There Is Only One Sinnacle

Everton have bid £8m for Newcastle central defender Steven Taylor in a move which could pave the way for Joleon Lescott to leave Goodison Park for Manchester City. The Daily Star

Taylor is one of the few Newcastle players who can fill a useful role at a top EPL club. It doesn’t hurt that Taylor lashed out at Newcastle last week calling them a joke over the way the club has been run over the summer.

Aston Villa have moved to bolster their defence by putting in a £5m bid for Manchester City centre-back Richard Dunne. (Daily Express)

Dunne came out a couple of days ago and said he was happy to fight for his place at Manchester City. He should be calling his agent trying to find a new club as it’s clear Mark Hughes does not see him as a starter.

Damien Duff could be another player to leave Newcastle as Wolves and Fulham battle it out for the left-sided midfielder. (Daily Mirror)

All of this must be coming about due to Duff scoring on the weekend against West Brom. When a player has a good game and is suddenly in the transfer rumours as a result it rarely becomes a reality.

Manchester United scouts were casting their eye over Argentine striker Sergio Aguero in his country’s 3-2 win over Russia on Wednesday. The Sun

What is there to see at this point? Aguero is world class and any club would be lucky to have him however he seems perfectly happy playing in Spain for the time being.

Blackburn midfielder David Dunn says the Ewood Park side are planning to “kick lumps” out of Manchester City’s stars when the two sides meet in the Premier League on Saturday. The Sun

Dumb of Dunn to come out and say this before the game as now the referee will be paying close attention to Blackburn on Saturday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is famed for his classic “I didn’t see it” phrase when it comes to questions about his players committing fouls but the Frenchman says he has sometimes lied to protect his players. Times

To expand on this Wenger also said he does it because he had no other way to defend the player’s actions. Good to see the truth finally revealed.

Forgive the Alanis Morissette lyrics as I overhead the song this afternoon on the radio. I did wish to bring up the topic of ironic when it comes to the Dutch players currently on the books at Real Madrid. Looking over the roster you see a handful of Dutch Internationals. The likes of Arjen Robben and Ruud van Nistelrooy have won league titles with Real Madrid and former clubs in the past. Both players are of the highest class despite Robben injury problems and van Nistelrooy’s age yet each will struggle for playing time this season. Wesley Sneijder is only 25 and hasn’t even reached his prime but Real Madrid seem to be more than willingly to offload him. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was shipped off to A.C Milan without much fanfare after spending close to 20 million euros on him just six months prior. Rafael van der Vaart can score for Holland against England yet is barely allow to trained with Real Madrid never mind get some playing time.

Then you have Royston Drenthe who has the least impressive resume of any of the previous players mentioned. The feather in Drenthe cap is being named the player of the tournament during the European under 21 championships a few seasons back. This resulted in Real Madrid handing Feyenoord 14 million for his services. Since then Real Madrid haven’t decided where to use Drenthe. Is he a left back or left midfield player? Yet it is Drenthe who has been given the balk of the playing time in the pre season at left back. To be fair some of this playing time being due to the injury of equally inconsistent Marcelo. While the main focus will be how Manuel Pellegrini gets Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema on the same page as Raul, Guti and Casillas i’ll still keep an eye on the process if any Drenthe makes during the season.

Another isn’t it ironic point. It’s interesting that Cristiano Ronaldo is sponsored by Nike yet his Real Madrid club is outfitted by Adidas. Then you have Lionel Messi who is sponsored by Adidas yet Barcelona is clothed by Nike. Granted Nike and Adidas solve this problem with the fact Nike does the Portugal jersey and Adidas does the same with Argentina yet it wouldn’t shock me if the two companies do a switch when their current relationships with the Spanish clubs expire.

Just a couple of clubs picking up some loose change is the first thing that comes to mind when hearing that Benfica and Celtic will match up at Bmo field on September 2nd. Can’t say I blame them mind you. With this date falling in the middle of national team duty several key first team players will be missing but it shouldn’t matter for the legions of fans for both clubs who are well represented in the Greater Toronto Area.

Benfica are no stranger to Toronto as they played to a boring 0-0 draw with Toronto FC two summers ago. Neither are Benfica and Celtic strangers to each other as they have faced off in the Champions League just a couple of years prior.

Juventus Interested In Atletico Madrid Pair Sergio Aguero & Maxi Rodriguez – Report

The Bianconeri are reportedly testing the waters to determine how much both players would cost and if it would be possible to bring them to Turin.

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Could see Maxi Rodriguez leaving or at least Atletico wanting to sell Rodriguez due to only having a season left on his contract. Have said it before and most likely will say it again but Aguero seems very happy playing for Atletico Madrid. Don’t see the player moving on for at least another season.

Tottenham’s Bentley charged with drink driving

It was reported that the midfielder smashed his Porsche into a lamppost at 3am and was found standing near the wreckage of his black 911 on a dark country lane in Northaw, Herts, before being taken into custody.

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Couldn’t think of a more fitting way for Bentley to kick off the new campaign than this. Luckly no one was injured thanks to his foolish actions.

Benfica close to signing ‘Boro striker Alves

Portuguese giants Benfica are poised to complete the signing of Middlesbrough’s Afonso Alves, after the Brazilian failed to impress in England.

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For the love of god why is the first thing that comes to mind reading this news. Still can’t see this becoming a reality. Benfica already have excellent attacking options with Óscar Cardozo and Javier Saviola starting. Then you have promising Brazilian striker Keirrison currently on loan from Barcelona. Finally see you have that old goat Nuno Gomes still around just don’t see where Alves would fit.

Manchester United are hoping to hijack Bayern Munich’s £5m move for FC Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer, who has received rave reviews from United scouts. The Sun

Ben Foster better get use to going from England goalkeeper of the future to backup for the foreseeable future depending on his performance the previous game.

Tottenham are considering a £5m move for Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses. Daily Star

Clubs have long memories. Tottenham basically stole one of Crystal Palace prized youth players signing him to a professional contract when the kid turned 16 last year and in return Palace got less than a million in compensation. Cause of this just don’t see Palace doing business with Tottenham.

Portsmouth are closing in on the signing of former Middlesbrough midfielder Bolo Zenden. Daily Star

Portsmouth need players in the worst way. They are paper thin heading into this EPL season.

Fulham are closing in on a deal to sign Mark Viduka after the former Newcastle striker flew into London for talks on Wednesday night. Daily Mail

Not a lot left in the tank when it comes to Viduka but could see him filling in as a striker/hold up player late in games.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill feels that City can challenge for the title, conceding that the Eastland outfit’s summer spending spree has created a Premier League “big five”. Daily Mirror

Or foolish one depending on how Manchester City start the season.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas believes he is the man to fill the shoes of recently departed Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso. Daily Express

Nice of him to think that. Most people especially the majority of Liverpool fans would think otherwise. Did score in Liverpool’s friendly against Atlético Madrid however.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has insisted the Reds have not taken a gamble in signing injured midfielder Alberto Aquilani, arguing that his ankle problem means he was cheaper. Daily Mirror

I like Aquilani so I’m not going to rage on this transfer but love the fact that Rafa has an excuse for just about everything. When Liverpool signed Aquilani few people would look at the transfer fee and think they got him on the cheap.

Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed has given manager Roy Hodgson a license to spend as the Cottagers go in search of Europa League success. Daily Express

Nice of him to do so less than three weeks left in the transfer window.

Arsenal striker Nicolas Bendtner hopes that a change of squad number from 26 to his lucky number 52 will improve his fortunes in front of goal. The Sun

However, Bendtner’s decision to change number has not got off to the best start as he faces a £10,000 bill from Arsenal after offering to reimburse fans who bought replica shirts bearing his old number. The Guardian

Must admit it was a nice story hearing that Bendtner was going to foot the bill for any Arsenal fan who needed to get a new jersey cause of his number switch.

Bayern still hopeful of signing Bosingwa

The Bundesliga giants’ general manager Uli Hoeness says the Blues promised to contact them after Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Manchester United, which Chelsea won on penalties.

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Don’t understand why Chelsea would even consider selling Bosingwa considering any transfer fee proposed isn’t more than what Chelsea paid Porto for his services last year. Granted it was only one game but Chelsea were night and day better in the second of the Community Shield once Bosingwa came into the game in the second half replacing an ineffective Branislav Ivanović at right back. Plus not many defenders can claim to hold their own against Lionel Messi but Bosingwa did a wonderful job basically making him a non factor in both Champions League games last season.

Maxwell Surprised By Barcelona Quality

Maxwell believes that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will lift Barcelona’s level even higher and admitted that he has been surprised by how great he has found things at his new club.

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My first reaction to reading this was to think Maxwell must not of watched many Barcelona games last year cause it was made clear Barcelona is of the highest quality. Wanted to also mentioned that I liked this transfer for Barcelona which went with under the radar this season. Maxwell was frozen out of Inter with the arrival of Davide Santon but should rebound this year and add depth the the Barcelona back line.

Italy striker Giampaolo Pazzini, a reported target of Chelsea, is not Leaving Sampdoria, according to the Italian club’s general director Giuseppe Marotta.

This doesn’t come as a shock to me. Both the interest and rejection. Pazzini has come along way in a short period of time. He has gone from being a bust with Fiorentina to a lethal striker with Sampdoria earning a couple of Italian caps as a result.

Manchester City are intent on continuing their pursuit of Joleon Lescott with a £22m bid for the Everton defender despite the insistence of Toffees boss David Moyes that the 26-year-old is not for sale. The Times

This reminds me on the Liverpool-Gareth Barry saga last year. The price was right but Martin O’Neill wasn’t going to be bullied in the transfer market by Liverpool and only ended up selling him a year later on his terms. The same could easily apply here. Just hope for Everton’s sake Lescott doesn’t mope through this season like Barry did in his final campaign with Aston Villa.

Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko will see out the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge after rejecting a move to former club Dynamo Kiev. Daily Star

Shevchenko is not having the pick of the litter when it comes to planning his next move.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill has been challenged by Blackburn to treble his bid for Rovers defender Stephen Warnock to £12m or forget the deal. Daily Mirror

O’Neill should forget the deal in that case.

O’Neill is also keen to bring Tottenham midfielders David Bentley and Jermaine Jenas to Villa Park. The Guardian

I’m sure Tottenham would love to get rid oF Bentley but as you saw with the Darren Bent transfer they will want to recoup most of the transfer fee they paid for him last year.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp could be forced back into the transfer market after learning that centre-back Jonathan Woodgate faces at least two months on the sidelines following surgery on a groin problem. Daily Mirror

Personally it shocked me Woodgate with a long history of injuries didn’t break down sooner after a couple of years of good health.

West Ham hope to sign Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni and Barcelona front man Eidur Gudjohnsen by the end of the transfer window, initially on a loan basis. (The Guardian)

The Hammers are interested in Napoli defender Leandro Rinaudo, with boss Gianfranco Zola keen to bring the 6ft 4in centre-back in on loan if he loses Matthew Upson or James Collins. Daily Mail

Bringing players on loan deals in sure tell sign West Ham aren’t exactly playing with a lot of funds in the transfer market. I’d be surprised if any of the players mentioned made their way to Upton Park.

Defender Lucas Neill could be set for a return to Upton Park after the former West Ham skipper revealed he is considering a contract offer from Zola. The Sun

With only a couple of days left before the season starts Neill should get the hint that other teams aren’t exactly tripping over themselves to sign him.

Manchester City winger Martin Petrov would not be surprised if he was sold by the club this summer, with Tottenham keen on the Bulgaria international. The Sun

Always liked Petrov when fit he is brings a lot to the table. Played a key role for Manchester City during Sven’s year in charge. Sadly for Petrov got injured last year and missed most of last season. When dealing with a new coach you get lost in the shuffle and left behind when out injured for long periods of time.

Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul is being monitored by a host of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, Portsmouth, Wigan, Hull and Sunderland.: Independent

All of this over one good game. Two weeks ago most of these papers wouldn’t even of heard of Tim Krul.

Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung is set to revive his bid to buy Birmingham City in a £70m deal. The Sun

Don’t know why this is a story again. Yeung couldn’t come up with the cash two years ago and wasted everyone’s time in the process. Funny he didn’t make a bid on them when Birmingham were in the Championship last season.

Any hope Arsenal’s Spanish-born goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has of playing for England if they qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals appears to be over after the coach of the national side Fabio Capello dismissed the idea. The Sun

I’ve said all along Capello was not going to deal with the distraction of calling up a non English player so close to the World Cup.

Let me get this out of the way early that I’m fully aware of the Portuguese Super Liga modest standing in the European football world. Despite this I’m really excited the many young talented players who will be playing this year in Portugal.

Considering the Super Liga is really just a B league you have two options when attracting players. You can go the way of finding players with some name recognition but on the downside of their careers. For example Djibril Cisse and Olof Mellberg quickly come to mind both highly paid who have either never quite lived up to advance billing or enjoying their final years in football.

The other way you can go about it is by bringing in young players with promise in the hopes they improve. One of the few advantages the Portuguese Super Liga has in European football is the fact you don’t need to qualify for a work permit or deal with non EU restrictions. Basically if you are from any part of the world and can play football, you can play in Portugal.

While Porto are the team to catch in Portugal and for many European clubs the model of how a non elite football club should be run, Benfica is the team most will be paying the closest attention too. After another disappointing season Benfica opened up the bank vaults to sign young Brazilians Patric and Ramires the latter already having nine Brazilian caps to his name. With someone having to take on Real’s Madrid excess players Benfica wisely signed Spanish under 21 international Javi García to go along with Javier Saviola who should make a great one-two partnership with the emerging talent that is Oscar Cardozo.

Aside from the Benfica players previously mentioned there are the likes of Keirrison, Ángel Di María, Fábio Coentrão, David Luiz. On Porto they are currently restocking with the likes of Fernando Belluschi, Diego Valeri, Falcao, Hulk, Rolando, Silvestre Varela and Fernando. Sporting still have the duo of Miguel Veloso and João Moutinho who are often linked with big money moves abroad. While there hasn’t been a Figo, Simao or Ronaldo coming up through the Sporting youth ranks in recent years they are still some intriguing players such as Rui Patrício, Adrien Silva to go along with the likes of Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo and former Villarreal midfielder Matías Fernández.

There is just a slew of young players to keep your eye on currently playing in Portugal. Will all of them pan out? Of course not, the law of averages will dictate that some of these players don’t live up to their promise. With that I’ll be putting this post in the memory bank for a couple of years to see which players pan out and which are unable to take the next step in their careers.

Just a minor note that I’ve updated the TV listings ahead of the European season rolling out.

Inter Consider Shock Move For Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff – Report

After failing to impress in the red and black half of Milan, Jose Mourinho is hoping to persuade Gourcuff his future lies with the Italian champions…

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Gourcuff has started this season well scoring two goals on the weekend. Gourcuff also seems happy with life at Bordeaux where he is settled and staring for a top team. Neither of which could describe his time with A.C Milan. Maybe Gourcuff would want to get back at A.C Milan by signing for Inter Milan but the wisest decision Gourcuff could make is to stay where he is for at least another season.

Gerrard out of England squad with groin injury

The FA confirmed on Tuesday morning the Liverpool captain would return to his club due to concerns over a “tight groin”.

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Would bet good money Gerrard’s tight groin loosens up in time for Liverpool’s match against Tottenham this weekend.