Transfer Gossip

TRANSFER GOSSIP

With not much over a Month left of this Summers Transfer Window, rumours and gossip plague sport websites. This will round up those rumours, judge the completion of the deal and the talent of the player.

MODRIC: Modric has been one of the Jewels in Totteham's Crown, but the wide spread rumours say that the Playmaker might need a "change of scenery"it is likely that he will swap the White shirt of Tottenham for the White of Madrid the lure of the Spanish Champions, The Mourinho Factor and Champions League Football might all be to much. Man U have interest in the Croatian however Modric wants Real. The London Club has fined Modric for missing training amid the Transfer Speculation. Modric is not in the States with the rest of the squad for their Pre-Season tour however has returned to the Tottenham  training pitch alone. Modric's heart seems set on Madrid but Villas Boas needs to keep his stars to have a chance of Champions League Football.

Player Rating:9/10

Completion Rating:8/10

OSCAR: The young Internacional Midfielder has been linked with Chelsea for weeks now, a few days ago his agent claimed that the deal was off, however the the Internacional President, Giovanni Luigi, says that the deal is very close to completion. A medical is set to take place and with Oscar in London for the Olympic Football representing his nation Brazil it could be done very soon.

Player Rating: 8.5/10

Completion Rating:9.5/10

BARTON: The controversial Midfielder was the centre of some very unpleasant attention at the end of last season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7TJJf1agk this is the incident for those of you who haven't seen the Sending Off. The Elbow, Kick, Headbutt combo got some of Joey Barton's extreme haters to say he should be fired by QPR and never allowed to play again, what happened was a fine by QPR but a lengthy 12 match ban from the FA. In other words, no football for Joey Barton in a QPR shirt until November. Now it has been confirmed that he will train with the Fleetwood boys until the end of his suspension, but the newly promoted League 2 side are also looking to have him at the club on loan until January so he can play and train.

Player Rating:7/10

Completion Rating: 7/10

VAN PERSIE: Lastly RVP has been all around the papers even before the season ended. With his contract running out at the end of next season and  Van Persie  saying he will not sign a new one, Arsenal have 2 choices: 1) Keep an unhappy Van Persie on the hope he can recreate the magic he produced last season. Or the far more likely 2) Sell him for around 20m to Man U, Man C or Italian Champions Juventus. Wenger is keen to keep him and has set a deadline for the Dutch Talisman's Transfer. He has also rejected offers from United due to the Price, 8m to be exact. RVP wants to leave but the reluctance from Wenger means the deal although likely to happen at some point is a long way of completion.

Could it be??

Player Rating:9/10

Completion Rating:4.5/10

Wolves managerial hunt.

Wolves sacked ex-manager Mick McCarthy last Premier League weekend, after what can only be described as an embarrassing defeat at the hands of bitter rivals, West Brom. Ever since then Wolves have been on the look out for their new manager, but it hasn't gone so well.

The Wolves board came our saying that they wanted to resolve this quickly. They did act quickly by interviewing, recently sacked manager, Bruce. He was thrown off the "managerial merry-go-round" by Sunderland and was replaced by O'neill. The interview happened and as of yet nothing more has come out about Steve Bruce. He is still the bookies favourites at a stunning 2/1

Under pressure at Sunderland. Not anymore

Alan Curbishley is another one of the men Wolves seek. An original interview was followed by the ex-Charlton man ruling himself out of the running. It didn't stop the persistent Wolves offering again, but alas...still no! However the bookies have him at a strong 7/1 or 4th favourite. Other strong candidates include Lee Clark, Roy Keane and Gus Poyet at 5/1, 6/1, 7/1 respectively. Outsiders, includes some crazy managerial ideas, like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at 40/1. How about Slaven Bilic at 50/1. Even Sven Goran Erisson at the furthest outside, 66/1. Whoever the next manger is..........they will probably still be relegated.
Can they prove me wrong?
I don't think so.

COULD IT BE???????????????????????

StevenageVTottenham

Stevenage came into this match as the lowest ranked team left after Crawley had been knocked out earlier. New manager at Stevenage who had big boots to fill, but he has started filling them well. Redknapp's mind may have been else were, (England job or Premier League) but Spurs certainly, especially in the first half, did not perform.

Tottenham were nothing special but, you can't take anything away from the League One team.  The closest Spurs came in the first 45 was a header from skipper Dawson which was cleared off the line. Stevenage offered little in the way of clear cut opportunity's, however a few long shots came very near. Most noticeably a left foot strike from Byrom, only one foot over the bar with the Cudicini scrambling.

It would seem that at half time the away side were given a real bollocking. They came out and drilled continuously at Stevenage. The lower league side were well organised at the back and gave away very little. The team from North London had the ball in the back of the net 55 minutes in. Louis Saha scrambled the ball in and the goal was given, however the assistant on the far side raised his flag and the ref over turned his original decision. The shot from Saha hit Parker standing on the line, more importantly standing offside.

Parker offside from Saha'a shot.

Stevenage were incredible and 100% earned their replay at White Hart Lane. To be honest you can't see anyone going into the Quarter-Final, in this tie, other than Tottenham. Stevenage will have everyone apart from Tottenham supporters behind them. Awaiting the winner of that is Bolton.

FA Cup quarter-finals draw:

Liverpool v Stoke City

Chelsea/Birmingham City v Leicester City

Stevenage/Tottenham Hotspur v Bolton Wanderers

Everton v Sunderland

CrawleyVStoke

This FA Cup tie took place under a sun soaked Broadfield Stadium. The match had is fair share of controversy in the first half. The referee at the centre of it all.

The game began with the League 2 side on top, it got better for them when a 50/50 ball ended in Delap leaving the ground in his tackle, Steve Evans, the Crawley manager, jumped up and down on the sideline and then onto the pitch. The referee showed Delap the red card to the dismay of Mr. Pulis. Stoke were almost made to pay when a corner that wasn't dealt with by Begovic and came to Crouch, all  2m of him, it hit his knee and rebounded on to his own crossbar. Then came more controversy, a ball hit into the box by Crawley was heading for Barnett when it appeared that he was blocked by Stoke defender Shawcross. A free-kick was awarded to the away side, but replays show that maybe The Red Devils were a bit unlucky not to be awarded a penalty. A penalty was awarded later in the first half, but it was given to Stoke. Shawcross got the wrong side of McFadzen and was then brought down. The debutante goalie was unable to stop the viciously struck penalty from Walters.

Delap's challenge earns him a red card

The second half was less "interesting" however a great header from Crouch sealed victory for Stoke, a much needed one to, they had lost 4 in a row in all competitions before this one. They will now face the winner of the match BrightonVLiverpool.

Crouch celebrates with team mates after scoring Stoke's second

ChelseaVBirmingham

Birmingham travelled to London today to face Chelsea in the early kick off in the FA Cup 5th round. Chelsea's manager Andre Villas Boas or AVB has been in the news a lot this week for comments saying he doesn't need all his players to back him in his "project" at Chelsea. His comments came after rumours players were still texting ex-Chelsea manager Mourinho.

It didn't start well for the Blues...the London version of the Blues, when after 20 minutes Murphy scored, for the more northern version of the Blues. However Chelsea earned a penalty moments later after Ramires was felled in the box. Mata's penalty was by no means bad but and incredible save onto the post by Doyle.

At half time Villas Boas' men were booed off the pitch, and as they returned it appeared that Drogba, who came on at half time, was giving the team talk. AVB denies this strongly. Chelsea dominates the match, but created very few clear cut chances. There was one noticeable chance for Chelsea, a cross from the right from Ivanovic was met by the head of Sturridge and he guided it carefully into the corner to level the game at 1-1. The match ended without much more drama.

This result capped of a very bad week for Villas Boas, but hopefully for all Chelsea fans...me, that the pensioners can put the week behind them and have a successful trip to Italy and come back with a solid lead taking the tie with Napoli back to the Bridge.

Villas Boas on his knees

Sturridge's equalising header

SunderlandVArsenal

Sunderland beat an Arsenal who are looking likely to end this season trophyless......again, keep track with this  www.sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk. A first half goal form Keiran Richardson sent the half full Stadium of Light into raptures. Recent calls from, a so called Arsenal fan, Piers Morgan requesting Wenger's head has been met by anger with some fans, but now some fans may start to agree. Arsenal's young star Chamberlain, who is currently making a strong push a place in England's Euro squad, heaped more misery on his own side. He was robbed off the ball by Sessegnon who played a ball into ex-gooner Arsenal Larson, his shot hit the post and rebounded off Chamberlain himself and into the back of the net.

Does this spell the end for Arsene Wenger? Well probably not...sorry Morgan, however it does most likely spell the end for Arsenal's trophy hunt for another year.

 A worrying stat for Arsenal supporters is 3 matches, 7 goals scored, 7 goals conceded, and only 1 win. 

It gets worse 2 matches, 0 goals scored, 6 conceded, 0 wins.