Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan for a fee of around £30million.No word on the fate of Drogba, Crespo or Gudjohnsen.
The 29-year-old flew into London today to conclude negotiations with the Stamford Bridge club after announcing last week his intention to leave.
Fantasy Football is offered for entertainment purposes only and may not be used in connection with any form of gambling or wagering.Just a friendly reminder. :-)
Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced Paul Scholes will be as good as new next season despite his continuing eye problems.Scholes is a fantasy team killer. Plays an amazing game... 3 SOT's, game winning goal, takes a free kick or two... so you buy him even though he's not too cheap. And then he'll disappear for weeks. So you sell him. And he goes wild again. Never fails. And it looks like he'll be back next year to kick us around again.
The former England star has admitted he may never be completely clear of blurred vision which forced him to miss over four months of the season.
[Carlton Cole] now looks set to join Martin Jol's ambitious side on a four-year deal after visiting the club's training ground on Friday.Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the old Carlton Cole! So where does Defoe end up when the music stops?
Spurs have already snapped up Dimitar Berbatov for £11 million, but are determined to bolster their squad further in an attempt to break into the top four next term.
Their search for another striker was given extra impetus by the news that Egyptian forward Mido will return to Roma next season.
Third time a charm?Everton have revealed their £8.5million offer for Andrew Johnson had been accepted by Crystal Palace.
The England striker, on standby for the World Cup squad, is now due for talks on Merseyside today, according to Everton.
When Bolton made their offer, Jordan informed them that Wigan were 'in the box seat' to sign Johnson, however reports have claimed the player would prefer to join Everton.Looks like Faddie is heading back to the bench. Or the left wing, if he's lucky. Though you figure Arteta slots in on the left, with van der Meyde on the opposite flank (if healthy). Add Neville and Cahill and you have a 1/2 way decent midfield.
Feyenoord striker Salomon Kalou is holding talks with Chelsea, the Dutch news agency ANP reported on Saturday.Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new Carlton Cole!
'Anticipating the possible departure, we have given Salomon an authorisation to talk with Chelsea,' Feyenoord marketing director Chris Woerts told ANP.
AC Milan have accepted Andriy Shevchenko's transfer request but have warned Chelsea they must break the bank to land the Ukraine striker.He has family in London?
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'I am leaving for family reasons - I want to thank the club for everything it's given to me,' said Shevchenko. 'There's no problems regarding my relationship with anyone in the club or any financial problems.'"
"It's a victory of the English language over the Italian language." That was apparently a reference to Shevchenko's American wife who reportedly wants a move to England.Right. It was the language barrier in Italy and not the chance to grab not a few million in Russian oil profits.
Liverpool have announced that striker Fernando Morientes has joined Valencia for an undisclosed fee.Methinks new signings are in the works, and that he may not be the last one out the door.
Newcastle United winger Kieron Dyer has been arrested for allegedly exposing himself at a female member of staff at a Norwich hotel.Dyer has been seen more (and more has been seen of him), and gotten more action in hotels than on the pitch in the past few years. Time for NUFC to cut their losses? Of all the players moving on from Ipswich in the last few years, has any had more potential and been so far from reaching it as Dyer?
David Gold has insisted Birmingham do not have to sell striker Emile Heskey - reported to be a £3.5million target for Blackburn - or winger Jermaine Pennant.I don't think Gold quite has a handle on the term "asset". Heskey may be valuable (and I fully expect some EPL club to waste millions of pounds on him this summer), but he certainly isn't an asset. If he were an asset, Birmingham would still be in the EPL and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Crystal Palace have accepted an £8.5 million offer from Bolton Wanderers for striker Andy Johnson.Looks like we'll have AJ to kick around next year, but where remains a question. Surprised to see Bolton in the bidding. They only play with one striker and already have Davies, Borghetti, a rapidly improving Vaz Te, and a rapidly aging if still useful Pedersen. I wonder if AJ would play the inside-right role that Stelios currently holds, especially if Stelios' noises about moving on (to Liverpool, was it?) was more than just hot air.
The Trotters' offer matches that made by Wigan Athletic just 24 hours earlier as the race for the England international hots up.
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Everton and Portsmouth were also interested but they will have to match the offers tabled by Bolton and Wigan if they are to have any chance of snatching Johnson from under the noses of the two Lancashire sides.
Robert Pires has ended his six-year association with Arsenal after he joined Spanish side Villarreal.Farewell to a fantasy stud, and the poster boy for left-sided (if not left-footed) French players who have been EPL Fantasy gold for years (Pires, Steed, Robert, etc).
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Wenger moved to strengthen his midfield options earlier this week with the signing of Czech Republic international Tomas Rosicky, 25.
The Arsenal manager, however, knows his squad will be poorer for the departure of Pires.
Wenger said: 'Robert has had six tremendous years with us and made a huge contribution to the team's success during his time here.
'He is not only a great footballer but a good man, so of course, we are sad to see him go.
'It is difficult to pick out one or two highlights - but he was superb in our double winning season during the 2001/02 campaign and contributed so hugely to our unbeaten season with 19 goals.
'I would like to thank Robert for the dedication, determination and passion he has shown and wish him well in his career.'
"He is in many ways a typical Arsène Wenger signing," says Honigstein. "He is very technical, very clever on the ball and always has an eye for a through ball. In Germany and for the Czech Republic he mostly played as a No 10 behind the strikers, similar to the role Alex Hleb used to play for Stuttgart.My interpretation for fantasy purposes is "don't waste your time for the first half of the season" - it took Hleb a while to adjust to the speed of the Premiership and even then he wasn't a very good fantasy player. In the immortal words of Vince Vaughn, he might end up being "the guy behind the guy behind the guy" (which comes off a lot gay-er when you're typing it than it did in Swingers...not there's anything wrong with that).
"That position doesn't really exist in the Premiership so I'd expect him to fit in somewhere on the wings or perhaps as a second striker. He is not very physical so is probably most likely to operate as an attacking midfield player.
"In terms of stature and the way he moves, he reminds me a little of Joe Cole. He doesn't get many goals but Wenger can get the best out of him. In five years at Dortmund Rosicky hinted at his genius but has not quite been able to do it consistently. Wenger has obviously looked at him for a number of years and decided to make a move for him."
Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt has claimed Liverpool have expressed fresh interest in signing him and he would like to move to the Premiership.This is certainly not a negotiating ploy to wring more money from Newcastle. No. Nope. Didn't happen with Owen. Nor did they do it with Rooney the year before. This is real news. Honest.
Crystal Palace have accepted an £8.5million bid from Wigan for Andrew Johnson but Simon Jordan has told Bolton and Everton to match the offer.So it looks like AJ is coming back to the EPL, even if his final destination is still unknown. As long as he goes to a team where he can take PK's, he should be a good fantasy pick up next year. Otherwise... ?? ;-)
Arsenal have completed the signing of midfielder Tomas Rosicky from Borussia Dortmund.Anyone know more about him? Seems like a player much like Cesc... central middie who looks to start the attack. So do those two compete for time? Hard to imagine Wenger bringing in someone to compete for that spot after dumping Viera for Cesc last year. But on the other hand I wouldn't expect a player like Rosicky, a 25-yr old international, presumably at the prime of his career, to be content with a place on the bench.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: 'We are delighted to welcome Tomas to our squad.
'He has great technique, skill on the ball and sharp passing.
He secured World Cup football for the Czechs this summer by scoring the winning goal in the decisive qualifying play-off second leg against Norway.
