There Is Only One Sinnacle

Chelsea will make a final £80m bid for AC Milan’s Kaka, with the Brazil star reportedly keen on a move after the arrival of compatriot Ronaldinho at the San Siro, whose lifestyle does not meet with Kaka’s approval. (Daily Mail)

This is just stupid on so many fronts. If Kaka had an issue with Ronaldinho’s lifestyle then A.C Milan would never of made a move for him in the first place. Also I highly doubt all the Chelsea players are choirboys.

One Brazilian who looks certain to move to Stamford Bridge is Robinho after Chelsea agreed a £28.6m deal with Real Madrid. The Spanish club are preparing to replace the striker with Valencia’s David Villa or Villareal’s Santi Cazorla. (The Guardian)

Robinho was never going to leave up to exceptions at Real Madrid. At Chelsea the demand won’t be there to be a Messi or Ronaldo.

Meanwhile Blues winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has been told to choose between a move to former club Manchester City or Everton, with Portsmouth deterred by the £10m price tag. (The Guardian)

Stay as far away from Manchester City as possible. Don’t care if you’ve played there before.

Espanyol midfielder Albert Riera moved a step closer to becoming a Liverpool player in an £8m switch, with Liverpool set to recoup that money should they qualify for the Champions League group stage. (The Times)

Mentioned this a couple of months ago and I’ll mention it again. Why does Liverpool keep on buying players that haven’t won a thing in their careers. Yes, he is talented but the next big game Riera will play in will be his first.

Aston Villa will press ahead with plans to sign James Milner for £9m from Newcastle. (Guardian)

Newcastle should try their best to keep Milner. Four points from their first two games plus Milner makes a good midfield partnership with Jonás Gutiérrez on the flanks.

With British record signing Andriy Shevchenko returning to former club AC Milan, Chelsea are also prepared to allow winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to re-join Manchester City for £9m, writing off an incredible £43m on the duo. (The Sun)

However, Everton and Portsmouth are also tracking Wright-Phillips. (Daily Express).

Shayb Wright-Phillips has been rumoured to move for the last 18 months. By now he should come to the realization that he’ll never be anything more than cover at Chelsea. He can either a) accept that role, collect his money and forget about playing for England come the World Cup or b) accept a move where he’ll play more but his team will not win more but now at least have a chance of cracking the England lineup.

But Chelsea’s spending spree is set to continue with Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Robinho joining the club for a fee of between £27m (The Sun) and £31m (Daily Mirror).

What spending spree? Deco was a bargain at 8 million pounds. That leaves Jose Bosingwa has the only major signing and his transfer fee was covered by selling Steve Sidwell, Khalid Boulahrouz, and Tal Ben Haim this off season.

Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov could risk “rotting in the reserves” if his proposed £30m move to Manchester United fails to materialise. (Various)

Another headline that looks good but would be awful in principal. Tottenham are already struggling in part to the Berbatov mess. Keeping an unhappy player on the bench much longer will create even more distractions.

After having a £7m bid for West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand accepted, Sunderland boss Roy Keane is turning his attention to Man City’s £1m-rated full-back Michael Ball. (The Sun)

Wonder if Michael Ball ever thanked Sven Goran Erickson for giving him his one and only England cap when the Swede was in charge of City last year?

Real Betis are ready to step in to take Manchester City flop Nery Castillo on a year’s loan. (Daily Mirror)

Castillo was ill suited for life in the EPL anyway. He’ll be better off in Spain where hopefully he’ll return to his 2007 Copa America form.

Aston Villa have moved a step closer to landing Reading striker Kevin Doyle in a £7.5m deal. (Daily Star)

That is a lot of money for a striker that isn’t any better then the strikers Aston Villa currently have.

Dimitar Berbatov could finally be on his way from Tottenham to Manchester United for a transfer fee of between £25m and £28m. (The Independent)

I’d be shocked if Berbatov remained with Tottenham after the transfer deadline. You can still the negative effect this saga is having on both teams. It’s best for all parties involved that this deal gets wrapped up.

Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is ready to pay about £10m for Colombian striker Radamel Falcao after sending spies to his Argentine club River Plate. (Various )

Already mentioned that I’m a fan of Falcao but he is a poor fit for Spurs. He has loads of talent but he’ll take awhile to get use to European football. Practice is something that may come in short supply after Tottenham’s poor start to the season.

Espanyol have accepted a £12m offer from Everton for winger Albert Riera, but the player’s preferred move is to Liverpool. (Guardian)

Everton contiunes to have a hard time attracting any player of quality.

Portsmouth are bracing themselves for an £8m bid for Nico Kranjcar from Hamburg, and Harry Redknapp may be pressurised to sell the midfielder. (Daily Star)

In today’s transfer market that is too low of a price for Kranjcar. Portsmouth don’t seem to be a team that needs to sell as the deadlines closes and Kranjcar is one of the few midfielders who has the ability to change a game.

Pompey are also weighing up a move for Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta, but could face competition from Everton. (Daily Mail)

Motta never worked out for Atletico and he’d be one of a few players that Atletico would be glad to get rid of.

Middlesbrough will resist any offers - thought to be about £14m - from Liverpool for winger Stewart Downing. (Daily Mail)

Talk is cheap. This rumour has been out there for months but Liverpool haven’t made a approach up to this point.

Roy Keane axed Pascal Chimbonda just hours before Sunderland’s win at Spurs - because the full-back turned up late for a pre-match walk around the hotel. (The Sun)

That honeymoon sure ended quickly.

Manchester United have made a £25m take-it-or-leave-it bid to Tottenham for Dimitar Berbatov. (News Of The World)

Don’t believe any of these take it or leave it nonsense. Do believe that Tottenham should sell Berbatov A.S.A.P as his saga is clearly a distraction.

Newcastle are set to offer £12m for Chelsea winger Florent Malouda, if the Blues sign Robinho from Real Madrid. (Mail On Sunday)

Malouda had little interest in going to Roma. That would mean he has no interest in playing for Newcastle.

Michael Owen is willing to let his Newcastle contract, which ends this season, run down as Newcastle want him to take a wage cut to stay.(News Of The World)

Owen holds all the cards here. No sense for him to talk a pay cut now. If Owen can stay injury free which is a big if but none-the-less there will be a team on the open market that will pony up for Owen services.

Blackburn must bid £6m if they hope to land Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant. (News Of The World)

Sinnacle likes Pennant, just not sure I like him at that price tag.

But Arsene Wenger has been told by Liverpool to stump up £16m if he wants Xabi Alonso. (Sunday Express)

Even with yesterday’s loss Wenger is not going to pay that kind of money to Alonso or anyone else.

Andrei Arshavin could finally be on his way to Tottenham after Zenit St Petersburgh agreed to lower their £20m price tag. (The Times)

Someone has to blink first here. Tottenham could use a player with Arshavin skill and Zenit knows full well that Andrei Arshavin wishes to leave.

Everton are poised to sign Espanyol’s £12m Spain winger Albert Riera from under the noses of Liverpool. (Daily Mirror)

Everton are also in pole position to sign Valencia’s Serbia striker Nikola Zigic on loan. (Times)

Everton are acting like the guy who when it’s near closing time is trying his best to hook up with any girl at the club/bar. That being said I am a fan of Zigic.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still working on bringing Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov to Old Trafford, despite admitting he is less optimistic about the deal than two weeks ago. (Various)

I’d make Manchester United wait as well. Bad results against Portsmouth or Liverpool next week will just drive the cost up.

Mikael Silvestre’s arrival at Arsenal could hasten the exit of centre-back Philippe Senderos to either AC Milan or Newcastle. (Daily Express)

Senderos broke down at the end of last year and couldn’t handle the pressure. It’s a lot easier fixing a physical problem then a mental block.

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill insists Arsenal are not interested in signing England midfielder Gareth Barry. (Times)

Arsenal will never spend that type of money on a 27 year old. They have a hard time justifying paying that type of money for even a 23 year old.

Middlesbrough striker Mido is considering a loan move to Wigan, knowing boss Steve Bruce tried to sign him when he was at Birmingham. (Various)

Mido sure has bounced around from team to team in his career.

Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller says his best pal from Jamaica - Olympic 100/200m king Usain Bolt - is welcome to join him in a tour of the City’s nightclubs.

I’m sure this will be high on Bolt’s wish list now that he has won 3 gold medals.

West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand will complete an £8m move to Sunderland on Friday. (The Sun)

Mentioned in my EPL Preview which I hoped most of you liked that Sunderland was looking for another striker and another defender. They found their striker yesterday in Djibril Cisse and now appear to found their defender in Anton Ferdinand.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out a move for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry. (Daily Mirror)

Still find it unlikely that Arsenal will make a move. At Barry’s age if they pay big money for him now Arsenal knows they won’t recoup that transfer fee if they decide to sale Barry due to his age.

Juventus midfield man Tiago is the latest player to reject Everton after insisting he will not make a loan move to Goodison Park. (The Sun)

He wants to play in Spain simple as that. Not the wisest of moves but not surprising after he turned down Tottenham in the January transfer window.

Everton will make a £7m bid for Switzerland midfield man Goekhan Inler in an attempt to finally clinch their first signing of the summer. (Daily Mirror)

Clubs must be licking they lips when picking up a phone call from Everton about one of their players. Everton has to make a move and everyone knows that. With that being the case no club in their right mind well sell a player to Everton on a cut rate deal.

Manchester City are investigating the possibility of making Barcelona’s Thierry Henry a “box office” signing in January. (The Guardian)

These headlines annoy me. No player with the resume of Thierry Henry will ever play for Manchester City in it’s current state.

Blackburn are looking at former Real Madrid winger Jordi Lopez to fill the gap left by David Bentley’s move to Tottenham. (Various)

Wish Blackburn luck if Lopez who would come as a free transfer can even come close to filling the shoes of David Bentley.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has called on England to play Wayne Rooney in a wide right role in place of David Beckham. (The Sun)

David Beckham still features the one unique piece of skill that England can threaten with. That of course being his crossing and dead ball skills on set pieces. England can start to improve by not featuring Lampard and Gerrard together. Can’t believe that coaches still try and make that partnership work.

Chelsea are on the verge of signing Real Madrid forward Robinho for £25m after chief executive Peter Kenyon was seen in Madrid to finalise a deal for the 24-year-old Brazilian. (Daily Mail)

Chelsea will not be signing Robinho, at least not for the price quoted. It doesn’t matter if Peter Kenyon was seen sleeping next door to the Bernabéu.

Manchester City have given up hope of signing Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn and have instead switched their intentions to Real Zaragoza’s Argentine striker Diego Milito. (The Guardian)

Getting tired on hearing Miltio name always in the papers with no team making a firm offer. It’s easy linking Milito with a move away from Zaragoza since a) he is a good player and more importantly b) Zaragoza no longer plays in Spain’s top division.

But Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is ready to test Rovers’ resolve with a £16m bid for the 27-year-old Paraguay striker. (Various)

I’ve always said that Blackburn should cash in and profit from Roque Santa Cruz but it appears that will hang on to him at least to the next transfer period.

O’Neill is also set to up his bid for Newcastle’s James Milner to £9m after already having a £7m bid rejected. (The Sun)

Some would question that high fee for Milner. Those same people would of also questioned Ashley Young transfer fee from Watford and that turned up roses for Aston Villa.

Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, who has scored just nine league goals in 47 appearances, is set to re-join AC Milan on a season-long loan deal, but his wages could prove to be a stumbling block. (Various)

Leaving England wasn’t the end of the world for Juan Sebastián Verón. Same applies for Shevchenko. Can already see Shevchenko sticking it to former coach Jose Mourinho in a Milan derby game.

Everton will pay Juventus midfielder Tiago’s £4m-a-year wages in order to take the 27-year-old on a season’s loan. (Daily Mirror)

It appears Tiago has little interest in Everton however. Not holding out hope of this happening.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane has turned his attentions to West Ham striker Carlton Cole, 24, after securing a loan deal for Marseille’s Djibril Cisse. (The Sun)

Still in a bit of shock that Sunderland got Cisse on a loan deal. Not a bad piece of business there. Carlton Cole on the other hand will always be one of those players coaches will go for cause the potential is there but the work rate and goal scoring is not.

Bolton manager Gary Megson has made a £3m bid for Fulham’s 29-year-old midfielder Jimmy Bullard. (Various)

Bullard not happy about not receiving a new contact. It’s natural that this would create an interest in the transfer market.

Manchester City midfielder Michael Johnson, 20, will end speculation about his future by signing a new five-year deal at Eastlands on Thursday. (The Guardian)

He’ll regret that contract six months into that deal. Think Richard Dunne if he can do it over again would sign that new deal last summer?

“Same old story” is how most of the British press summed up England’s lacklustre performance during the 2-2 draw with the Czezh Republic, with many papers comparing England’s failure to the success of British competitors at the Olympics in Beijing. (Various)

England are lucky they face a cup cake team in Andorra for their first World Cup qualifier. In the game after against Croatia the knives will start to come out if they fail to win.

Dimitar Berbatov has provoked anger from Spurs fans after being photographed signing a Manchester United shirt. (The Sun)

Pretty soon he’ll be wearing one anyway. Shocked he doesn’t come to training blasting That Boy Ronaldo from the stereo speakers at this point.

Tottenham will allow striker Dimitar Berbatov to join Manchester United, with manager Juande Ramos keen to bring in Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan and Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz. (Daily Mirror)

Only way Atletico will sell Forlan is if they get an obscene offer for the player. That and Atletico not qualifying for the Champions league. Then they could sell Forlan to make up for loss revenue.

Hull are set to make a £5m bid for Man Utd’s young striker Fraizer Campbell once the Berbatov deal goes through. (Daily Mail)

Should of scored that header against Newcastle. The talent is there however with Fraizer Campbell.

Chelsea’s hopes of signing Real Madrid star Robinho are over and the Blues are set to turn their full attentions to AC Milan midfielder Kaka instead. (Daily Star)

From one unlikely transfer target to another.

Everton are set to sign Juventus midfielder Tiago, pinching him from under the noses of Premier League rivals Newcastle. (The Sun)

After the Blackburn defeat Everton need to shaken things up or else they can face a quick slide down the standings.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is reluctantly looking at alternatives to Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry, with Espanyol’s Albert Riera and Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing in the frame. (The Sun)

Benitiez has already looked at those two players an offer would of been made at some point if serious. It’s Barry or nothing for Liverpool.

Man City are hoping to get highly rated midfielder Michael Johnson to sign a new deal. (The Times)

Ukrainian club Shatktar Donetsk have complained to Fifa about Man City withholding a payment due for the transfer of Elano. (Various)

Just one example why a player would be foolish to commit their future to a club run like Manchester City.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp reckons the transfer funds available at the big clubs make the job of managing so easy that his wife could do it. (The Sun)

Nice excuse to throw out after your team can smoked 4-0 on the weekend. Portsmouth haven’t exactly been pinching pennies in the transfer market either.

Theme of a day : Teams that will look to crack open the value after a poor first game.

Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov has pleaded with the club to let him join Manchester United. (Various)

Manchester United showed little in the way of offensive against Newcastle. LooK for United to break the bank before their next game on a striker.

Everton have sent a delegation to Portugal to try to clinch the signing of Sporting Lisbon midfielder Joao Moutinho. (Daily Mail)

Toffees boss David Moyes is also close to agreeing a loan move for Juventus midfielder Tiago and has not given up on Newcastle’s Alan Smith. (Daily Mail)

They got up 2-1 against Blackburn and figured they can ease their way to victory. Hopefully that will remind the Everton players that they will need to play for the entire 90 minutes.

Sunderland are ready to raise their bid for Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy to nearer the £9m Rovers are demanding. (Daily Mail)

Do not think McCarthy is the answer at all for Sunderland. They too are another team that didn’t cause Liverpool a single second of worry on Saturday.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp is targeting Argentine left-back Juan Pablo Sorin, who has been released by Hamburg. (The Sun)

Actually, Redknapp is in talks with French side Lens to take Algeria left-back Nadir Belhadj on a season-long loan. (Daily Mirror)

Basically neither paper have any idea who Redknapp will actually make a move for.

Luiz Felipe Scolari hailed his first game in charge of Chelsea as the “perfect day” after his side thumped Portsmouth 4-0. (The Sun)

Ok, maybe they won’t finish 4th. Watching Deco out there a thing of beauty yesterday.

Spurs have lined up Michael Owen as a replacement for Dimitar Berbatov, who is expected to move to Manchester United before the transfer window closes. (Sunday Express)

Owen and Darren Bent could work well together up front. Another transfer that will be hard to pull off however Newcastle wouldn’t mind trimming their wage bill so an over the top offer of 15-20 million pounds could convince Newcastle to sell. Provided they too can then find a replacement for Owen.

Newcastle will try and bring Real’s out-of-favour Argentine striker Javier Saviola to St James’ s Park on loan. (News of the World)

Case in point. Saviola made a foolish decision going to Real Madrid after his Barcelona contact expired. All that promise when he was a teenager has been going to waste.

Chelsea have made a new £23.6m bid for Brazil star Robinho. That’s £5m more than their previous offer, but still way below Real Madrid’s £35m asking price. (News of the World)

Real Madrid shows Chelsea have money. Real Madrid also knows that Chelsea hasn’t done much in the way of any outlandish spending like seasons past. Chelsea will have to meet Real Madrid’s asking price for Robinho’s services.

Aston Villa will test Chelsea’s resolve to hang on to Joe Cole by offering £10m for the England midfielder this week. (Sunday Express)

Maybe this time next week if Joe Cole isn’t a starter but seriously that offer is laughable. You can make a case that Cole is double the player that David Bentley is.

Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso is determined to leave Liverpool following Rafa Benitez’s very public pursuit of Gareth Barry. (News of the World)

Both Alonso and Peter Crouch have been professionals while playing for Liverpool. Both didn’t get the playing time anyone can see that they deserved.

West Ham’s bosses have decided they want Harry Redknapp to return to Upton Park. (Sunday Mirror)

West Ham did win yesterday. Must be awful for a manager always having to look over his shoulder. Sometimes it’s well deserved, this time it’s not.