I hope you enjoy this news update and analysis of what has been going on in the world of football in the last few days.
Let's begin with some EPL news and analysis:
Chelsea have officially confirmed the rumour (on their website) that they have signed Lille winger Eden Hazard for a reported fee of around £32million.
He has said: 'I am delighted to finally arrive, it's a wonderful club and I
can't wait to get started.'
'I have always wanted to play in England, and I know that if I play well enough, I will get into the squad.'
He has passed a medical in London and will join the rest of his team-mates in July after the Euros for pre-season training.
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| It's official: Winger Eden Hazard shows off his new Chelsea kit for next season at Stamford Bridge. |
FACT: He is the second highest transfer fee signing for Chelsea behind Fernando Torres, who cost £50million.
FACT: He is the fourth Belgian to sign for Chelsea in less than 2 years.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, striker Romelu Lukaku and midfielder Kevin De Bruyne all signed last season but Courtois and De Bruyne have been on loan at (Atletico Madrid and Genk respectively)
Manchester United have officially confirmed the £17million signing of Borussia Dortmund winger Shinji Kagawa.
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| Promising player: Winger Kagawa is the 5th Japanese player to play for an EPL club and will be expected to make an impact for United. |
The deal is almost finished, with only a work permit and medical left to do.
Here is a 15 minute video of all his goals and assists from last season at Dortmund:
Turkish side Fenerbache have confirmed that they have signed Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt for a reported fee for around £1-2million.
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| Done deal: Liverpool midfielder Dirk Kuyt has agreed a deal with Turkish side Fenerbache and will link up with his new team-mates after Euro 2012 duty with Holland. |
Tottenham winger Gareth Bale has gone on holiday to think about his future at Spurs.
Newly promoted West Ham have had a £4million bid for Norwich City striker Grant Holt rejected.
Norwich want at least £6million.
Sunderland are lining up a £4million bid for Aston Villa winger Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Manager Gary O'Neill will want to link up with his old player.
Shengai Shenhua striker Nicolas Anelka is reportedly looking to move back to England after a hectic year in China. Tottenham, West Ham and QPR are all looking at the former Chelsea and Arsenal striker.
West Ham chairman David Gold has confirmed that goalkeeper Robert Green will leave the club in the summer.
Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy has broken a code of conduct to reveal that he has been picked by manager Stuart Pearce as one of the over-aged players to play at The London Olympics this sunmmer, despite the fact he is actually Welsh.
Tottenham winger Rafael Van Der Vaart has said that he wants to stay at Spurs, but has refused to rule out a move away from the club due to no Champions Leauge football next season.
Wolves winger Matt Jarvis is wanted by Fulham and Stoke City along with Udinese.
£5million should be enough to weaken Wolves' hold on him, plus the fact that he wants to play in the EPL next season.
German side FC Schalke are interested in him and are lining up a £10million bid.
Porto winger Hulk has almost confirmed a move to Chelsea, after admitted that he is ready to leave Portugal.
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| Coming to London? Hulk admits that his time in Portugal may be up, and the rumour is that Chelsea have made a £38million bid for him. |
Arsenal are reportedly in talks with Arengtinian midfielder Lucas Biglia.
Tottenham are looking at goalkeeper Robert Green after he confirmed that he will leave West Ham this summer.
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| England's no.2: Robert Green is wanted by clubs including Tottenham as he confirmed he WILL leave West Ham this summer. |
Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are fighting Manchester United to sign Crewe midfielder Nick Powell who has a bright future ahead of him.
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| Wanted: Crewe midfielder Nick Powell is wanted by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. |
Sunderland want to sign Spartak Moscow winger Aiden McGeady along with Liverpool.
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| Two-way battle: Sunderland are ready to fight Liverpool for Spartak Moscow winger Aiden McGeady. |
Birmingham manager Chris Hughton has been granted permission to speak to Norwich. The Canaries need a new manager, after Paul Lambert left on Saturday to go to Aston Villa.
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| Bye bye Norwich: Lambert poses at Villa Park stadium, his new club's home ground. |
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| Talking is good: Paul Lambert in his first press conference as the new Aston Villa manager. |
A statement released by Birmingham read:
'Birmingham City FC can confirm that Norwich City FC have made an approach for Chris Hughton with regards to their vacant managerial position.
'Hughton expressed a wish to speak to the Canaries and permission was reluctantly granted.'
A club statement read: "Norwich City can confirm that Birmingham City have granted the club permission to speak to Chris Hughton about the vacant managerial position at Carrow Road.
Blackburn winger Junior Holiett is reportedly being watched by German side Borussia Monchengladbach who need to strenghen their squad ahead of their Champions League adventure next season.
Winger Glyfi Sigurdsson admits that he is interested in moving to Liverpool despite agreeing a fee with Hoffenheim to play for Swansea.
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| A twist in the tale? Hoffeinheim have already agreed a £7million deal for Sigurdsson to go to Swansea, but Liverpool's new manager Brendan Rodgers (who has previously at Swansea) wants him. |
Chelsea have told Roberto Di Matteo they would like him to remian as their manager, after former Barcelona manager Pepe Guardiola rejected their offer as he wants a 1-year rest.
Tottenham midfielder Niko Krancjar has said that he is close to a move to Ukraine, to Dynamo Kiev for around £6million.
Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun is expected to announce his departure from Chelsea later this week, with newly poromted West Ham, Ajax, Maccabi Haifa and even Arsenal interested.
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| Where to next? Benayoun is wanted away from Chelsea and is almost leaving the club this summer. |
Southampton are ready to offer £3.5million for Birmingham goalkeeper Jack Butland after their recent promotion to the EPL.
Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez says that he wants to stay at City, but will look to move to Argentina, to Boca Juniors before he retires.
Edin Dzeko is set to leave City now after months of being on the bench.
Chelsea are reportedly looking at £15million-rated Everton midfielder Marouane Fellani.
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| Wanted: Midfielder Marouane Fellani could be on his way out of Everton in the near future... |
Manchester United are ready to test Tottenham's hold on midfielder Luka Modric by offering £22million.
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| We have been here before: Luka Modric wants CL football, and Manchester United want him. |
They rejected a £40million bid from Chelsea last season, but he is almost out of contract and they would rather take some money, than let him leave on a free transfer. He says that he DOES want to play Champions League football next season, which Spurs cannot offer him.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has said that he wants to stay at Spurs beyond next season, and they need to hurry up and offer him a new contract.
That performance on Saturday against England will add to his transfer value aswell.
BREAKING NEWS:
Ukraine side Dynamo Kiev say that they have signed Tottenham midfielder Niko Krancjar on a four-year contract.
Around £5-6million.
Norwich have named Birmingham manager Chris Hughton as new manager of Norwich.
Euro 2012 News:
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is involved in a row with England manager Roy Hodgson.
His representative has said that he has been treated with a 'total lack of respect'. 'It is a disgrace for a player who has played for his country 81 times, to be left out of the squad twice.'
Liverpool defender Martin Kelly has been called up to the England squad as Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has a broken jaw in two places.
Belgium winger Dries Mertens has sincerly apologised for his actions after pushing defender Gary Cahill into Joe Hart which broke his jaw and ended his hopes of playing at Euro 2012.
EPL Players who will feature for all 16 teams playing in the Euros:
Czech Republic: Petr Cech (Chelsea) and Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal)
Greece: None
Russia: Pavel Pogbrebnyak (Fulham), former Chelsea midfielder Yuri Zhirkov and Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal).
Poland: Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal)
Holland: John Heitinga (Everton), former Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt, Nigel De Jong (Manchester City), Michel Vorm (Swansea), Tim Krul (Newcastle), Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) and Rafael Van Der Vaart (Tottenham)
Denmark: Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal) and Anders Lindegaard (Manchester United)
Portugal: Rual Meireles (Chelsea) and Nani (Manchester United)
Germany: Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker (both Arsenal).
Croatia: Nikica Jelavic (Everton), Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka (both Tottenham)
Spain: Fernando Torres and Juan Mata (both Chelsea), Pepe Reina (Liverpool) and David Silva (Manchester City)
Italy: Mario Balotelli (Manchester City)
Ukraine: None
France: Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Gael Clichy amd Samir Nasri (both Manchester City), Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa (both Newcastle), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) and Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
Sweden: Sebastian Larsson (Sunderland) and Jonas Olsson (West Brom).
England: Everyone, except from goalkeeper Jack Butland.
England WILL fly to Poland today and will get to their Euro 2012 hotel base at around 17:30pm (English time).
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| Let's do this: The 23-man squad plus Roy Hodgson and his staff pose for a picture before flying to Krakow. |
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| England's official sponsor, car manufacturer Vauxhall wish the team luck before the major tournament starts on Friday. |
BREAKING NEWS:
France midfielder Yann M'Vila is set to miss the match against England next Monday due to an ankle injury sustained against Serbia in a friendly last week.
England striker Jermain Defoe has been given permission to and will fly home to London, because of news that his dad has died. He will meet with his family, and could miss England's opening match against France.
France left-back Patrice Evra has said that England leaving team-mate Rio Ferdinand out of the squad will boost France and the rest of the teams in the group.
Black players will be BOOKED if they leave the pitch over racist abuse during Euro 2012, but referee can stop matches if any racism is present.
I doubt Felliani will go for so little and I hope he won't leave us at all. Baines to Napoli doesn't seem likely, we'll want at least 20million for him. I personally would rather see Jack Rodwell go than Felliani.
ReplyDeleteAnother good update Mo, thank you.
Dan