must act humanely and let him go.”

Mascherano moved to Merseyside in 2007 and current boss Hodgson has put a price tag of £20million on his head.

Checkout the revised football odds once Mascherano has left for Liverpool FC

According to Barcelona, Mascherano is  joining the club. Officials from the club have even stated that the agreement has been drawn.

Mascherano to the contrary has announced that he wants to make a move to Inter Milan, where he wants to join his former manager Rafael Benitez and enjoy a change of club. (Bettor.com)

Whilst there are undoubtedly some Liverpool fans who are not best pleased with the manner in which Javier Maschearano has tried to engineer an Anfield exit it is also true that despite this he put in a very good display against Arsenal on Sunday but a move is still on the cards with Roy Hodgson admitting that for the right price the midfielder can leave.

Now it appears that a move to Barcelona is very much a possibility with this source claiming a deal is practically done. A move to the Catalan club may well be something of a mistake for the Argentine as he could well struggle to secure a regular first team spot at the club due to the likes of Sergio Busquets being Pepe Guardiola’s first choice defensive midfielder, hence the departure of Yaya Toure to Man City.

It is thought that the Merseyside is looking for at least £24m for Mascherano which in todays market seems like a very fair price for a player thought to be one of the best in his position across Europe.

From what the bookies are saying in reflection to the football odds on their websites it is a given that Mascherano will be leaving Anfield before the end of August

After the shock departure of Martin O’neil on Friday, Aston Villa are looking for a new manager. Here are just a few names that have been branded about, in the guessing game that is finding a new manager.

1) Sven Goran Eriksson – The former England manager and director of football at Notts county always seems to have his name in the hat whenever a club needs a manager so there is no surprise that the Swede is in the running for the Villa Job.

2) Slaven Bilic – The Croatian has made it known in the past that he wants to manage in the premier league some day, could this be the right time for the successful Croatian to come and take the reins at Villa?

3) Alan Curbishley – The former Charlton and West Ham manager is surely going to be in the frame, especially with his connection with the team as a player.

4) Jurgen Klinsmann – The German has been mentioned regarding the Villa job before, but now that the club are manager less is this going to be the 2nd time the German gets a chance to make an impact on the premier league after his spell at Tottenham as a player.

5) Gareth Southgate – The Ex Villa defender has been out of a job since being sacked by Middlesbrough last season and he seems to be eager to get back into the game.

These five managers seem to be in the leading group to get the job at Villa Park but only time will tell. Check out the odds comparison at odds1×2.com to get a good indication of who’s hands the future of Aston Villa is going to be in.

The Reds manager has named a youthful squad for the match at the Philips II Arena after many of the club’s players who figured in the latter stages in South Africa were ruled out of the game due to a lack of match fitness.

Roy Hodgson has resisted the temptation to rush some of his senior players back early. The Reds are in Macedonia to play Rabotnicki and Hodgson has left behind England quartet Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole.

But defensive trio Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Sotirios Kyrgiakos were among the squad that left for Macedonia from Liverpool on Wednesday. Hodgson has chosen to give more recovery time to Gerrard and Cole, along with their England team-mates Carragher and Johnson, who have all been back in pre-season training for a week, having been in South Africa for the World Cup finals.

Former Arsenal target Loic Remy appears set to sign for Liverpool after the Reds had reached an agreement with French side Nice for his transfer fee, according to online reports.

The French striker has long been compared to Thierry Henry and the 23 year old is excited about joining the Merseysiders. Pending medical tests; a fee of £12.5m has been agreed upon.

Liverpool it now seems have beaten both Spurs and the Hammers whose directors flew to France earlier for the purpose of landing Remy, but the player has made his choice and it was not in favour of either of the London clubs.

“Liverpool is a legendary club,” said Remy talking to Nice Matin. “I am very excited by the thought of playing there. It has a magnificent stadium and a fantastic public.”

Remy’s agent Frederic Guerra confirmed the news talking to Sky Sports: “Yes, Liverpool are interested in Loic and Loic is interested in Liverpool”. (Footylatest.com)

Reports are reaching us that this deal could well be set for completion. The source above states that the French side have agreed the offer made by the Merseyside outfit and having already snapped up Joe Cole today it could be that Roy Hodgson is also set to welcome another new addition to his Anfield squad.

Loic Remy has been linked heavily to both Arsenal and West Ham and is certain to leave Nice as he looks to further his career both at club and country levels. Having been capped just once the powerfully built 23 year old is hoping a high profile move will help move him up the French pecking order, especially given the failure of those present in South Africa.

Hodgson has been determinedly looking for new attacking options and if he is willing to pay the asking price for the former Lyon man he will have secured a player with potential who could well be a Premier League success.

If any of the 32 nations that participated in the World Cup deserved to win this year, the right team did. Spain were able to defeat Netherlands 1-0 in the World Cup final. This is the first time that the nation has won the tournament, and it is well deserved, as they have been the best football team for the last 4 years. Now they are recognized for their hard work and resulting success.

The game was as tight as predicted with both teams cancelling each other out. For the first 30 minutes it was all Spain with Sergio Ramos and David Villa both having chances to open the scoring. But it was the Dutch that had the first sight of goal, when Snejider slid a ball through the centre backs for Arjen Robben to race onto only for Iker Cassilas to make a wonderful one on one stop. The 90 minutes were up and the game went into extra time. Spain changed things by brining on Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas.

As extra time started it seemed that all the ball chasing that the Dutch had done was taking it’s toll as Spain began to create chances. Cesc Fabregas had a similar chance to Robben but again the keeper Stecklenberg was up to the task, the next talking point was a penalty appeal for the Spanish as Xavi seemed to have his ankle clipped as he was about to shoot, but Howard Webb didn’t give it. It wasn’t look before the Spanish dominance paid off though. Just after the start of the second half of extra time Jonny Heitinga was given his 2nd yellow card after pulling back Andres Iniesta on the edge of the box.

Spain took the sending off in their stride and began to work holland even more, and after a pass from Fabregas to Iniesta the world cup was Spain’s, the little Barcelona midfielder took one touch and volleyed the ball into the back of the net. Holland were left with 4 minutes to get the equaliser, but to be fair it never looked like coming and Spain held out to win their first ever World Cup and loose the tag of under-achievers.

The next lot of live football we now have to look forward to is the start of the premier league, the football odds currently make Chelsea the favourites to retain their league title, but with Manchester City splashing the cash what affect will the transfers have on the destination of the premier league?

Fernando Torres appeared on the verge of leaving Liverpool on Sunday night after his agent indicated the striker is bound for another Premier League club.

Chelsea are at the front of the queue to sign the Spaniard and Manchester City also showed interest before moving on to other targets when they got little encouragement from the 26-year-old.

Agent Jose Antonio Martin said: ‘It is very likely that Fernando Torres will stay in the Premier League, but I cannot say that it will be with Liverpool. We are working on his future but right now you cannot guarantee that he will stay with the English club.’

The new Liverpool Boss Roy Hodgson could be left with a huge task on his hands to keep hold of the current crop of players, with Torres being the one he needs to keep the most. Barcelona have been linked with a move for Torres, but Martin made it clear they will not challenge Chelsea for Torres’ signature.

‘It is ruled out,’ said Martin. ‘Barcelona have signed David Villa and now they want to invest the money they have in other players.’

Sportsmail revealed in May that Torres was a £70million target for Chelsea and, despite Roy Hodgson insisting he would do all he could to keep the Spaniard and Steven Gerrard, the new Liverpool manager could offer no guarantees.

Having already sold Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea, Hodgson would prefer to raise funds for his squad rebuilding by selling the likes of Javier Mascherano and Albert Riera.

But Hodgson knows such is the state of Liverpool’s finances — their debt is £472.5m — a big offer from either Chelsea or City for Torres will be almost impossible to turn down.

Torres says talk about his future must wait until Spain’s World Cup campaign is over.

Roy Hodgson’s possible move to Liverpool is, of course, still in the realm of speculation, however, multiple sources (including The Guardian and The Telegraph) have reported he will be named as early as Thursday as the new manager.

With reports that Fabio Capello will more than likely retain his position as manager of the English National Team, Roy Hodgson could be out of the running for the England manager position he was supposedly interested in. It is also reported that Liverpool have agreed to pay around two million to Fulham and that the Manager of the Year winner could come in with a two year deal.

Hodgson could be the perfect manager for Liverpool at this time. He has international experience with spells in Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Finland and United Arab Emirates that would help Liverpool with their desire to win a trophy in Europe. More importantly, he has proven at Fulham that he can get the best of a squad despite any financial restrictions.

Some of the other names that have been brought up for the Liverpool position are Didier Deschamps, Kenny Dalglish, Manuel Pellegrini, and even Martin O’Neil. The club didn’t appear to be in any rush to appoint a new manager and there were some fears the club could start the season without a full-time manager.

With some players reportedly leaving the club (including Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano) a new manager would have the opportunity to put his stamp on the club almost immediately with some new signings.

I personally think this is the best news that Liverpool fans have had in a long time. Roy Hodgson is a quality manager that conjures up memories of some of the great Liverpool managers of the past.

After finishing second in the group and Germany topping theirs, it means england will face the arch enemy in the last 16 of the World Cup in South Africa. Engladn will go into the game with little to fear from a weak German side but after the performances of the English in the grous i’m sure the Germans will be saying the same thing. The germans have been the team to knock England out of the Euro 1996 and World Cup 1990 both times,b ut after Podolski missed the Germans first penalty since 1974 (including penalty shoot outs) could this year be Englands.

Here live football highlights of the recent meetings between the 2 teams

World Cup 1990

Fast Tube by Casper

Euro 1996

Fast Tube by Casper

Friendly 2001

Fast Tube by Casper