There Is Only One Sinnacle

Slow day in England heading into the Champions League Final.

Manchester United chief executive David Gill says the club are ready to pay the £25.5m required to secure the future of forward Carlos Tevez. (Various)

At this point why would Tevez return to United next season if he isn’t going to be regular starter heading into a World Cup year? United fans will want to think Tevez wants to return, common sense would suggest otherwise.

Liverpool winger Ryan Babel is the first high-profile player to be told he can leave Anfield over the summer. (The Sun)

When playing for an elite club you usually get two years to win over a coach. You rarely get three. Provided Babel doesn’t come in with an attitude he’d be a good fit for a lot of clubs.

Bolton are ready to bid £3m for Portsmouth defender Sylvain Distin. (The Sun)

Good player but when a club can pick up a decent transfer fee for a near 32 old year player you take it.

Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos says he does not want to return to London following his loan spell at AC Milan. (Daily Mirror)

I’d prefer to live in Milan compared to London as well. Maybe Senderos is Swiss for Jose Antonio Reyes?

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has told Sunderland that he wants £5m in compensation for Lactics manager Steve Bruce.
(Daily Mirror)

Whelan had to pay Birmingham compensation when Wigan plunked Steve Bruce last year so it’s only naturally he’ll want Sunderland to show him the money.

I’m just going to come right out and say I was wrong about Lionel Messi this year. The fact he is a world class talent was never in question. Everyone could see that one day Messi was on the verge of placing himself alongside some of the all time greats. Just didn’t think it would be this year. Messi has developed from the shy timid personality off the field, happy to divert the spotlight to a player while not seeking the spotlight is comfortable in it. The way he has handled the transition from being Ronaldinho boy wonder to become the man is something Messi should be applauded for as equally as his performances on the pitch.

Brazilian playmaker Diego has completed his “dream” move to Juventus from Werder Bremen, for a fee of €24.5m.

The 24-year-old, who helped steer Werder to the UEFA Cup and German Cup finals this season, had two years left on his contract with the Bundesliga side but had made it clear that he wanted a new challenge.

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This could turn out to be one of the best signings Juventus has done in many years. Unless you are Gianluigi Buffon there really isn’t one player on this Juventus who would start with either Manchester United and Barcelona. When you are a team with the tradition and history of being near the top of Europe every year that isn’t going to cut it. Signing a player about to enter his prime in Diego is a great first step to catching up with some of the current giants of European football.

VfB Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez will join Bayern Munich in a deal that could make him the most expensive Bundesliga player ever.

Both clubs and the player confirmed they had agreed a deal that media have estimated will be worth about €30m. This would be the biggest in German league history.

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Must be nice to be Bayern Munich and know you can pick off just another any player in Germany you would like. With Lukas Podolski moving on to Koln this summer and Miroslav Klose to go along with Luca Toni both being on the wrong side of 30 Bayern had to make a move in an effort to displace Wolfsburg from the pinnacle of German football next season. No question that Mario Gomez has a great goal scoring record but my main memory of him is still all those sitters he missed during Euro 2008.

Carlo Ancelotti: Milan Future Revealed On Monday

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed he will meet with club directors on Monday to discuss his future.

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Waiting til after the season to announce your future usually means Ancelotti future is away from A.C Milan. You’ve seen Jose Mourinho sign a new contract instead of continuing to be linked with Real Madrid as an example what happens when a coach wants to stay. There is just too much smoke not to lead into a fire regarding these Ancelotti to Chelsea rumours.

Makelele slams Jose for claiming ”all the credit”

Claude Makelele has slammed Jose Mourinho, accusing the former Chelsea manager of taking all the credit for the team’s success towards the end of his time at Stamford Bridge.

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Who am I to counter say anything Claude Makelele feels? When you are trying to sell a book, having an interesting opinion of a polarizing figure such as Mourinho will have a good effect on book sales.

Ibisevic signs up to stay with Hoffenheim

The 24-year-old Bosnian, who scored 18 goals in 17 matches before the winter break to help his team top the standings, ruptured cruciate ligaments in January and has not played since.

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Good to see Hoffenheim tied up one of their key players long term. In the first half of the season Hoffenheim were playing some of the most exciting football in Europe with Ibisevic up front. Once he got hurt it ended up being a slow slide down the table for Hoffenheim.

Enrico Preziosi: Ricardo Quaresma & Hernan Crespo To Join Genoa

The club president has wasted no time in replacing Milito and Motta, confirming that both Quaresma and Crespo are set to join his side from Inter…

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Not a bad return if Inter get 10 million for 50% of Quaresma and the player agrees to a deal with Genoa. We all know how Diego Milito and Thiago Motta turned their careers around at Genoa maybe Quaresma will do the same next year? He didn’t exactly fit hand in glove during his first six months in Serie A before being shipped off to Chelsea on loan.

Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra is trying to persuade Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery to come to Old Trafford. (The Sun)

Shouldn’t Patrice Evra have other things to concern himself with this week? Wait til next week to court Ribery when the French national team meet up again.

Manchester City and Tottenham are battling it out for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry. (Daily Star)

Barry would of been a good fit for Manchester City if they didn’t spend 25 million on similar players in Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong.

West Brom defender Paul Robinson says he will leave the relegated club as he wants to play in the Premier League. (Various)

At least Robinson waited until after the season was complete to make his intentions clear.

Arsenal have made an £8m bid for Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland. (Daily Mirror)

Shocking that the papers quote a low ball offer by Arsenal if this report is meant to be believed. It would take double that amount of Fulham to consider it.

Tottenham are ready to make another bid for Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov, who is currently playing for Manchester City.
(The Sun)

Petrov and cash going one way. David Bentley linking up with Mark Hughes again going the other. Now make it happen.

Wigan boss Steve Bruce has been strongly linked with the vacant manager’s position at Sunderland. (Daily Mirror)

Won’t be the first time Bruce has left one premiership club for another. I’m sure Bruce will at least listen depending on how much money Sunderland is offering and how much of a transfer budget he is given.

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov says following his FA Cup semi-final miss, he will not want to step up should the Champions League final go to a penalty shoot-out. (The Sun)

Don’t look for Berbatov to play then unless Manchester United find themselves behind. It’s 50/50 at best he’ll be starting and why sub in into the game if your striker isn’t confident scoring from the spot?

The Milanese giants have announced that ‘The Special One’ has signed a new deal…

Inter have revealed that coach Jose Mourinho has signed a new contract with the club, expiring June 2012, through their official website.

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I’d be smiling too. I’d also be sending a thank you card to Real Madrid which got Inter Milan to kick in an extra year at a nice raise. In the end never really took the Mourinho to Real Madrid rumours seriously. He always struck me as the type to see something through. Mourinho came to Inter Milan with the promise of winning the Champions League and continuing their dominance in Serie A. Considering Inter has given Mourinho everything he had requested thus far just couldn’t see him walking away from that to join Real Madrid.

Bradley names 24-man roster to train for qualifiers

U.S. men’s national team coach Bob Bradley has named a roster of 24 players that will train in advance of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras. The U.S. will be seeking its first-ever victory away to Costa Rica when they meet at Estadio Saprissa on June 3.

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Going to be a better summer for U.S football with World Cup Qualifying soon followed by the Gold Cup. Will be interesting to see how MLS teams will fair.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)

DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (Midtjylland), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Freddy Adu (Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Xerez), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Charlie Davies (Hammarby), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Celtic have announced that Gordon Strachan has decided to stand down as manager, after the Glasgow club lost out to rivals Rangers in the SPL title race on Sunday.

The club announced on their website that Strachan – who won three titles and three domestic cups in his four years in charge – had decided to step down just a day after losing his grip on the Scottish Premier League trophy.

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Never understood why a large majority of Celtic fans never warmed up to Gordon Strachan. Despite his lack of popularity Strachan can look back on his time at Celtic and say to himself “job well done.” Hopefully for Strachan he bounces back on his feet at Sunderland if rumoured interest is to be believed.

- The League table rarely lies at the end of the year. This year in Germany proved no exception. Despite Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich, Hamburg and Hertha Berlin all at one point or another leading the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg could lay claim to be worthy champions. At the end of the season when games matter most Wolfsburg were the team who took it up another level. Going into the final week of the season needed a win, Wolfsburg turned on the style to defeat Werder Bremen 5-1 in a game that was over by halftime.

- When Celtic needed a key goal they often came up empty. Even if they would of won yesterday against Hearts it wouldn’t of changed things due to Rangers winning 3-0 but a Celtic fan must be disappointed in seeing no one rise to the occasion.

- Doesn’t shock me that Pedro Mendes helped Rangers win the SPL crown and capped off a fine season with their second goal against Dundee United. One of the best transfer signings of the season in any league.

- Kind of strange seeing A.C Milan give up three goals in Paolo Maldini’s last match at the San Siro.

- The difference between Villarreal and Atletico Madrid in the battle for the last Champions League place? One had Diego Forlan and the other now has him scoring hat tricks. Another three goals for Forlan sees his season total at an impressive 31 for the season.