Transfer Roundup: Premiership Focus

By: Alan
Soccer City FC

Clubs in the Premiership are beginning to dive into the market with only four weeks before the first league matches kick-off.

Newcastle have made their second summer signing by clinching the transfer of midfielder Danny Guthrie from Liverpool after a fee was agreed. Manager Kevin Keegan believes he has signed a player with a big future ahead of him, saying “He proved himself in the Premier League last season so we know he can play at that level.” Guthrie, who spent last season on-loan at Bolton, has signed on a four-year deal and he follows Argentine winger Jonas Gutierrez to St James Park. While one player has left Anfield, Xabi Alonso’s switch to Italian giants Juventus is in doubt following their announcement that “we can say that we have concluded our transfer activity." Liverpool’s own targets may be scuppered as those funds were expected to pay for Gareth Barry of Aston Villa and Tottenham’s Irish striker Robbie Keane. Arsenal are rumoured to have entered the race to secure the signature of Barry, who has already declared that he wants to move to Liverpool with the lure of Champions League football proving too hard to resist.

Samir Nasri has switched life in France for England as his long-awaited move to Arsenal from Marseille has been completed. The French playmaker has been described as a “young, quick and technically an outstanding player" by Arsene Wenger and the signing has enabled Alexander Hleb to leave for Barcelona for £12m. Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva is also expected to depart to Greek outfit Panathinaikos.

While captain Gareth Barry is almost certain to leave, Aston Villa have signed US goalkeeper Brad Guzan from Chivas USA and he is their second addition following Steve Sidwell’s £5m move from Chelsea. Portsmouth have signed England’s towering striker Peter Crouch from Liverpool in a move that will see him form a partnership with compatriot Jermain Defoe. "I've worked with the manager before and he gets the best out of me," Crouch said, who also said the ambitions of his new club matched his own.

One of the standout stories of the summer has been that of Ronaldinho’s proposed move to Manchester City, but the Eastlands side failed despite offering the former World Player of the Year wages that doubled AC Milan’s offered £100,000 per week. Barcelona will receive a fee which could rise to around £19m. Mark Hughes conceded that all was done to sign the Brazilian and he will now move onto securing other targets, with Chelsea’s Tal Ben Heim reportedly being one of them. On the departure list heading out of Manchester is Georgios Samaras, having made his move to Celtic permanent.

Steve Bruce has raided his former club Birmingham to be re-united with French midfielder Olivier Kapo for an initial £2.5m and released former Holland-21 international Daniel de Ridder. Kapo scored 5 times in 26 appearances last season and Bruce spoke of his desire to sign him. "He's the one I really wanted to get on board," said Bruce. "Olivier's a real fighter, but he has a touch of quality about him.” Fulham have signed West Ham duo Bobby Zamora and John Pantsil for a combined fee of £6.3 million. Both players found their first-team opportunities were limited, with Zamora only managing one goal in 14 appearances last term. Zamora has said “The prospect of working with a coach of Roy Hodgson’s caliber was a great opportunity”.

Newly-promoted Hull City have added several players in a matter of days, George Boateng being the stand-out of them. The Dutchman signed from Middlesbrough for £1m along with Hungarian winger Peter Halmosi for an undisclosed fee and Fulham goalkeeper Tony Warner on a free transfer, which rounded off three transfers in the same day. Stoke, meanwhile, have agreed a fee for England international goalkeeper Scott Carson in the region of £4 million but face competition from ‘one or two other clubs involved in the mix’. West Brom have also signed Slovakia left-back Marek Cech from Porto for £1.4m - the defender is seen as an impressive signing due to Cech’s role in helping the Portuguese side win their league title for the last three seasons.

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Gianluca Zambrotta to A.C. Milan for €9million

Barcelona have confirmed the sale of Italian international Gianluca Zambrotta to A.C. Milan. The 31-year-old defender will return to the Serie A side having signed a four-year deal. Prior to his two-year stint in Spain, Zambrotta played in the Serie A for Juventus.

Image details: Barcelona v Espanyol served by picapp.com

Olof Mellberg - A Bearded Legend

By: Phillip Boran
Soccer City FC

Wednesday, July 18th, 2001, a truly great day for all fans of Aston Villa, as they signed Swedish international centre-half Olof Mellberg from Spanish club Racing for a fee of £5 million, which has been regarded as the best £5 million spent by then manager John Gregory. Many fans also believe that he plays better with a full grown beard than he does clean cut or with stubble. Mellberg’s beard also has legendary status with the club.

Proved to be an instant success, his partnership with Alpay Ozalan, better known as Alpay, showed to better the former partnership of Southgate and Ehiogu of years before. From the years 2003 to 2006, Olof Mellberg captained the Villans to mid-table finishes even with such a small squad. During that time, he was only on the bench once when fully fit. A decision that was proven by the manager to be a mistake.

On his last season with Villa, it has proved to be a very successful season for both Mellberg and the club, as they pushed and finished in the top 6 in the English Premier League. In the final rivalry match against Birmingham, where Aston Villa won comfortably 5-1, many will remember the Bearded Legend being substituted off as he received the best sending off for a player being substituted. He showed the energy back as he threw his fists in the air, parading around proudly.

The last home match for Olof Mellberg, even though losing 2-0 to Wigan, was to be seen as the greatest tribute to a player to wear Claret and Blue. Everyone attending the match were seen wearing Viking helmets, fake (or real) beards, Swedish National Team kits, and to top it off, his name was sung through-out the match. The honor of Man of the Match went to none other than Olof Mellberg.

Mellberg’s last match, which came to a 2-2 draw against West Ham, truly a glorious day for any Villa fan attending the match at Upton Park as he bought 3,000 mixed home and away kits from the 2007/2008 season and handed them out to the traveling supporters.

Olof Mellberg,

All fans of Aston Villa wish you the best of luck in your dream to dominate Europe.

Juventus Looking at Defender Tomáš Ujfaluši

Juventus now appears to be the front runner in the race to land Fiorentina defender Tomáš Ujfaluši. Ujfaluši decided against renewing his contract with Fiorentina and appears ready to move to another club via free transfer.

Reports from several media outlets are stating that he has committed to the Bianconeri with a verbal agreement. Spanish sides Atletico Madrid and Sevilla FC have also been rumored to covet the Czech defender.

Juventus has already added Swedish international Olof Mellberg to the back line for the upcoming 2008-2009 season.

Samir Nasri Staying on at OM Through 2011

According to this report at Football Transfer Market Web, Samir Nasri has agreed to remain at Olympique de Marseille through 2011. Several media reports and other rumor mills had the midfielder moving on to clubs such as Newcastle United or Juventus at the conclusion of the 2007-2008 season.

[Update] Sky Sports confirms the earlier report.

Plus a little video to highlight Nasri's skills.



And from the same website, comes news that forward Dieumerci Mbokani has extended his contract with Standard Liege. He will remain with the Belgian side until 2013.

And yet another video to highlight Mbokani's skills.