There Is Only One Sinnacle

Ronaldo: I’m Joining Madrid Next Week

Cristiano Ronaldo has sensationally told Spanish newspaper ‘AS’ that he will be joining Real Madrid, and will next week travel to Manchester to notify Sir Alex Ferguson that he is leaving the English and European Champions.

Article

Sinnacle is personally tired of this transfer saga and just wishes it to end one way or another. For Ronaldo’s sake I just hope they aren’t any spare soccer cleats around if this story is true and he does tell Sir Alex Ferguson once and for all he wants out.

Atlético Confident Of Selling Maniche

Atlético de Madrid remain confident that they will find a new club for Maniche before the start of the season despit pricing both Galatasaray and Olympiacos out of a move for him.

Article

Atletico will never sell Maniche for the seven million Euro figure requested. Not only is Maniche the wrong side of 30 but anyone interested will not pay top dollar to a team who wishes to get rid of a player. Atletico would be lucky to get half that fee for Maniche.

Barcelona admit Juventus striker Trezeguet on radar

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted their interest for Juventus striker David Trezeguet.

Article

Great goal scorer but with Amauri, Del Piero, and Iaquinta in the picture and Trezequet also the wrong side of 30 Juventus could be tempted to do business.

Anelka To Scolari: Get Robinho

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has urged his club to complete the signing of Real Madrid winger Robinho…

Article

Just once I’d like to see a player come out and saw sign a player who plays the same position as me. If I was Joe Cole I’d tell Anelka to keep his comments to himself before running out to the press and saying Eto’o would be a great fit for Chelsea.

Ranieri: Tiago Is A Flop

After a year of doubts, Claudio Ranieri, has finally given his honest opinion of Tiago, saying the midfielder is a flop.

Article

My opinion on Tiago has already been stated. Provided you don’t expect him to create scoring chances for strikers up front and let him do the dirty work in midfield he is a fine player.

I’m sure all of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting for this post.

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. Jamaica
5. Germany
6. United Kingdom
7. Malaysia
8. India
9. Turkey
10. Nigeria

Gareth Barry will demand that Aston Villa sell him to Liverpool after Villa last night said the Merseyside club had missed a deadline to sign the midfielder. (Various)

It is rubbing salt in the wound telling the press that Liverpool missed the deadline by 10 minutes.

Blackburn boss Paul Ince will try to complete a deal for £6m-rated Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant. (Daily Mail)

Pennant would make the jump in order to play first team football and Liverpool would take that 6 million pound fee and spend it elsewhere.

Tottenham are poised to complete a £50m double swoop for Russian strike duo Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin. (Various)

These are two players that the English press didn’t even know of a year ago.

Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre is wanted by Paris St Germain but is holding out for his testimonial at Old Trafford. (Daily Mail)

Been at United for nine years and you get a testimonial after 10 years. Always like the whole idea of holding a testimonial game in honour of a player’s career.

Chelsea are unlikely to allow Andriy Shevechko to rejoin AC Milan on a free transfer. (The Times)

Well, would you allow a 60 million dollar transfer two years ago to walk away for free?

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp is being targeted by CSKA Moscow to become their new manager. (Daily Mirror)

If Redknapp didn’t walk away from Portsmouth to take the Newcastle job after they offered more money there is little chance that Redknapp will pack up for Russia. Besides Redknapp has put in too much work into building this Portsmouth team to walk away.

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley says he’s not a gambling man after finding himself as the favourite to be the first Premier League boss to be sacked this season. (Various)

One would of made a nice return betting on Jose Mourinho to be the first manager let go last year. Sadly I think Newcastle will get tired of Kevin Keegan quickly if King Kev doesn’t get his team off to a good start.

Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced the capture of Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Bentley. The 23-year-old is set to be officially unveiled at tomorrow’s press conference. The London side have yet to reveal a fee for the England international…

Article

Another transfer that made sense for both teams. Blackburn is allowed to move on without dealing with the Bentley transfer rumors since it was clear he wanted out. Both club and player are now allowed to move forward. Tottenham makes a big name signing to ease the loss of Robbie Keane and hopefully to convince future transfer targets that White Hart Lane should be their prefer destination.

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — The Chicago Fire acquired former United States striker Brian McBride from Toronto FC on Wednesday for Chad Barrett, a first-round pick in the 2009 draft and future considerations.

Article

This trade has been known since the MLS all star game however it became official today. Good move for both teams but for different reasons. Chicago acquires a great locker room veteran who can still score at the MLS level despite his age. Toronto acquires Chad Barrett who is young and can score goals which this Toronto needs desperately needs. Plus Toronto got all this for basically nothing. McBride wasn’t going to play for them but they were smart enough to obtain his rights beforehand so this can’t been seen as a negative in anyway for Toronto FC.

Madrid To Sign Van Der Vaart Next Week

Real Madrid will complete the signing of Rafael Van der Vaart next week after negotiations are concluded following their game with Hamburg in London, according to Marca.

Article

The 10 million euro figure sounds fair. The previously offer of 6 million was too low. Now Hamburg can move on without having to deal with questions about Van der Vaart’s future all season and Real Madrid will get a player who should settle quickly with follow Dutch players Robben, Drenthe, Sneijder, and Ruud van Nistelrooy on board.

Maradona Blasts Messi Over Olympics Farce

Football legend, Diego Maradona, has blasted Lionel Messi for putting club before country and he believes the Barcelona star should have gone to the Olympics at all costs.

Article

I’m not one to say take career advice from Diego Maradona but the legend is right here. Messi should make a decision either say your staying at Barcelona or link up with Argentina for the Olympics. Really is Barcelona going to bench Messi when he comes back?

Adriano struggling to win over Inter Milan coach Mourinho

Adriano has been warned by Jose Mourinho he has some way to winning a place in his plans at Inter Milan.

Article

The last quote in the article made me laugh. Asked about man-managing the Brazilian, Mourinho also admitted: “He needs a coach to be close to him. But I am a coach of men, not of children.”

Ouch

Tottenham will splash out £36m to bring Blackburn’s David Bentley and Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg to White Hart Lane. (Various)

Best course of action to get Tottenham fans to forget about Robbie Keane is to strike quickly in the transfer market and make a deal for a high profile player.

Manchester City have made a £6m offer for Liverpool’s Yossi Benayoun and are considering a swoop for Fulham keeper Antti Niemi. (Daily Mail)

Never understood what Liverpool saw in Benayoun to begin with. It’s not that he is a bad player but Benayoun isn’t a game breaker either.

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has set £13m Spurs duo Steed Malbranque and Younes Kaboul a 24-hour deadline to join his club. (Daily Star)

Can understand what Kaboul doesn’t want to commit yet since other teams are chasing his signature but Steed Malbranque should jump at this chance. With the reinforcements Tottenham has made to their midfield this summer it would be unlikely that Malbranque would see any first team action next season.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is chasing Stuttgart forward Mario Gomez and is set to agree a £15m fee. (The Sun)

Be quite a coup if Fulham can land Gomez. Had a great season in the Bundesliga last year but still can’t forget the chances he missed at Euro 2008. Still find it doubtful that Gomez would jump ship to Fulham regardless.

Chelsea have accepted a £5m bid from Manchester City for Israel defender Tal Ben-Haim, who has been offered a four-year deal. (The Times)

My favorite Tal Ben-Haim Chelsea moment was when he ripped Avram Grant over playing time and Grant basically replied with, “What did he except when he signed here? Did he think he was going to overtake John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.”

Midfielder Keith Andrews is set to complete his £2m transfer from MK Dons to Blackburn. (Daily Express)

That is a lot of money for a player who played in League Two last year.

Paul Gascoigne is said to be considering a coaching job with Newcastle. (The Sun)

Love to see a meeting of the minds between Gascoigne and Joey Barton.

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA earned a record $394 million from the 2008 European Championship.

European football’s governing body said that is an increase of $42 million from Euro 2004, and would be enough to pay for its youth and women’s competitions until 2012 as well as refereeing and coaching programs.

Article

There is a lot of money to be made in football. I’m always interested in articles relating to the business of the game. This article no exception.

Sir Alex Ferguson has dropped a bombshell by sensationally revealing that he will quit as manager of Manchester United if Cristiano Ronaldo leaves to join Real Madrid.

Article

Generally I would take anything said by Spanish newspaper Marca with a grain a salt. This story included but I’ve had this theory about Sir Alex Ferguson in the back of my mind for awhile now and have been saving it until something broke regarding the never ending Ronaldo to Madrid rumours.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been around the game for a long time, coached thousands of players, won every title you could think of but until Ronaldo come onto the scene Sir Alex Ferguson could never lay claim to coaching the best player in the world. (for arguments sake one of the best players if you’d like)

Bryan Robson, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Eric Cantona all great players but none of them were considered the best player in the world during the prime of their career’s. For someone who has seen it all like Sir Alex Ferguson the challenge of guiding the still young career of Cristiano Ronaldo (along with the likes of Rooney, Tevez, Nani, Anderson etc) must excite him and keep him going. Losing Ronaldo and that opportunity to guide his career would be a massive blow for Sir Alex Ferguson after so many years in the game. That being the case if Ronaldo ever did leave United it wouldn’t shock him if Sir Alex Ferguson retired one or two years sooner as previously planned.