Football transfer news

Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed, that Ferdinand is indeed in doubt for start of the season. He is still recovering from his knee injury. Rio is not only player who will miss the begining of the new season. Here is also Michael Owen, who will be out for at least 40 days, while on the other side, captain Gary Neville is expected to start with light training on friday and he will be ready for season opener against Newcastle United.

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Didier Drogba faces a race against time to be fit for the start of the new season after undergoing groin surgery. The Ivory Coast striker, 32, netted 29 goals last season, despite being troubled by the problem. Drogba is set to be sidelined for three weeks, making him a major doubt for the Community Shield against Manchester United on August 8 and the Premier League opener at home to West Brom.

“We will do all we can to help Didier recover soon enough, so he could be ready for season openers, but we cannot be 100% sure, that he will be fit”, said Chelsea’s doctor.

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Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has been very confident in recent time, he has said that this Arsenal’s Premier League title would come to their name after six long years. Even though the team has not performed well Vermaelen expects they will reach the top spot in the next season.

In an interview, Vermaelen added ‘The team’s spirit is very good. There are many young players who are very aggressive and want to improve’. The Belgian defender who debut at the Emirates in the last season really feels that the Arsenal are all set to get the title in the upcoming season.

There is a lot of criticism about the Managers control over the team for a long period of 5 yrs which has affected the teams performance, but the Arsenal defender is not worried about all this critics. Arsenal have started well by playing 2 games and scored 7 goals against Sturm Graz and Barnet in the pre-season preparations for the next Premier League season.

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While City is close to signing Balotelli, it is expected that Super Mario will sign this week, Mancini is already trying to get Fernando Torres from Liverpool. Torres is not in good relationship with the owners, so his transfer to City is not so unlikely.

Rumours are saying that Liverpool wants £60million for Torres, and this is not to much for City owners. With Torres as a central forward and with Tevez and Balotelli on the side, City’s attack would be one of the best in the world.

“Torres is one of the best strikers in Europe and is already playing in the Premier League for three years and knows it very well. But it depends on his situation – his price and whether he wants to come,” said Mancini.

City are still tracking Milner but if they manage to sign both Torres and Balotelli, Milner will probably stay in Aston Villa.

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Eventhough Liverpool brought Roy Hodgson on the bench instead of Rafa Benitez, who signed for european champions, key players still dont believe in this project. Javier Mascherano is close to joining Benitez in Inter. Inter is also interested in Kuyt. Today we found out that Torres is not happy in Liverpool anymore, he said that he loves the club and fans, but he is not in good reationship with the owners. Chelsea is waiting to see how will things with Torres and Liverpool develop, and meanwhile they are already gathering money for Torres. That the situation with Torres is critical, also confirmed the manager of Liverpool Roy Hodgson.

This is it? No, there is also doubt about Gerrard staying in Liverpool. Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho will try once more.  We will see in incoming days, how things will end for Liverpool.

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After Dunga resigned his job as Brazil’s coach there was a question about the next coach, finally Mano Menezes has been named as the coach for the Brazil team. Mano Menezes has lead many leading clubs in the recent teams and been very successful to overcome many troubles easily. He had been with his club of the Corinthians for a period of 3 yrs and he is very thankful for that.

Mano Menezes gave the confirmation officially in front of the press of being the next coach for the Brazilian team after the position was denied by Muricy Ramalho as his club was not able to relieve him. He has a record of taking his club to a Copa Libertadores final for two seasons but unfortunately were defeated by the Argentines.

The whole country has some great expectations from the new coach to make the international team more successful. Mano Menezes really have to make the team to over come the failure of the 2010 World Cup, also there will be more pressure on him as the next world cup will be hosted by Brazil in 2014.

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After the dreams of signing Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg vanished, Juve already found themself a new target. It is Emanuel Adebayor, 26 years old player from Manchester City, which price is set very high. It is possible, that Juve could get Adebayor on loan, and only take care of players wage. The chemistry between R.Mancini and Adebayor was never good, which means that Mancini could agree with this transfer, especially if Balotelli signs for a contract with new born billionares.

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There has been some controversy about Diego Maradonas presence during the discussion about deciding Argentina’s future as he left it in the middle and went to Venezuela. Maradona was supposed to have a meeting in this week with the chiefs of AFA for continuing as the teams coach during the La Seleccion, but he had left to Venezuela which made reports saying that he had gone to coach the national team over there.

Maradona explained about his visit to Venezuela on the stage in Caracas with Chavez. Maradona said, he had come to Venezuela to have some good advice from my friend Hugo and not to find a job here. There will be a discussion about my future on Monday as there is a meeting with Julio head of AFA, he added.

Maradona is also a very good friend of Fidel Castro and also had been an analyst of American imperialism. He said i will always stay with the president side until he dies as he really works and fights for the people of his country.

Chavez expressed his feelings as he said, ‘In the next World Cup Venezuela are going there, and Argentina finishing champions’, with his own praising words. Then the conference was completed by the head of state with usual war cry to the people of Venezuelan with some added honours to the guests. It said, ‘Viva socialism, viva the homeland, viva sports, viva Maradona’.

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- Arsenal is ready to offer player-coach job to Mark Schwarzer
- Sami Khedira shocked Real’s officials, want €7m wage-per-year, romour: as he already has agreement with Bayern with the wage of 5m.

And the best one this morning, Real Madrid have sent Inter an ultimatum with an offer of only €22m for the best right back – Douglas Maicon, saying accept it or leave it. One of Inter’s official’s said: “We’re offering them €10m for CR, accept it or leave it (laughing). I hope they can find the answer in this.”

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Official presentation of Rafael Benitez at Inter Milan happened today at 12:00.

Interfanzone.com bring us full interview of ex Liverpool coach:

“I want to thank Inter for this opportunity, and the fans too, who immediately welcomed me with affection. I am very pleased and proud to be here,” said Benitez, who sat alongside Inter chief executive Ernesto Paolillo, vice managing director Stefano Filucchi and technical director Marco Branca.

“It wasn’t easy to leave Liverpool, but the situation has changed and I needed to move,” explained Benitez. “I had the perfect opportunity with Inter, a massive club, and I’m really pleased to be here. Inter is a fantastic club. They did very well this year and we will see if we can keep this level next season.

“I have been in contact with 95 percent of my ex-players. I thanked them for everything and they wished me luck. Gerrard? I spoke to him on his birthday and for now he only wants to talk about the World Cup.

“Everything is fine, the relationship with my old players is very good. The club was fantastic and the fans were amazing so it was a sad day when I had to go, but things changed so I had to do it. Now I am here in a new club and I am very pleased to be here.”

Benitez has joined treble-winning Inter in the sign of continuity and he hopes to repeat what was achieved by José Mourinho’s team last season. “With the club I have to talk and analyse the future,” he said. “Mourinho did a great job here but I’m a different coach. I hope to be successful here and try to win some titles. The main thing is to keep the team’s mentality and try to win some titles. We will see at the end of the year if I have been successful or not.

“Will there be any new players? Yes, I think so. I hope to buy good players, of a good level. The mentality is to win by playing well, and playing well depends on the players you have. The players here are good. They like playing good football and winning. We have so many high level players and Maicon, for example, is one of them. I wish all of our players at the World Cup the best of luck, including Maicon, who is important for us. I have to talk to the club about the transfer market. Samuel Eto’o? He sacrificed himself a lot for Inter last season. He is a good and intelligent player and I am sure he will make the same sacrifices again next year if needed.”

Benitez was asked if he shares the opinion of Diego Maradona that Cambiasso and Mascherano can’t play in the same team. He replied: “Maradona is the coach of the Argentina national team. Cambiasso is a top-level player for me. I am happy to have him here with us. Of these two players, he’s the only one we have.

“Coutinho? We have spoken about him. He’s young and he’s a good player. Balotelli? He’s a quality player and he’s important. I’m pleased he’s with us. Obviously I haven’t worked with him yet and the same goes for the other players.”

Replying to a question about past rumours of a move to Juventus, Benitez said: “I have no memory of this right now. There is a lot of talk in football, but ultimately the most important thing is actually joining a club. I have done this with Inter and I am very happy. This is the important thing.

“I think that after two years you will know me better. I like working hard and pushing my players. As for training sessions, we will obviously do closed training sessions because it’s important for the other teams not to see what we do, but there will be the occasional open session because it’s good for the team to feel the support of the fans.”

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