Arteta move to Arsenal signals closure of £448m transfer window

Arsenal late last night completed a sensational last-gasp swoop for Mikel Arteta from Everton as the transfer window slammed shut.

Arteta’s transfer fee, believed to be in the region of £10m, helped push the total transfer window spend to a whopping £448m.

The Gunners looked to have missed out on Arteta earlier on last night after Everton rejected a bid for their star midfielder.

But Arteta reportedly forced the issue and Arsenal looked to have reached an agreement with their Barclays Premier League rivals before the 11pm deadline, revealing they had signed the 29-year-old on a four-year contract.

The Gunners are said to have initially offered Nicklas Bendtner — who last night joined Sunderland on a season-long loan — in a part-exchange deal, something rejected out of hand by Everton.

They also reportedly snubbed a £10million cash offer until the player himself made his feelings clear.

Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun signed a season-long loan deal at the Emirates Stadium which took Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's deadline-day recruits to four after defenders Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos Put the finishing touches to their moves.

Elsewhere, in a surprise move, Liverpool re-signed their former striker Craig Bellamy from Manchester City. The 32-year-old |(pictured) spent last season on loan at npower Championship side Cardiff after a rift with City boss Roberto Mancini saw him excluded from the first-team squad.

City have been desperate to offload Bellamy but with a year left on his contract there were financial issues to sort out before Liverpool could complete a deal.

In a brief statement the club said: “Liverpool have tonight announced Craig Bellamy has signed a contract with the club.

“He will wear shirt number 39.”

Bellamy's return to Anfield comes four years after he left having been brought to the club 12 months earlier by Rafael Benitez.

He scored nine goals in 42 matches but off-field issues, most notably an infamous incident with a golf club and team-mate John Arne Riise, and a strained relationship with Benitez, contributed to his departure to West Ham.

Wenger, meanwhile, earlier began to rebuild his shattered defence after it was confirmed Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos were joining the club.

Germany defender Mertesacker, who has 75 caps and joins from Werder Bremen for a reported £8million, was relishing the challenge.

The 26-year-old said: “Moving to London enables me to fulfil a dream and a further step in my career. The Premier League has always represented a great challenge for me.”

Wenger added: “We are delighted to welcome Per Mertesacker to the club.

“He is a German international with vast experience and strength and is good on the floor and in the air.

“I believe he will be well-suited to the Premier League and a tremendous asset to the team.”

Santos, 28, cost Arsenal £6.2million from Turkish champions Fenerbahce.

The Brazil full-back, who missed out on last year's World Cup, said: “It was one of my dreams to play for a major European football club and I have accomplished this. I am very happy to be part of this team.

“All the Brazilians who came to this club spoke wonders about it and I am delighted to be part of the Arsenal family.”

Wenger added: “Santos is a quality player, with the ability to both defend well and get forward and help with attacks.

“He has experience in the Champions League and for Brazil and has proven he can deliver at the highest level.

“We welcome Santos to the club and look forward to him having a big impact for us.”

Wenger was busy in the final days of the transfer window, having brought in South Korea captain Park Chu-young from Monaco. A move for Blackburn defender Christopher Samba was also touted after the Gunners cooled their interest in Bolton's Gary Cahill.

Four players also left Arsenal today, three of them on season-long loans. Nicolas Bendtner joined Sunderland, Henri Lansbury moved to West Ham, and new signing Joel Campbell was farmed out to Lorient, where fellow youngster Gilles Sunu completed a permanent move.

Chelsea last night succeeded in another last-gasp raid of Liverpool after completing the signing of Raul Meireles with minutes of the transfer window remaining.

In an eerie echo of Fernando Torres' £50million January switch, the Blues left it until just before the deadline to complete a deal for Meireles

Source: The Telegraph

Transfer Window's 12th Hour Is Approaching

The time has come for the final day of the 2011 summer transfer window. Between now and 11pm UK time (6pm ET), we’ll find out which clubs will finalize some last minute deals. Throughout the day today, we’ll be updating this live blog with the latest transfer signings, news and more, so feel free to keep on returning to the article throughout the day. And feel free to share your comments about the transfer signings in the comments section below.

8:43am: Everton is set to make their first signing of summer by bringing Argentine striker Denis Stracqualursi on loan to Goodison Park. Everton will need to sell a player before they can seal the deal for the Argentine, though.

8:37am: Bolton have had a bid accepted for Liverpool striker David Ngog.

8:13am: Despite late interest from Aston Villa, Joe Cole has joined Lille on a season-long loan.

7:06am: Sky Sports sources understand Stoke are in talks with Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner about a move to the Britannia Stadium.

7:05am: Birmingham have agreed terms with Stoke over Cameron Jerome.

7:04am: Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp insists there is no chance of Luka Modric leaving the club before the transfer deadline passes tonight.

7:03am: Alvaro Pereira’s agent has confirmed Porto and Chelsea are in discussions over a big-money deadline day transfer.

7:03am: Sky Sports sources understand that Queens Park Rangers are closing on the signing of Shaun Wright-Phillips.

7:02am: Blackpool have made an enquiry for Swansea’s Stephen Dobbie.

7:01am: Sky Sports sources understand Queens Park Rangers are interested in bringing Craig Bellamy to Loftus Road.

Moves since yesterday:

Park Cho-Young [AS Monaco - Arsenal]
Joe Cole [Liverpool - Lille] Loan
Ulises Davila [Chelsea - Vitesse Arnhem] Loan
David Davis [Wolves - Inverness Caledonian Thistle] Loan
Jack Dearman [unattached - Birmingham City]
Ryan Lowe [Bury - Sheffield Wednesday] Undisclosed
Ryan McGivern [Manchester City - Bristol City] Loan
Scott Parker [West Ham - Tottenham] Undisclosed
Emile Sinclair [Macclesfield - Peterborough] Undisclosed
Tom Bender [Colchester - Accrington] Loan
Sebastian Coates [Nacional - Liverpool] Undisclosed
Albert Crusat [Almeria - Wigan] Undisclosed
Papa Bouba Diop [unattached - West Ham]
Rob Elliot [Charlton - Newcastle] Undisclosed
David Kasnik [Olimpija Ljubljana - Sheffield Wednesday] Loan
Daniel Kearns [Dundalk - Peterborough] Undisclosed
Keanu Marsh-Brown [Fulham - Dundee United] Loan
Kyel Reid [unattached - Bradford]
Davide Santon [Inter Milan- Newcastle] Undisclosed
Armand Traore [Arsenal - QPR] Undisclosed
Gerhard Tremmel [unattached - Swansea]
Josh Walker [Watford - Stevenage] Loan

source: The Telegraph & EPL Talk

Arsenal's Trashing = Tickets Refunded

By JACK BELL

Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger began Sunday’s late-afternoon disaster in Manchester wearing his familiar full-length down parka. By the end of the game, the coat was gone as Manchester United turned Old Trafford, often called the Theater of Dreams, into Wenger’s unabashed house of horrors.
If the damage from a record 8-2 loss in the English Premier League was not enough, Arsenal officials on Monday offered their thousands of traveling fans tangible payback for the team’s sad performance by offering to pay for their match ticket to another away game … if they dare go.
Led by Wayne Rooney’s hat trick, Manchester United sent Arsenal to its worst loss in the last century — the 19th century, as in 1896.
“We went about our job from the first minute all the way through to the last,” Manchester United’s Ashley Young, who scored twice, told his team’s television network. “We were terrific. We found an Arsenal team who weren’t so good on the day and we’ve punished them.”
With a break next weekend while his players are off on international duty, Wenger told the club’s Web site that “the players go away for two weeks and maybe that is a good thing.”

Arsenal returns to play at newly promoted Swansea City on Sept. 10.
“When they come back we’ll have to prepare,” Wenger said. “Big scores are humiliating and difficult to swallow, but I don’t think they have a special meaning. They are always under special circumstances. I can only apologize for the score. It hurts very much.”
The cerebral French coach (he has university degrees in electrical engineering and economics) is facing the biggest challenge since taking over the Gunners in 1996, a run that included the “Invincible” season of 2003-4, when the Gunners won the Premier League by 11 points without losing a game. But this year is different. For one, Arsenal has a new owner in the American businessman Stan Kroenke. Second, Wenger has been a net loser during the current transfer period, which ends on Wednesday. Cesc Fàbregas departed for Barcelona and Samir Nasri for Manchester City, both talking about the club’s failure to win any significant championship since the magical season that seems so long ago.
Sunday’s one-sided loss left Arsenal in 17th place in the 20-team Premier League, with a draw and two losses from three games, and a minus-8 goal differential. With the transfer period set to end Wednesday, Wenger and Arsenal will be under pressure to try and find help on defense, but they have little chance of finding suitable replacements for Fàbregas and Nasri. On Sunday, the Gunners were without several injured players, including Jack Wilshere, Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna, and the suspended Gervinho, Alex Song and 
Alex
 Emmanuel Frimpong. And for the fourth third time in three games, another Arsenal player was shown a red card, this one going to Carl Jenkinson.
“This was the strongest team we had,” the captain Robin van Persie told Arsenal’s Web site. “We gave our maximum but it was clearly not good enough. I don’t think we can hide behind injuries or suspensions. It is no excuse. They had injuries too. This is football.”
Wolverhampton
As Arsenal struggles, one of the most surprising teams in the first month of the English season is also one of the 12 founding members of the Football League, in 1888 — Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Aston Villa in Birmingham, Wolves are unbeaten and have seven points, as many as Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle.
One of the men behind the club’s resurgence from years living in the lower divisions has been Mick McCarthy, the former manager of Sunderland and Ireland’s national team.
“We’ve started well and have looked solid at the back, but I know how quickly that can change in this league,” McCarthy told the club’s Web site. “You can lose three, four, five games on the bounce even when you’re playing well. As I’ve already said, we’ll enjoy the start but be wary of the 35 games to come.”
Wolverhampton has been especially adept and successful grooming young players in its academy in recent years. Graduates include Robbie Keane (now with Los Angeles in M.L.S.), Joleon Lescott, Matt Murray and Lee Naylor. Current first-team starters, all younger than 25, include goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, Ashley Hemmings and Johnny Gorman. A handful of the club’s developing players are out on loan.
Could this be the start of something big? Stay tuned.
Notes
¶ After losing twice and tying three games in their last five, the Red Bulls actually “won” by not playing last weekend. Their sold-out match against visiting Los Angeles, scheduled to be played Sunday night, was postponed until Oct. 4 because of Hurricane Irene. But the idle Red Bulls saw their Eastern Conference rivals, all of whom had played fewer games, either lose or fail to notch three points. First-place Columbus was blitzed, 6-2, at Seattle; Sporting Kansas City gave up three goals in the final minutes, losing to Dallas, 3-2; and expansion Vancouver won only its fourth game of the season, beating Houston, 1-0. The Red Bulls (6-6-14) remain in fourth place and do not play again until Sept. 10 against the visiting Whitecaps. Coach Hans Backe has given the team off until Monday.
¶ Jamaica-born Jeff Cunningham, 35, a much-traveled striker who began his M.L.S. career with Columbus from 1998-2004 and played for four other clubs before returning to the Crew this year, eclipsed Jaime Moreno’s league career goal-scoring record when he converted a penalty kick in Saturday’s 6-2 loss at Seattle. It was the 134th goal of Cunningham’s M.L.S. career.
¶ The American midfielder Stuart Holden, who has missed six months because of a knee injury, will see his first action Tuesday since last season playing for Bolton’s reserves in a game against Fulham’s reserves. “I’m buzzin’,” Holden wrote on his Twitter feed. … Michael Bradley, 24, another American midfielder, is expected to sign with Chievo of Italy’s Serie A, leaving Borussia Mönchengladbach before the transfer period ends on Wednesday.

Source: New York Times

Transfer Window Clock Is Winding Down

Photo by Peat Illustration

16.45 Wigan, not content with Pacy Spanish Winger, are fluttering their eyelashes and about a million quid at Quite Good At Villa Winger Shaun Maloney, currently of Celtic.

16.39 Alex in Berlin, who will probably have his own picture byline by the end of tomorrow so prolific has his reporting of all things German been, brings news of Chelsea:

News just in that Chelsea have made enquires to Bayern München about the possible transfer of Franck Ribery, presumably pessimistic about a deal for Modric. Strange direction taken really – very different type of player and only one year into a five year deal. No doubting quality though. CFC thought to be considering package of €32m which will almost certainly be rejected. Anything closer to/exceeding €40m might tempt FCB however. Will update you as we hear more about this.

I have had murmurings of the Modric deal being deceased in the wet stuff, so there may well be something in this.

16.31 Apparently there is a French football club called Evian. They are interested in signing Liverpool's Christian Poulsen. There are an awful lot of poor puns floating around on Twitter.

16.21 Rory Smith with an encitement to hijack, which I'm pretty sure can get you arrested in some countries:

source: The Telegraph

Drogba injured in Chelsea 3-1 win over Norwich

            LONDON (AP) — Didier Drogba was taken to hospital with mild concussion after being knocked unconscious during Chelsea's 3-1 victory over Norwich in the Premier League on Saturday.

The injury overshadowed Chelsea's second victory of the season, which was wrapped up by Juan Mata scoring on his debut in the 11th minute of stoppage time resulting from Drogba's injury.

The Ivory Coast striker's head was caught in a collision with Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy and he was carried off on a stretcher wearing what appeared to be a breathing aid following seven minutes' treatment on the pitch.

"Drogba will be released from hospital tonight following medical tests," Chelsea said on its website. "The club's medical staff will continue to monitor the 33-year-old over the coming days."

Drogba remained unconscious "for quite some time" after leaving the Stamford Bridge pitch, manager Andre Villas-Boas said after the match.

"We are just waiting for the full exams on his concussion and hopefully nothing is wrong," Villas-Boas said. "He is showing some good signs of recovery for us to be a little bit more tranquil."

Villas-Boas said the challenge "looked pretty nasty."

"He lost consciousness completely on the pitch," the manager said. "I have to be very, very grateful, not only to my players but to the Norwich players and to my medical staff for reacting so quickly to a potentially dangerous situation."

The injury came just after Grant Holt pounced on a mistake by Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario in the 63rd minute to equalize for Norwich.

Hilario needlessly came racing off his line to claim a cross and collided with Branislav Ivanovic, allowing Holt to hook the ball into the empty net.

Jose Bosingwa had put Chelsea ahead after just six minutes with his first goal since November 2008 coming from a 25-yard (meter) strike that went in off the inside of the post.

Frank Lampard restored Chelsea's lead from the penalty spot in the 82nd after Ruddy was sent off for fouling Ramires.

It sparked a flash point between the benches, with Norwich manager Paul Lambert shoving Chelsea coach Jose Mario Rocha after the latter entered the visitors' technical area to celebrate the spotkick.

Lambert described Rocha as "the guy with the stopwatch on his neck", adding: "I don't know who he is but he's flown right into our area.

"I'm not fluent in Portuguese so if he understands Glaswegian then he might know what I said. You don't do that — it's disrespectful."

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas backed Rocha.

"It's difficult to control your own emotions on the bench," he said. "But I would find it very, very strange if my technical staff would be disrespectful of Norwich and maybe they were just showing some emotions. If Paul can't handle that, I'm sorry — unlucky."

It was a dream debut for Mata, who came off the bench and produced Chelsea's third goal three days after joining from Valencia.

Ritchie De Laet presented the Spain midfielder with the ball and he slotted beyond replacement 'keeper Declan Rudd.

"I'm very, very happy that the team is able to control their state of mind, to fight back, to show commitment and desire," Villas-Boas said.

Start of Serie A postponed as players strike

By Richard Allen

ROME (Reuters) - The start of the Serie A season this weekend was postponed on Friday after the Italian Players' Union (AIC) called a strike after failing to reach agreement with clubs over a new deal over players' rights.

The Lega Serie A, representing Italy's 20 top flight clubs, refused to agree to a last-minute proposal from the AIC to sign a one-season deal to avert strike action, prompting the postponement of Saturday's and Sunday's fixtures.

"The players' union takes note of the negative response from the Lega of our latest proposal and thereby confirms the intention of not entering the field for the first match of the season," said an AIC statement.

AIC president Damiano Tommasi had earlier on Friday proposed signing a temporary contract along existing lines until 30 June 2012 while negotiations continued, but clubs' president Maurizio Beretta rejected the last-minute bid.

"Our assembly has been clear. We will only sign an agreement if it contains the two points under discussion - the solidarity contribution and that of training outside the first-team squad," Beretta told Italian news service Ansa.

The two disputed points are over the interpretation of the so-called article seven concerning players who are no longer wanted by their coaches, and who should pay a new austerity tax introduced by the government.

AIC wants those players to be allowed to train with the squad until they reach the end of their contracts while the clubs want autonomy for the coaches.

The clubs also want any new agreement to include a clause stipulating that the players must pay the government's recently introduced solidarity tax - on wages over 90,000 euros per year - rather than the clubs.

Without compromise following weeks of deadlock, there is now a possibility that more Serie A fixtures could be postponed.

"I have the distinct impression that 15 days will not be enough," said Tommasi. "We may need months."

The dispute has rumbled on since the end of the 2009/10 season when a previous agreement expired.

Strikes were twice averted at the last minute last season.

source: Reuters

UEFA Europa League Group Stage Draw Results

The UEFA Europa League group stage draw threw up several intriguing match-ups with 2010 winners Club Atlético de Madrid taking on Udinese Calcio and Stade Rennais FC in Group I, and Tottenham Hotspur FC meeting FC Rubin Kazan and surprise package Shamrock Rovers FC.

The draw, which took place in Monaco, split 48 teams into 12 groups with other highlights including Paris Saint-Germain FC and Athletic Club being paired together, while 2011 runners-up SC Braga will play Club Brugge KV, English second-tier club Birmingham City FC and NK Maribor in Group H.

FC Steaua Bucureşti will take on FC Schalke 04, Maccabi Haifa FC AEK Larnaca FC while the other side trying to reach the final in their home city, FC Rapid Bucureşti, were paired with 1978 UEFA Cup winners PSV Eindhoven, Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC and Legia Warszawa.

Before helping to conduct the draw, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino reminded clubs of the importance of being "united in our fight against match-fixing". He added: "Unfortunately, we have witnessed all too clearly the destructive effect that corruption can have on our sport and recent events have shown that it can reach all levels.

“That is why in order to protect our newest club competition, the UEFA Europa League, we will continue with our zero-tolerance policy approach to any forms of corruption. This is a fight that together we can and will win – all together.”

Group games will be played from 15 September until 15 December, the day before the draws for the rounds of 32 and 16. The top two teams in each group will be joined by the third-placed UEFA Champions League finishers in the knockout phase, which concludes at the National Stadium, Bucharest on 9 May 2012.

2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage

Group ATottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
PAOK FC (GRE)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)

Group B
FC København (DEN)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
Hannover 96 (GER)
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)

Group C
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)
Legia Warszawa (POL)

Group D
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
S.S. Lazio (ITA)
FC Zürich (SUI)
FC Vaslui (ROU)

Group E
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Beşiktaş JK (TUR)
Stoke City FC (ENG)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)

Group F
Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA)
Athletic Club (ESP)
FC Salzburg (AUT)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

Group G
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
FK Austria Wien (AUT)
Malmö FF (SWE)

Group H
SC Braga (POR)
Club Brugge KV (BEL)
Birmingham City FC (ENG)
NK Maribor (SVN)

Group I
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Udinese Calcio (ITA)
Stade Rennais FC (FRA)
FC Sion (SUI)

Group J
FC Schalke 04 (GER)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
AEK Larnaca FC (CYP)

Group K
FC Twente (NED)
Fulham FC (ENG)
Odense BK (DEN)
Wisła Kraków (POL)

Group L
RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
AEK Athens FC (GRE)
FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)
SK Sturm Graz (AUT)

source: UEFA.com

UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw Results

17.45CET, 25 August, Monaco

Ten play-off winners joined the 22 automatic entrants in the group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, where the 32 sides were split into four seeding pots and one from each drawn into the eight groups. Seeds were based on UEFA's coefficient system and no team could have met another from the same association.

Where two sides from the same association qualified, they were paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams were paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings were made based on the TV audience.

To ensure sides from the same country play on separate days, the eight groups were distinguished by colour: Groups A-D were red and Groups E-H blue. When a paired club was drawn, for example, into one of the red groups, the other paired club – once it was drawn – was automatically assigned to one of the four blue groups.

Teams from Pot 1 were provisionally placed in the first position within their groups, teams from Pot 2 provisionally took the second spot in their sections, and so on. Once the draw was completed, a computer draw determined the final position of the sides within their group and therefore the order of the home and away matches.

2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage


Group A
FC Bayern München (GER)
Villarreal CF (ESP)
Manchester City FC (ENG)
SSC Napoli (ITA)

Group B
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
LOSC Lille Métropole (FRA)
Trabzonspor AŞ (TUR)

Group C
Manchester United FC (ENG)
SL Benfica (POR)
FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
FC Oţelul Galaţi (ROU)

Group D
Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
AFC Ajax (NED)
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

Group E
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Valencia CF (ESP)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER)
KRC Genk (BEL)

Group F
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
Olympiacos FC (GRE)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)

Group G
FC Porto (POR)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
FC Zenit St Petersburg (RUS)
APOEL FC (CYP)

Group H
FC Barcelona (ESP)
AC Milan (ITA)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)

Source: UEFA.com

La Liga strike ends!

Matches in the top two divisions in Spain will be played this weekend after an agreement was reached between the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), the AFE has confirmed.

The AFE announced earlier this month that players from the top two divisions in Spain would go on strike for the first two rounds of the 2011-12 season unless an agreement with the LFP was reached.

The AFE wants a guaranteed fund to protect players' wages in the event of their clubs being declared insolvent and says clubs in Spain owe around €50 million in unpaid salaries to more than 200 players from the end of last season.

Discussions between the two parties last week failed to find a resolution, leading to the scheduled opening round of Primera Division and Segunda Division fixtures being postponed at the weekend, but the second round of matches including champions Barcelona hosting Villarreal on Monday and Real Madrid travelling to Real Zaragoza on Sunday will now take place.

source: ESPN NEWS