There Is Only One Sinnacle

After six years and winning everything short of the Champions League former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho has linked up again with former coach Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.

No denying the rumoured €8 million is good business on Chelsea’s end for the 32 year old but on the pitch a massive hole will be left at the heart of their defence. Mark my words Chelsea will miss Carvalho during key games this season. Carvalho was and is the perfect balance of a continental European defender who isn’t afraid to have a touch with the ball and a British defender who would have no problem putting a player on the ground sliding for a 50/50 ball.

With Pepe out for three weeks the rush was on to find a defender and with rumours of Thiago Silva and David Luiz not leading anywhere Real Madrid found themselves a top defender with enough experience and class to help them for the next two seasons. Much like Lucio last year for Inter Milan Jose Mourinho brings in a defender who can carry out his gameplan to a tee.

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has insisted that signing Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano is not able to take place “at the moment” because of transfer restrictions. “If we do not sell, we do not buy,” he said. IM Scouting

Some things are a blessing in disguise but I feel this deal ends up getting done at somepoint.

A tug of war is developing over Werder Bremen midfielder Mesut Ozil, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona all battling for Germany’s 21-year-old World Cup star. On a potential move to Barca, Ozil said: “It is my dream to play for them.” the Sun

The second the World Cup ended calls should of came flooding into Werder Bremen for Ozil. Guess Bremen are wisely waiting til the final hours before selling him.

Liverpool are preparing a £12m bid for West Ham striker Carlton Cole after dropping their interest in Tottenham forward Peter Crouch. Daily Mail

Please don’t Liverpool.

One player expected to arrive at Anfield is 30-year-old Christian Poulsen, with the Denmark and Juventus midfielder set to secure a three-year deal. Daily Mirror

4 million isn’t going to break the break but I’m not the biggest fan of Poulsen.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis is ready to sign Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones in a record £9m deal.
Full story: Daily Mirror

The same Kenwyne Jones who coasted the second half of last year for Sunderland?

Tottenham are considering whether to make a £22m offer for Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor. caughtoffside.com

Buying Adebayor would keep him from scoring against Tottenham every year.

Manchester City keeper Shay Given says he is ready to quit the club if Joe Hart becomes number one at Eastlands. Daily Mail

One or the other has to go. Neither will be happy as the backup.

Former Chelsea and Barcelona star Eidur Gudjohnsen is on the verge of a move to Fulham after rejecting the chance to join Birmingham. Daily Mail

Needless to say guess Gudjohnsen likes life in London.

Another shock candidate is Mark Hughes, even though the former Manchester City and Wales boss signed a two-year contract with Fulham less than two weeks ago and is yet to take charge of a competitive game for the London club. Daily Telegraph

Mark Hughes must of kicked himself when he saw the Villa job come up just after taking charge at Fulham.

Aston Villa players texted images of champagne bottles to each other to celebrate manager Martin O’Neill’s exit – under a week before the new Premier League season starts. Daily Mirror

Aston Villa will move on I feel.

Can’t say this is breaking news anymore but Martin O’Neill has resigned from Aston Villa a week before the opening game of the season. We take selfish players to task for thinking that is the club is bigger than any one person. Martin O’Neill is after the Brian Clough dream where the club is wrapped around the identity of the coach and a player only leaves when he is unwanted.

Martin O’Neill should of left six months ago when rumours of him leaving first hit the news. I’m shocked he decided to take his ball and go home a week before the season was to start. What kind of respect is that towards Villa chairman Randy Lerner who backed Martin O’Neill which plenty of cash as only Manchester City and Tottenham has spent more in the last four years?

I’ve said this when Gareth Barry left that I was convinced he wanted to leave for two reasons. One of course money, and two he didn’t like Martin O’Neill who doesn’t strike me as a warm and fuzzy coach. A good coach yes, but it seemed like no player was going to run through a wall for the man. It also didn’t help his cause when he threw the likes of Barry and James Milner under the bus on the way out.

Maritn O’Neill needs to realize selling James Milner is good business. Aston Villa should of scouted the next James Milner six months ago instead of letting this drag on. In no other country would James Milner be more than Angel Di Maria than England. Sell him and move on, don’t act like a baby and leave a club a week before the season.

While I’m sure Martin O’Neill will get another job, maybe before the years end but if I was running a top club I’d stay far clear of such a selfish my way or the highway type of coach. Maybe Martin O’Neill should buy a lower league club, run it and spend his own money buying players to give him a better perspective of football in 2010.

Out with the old and in with the new as Cesare Prandelli names a new look Italy sqaud ahead of the friendly against the Ivory Coast. A new always wants to make his own mark and by calling up the likes of Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli and Amauri (Brazil must be thinking you can have him.) Prandelli surely has done that.

Goalkeepers: Marchetti (Cagliari), Sirigu (Palermo), Viviano (Bologna)

Defenders: Antonini (Milan), Astori (Cagliari), Bonucci (Juventus), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Lucchini (Sampdoria), Molinaro (Stoccarda), Motta (Juventus)

Midfielders: De Rossi (Roma), Lazzari (Cagliari), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pepe (Juventus)

Strikers: Amauri (Juventus), Balotelli (Inter), Borriello (Milan), Cassano (Sampdoria), Quagliarella (Napoli), Rossi (Villarreal).

Chelsea will let unsettled defender Ashley Cole move to Real Madrid once the club wrap up a £16m deal for Benfica left-back Fabio Coentrao. Daily Mirror

If I was looking to buy top young talent the first place I’d be looking to is Benfica as well. Full credit goes to Fabio Coentrao for his success. He was blocked out of his natural role in midfield by Angel Di Maria and learned a new position on the fly and excelled at it.

Marseille are considering a bid to bring striker Didier Drogba back to the club from Chelsea. Drogba is one of three potential Marseille attacking targets along with Fiorentina’s Alberto Gilardino and Ajax’s Luis Suarez. insidefutbol.com

Marseille will only be able to bring back Drogba once Chelsea is done with him.

Liverpool are ready to offload defender Philipp Degen to Budesliga side Stuttgart. insidefutbol.com

Liverpool would offload Philipp Degen to any team who comes calling.

French striker Karim Benzema could be offered to Chelsea by Real Madrid as part of a deal to lure Cole away from Stamford Bridge. Daily Mail

First it was Kaka and now it’s Benzema in a Ashley Cole swap. Neither of which have a chance of happening.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor says he wants to join Juventus after City tried to sign Inter Milan’s Mario Balotelli. Daily Mirror

Adebayor should of seen the writing on the wall long before Manchester City tried to sign Balotelli.

AC Milan continue to covet the services of Tottenham midfielder Giovani Dos Santos according to reports in Italy, but Spurs are reluctant to let the player go after he impressed during the World Cup with Mexico. footylatest.com

Harry Redknapp must of seen the World Cup and gone how can I get Giovani Dos Santos to play like that for Tottenham. Still don’t believe English football is suited for him.

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson is rumoured to be lining up a move to bring cut-price Manchester City pair Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge to Anfield. caughtoffside.com

With those two Roy Hodgson would be will on his way to recreate the Mourinho era Chelsea teams.

Aston Villa will let midfielder James Milner move to Manchester City and will use the money to sign Celtic winger Aiden McGeady.Daily Mirror

Aston Villa has waited until Aiden McGeady is one step away from a move to Spartak Moscow to plan this?

Stoke’s bid for Nice’s French striker Loic Remy is on the rocks – after a flying visit to the Potteries ended in a breakdown over the fee and terms. Daily Mirror

After staying in the top flight for a couple of years Stoke problem now is getting players like Loic Remy to join them.

It almost seemed like yesterday the World Cup was wrapping up but after today’s draw you can feel the upcoming season fast approaching. No stand out games like the Arsenal-Celtic pairing of last year with Werder Bremen vs Sampdoria being one of the more interesting games. This suits Tottenham just fair as they take on Swiss side Young Boys in the final step to gain entry into the Champions League. On a personal note while anything can happen Braga is up against it facing Sevilla. We all know the recent luck between Portuguese and Spanish sides.

Young Boys (SUI) v Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Sporting Braga (POR) v Sevilla (ESP)
Werder Bremen (GER) v Sampdoria (ITA)
Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) v Auxerre (FRA)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR) v Ajax (NED)
Partizan Belgrade (SRB) v Anderlecht (BEL)

These final four pairings should be dancing a jig considering who they could of faced.

Salzburg (AUT) v Hapoel Tel-Aviv (ISR)
Rosenborg (NOR) v Copenhagen (DEN)
Basel (SUI) v FC Sheriff (MDA)
Sparta Prague (CZE) v MSK Zilina (SVK)

The Europa League draw will see Aston Villa go up against Rapid Vienna for the second straight year. Hopefully Martin O’Neill starts to see some value in the Europa League and learn from last years failings.

Paris St Germain (France) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) v Tavria Simferopol (Ukraine)
CSKA Moscow (Russia) v Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus)
Hajduk Split (Croatia) v Unirea Urziceni (Romania)
Feyenoord (Netherlands) v Ghent (Belgium)
Racing Genk (Belgium) v Porto (Portugal)
Debrecen (Hungary) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
Aris Saloniki (Greece) v Austria Vienna (Austria)
Galatasaray (Turkey) v Karpaty Lviv (Ukraine)
Palermo (Italy) v Maribor (Slovenia)
Club Bruges (Belgium) v Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)
Omonia (Cyprus) v Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
Vaslui (Romania) v Lille (France)
Napoli (Italy) v Elfsborg Boras (Sweden)
Sporting (Portugal) v Brondby (Denmark)
Grasshoppers (Switzerland) v Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Liverpool (England) v Trabzonspor (Turkey)
Celtic (Scotland) v Utrecht (Netherlands)
Borussia Dortmund (Germany) v Garabagh Agdam (Azerbaijan)
AIK Stockholm (Sweden) v Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)
Sturm Graz (Austria) v Juventus (Italy)
Getafe (Spain) v APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
Dundee United (Scotland) v AEK Athens (Greece)
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) v FK Atyrau (Kazakhstan)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v Lech Poznan (Poland)
Rapid Vienna (Austria) v Aston Villa (England)
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) v TNS (Wales)
Besiktas (Turkey) v HJK Helsinki (Finland)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) v VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia) v PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
BATE Borisov (Belarus) v Maritimo (Portugal)
Luzern (Switzerland) v Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)
Gyor ETO (Hungary) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
OB Odense (Denmark) v Motherwell (Scotland)
PAOK Salonika (Greece) v Fenerbahce (Turkey)
Villarreal (Spain) v Dnepr Mogilev (Belarus)
FC Timisoara (Romania) v Manchester City (England)

Mario Balotelli’s move to Manchester City is off because the Inter Milan striker has demanded £180,000-a-week in wages. Daily Star

Of course Mario Balotelli and his agent are going to try and juice Manchester City for every last dime. Unless you are from Manchester few kids dreamt about playing for City. It’s not like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United or A.C Milan have come calling. Mario Balotelli saw that foolish contract given too Yaya Toure and now he wants a piece of that pie.

City are already making preparations should the Balotelli deal fall through, with Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan an alternative, according to Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo. imscouting.com

One thing is for sure if Diego Forlan ever returned to the Premier League you can count on him scoring against Liverpool.

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed he is close to making Juventus’ Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen his first big-money transfer capture of the summer. His arrival will pave the way for midfielder Javier Mascherano to leave the club. Daily Mirror

I’ve liked all of Roy Hodgson moves til this one. I’ll wait and se how much money Juventus will get for Poulsen but it shouldn’t be more than 5 million.

Arsene Wenger is preparing a move for Everton playmaker Mikel Arteta in case he fails to prevent Cesc Fabregas from moving back to Barcelona in the summer. caughtoffside.com

Arteta would fill the void Alexander Hleb left behind. Sol Campbell aside if Wenger didn’t hate signing former players he should give Barcelona a call asking for Hleb. Then again the Barcelona-Arsenal relationship isn’t at an all time high.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is ready to make a significant offer to bring Manchester City reserve keeper Joe Hart to the Emirates. caughtoffside.com

Alternatively, Wenger is lining up a bid for Cagliari goalkeeper Federico Marchetti. footylatest.com

Wenger is hoping he can sign Joe Hart on the ceap. Don’t understand these Federico Marchetti rumours. Good goalie yes, but he didn’t wow me during the World Cup.

Montpellier president Loulou Nicollin has slapped a 28m euro (£23m) price-tag on Bosnian defender Emir Spahic amidst reported interest from Arsenal. imscouting.com

Montpellier president Loulou Nicollin is clearly on the sauce. Beside how can you take someone seriously with the name Loulou. What is he a panda?

Stoke boss Tony Pulis hopes to beat both Liverpool and West Ham to the signing of Nice striker Loic Remy for £10m. Daily Mirror

Pulis has also lined up a £4m bid for Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng. The Sun

What is taking so for Kevin-Prince Boateng to find a new club? Are other clubs hoping Portsmouth lose their tax case and go bust?

Zenit St Petersburg are considering a £21m bid to take Chelsea defender Yury Zhirkov back to Russia. Daily Mail

Yury Zhirkov back pass to gift Hamburg a goal in yesterday friendly didn’t help his cause any.

Bristol City have been told by Manchester United they can have Michael Owen on loan after an approach for Danny Welbeck is rebuffed. Daily Mail

You can’t blame Michael Owen for wanting to play for Real Madrid but nothing has gone right for him since then.

Goalkeeper David James will be the first casualty of England’s World Cup debacle when coach Fabio Capello leaves him out of next week’s friendly with Hungary. Daily Mirror

Shocking that the 40 year old keeper of a Championship side is the first casualty.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will today tell Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas to end his summer flirtation with Barcelona and commit his future to the north London club. Daily Mirror

Still hearing crickets from the Fabregas camp.

Just touching on some things I’ve missed the last couple of days.

- Wonder what Sporting Clube de Portugal fans are feeling lately after the sale of Miguel Veloso to Genoa. You can’t fault Sporting for cashing in to the tune of 40 million for Nani, João Moutinho and now Miguel Veloso but as a neutral you would of figured they would lead Sporting to some greater success.

Ever since Costinha has taken over the club he has sought to put his stamp on the club counting on veterans such as Maniche and Perdo Mendes but this is still a club that hasn’t found it’s identity. I like several players on this team. In addition to Maniche and Mendes I’m a fan of Alberto Zapater who they got as part of the Veloso transfer not to mention the likes of Daniel Carriço, Matías Fernández, and Liédson but this club has along ways to go still if they are to unseat bitter rivals Benfica.

Speaking of players I do like, Genoa has plenty of them. I’ve taken a shine to them and there exciting brand of football these last couple of years. You’d almost be hard pressed to find a club who has worked the transfer market to the success Genoa has. I like the pick ups of Portuguese internationals Eduardo and Veloso. (shocking I would like this I know) While long in the tooth Luca Toni knows how to find space in the box and few are better scoring goals with their head. Signing Rafinha was quite a pick up for them as well. The knock on him has always been size but he can get up and down that right wing like few right backs currently. Then you have young talented players like Domenico Criscito, Robert Acquafresca and you have yourself one interesting team.

- Read the other day that Clint Mathis will hang them up after Saturday’s friendly against Real Madrid. Not a bad way to go out in front of 60,000 people. A rare American talent who never quite lived up to his potential but I still blame part of that due to MLS blocking a transfer to Bayern Munich many years ago. Mathis has stop to think what if when it comes to playing against some of the best players in European.

- From a player leaving MLS to a player coming in. Rafa Marquez has decided to jump across the Atlantic to play for the New York Red Bulls. Good move for both club and player. If your New York picking the unwanted players from Barcelona isn’t exactly the worst move you can make. If your Rafa Marquez playing in North America saves his body from wear and tear having to cross the Atlantic several times a year to play for the Mexican National team. Yes, this move is partly due to Rafa Marquez profile with Mexican Americans but it also has equal parts in making New York an successful team on the pitch.

I know I’m missing some things (need to touch on the New York Cosmo’s being reborn at some point) but I’ll leave it at that for now.

If the United States weren’t playing Brazil couldn’t see how the players from the World Cup team could be excited about the match. Thankfully for the United States fans who will pack Meadowlands Stadium this roster should be geared up to avenge their loss against a much different Brazil side in the 2009 Confederations Cup.

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

DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)

FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)

Been rumoured for years but Porto have finally cashed in on Bruno Alves selling their former captain to Zenit St Petersburg for €22 million.

Losing your most important player never has good timing but the time was right for Porto to sell Bruno Alves who at 28 years old is right at his peak and the closer to 30 you get the less your transfer value becomes. Moving from Portugal to Russia will be a culture shock to Alves especially having to play in the summer but the likes of fellow Portugal internationals Fernando Meira and Danny should help with the transition.