Kaka and Ballamy move to Manchester City

West Ham United have accepted a bid of about £14m from Manchester City for their Wales international striker Craig Bellamy who is believed to be travelling to Eastlands for a medical. The former Liverpool and Newcastle forward has been given permission to speak to the City manager, Mark Hughes, after the club's bid was accepted. A matching offer from Tottenham had been rejected.

Bellamy, 29, asked for a transfer to Spurs on Friday but West Ham were unwilling to sell to local rivals and have been angered about the publicity that preceded Tottenham's formal approach.

Bellamy was left out of the West Ham squad that defeated Fulham yesterday when, Gianfranco Zola said, the player was "not in the right frame of mind" to play.

On the other hand Kaka will also be joining Manchester City soon. With Manchester City making the record transfer bid for Brazilian Midfielder which is £108 million, AC milan gave him chance to open talks with Manchester CIty over the possible move. Milan will be using £40m of the £108m they expect to receive from City for Kaka to sign Arsenal pair Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy.

Zinedine Zidane's £46 million move from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 is the current world record for a transfer. But with this move this will become the biggest transfer of all times in terms of money.

Manchester City Raise Kaka Bid To £243 Million

Manchester City has reportedly raised their bid for Kaka to £243 million in the hopes of securing the Brazilian attacking midfielder from AC Milan, according to The Sun newspaper.

The £243 million deal breaks down to:

• £108 million for AC Milan.

• £108 million for the superstar’s wages including taxes. Kaka will be paid a NET salary of £13.28m a year which breaks down to £255,000 a week take-home.

• £27m in commission to brokers, middle-men and signing-on fees.

If AC Milan and Kaka can agree terms with Manchester City, the £13.28 million annual net salary will be close to Alex Rodriguez’s salary. The New York Yankees third baseman is paid £18.96 million gross per year.

The aggressive pursuit of Kaka by Manchester City owners Abu Dhabi United Group is sure to raise concerns at UEFA and FIFA headquarters. In the next few days expect Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini to publicly scorn the move by Manchester City, and how they’ll lament that City are ruining the game.

It seems that the only person who can stop Kaka from joining Manchester City is Kaka himself after AC Milan have given permission for Manchester City to speak with one of the world’s top footballers.

Despite the sickening salary offer, I would love to see Kaka join Manchester City. The player would add a much-needed flair to the Premier League as well as solidifying the league as the top in the world. It would also be a huge step to move City closer to breaking into the top four monopoly in the Premiership, and would add a ton of excitement to an already dramatic league.

For the Abu Dhabi United Group, it would be another trophy player to show the world they’re revolutionizing the game of football. By signing the Brazilian, the club is sending a message to the world that it means business and nothing is going to stop them from making their club the most entertaining team on the planet.

Sure, even if City acquires Kaka, the club has a long way to go and plenty of weakspots, especially in defense. Currently, the club sits just four points from the bottom of the Premier League and needs a massive influx of new players to resuscitate a dire team.

If Manchester City do pay £108 million to AC Milan, it’ll smash the most expensive transfer fee in football history when Zinedine Zidane joined Real Madrid from Juventus in 2001 for £46 million.

What are your thoughts regarding Kaka’s potential move to Manchester City? Click the comments link below and let us know.

Blackburn Rejects Man City Offer for Santa Cruz

Blackburn have rejected a bid "significantly higher than £12m" from Manchester City for Roque Santa Cruz, according to Mark Hughes.

The Manchester City manager is keen to add some firepower to his squad, with the club just two points above the relegation zone, but Blackburn are desperate to hang on to the former Bayern Munich striker — who has scored three goals in 13 games this season, but scored 19 for Rovers in 2007-08.

Rovers released a brief statement on their official website: "Blackburn Rovers can confirm receiving a bid from Manchester City for striker Roque Santa Cruz. The bid has been rejected."

Hughes has already spent around £8m this month to bring the Chelsea left-back Wayne Bridge to Eastlands and has the backing of the club's owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was yesterday listed as the richest man in British football with an estimated personal fortune of £15bn.

Transfer Rumour : Defoe Update

UPDATE: According to the Daily Mirror, Tottenham has made a £5 million bid for Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe. If this is true, this bid will definitely not get the job done.

According to the Telegraph, Tottenham will allow manager Harry Redknapp spend £15 million on Jermain Defoe. Also, Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie stated, “It looks like Jermain wants to go … That is something we will be speaking to him about. But if Jermain goes it will be at our price and if there is an offer which appeals.”

December 31st, 2008 Portsmouth has put a £20 million price tag on striker Jermain Defoe.

December 30th, 2008 Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has stated: “We have had a tentative enquiry about Jermain and told the club concerned he was not for sale unless it was for a very, very big offer.” Tottenham and Aston Villa have both been linked Jermain Defoe.

December 19th, 2008 Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has denied the rumors that he is going after Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe. Stated Redknapp: “We haven’t made an offer for Jermain … I do like Jermain but there are a lot of players at Portsmouth I like. They have a great squad of players there … We are short in certain positions without a doubt … We’ve got a good squad here, it just needs thickening up. If we find the right players, we will bring them in.”

Manchester United All set to loose Tevez

Manchester United are facing the real prospect of losing Carlos Tévez in this transfer window as the Red Devils continue to dither over his price tag.

The Argentine striker is three quarters of the way through a two year loan deal at Old Trafford, and yet still no permanent contract has been put on the table.

It was initially hoped that a deal would be sealed last summer, but Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to buy Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham scuppered those plans.

The Sun claims that both Real Madrid and Inter Milan are ready to make their move for Tévez at the end of the season.

United pre-agreed a fee of around £32 million with Kia Joorabchian, owner of Media Sports Investment which owns Tévez's rights, but now the club are reportedly uncomfortable with that valuation.

And now that the 24-year-old is unhappy at having to play second fiddle to Berbatov, there is a very real possibility that he could leave United once his loan expires.

Champions League Fixtures For Premier League Clubs

The draw for round of last 16 in the Champions League was announced this morning, and there are some massive matches in store featuring Premier League teams. Here’s the draw in full:
Chelsea v Juventus
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v FC Porto
Lyon v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Arsenal v Roma
Inter Milan v Manchester United
There are some mouthwatering matches in store. Liverpool against Real Madrid will be amazing with two of the biggest teams in Europe battling each other. Inter Milan versus Manchester United will be a very tricky tie for both clubs and will provide a chance for Fergie to match his wits against The Special One, Jose Mourinho, once again. Arsenal should have no problem against Roma, the way the Italian club has been playing in the Champions League lately. And Chelsea faces Juventus in another tricky tie.
The matches will be played on February 24/25 and March 10/11.
It makes you wonder what the point is of having a group stage in the Champions League. In many ways, especially this year, the group stage has been extremely boring. Now the true test and excitement begins in the Champions League.

EPL Gameweek 17 Reviews

There were lots of goals this weekend so far. Lots of action and lots of unexpected things. It was a weekend truly dedicated to the fans of EPL and EPL Lovers. There are a total of 20 goals that have been scored on Saturday and still Super Sunday to go. This is a week where everything happened. Lots of action took place, goals, cards everything that you an expect when you are watching EPL.

Middlesbrough

1 - 1

Arsenal

As already expected this was a game where anything could have happened. Two most unexpected teams of EPL took on each other and went on to play a draw that could have turned either way. Both the teams had great chances to score after going on to 1-1 but no one could take the lead and the match ended in a draw.Arsenal could have scored the winning goal in the last minutes but they were unable to do so and the game ended in a draw.

Aston Villa

4 - 2

Bolton

This was a game which was completely dominated by Aston Villa. They also conceded two goals but thy were in full control of the game. They never looked like loosing this game. In the first half itself they were leading the game by 2-1. And the final score was 4-2. After this win Aston Villa are back to fourth position knocking out Arsenal from the to four. Out of four goals, two were scored by their best forward- Agbonlahor. Other goals were scored by Ashley Young and one was an own goal from Davies.

Liverpool

2 - 2

Hull City

Hull Showed great skills and could have won against the league leaders. They were at one time leading the game by 2-0. But it was Gerrard who rescued Liverpool from the jail and put them back into their good position. Gerrard got both the goals for Liverpool and got a crucial point for their side. Paul McShane was the only goal scorer for Hull while Jamie Carragher scored an own goal.

Man City

0 - 1

Everton

Tim Cahill scored his third goal of the season and rescued his team from danger. It was the last minute goal from Cahill which earned his team a full quota of 3 points. Otherwise they would have to share one point each. It was a game which could have gone either way. There were not many chances for either team to score but Everton were able to convert one from the last minute corner and go three important points.

Stoke City

0 - 0

Fulham

This was the most boring game of the evening. It was a game where there were no goals no action. The game ended in a goalless draw and teams shared one point each. Stoke have been failed to impress so far and they were unable to do o this evening a well. On the other hand Fulham got one or two chances where they could have scored. They have been in a great form so would have wanted to continue their form. But in the end they had to satisfy for a draw and share one point each.

Sunderland

4 - 0

West Brom

Sunderland gave a see off gift to their former manager Kaene. They were superb in their game against West Brom. They won the game by 4-0 which they even themselves would not have predicted before the game. Jones was absolutely superb in the game scoring two goals while the other goals were scored by Andy Reid and Djibril Cisse(pen). West Brom were in the relegation zone and after this loss it seems that it is very difficult for them to survive the season.

Wigan

3 - 0

Blackburn

Again this was a game between two teams from the bottom half of the table and out of which one was in the relegation zone and the result is the same. Wigan thrashed Blackburn by 3-0. The game was quite even but Wigan were able to convert their shots into goals while Blackburn were not able to do so. Overall Blacckburn hit more shots than Wigan but still they lost the game by 3-0. Emile Heskey, Antonio Valencia, Lee Cattermole booked their names on the score sheet.

Tottenham

0 - 0

Man Utd

This was the most awaited goal of the evening where Tottenham faced Manchester United. The game which was expected to be the game of the week but it ended it disappointment as it ended in a goalless draw. There were lots and lots of chances for Man Utd to score a goal and get three points but they were unable to ut the ball behind the nets. Tottenham also got some chances to score a goal but they were also unable to do so. And it was a goalless draw for them nevertheless.