Dimitar Berbatov has been told he can leave Manchester United this summer, with Zenit St. Petersburg appearing to be the frontrunners to land the Bulgarian, according to Metro reports.
Berbatov has endured a frustrating time at United since his £30 million move from Tottenham in 2008.
The imminent arrival of Robin Van Persie has only widened the exit door, along with Ferguson’s desire to re-invent the team with pace.
It’s a dramatic fall from grace for a player who never lived up to the expectations of being a new Eric Cantona.
His five- goal-haul in the 7-1 victory over Blackburn and a hat-trick in the 3-2 win against Liverpool are among the few highlights of his United career.
But his proven goal-scoring record, 75 goals in 178 appearances for both United and Spurs has attracted the interest of a number of clubs across Europe.
Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus have been linked with the player, along with Galatasaray, QPR and West Ham.
But Zenit seem to be the only club unfazed by Berbatov’s hefty wages, reportedly £110,000- a-week at Old Trafford.
It is understood that a move back to Eastern Europe would favour Berbatov and club officials could fly out to Manchester within the next fortnight to wrap up a deal.
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Fellow United strikers, Bebe and Federico Macheda may also be allowed to leave the club for regular first-team action, with neither players featuring prominently in Sir Alex’s plans.
Hard-Fi, the guests of the first Football FanCast video show of the season (which you can watch here), have just released their third album, ‘Killer Sounds’. Following on from ‘Stars of CCTV’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, ‘Killer Sounds’ is Hard-Fi’s latest offering and we’re giving you the opportunity to win a copy of the album signed by lead singer Richard Archer and drummer Steve Kemp in our Hard-Fi competition.
The four-piece have been busy working on their third studio album for the past eighteen months, which was released last month. The album was co-produced by the band’s frontman, Richard Archer, with assistance from big names such as Stuart Price (Killers, Madonna), Grey Kurstin (Lily Allen) and Alan Moulder (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Killers) and recorded in Cherry Lips Studios as well as Los Angeles.
Following a triumphant return to Glastonbury 2011 to headline the Leftfield Stage, four years after their last appearance at the festival, Hard-Fi plan to play a string of shows in September. The tour kicks off in Norwich on September 21 and includes a sold-out London Forum show on September 23. Tickets are continuing to sell fast and are not to be missed. With the band’s million-selling debut ‘Stars of CCTV’, the number 1 follow-up ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ and two BRIT award nominations (2006’s ‘Best British Group’ and ‘Best British Rock Act’) already under their belts, Hard-Fi are set to reign the charts once again.
See what Richard and Steve have to say about their love of football…
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To win a signed copy of ‘Killer Sounds’ answer this simple question…
Where are Hard-Fi originally from?
A) Aldershot
B) Staines
C) Slough
To enter this fantastic competition, email your answer to [email protected]
The competition closes on Monday 26th September at 9am so make sure you get your answers in now!
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Here’s Razor asking Richard and Steve some (not so) quickfire questions…
Shakhtar Donetsk are in the box seat to make the Champions League quarter-finals after a 3-2 away win against Roma on Wednesday.
Roma took a 28th-minute lead through Simone Perrotta, but the Ukrainian side hit straight back and produced three goals in a 13-minute burst to see them head back to Donetsk with the advantage.
Claudio Ranieri’s side will have their work cut out trying to win in Ukraine, with Skakhtar unbeaten in their last 53 matches in all competitions at home. Their last loss at the Donbass Arena came in October 2008.
After successive Serie A defeats to Napoli and Inter Milan, Ranieri’s side came out firing and dominated the early stages of the contest.
Nicolas Burdisso and Mirko Vucinic went close to scoring before Roma took a deserved lead through Perotta, who nodded Rodrigo Taddei’s cross into the back of the net with Shakhtar defender Razvan Rat getting the last touch.
But the celebrations did not last long as Jadson’s right-foot shot from 18 yards took a wicked deflection of Daniele De Rossi, leaving Roma goalkeeper Doni stranded.
The goal spurred Shakhtar on and Jadson was again involved when the Ukraine side scored its second, finding countryman Douglas Costa who hit a curling left-foot strike from the edge of the area.
Things got even worse for Roma on 41 minutes when left-back Jon Arne Riise slipped on the touchline while he had the ball.
Riise’s mistake allowed Douglas Costa to steal the ball, and the Brazilian took his time before picking out compatriot Luiz Adriano to sidefoot into the back of the net.
The goal capped a horrendous spell for Roma and the hosts certainly knew what the crowd thought of their performance, with Ranieri’s men booed by the Stadio Olimpico fans as they entered the field for the second half.
But as they did in the first half, Roma began strongly and Frenchman Jeremy Menez scored a splendid goal to bring his side back into contention just after the hour mark.
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Menez beat Jadson for the ball in a show of strength before streaming forward and producing a sensational strike into the top right corner from 25 yards.
Shakhtar continued to search for a fourth as Luiz Adriano and Henrikh Mkhitaryan went close, while Roma also had a chance to score but Andriy Pyatov kept out Francesco Totti’s late effort.
The visitors held on for the victory – their first in the last 16 of the Champions League – and the 2008/09 UEFA Cup winners can feel confident of reaching the quarter-finals given their brilliant home record.
England's World Cup squad numbers may have given a strong indication as to which players will start the first game against the United States in Rustenburg next week.
Fabio Capello and his 23-man squad touched down in South Africa on Thursday morning before travelling to their training base at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus.
The England contingent were greeted by local dignitaries and residents in a colourful welcome ceremony before the Football Association revealed the squad numbers for the players during the tournament.
David James has been given the number one jersey despite West Ham's Robert Green being widely tipped to start as England's first-choice goalkeeper.
The widely predicated back four of Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, captain Rio Ferdinand and John Terry are numbers two, three, five and six respectively.
Peter Crouch may be given the nod to start alongside number ten Wayne Rooney in attack after being handed the number nine shirt.
Fellow strikers Jermain Defoe and Emile Heskey have been named as numbers 19 and 21 respectively.
Meanwhile, Aaron Lennon could be the set to start the tournament as the first-choice right-sided midfielder after taking the number seven jersey.
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Elsewhere in the first 11 numbers on the official list submitted to FIFA, Steven Gerrard is number four, Frank Lampard eight and Joe Cole number 11.
Following the curtain-raiser against the USA, England then play Algeria in Cape Town on June 18 before completing their Group C programme with a match against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth five days later.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Manchester City are on the verge of selling fringe duo Roque Santa Cruz and Nigel De Jong, The Sun report.
The Premier League champions are starting to feel the implications of the upcoming Fifa Financial Fair Play rulings, and want to shorten their wage bill and sell some squad players this summer.
Santa Cruz has not played for the Etihad Stadium first-team in two years, and spent last season on loan at Real Betis in Spain.
However, Werder Bremen have been accredited with an interest in the Paraguayan striker and look set to make a move for him in the near future.
Meanwhile, De Jong has found a starting jersey at the club hard to come by, with the likes of Gareth Barry, James Milner and Yaya Toure preferred by Roberto Mancini in the City engine room.
The Netherlands international is wanted by Inter, who are set to launch a £7 million bid for him and offer more regular first-team football.
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Steve Bruce is struggling. His Sunderland side are without a win so far this season and have already suffered losses against arch-enemies Newcastle and Championship Brighton during their miserable start to the campaign.
A month ago it all seemed so promising. Bruce was one of the most active Premier League managers over the summer, bringing 12 new faces into the Stadium of Light and waving goodbye to 14. This is a dramatic overhaul for any club but Sunderland had faded out badly at the end of the 2010/11 season and the flurry of activity was seen as a much needed breath of fresh air.
It is early days but the overhaul has not brought the improvement that many people expected.
Bruce was backed generously by Chairman Niall Quinn and owner Ellis Short in the transfer market, they have allowed him to reinvest the majority of Jordan Henderson and Darren Bent’s transfer fees back into signings but the manager has not utilised this healthy warchest effectively enough.
The most significant loss of all was Asamoah Gyan’s last minute departure to Al-Ain (a deal which surprised everyone) but Bruce claims that the player’s departure was an issue that had rumbled on for months. If that was the case why did he not find a replacement?
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At the start of last season Sunderland’s front three were Bent, Gyan and Wellbeck, now it reads Bendtner, Wickham and Ji Dong-Won. This is a step down in anybody’s book and Sunderland’s owners must be wondering whether Bruce can still be trusted with the cheque-book.
Since the departure of Darren Bent, Sunderland’s form has slumped. Alarmingly, Bruce has not yet managed to halt this slide. More worrying still is that Bruce is now yet again rebuilding and waiting for players to gel. He has a squad packed full of new faces as he begins his third season in charge.
The demands at Sunderland are realistic and simple. People want to see their side improve year on year (something that Bruce delivered successfully in the past two seasons) and challenge in every match. Trophies are not an immediate concern. From January, Bruce has seemed unable to meet these modest expectations and this is likely to make Niall Quinn and Ellis Short very nervous indeed.
Already a front runner in the dreaded Premier League sack race, Bruce seriously needs to get a winning mentality back into his side. If the summer overhaul was supposed to do it he now needs to try something else, and fast.
Is there enough quality in the side to improve on last season? Can Bruce be trusted with signings?
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League leaders Queens Park Rangers travel to Reading on Friday in the pick of the Championship’s weekend action.
QPR have gone five games unbeaten in the league while Reading have strung together four unbeaten results heading into the clash at Madejski Stadium.
Rangers will be aiming to extend their five-point buffer atop the table, while Reading are hopeful of narrowing the gap on the top six to one point.
Loan signing Mikele Leigertwood – who has scored in his last two matches for Reading – will be unavailable to face parent club Ranger because of the terms of his loan deal, while Tommy Smith could return for QPR after missing their win over Portsmouth with a hamstring injury.
If QPR triumph, it would be their first taste of victory away at Reading since 1997 and would complete their first league double over the club since the 1963/64 season.
Second-placed Norwich City travel to Burnley’s Turf Moor on Saturday hoping to consolidate their place in the automatic promotion spots.
Top-six sides Leeds United and Nottingham Forest have home fixtures on Saturday which they can use to reinforce their promotion claims, with United to face Coventry City while Forest take on seventh-placed Watford.
Bottom-side Preston North End host fellow strugglers Bristol City in a huge opportunity for both sides to help their respective seasons.
Portsmouth can also move clear of the drop zone with victory over Derby County at Fratton Park, while Crystal Palace (21st) and Middlesbrough (18th) do battle in another clash between two teams at the lower end of the table.
Ipswich Town can consign Sheffield United to more time in the relegation zone with a victory at Portman Road.
Leicester City and Barnsley go face to face in a true mid-table battle, with the sides separated by just two points.
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Ninth-placed Milwall host Doncaster, while Scunthorpe welcome Hull City to Glanford Park having won just one of their past 12 in all competitions.
The South Wales derby between Cardiff City and Swansea City is the feature match on Sunday, with the fierce rivals to do battle at the Liberty Stadium.
Swansea have the edge on their Welsh counterparts, winning their most recent battle 1-0 at Cardiff City Stadium in November.
Everton go into the new campaign full of hope that the club’s January signings of Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar can help replicate the sort of upturn in fortunes over the second half of last season over the course of an entire campaign – if they can, then the club could be potential dark horses to challenge the top six.
Elsewhere, Tim Cahill brought an end to a hugely successful eight-year spell by moving to MLS side New York Red Bulls and Joseph Yobo completed his move to Turkish outfit Fenerbache, while Marcus Hahnemann and James McFadden were both relseased from the club at the end of last season.
The main big exit (there’s one every summer) was Jack Rodwell who left for Manchester City in a transfer move that smacks of desperation with Roberto Mancini just keen to get someone, anyone, in through the front door and when the entire squad was fit, the England international struggled to get into their starting eleven and he won’t be missed, in the short term at least.
One To Watch – Steven Naismith
The Scottish forward arrived at Goodison Park this summer as a bargain bucket free transfer to bolster the club’s forward ranks after rejecting a new transfer with the Rangers Newco.
His partnership in Scotland alongside Jelavic is also a welcome boost and it shows that for the first time in a long while, particularly in light of Cahill’s departure, is prepared to start with two strikers up front. Nonetheless, upon returning after a lengthy injury lay-off, after being out for most of last term with a cruciate ligament injury, the fact that he is playing in a new, quicker league means that he should be given time to adapt, but the early signs are promising.
Breakthrough Year – Ross Barkley
The main beneficiary of Rodwell’s departure to Manchester City this summer will surely by Ross Barkley, the England U-21 international midfielder who first burst onto the scene at the beginning of last season with a series of rambunctious displays, which led to some preposterous over the top praise from Martin Keown among others.
While he may have only gone on to make six league appearances altogether last season, Barkley will be 19 years-old in December and it’s time that he stepped up to the plate in what is still a relatively thin squad and in Marouane Fellani, he has one of the finest central midfielders in the league to play alongside and learn off.
Predictions
Everton were let down badly by their away form last season where they managed to win just five games on their travels all season, less than West Brom, Wigan and the same as Norwich. While they may have only scored 50 goals in the league last season, they were a completely different side in the second half of the campaign after their customary slow start to the season.
If they can banish that perennial hoodoo over their early season form, then they could potentially be a force to be reckoned with in the latter stages of the campaign, with on eye on a possible top six place and Europa League spot. They do have a very small squad, though, even by Everton’s standards and a lot will come down to whether they get a few more bodies in with the money received from the Rodwell deal, otherwise they may be a bit light in midfield and out wide on the wings.
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Without European football to distract them, though, like rivals for a top six spot Newcastle and Liverpool both have, they may be able to sneak in under the radar and force their way in. The top six is as fluid as it has been at the moment when compared to recent years – Tottenham have a new manager, Chelsea are trying to implement a new style of play while Arsenal could either be brilliant or flop, so the stability of this current Everton side may prove much to their benefit, even if they could still do with a few more fresh faces.
When it comes to the cups, Everton are always, much like I have just done, tipped as dark horses for them and in all honest, they should have made the FA Cup final last term after going ahead in the semi-final at Wembley against local rivals Liverpool before letting them back into the match. The focus has and will always be the league first and foremost, and the nature of how early on in the season the League Cup is isn’t always conducive to them getting far in it.
Nevertheless, I’m backing at least one cup final to make good on the undoubted progress the club has made in recent years, and Moyes requires a piece of silverware to validate his credentials for bigger challenges in the future, with the Manchester United job still on the cards.
Perception of FIFA is at an all time low right now. People see football’s international governing body as a corrupt and pompous old boys dictatorship. They are not wrong. After the success of Qatar’s World Cup bid, the accusations of corruption and bribery have further tarnished an already unpopular organisation, prompting talk of smaller federations (such as UEFA) splitting from FIFA, but would this improve the state of the game?
The first thing to know is what FIFA actually does. Every four years it organises the World Cup. Attempting to make it more celebrated and more profitable than the one before. It then spends the next four years reinvesting the money generated from the competition back into football by way of all the other unprofitable world cups such as the Under 20’s, the women’s world cup and so on as well as investing in countless development projects.
Whilst it may be difficult to look past the fact that an organisation with such a responsibility to the game and such vast sums of money, ($2 billion profit from the 2010 World Cup) is in the hands of a select bunch of questionable individuals, it is crucial to see that the international game is actually in a good state right now. Whilst the men who run FIFA may rightly be entrenched in scandal it has still successfully served its purpose of expanding football throughout the globe. Blatter’s recent attempts to host World Cups across the continents have proved successful and the sport has never reached more people (the last World Cup drew 26 billion views).
As an organisation FIFA does a fantastic job of generating vast revenue from the World Cup. Purely from a business perspective it seems foolish to break away from an organisation that is bringing so much money into the international game.
The question is, could the game be run better? There are certainly concerns about how well this money is reinvested and the percentage that goes back into the game but it is fair to say that due to the relentless expansion of the World Cup they now pump more money back into the game than ever before with $700 million set aside for development projects over the next four years.
I am aware that all this makes me sound like a staunch supporter of FIFA. I am not. Their exploitation of the bidding process and the control they exert over the host nation is deplorable. The cries for dramatic reform of the bidding process and the committee members are entirely justified. However, if you look beneath the dirty top layer there is an incredibly successful machine operating underneath. Splitting away from it just because of the dodgy goings on at the top would be a very extreme and potentially costly decision.
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Tonight sees the second semi-final of the Carling Cup as Birmingham City and West Ham do battle for the right to face Arsenal at Wembley in the final. The tie is evenly poised; with Avram Grant’s men taking a 2-1 lead into the match at St Andrew’s tonight, meaning that there’s everything to play for. But who will be the players that will make the difference tonight?
One man that Birmingham manager Alex McLeish would like to have included but can’t because he’s cup-tied is new signing David Bentley. The on loan midfielder would have undoubtedly relished the chance to send Birmingham to the final, but it will be up to his new teammates to do just that.
It was defender Liam Ridgewell who scored for the Blues in the first leg, and the former Aston Villa man is Birmingham’s second highest Picklive points scorer this season, averaging a solid 50 points per game. The man at the top of the list as far as Birmingham are concerned is Barry Ferguson, and bearing in mind that he was the top scorer of both teams in the first leg with 84 points, the Scotsman is definitely worth selecting.
As far as West Ham are concerned, there is one player who has stood out from the crowd in Picklive this season: Mark Noble. The West Ham midfielder netted the opening goal in the first leg, helping to earn him 80 points and contributing to his 61 point average this season so far.
With Victor Obinna and Frederic Piquionne both suspended, West Ham will be hoping that another man who scored in the first leg will be able to net again tonight; namely Carlton Cole. However, another man who has been in amongst the goals regularly this season is Jonathan Spector, and I wouldn’t bet against him adding to his Carling Cup tally tonight.
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You would expect tonight to be a fairly tight game, with Ridgewell, Ferguson and Noble three men who have plenty of Picklive pedigree. So it’s well worth considering them for selection when you choose your Picklive trio for the Carling Cup encounter tonight!
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