There Is Only One Sinnacle

Mertesacker: I’m Staying At Werder

German international defender Per Mertesacker has rejected speculation linking him with a move to Bayern Munich, pledging his future to current side Werder Bremen.

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Good to see Mertesacker staying put. It’s a rare sight the last couple of years for a Werder Bremen player to stay with the club instead of moving on to another top team.

Getafe’s De la Red wants Real Madrid future

Getafe midfielder Ruben de la Red says he’s ready to return to Real Madrid in the summer.

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de la Red as done enough to impress at Getafe this season with several fine performances. While he may not feature in the starting 11 week after week he should be a part of Real Madrid’s plans next season.

Inter Close To Sealing Diarra Deal

Inter Milan are closing in on a deal to sign Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, according to the Corriere dello Sport.

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Sometimes you have to bit the bullet. Real Madrid would end up selling him at a loss but he hasn’t improved from the form he shown at Lyon. As mentioned in the article he would make an ideal replace for Patrick Vieira at Inter. All that being said nothing will be decided until the summer time.

Kaka wants AC Milan captaincy

AC Milan midfielder Kaka admits he has ambitions to captain the club.

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What Kaka wants, Kaka should get. It’s good to see a team’s best player also want to be considered the team’s leader.

Benítez And Eriksson On Valencia Shortlist

A report in this morning’s Sun claims that Liverpool boss Rafa Benítez is on the shortlist to replace sacked Valencia boss Ronald Koeman

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Neither are going to happen. Rafa is not going back to Valencia. It would be considered a step backwards for him. Eriksson I think wants to prove a point in Manchester City so unless he is fired I wouldn’t expect him to jump ship.

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill is lining up a £5m move for Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell after conceding skipper Gareth Barry may leave this summer. (Daily Mirror)

£5 million pounds for a player that Chelsea signed on a free transfer last summer? Villa would be foolish to pay that amount of money for a player who has been collecting dust on the bench all year long.

Spanish newspaper AS has claimed Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o, who has a £120m release clause in his contract, held talks with Tottenham last week. (The Independent)

At some point Tottenham is going to get fed up with Dimitar Berbatov and his weekly I’m staying/I am wanna play in the Champions League attitude. If that is the case and they even have a small shot of signing Eto’o I’d use the money from a Berbatov transfer to close that deal with Barcelona.

Davis and his Portsmouth team-mate Pedro Mendes could leave Fratton Park in the summer as boss Harry Redknapp seeks to raise cash to buy Liverpool striker Peter Crouch. (Daily Star)

Pedro Mendes has seen less and less playing time as the year goes along. Time for him to move on but he’ll always be a fan favorite since no player did more to keep Portsmouth up in the 2005-2006 season.

Kevin Keegan could be poised to move for Liverpool’s beleaguered John Arne Riise after the Newcastle manager admitted left-backs are high on his summer shopping shortlist. (The Guardian)

I’m sure that move has become a tad easier in the last 24 hours.

Manager Claudio Ranieri wants his old Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini at Juventus. (Daily Mirror)

No player can warm up a bench like Cudicini can.

West Ham are set to offer goalkeeper Robert Green and striker Dean Ashton new deals that will take both players into the £40,000-a-week bracket. (The Sun)

One of those two players are worth the money and its not Dean Ashton.

Liverpool vs Chelsea kick off the first of the two Champions League semi finals with the winners booking a trip to Moscow for the finals.

Will Rafa Benitez continue his midas touch of Europe and crush Chelsea Champions league dreams for the third time in four years or will Avram Grant do what Jose Mourinho could not do and that is lead Chelsea to a Champions League final?

The major change between 2005 and 2007 will be that Chelsea travel to Anfield for the first leg before the second and deciding leg is played at Stanford bridge. That should tilt the advantage to Chelsea since their mindset will be keep the game close at Anfield, score an away goal and take care of business at home.

Both teams have some injury concerns going into this game with Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard neck being cleared to play and Chelsea Didier Drogba is doubtful with a bad knee.

The last two goals Chelsea have scored two goals, both by Michael Essien who is suspended for this contest. If Drogba doesn’t play and Nicolas Anelka can’t fill in the void, look for the Liverpool faithful to propel the Reds to victory.

Sinnacle Prediction Liverpool 2-0

Koeman Sacked, Replaced By Voro

Ronald Koeman has been relieved of his duties as first team coach of Valencia CF with immediate effect.

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Koeman and Valencia is a text book case of how not to coach. Valencia has a lot of talented players, they needed someone to give them confidence instead he came and tore them apart. The Valencia players in turn tuned him out.

AC Milan chief Galliani admits Ronaldinho talks stalling

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani is pessimistic over their chances of signing Barcelona star Ronaldinho.

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Did anyone expect this to be easy? Barcelona is not going to sell Ronaldinho now since the turmoil created would effect them in the Champions League. This will play out well into the summer.

Meireles Wanted By Atlético

Atlético de Madrid are weighing up a move for Porto’s highly-rated midfielder Raúl Meireles to bolster their squad because Cléber Santana is set to leave in the summer.

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A personal fav, Meireles does all the little things in the midfield that every successful team needs.

Five-time Bundesliga champion Borussia Moenchengladbach will play friendly matches against American sides FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids in July, the highlights of a 10-day preseason training camp in the United States.

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No offense to Gladbach but if German football wishes to get any profile in the United States they will have to do better then sending Gladbach. If they still had Kasey Keller I can see some die hard fans being interested but this will cause a big yawn. A club like Hannover which features Americans Sal Zizzo and Steven Cherundolo would of been a better draw.

TV listings have been updated with the exception of Goltv which should be added tomorrow. Changed the format of the page with days appearing in order instead of the TV channels.

Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson could have a mouthwatering attacking line-up next season as City believe they can successfully re-enter the race to sign Ronaldinho after a breakdown in negotiations between Barcelona and AC Milan. (Daily Telegraph)

Whatever

Manchester City are preparing to smash their transfer record on CSKA Moscow’s Brazilian forward Jo, 21, in a move that could cost close to £20m. (The Guardian and Daily Mirror)

That’s more like it. Jo is talented and would play for Manchester City. £20m transfer fee is a tad excessive considering no one knows if he’ll be adapt to the British. When spending that type of money you want a sure thing.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger fears the Gunners could lose Alexander Hleb after the midfielder – who can buy out his contract for a knockdown fee – had a secret meeting with Inter Milan. (Daily Mirror)

When a player is not loyal to a team during the season that player should be sold no matter how good he is and Hleb is quality.

Emmanuel Adebayor could also be on his way to Italy after the Arsenal striker was linked with AC Milan and Juventus. “Milan have looked at him and so have Juventus,” said the player’s agent Vincenzo Morabito. (The Independent)

The best place for Adebayor is Arsenal. No one else can offer him what Arsenal can. He is Arsenal’s number one striker if he moves on he’ll have to fight for his place.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp is ready to offer Fulham £5m for Jimmy Bullard if the Londoners are relegated. (The Sun)

While Fulham is going down Jimmy Bullard is not going down with them.

Bayern Munich, Juventus and Fiorentina are interested in goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who is set to leave Middlesbrough in the summer. (The Sun)

If Schwarzer signs for any of the teams listed he’d be spending a lot of time on the bench.

Zanetti: Only The Result Counts

Javier Zanetti has praised Inter Milan’s 1-0 over Torino, insisting the outcome was more important than the overall performance.

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Zanetti is right. Winning with style is nice but even the best teams week in and week out won’t play up to their best. A sign of a really good team is when they are able to hang on for a win when needed.

Inzaghi admits AC Milan need youth injection

Pippo Inzaghi insists fans saw the “real AC Milan” after yesterday’s 5-1 thrashing of Reggina.

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No, we saw the real A.C Milan this season why they gave up leads and ended up losing to Roma, Inter Milan and Juventus. The 5-1 scoreline is nice but it was against Reggina, when it counted A.C Milan hasn’t come through.

Gilberto: Theo Should Stay, And So Should I

Gilberto Silva believes Theo Walcott is destined for great things, but insists his Arsenal team-mate must be patient if he wishes to fulfil his potential.

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My first reaction would be that he is 50% right. Thinking it through Gilberto should stay provided he is content with being a role player. Arsenal could still use his experience.

In light of Alessandro Del Piero hat trick over the weekend this weeks video clip will be dedicated to Juve’s number 10

Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has agreed to become Inter Milan manager and the Special One is eyeing a £35m double swoop for Stamford Bridge duo Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. (The Sun and Daily Mirror)

Mourinho going to Inter Milan would be the best fit. If Lampard were to go anywhere Inter Milan could also use him the most since they lack a world class attacking centre midfielder.

Samuel Eto’o has threatened to quit Barcelona, putting Chelsea on red alert. “I want to win titles and if I can’t do it here then it will be in another club,” said the Cameroon striker. (The Sun)

He could of helped Barcelona win titles by scoring on the weekend versus Espanyol or a couple of weeks ago against Getafe when they still had an outside chance at the title.

Juventus have offered Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini, whose contract expires at the end of the season, a five-year deal worth £3.5m a year. (Daily Mail)

I don’t think this story will end well for Arsenal fans.

Chelsea are looking to step up their £20m interest in Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery. (Daily Mail)

If Bayern Munich didn’t let go of Owen Hargraves until they were offered £17m it will take at least £25-30m before Munich will even consider selling Ribery.