There Is Only One Sinnacle

Given myself a couple of days to wrap my head around it but for the life of me still can’t make sense of Sven Goran Eriksson taking the director of football job at Notts County. Part of me could understand the challenge of taking on a role with a small club and building them up with the proper backing from ownership but Sven is 61 years old. By the time Notts County is taken seriously as a football club compared to the curiosity and head scratching currently, Sven will be able to collect a pension. Not that he needs a pension thanks to the golden handshake he got from the English FA. It this really how Sven wants to bow out of Football? On a side note hate to be in current managers Ian McParland shoes right now. You have to know with a couple of bad results he’ll be used as a scapegoat and Sven will then bring in his own coach to run this club.

John Terry: I Am Going To Stay At Chelsea

Chelsea captain John Terry has finally committed his future to the club after weeks of speculation linking him with a move to Manchester City.

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Nice of John Terry to finally address this issue through the Chelsea website. Wish there was a video of this interview since I have a feeling it would be like one of those hostage videos where the hostage claims he is being treated well. In this case there would be a Russian voice in the background telling Terry to profess his loyalty to Chelsea. Something tells me this won’t be the end of this transfer rumour heading into next months deadline.

Mourinho fires parting shot at Ibrahimovic

“I thought he would stay because only Real Madrid—and they weren’t interested in him—could spend such crazy money, but then Barcelona did too,” said Mourinho of the deal which will see the Italians also net Belarus winger Alexander Hleb on loan and 50 million euros.

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You knew it was only a matter of time before Mourinho put his own unique spin to one of the most interesting transfers ever in football. Zlatan Ibrahimovic may not of been loved due to his Juventus ties but even if he was even the most die hard Inter/Ibrahimovic fan would agree this Barcelona offer was too good to turn down. Plus it’s also interesting to see Mourinho explain how the Carvalho-Deco transfer fell through. Can’t say I blame Chelsea for actually wanting a transfer fee for two players who on their day can be world class.

Luciano Moggi: Inter Have Committed Suicide By Selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic

The former transfer guru, who lured Ibrahimovic from Ajax to Juventus in 2004, feels Inter have sold the Scudetto and Champions League to their rivals. Moggi, who still casts his opinions on the game despite his ban after Calciopoli, doesn’t feel Samuel Eto’o can emulate the Swede.

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You didn’t except the former disgraced Juventus transfer guru to say anything nice about Inter did you? This coming from the same man who sold Zidane to Real Madrid. Juventus didn’t exactly fall off the map once that occurred. Mind you their are non footballing reasons for this which was talked to death during the 2006 Calciopoli scandal.

Reds’ skipper Gerrard found ‘not guilty’ of affray

The 29-year-old was the only one of seven defendants to be cleared over the ”explosion of violence” at the Lounge Inn during which Mr McGee lost a tooth and suffered facial cuts.

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Call me cynical but it was highly unlikely Steven Gerrard would be found guilty of anything in Liverpool. It’s also telling he was the only one of the seven to be cleared of all charges. Good for Gerrard and Liverpool that this matter was squared away before the start of the upcoming season.

Kolo Toure will snub a switch from Arsenal to Manchester City, despite having an unclear future at the Emirates Stadium.
Full story: Evening Standard

Of all the people to turn down Manchester City millions. Arsene Wenger would say all the right things if this was a fact but I’m sure he would be disappointed in not having the extra money a Toure transfer would bring.

Liverpool have emerged as shock contenders to bring striker Peter Crouch back to Anfield in a £12m deal. Daily Star

Some would say Liverpool would of been better all along if they gave Peter Crouch the type of playing time Robbie Keane got at the start of last year.

Rafael Benitez’s bid to sign Spain winger David Silva has been boosted by bankruptcy-threatened Valencia’s failure to sell David Villa. The Independent

Someone should tell the Independent that the Liverpool owners are not far from bankruptcy themselves. For a club so cash strapped as Valencia they sure do a great job of keeping their best players.

Bolton boss Gary Megson is on the brink of landing defender Zat Knight for £4.5m from Aston Villa. (The Sun)

Hope Zat Knight doesn’t get arrest in his first week at Bolton as he did with Aston Villa.

Fulham, Tottenham, Portsmouth and West Ham are all pursuing out-of-favour Juventus midfielder Christian Poulsen, who is worth around £4m. Daily Mail

More realistic transfer figured from the 6 million being quoted previously.

Ajax coach Martin Jol is interested in signing Spurs full-back Gareth Bale. (The Times)

Ajax have a great history but for an English player considering Ajax is not in the Champions League Bale would lose just about any profile he has in England/Wales.

Hull manager Phil Brown is keen to persuade veteran striker Mark Viduka to forgo retirement plans by moving to the Tigers under a pay-as-you-play contract. (The Sun)

Considering Viduka has been injured for long parts of the last couple of seasons Hull wouldn’t have to pay a lot.

Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov is set to leave Manchester City for Lazio in a possible £4.5m deal. (The Sun)

Lazio better give Bojinov a complete physical as he sent most of his Manchester City time injured.

Real Madrid forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will not move to Stuttgart, so Premier League clubs such as Tottenham and Arsenal may step up their interest. The Independent

I’m not an Arsenal fan but even this lack urgency in signing Huntelaar bugs me. Here you have a player perfect for Arsenal who Real Madrid are very willing to sell.

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Jose Mourinho Is Delighted With Likely Samuel Eto’o Switch – Inter Chief Massimo Moratti

Jose Mourinho is smiling with delight at Samuel Eto’o's proposed arrival, according to Inter president Massimo Moratti.

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This is just good business for Inter. Don’t think anyone would argue that Eto’o is anything less than 90% of the striker that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is. Add to that 40 plus million which can be used for signing other players in the future and it just makes sense to send an unhappy player on his way.

Barcelona snap up Brazilian striker Keirrison

The fee for the 20-year-old, who is due to have a medical on Friday, could rise to €16m euros depending on how many matches he plays for the first team, Barca said on their website.

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One for the future as they say. While he’ll go out on loan this season it would not shock me at all if one of Brazil’s best young players starts to make an impact with Barcelona in 2-3 years.

Sorry This Is Way Late, Real Life made an unexpected Call This Morning.

Manchester City will offer Chelsea captain John Terry £1m a month in wages in a final bid to land the defender. Daily Mail

But Terry will snub a move to Eastlands and sign a new contract to stay at Stamford Bridge. The Sun

Even if Terry signs a new deal with Cheslea their fans should let him have it for the first couple of games this season. Being a club captain and seriously looking at another club does not go hand in hand.

Manchester City could add yet more fire power to their squad and are lining up an £18m swoop for Aston Villa winger Ashley Young. (Daily Express)

Maybe Ashley Young could live up to the potential that Shaun Wright-Phillips was hyped up to be but could never quite reach.

West Ham winger Julien Faubert is wanted by German side Schalke 04. (Daily Mirror)

I’m sure Faubert is happy someone wants him. Didn’t exactly disprove the mockery which was his loan move to Real Madrid last year.

Pompey manager Paul Hart is lining up a bid for Reading winger Stephen Hunt. The Sun

Portsmouth fans must be happy now that their ownership and coaching situation is now settled. Now they can get down to business of bringing players into the club ahead of the new season.

Turkish side Galatasaray are set to launch a bid to sign Chelsea midfielder Deco. (The Times)

This won’t be happening. Now that Deco is at least being given a shot to play under Carlo Ancelotti so far this pre season he’ll want to see it though.

Argentina manager Diego Maradona is being lined up by Portsmouth for a sensational move to the Premier League. Daily Star

Maradona won’t be leaving Argentina a year before the World Cup. He may be fired if Argentina are still in 4th place in South America in a couple of months but he isn’t jumping ship.

Former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole has risked angering his former club by saying he hopes big-spending Manchester City push the Gunners out of the top four this season. Daily Mail

I think Ashley Cole angered his former club long before making this statement.

Meanwhile, the Glazer family, who own United, have denied claims that they have blocked Sir Alex Ferguson from spending the £80m Cristiano Ronaldo transfer fee because purse strings are being tightened at Old Trafford. Daily Star

Don’t see anything wrong with United pocketing the Ronaldo money so far. Despite having all the money in the world they are few players if any who can replace Ronaldo and Messi is not leaving Barcelona anytime soon. Spending money just to spend money is never wise. Plus developing youth players have always been the life blood for United so it is a sensible approach to count on a combination of Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, and Zoran Tošić etc to make the next step.

Chelsea 2-0 Internazionale: Lampard spot on

Goals from Didier Drogba in the 11th minute and a Frank Lampard penalty just after half-time gave Chelsea the victory over the Italian champions in front of 81,224 fans.

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You just have to picture Carlo Ancelotti and Roman Abramovich having a smile on their faces over this result even if it’s only a pre season game. Mourinho can’t be liking how his team looks right now and will want to get the Zlatan Ibrahimovic transfer resolved in a hurry. On a side note 81000 fans to see this match, what an incredible number. Football in North America reminds me of MMA of couple of years ago where the mainstream media is only now starting to pay attention too the fact people have been turned on to football in massive numbers these last 18-24 months.

Report: Barcelona Star Samuel Eto’o Agrees Inter Terms

President Massimo Moratti met with the player’s agent, Josep Maria Mesalles, at the club’s new headquarters in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, and it is suggested that Eto’o himself helped break the deadlock.

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Good to see common sense prevail. Both Inter and Eto’o need each other at this moment and it makes perfect sense to get this deal done. If I’m Inter I’d be excited to watch Eto’o play with a chip on his shoulder over being sent away by Barcelona for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Chelsea and Manchester City are in the hunt for Liverpool’s Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso after his proposed £35m move to Real Madrid stalled. Daily Mail

Remember when Arsenal were interested in Alonso last summer? Highly unlikely they are interested now considering what his price has shot up too. Deep down Rafa must be liking this news. It keeps Real Madrid honest and also increasing the price for Alonso should they wish to sell.

Tottenham and Fulham want Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch after his £12m move to Sunderland fell through. (Daily Telegraph)

I’m sure both clubs enjoyed reading the news of how Crouch turned down Sunderland preferring to stay in the south of England.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce will now turn his attention to Tottenham forward Darren Bent. (Daily Telegraph)

Darren Bent is one of those players who always seems to be mentioned in this transfer rumours yet at the end of the day always stays where he is.

Another option for Bruce may be Bordeaux’s Morocco international forward Marouane Chamakh. The Guardian

Don’t picture Chamakh pleading to the press for Sunderland to make a bid for him like he did when Arsenal was interested.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti anticipates Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, who was on loan at AC Milan last season, will leave the club before the start of the 2009-2010 campaign, with Dynamo Kiev and Fenerbache interested. The Guardian

Shevchenko didn’t do himself any favours when he didn’t preform last year for Ancelotti at A.C Milan.

Tottenham have tabled a £17m bid for Real Madrid’s 23-year-old Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo. Daily Mirror

Michele Platini won’t be up in arms over this transfers but these are the type of transfers which hurt football. Ronaldo to Real Madrid for 80 million is a sure thing knock on wood. 17 million for a player with one good season under his belt like Negredo is hurting football. A club should rarely pay that much money for a player they could of had for less then 5 million a year ago.

And Spurs are weighing up a move for Manchester City winger Martin Petrov, 30, and could prize him away from Eastlands for £5m. Daily Mail

Just about any Man City player from the Sven era or previously to that should be nervous about their place right about now.

Fulham are set to make a £9m offer for Hull City defender Michael Turner, which includes striker Bobby Zamora going in the other direction. (Daily Mirror)

Remember the first half of the season hearing Turner for England. Not so much in the second of the season.