All The Latest Transfer Gossip

All of today's latest transfer gossip, as we approach the middle of January and the half way point in the January transfer window. Clubs now have just two more weeks to finalise any transfer deals, whilst other Clubs will be hoping that they can hang on to their better players - at least for the remainder of the season.

Liverpool, Ajax, Hamburg, Chelsea, Wigan, Bayern Munich, CFR Cluj, Lille, Fiorentina, Malaga, Blackburn, Manchester City, Benfica, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham, West Ham, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Boca Juniors, Hoffenheim, Stoke, Lyon, Newcastle, Real Madrid, Brescia, Inter Milan, Everton, Burnley, Plymouth, Blackpool, Barnsley, Crystal Palace, MK Dons, Borussia Dortmund, Southampton, Manchester United, Valencia, Derby, Leicester, Fulham, Sampdoria, Celtic, Carlisle, Leeds, Brann Bergen and Reading..................are all currently caught up in transfer gossip.

Is your Club involved?

King Kenny's Liverpool revolution will see a flurry of new signings heading to Anfield. His list of transfer targets are though to include Uruguayan Luis Suárez from Ajax for £15, Hamburg's Dutch forward Eljero Elias (right), Wigan playmaker Charles N'Zogbia, Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge and CFR Cluj hitman Lacina Traoré. Dalglish also wants a midfield enforcer and has an eye on Bayern Munich's Mark van Bommel - The Guardian

Defender Daniel Agger may be one player on his way out of Liverpool, with Fiorentina and Malaga both interested in a £3m deal - The Sun

The Reds may also try and tempt left-back Urby Emanuelson to follow Suarez to Anfield from Ajax while the Lille pair, striker Gervinho and mildfielder Eden Hazard (right) are also on manager Kenny Dalglish's list of targets - Daily Telegraph

Blackburn have signed former star Roque Santa Cruz from Manchester City on loan until the end of the season - Skysports.com

Chelsea are close to a £21m deal for Benfica centre-back David Luiz, with right-back Paulo Ferreira moving in the opposite direction. The Premier League champions are also keen on £18m Ajax right-back Gregory van der Wiel - The Mirror

There may be more changes in Chelsea's defence with right-back Jose Bosingwa put up for sale and Atletico Madrid's £15m-rated centre-half Diego Godin in the West London side's sights - Daily Telegraph

AC Milan Sports Director Ariedo Braida has declared: "We always admire the good players, and Bosingwa is one of them, but now we are in stand-by. For the moment there is not a real interest, in June who knows" - Footballpress.net

Birmingham have had a bid accepted by Tottenham for unsettled striker Robbie Keane. The 30-year-old had been heavily linked with a loan move to West Ham, but Spurs boss Harry Redknapp moved to silence that speculation, stressing that any deal must be to buy the striker. The Blues have now emerged as frontrunners to secure Keane's signature after agreeing a £4million fee with Tottenham, which could rise to £6m via various add-ons and clauses in the deal - Skysports.com

West Ham are also now at the head of the queue for £12.5m-rated 'Argentinian wonderkid' Pablo Mouche (right) from Boca Juniors - The Guardian

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has played down reports claiming he is interested in signing Karim Benzema from Real Madrid. Houllier said: "I don't think Benzema will come to Villa. Jose (Mourinho) said he is missing strikers so how can he get rid of one of the only ones he has available at the moment?" - Skysports.com

However Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam does remains a target for Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier. Villa have already seen two bids for the Scot knocked back, but are considering a third approach - Skysports.com

Birmingham, meanwhile, want Brescia striker Andrea Caracciolo - The Guardian

Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has undergone a medical this morning ahead of a proposed move to Stoke City. Stoke tabled a £5.9m offer for the France born Senegal international, and the German club have granted The Potters permission to discuss terms with the 25-year-old, ahead of his move to the Britannia Stadium - adifferentleague.co.uk

Steven Pienaar's talks over a move to Chelsea have broken down and sources understand the Everton midfielder will sign a pre-contract agreement with a major European club, possibly Atletico Madrid or Inter Milan - Skysports.com

Aston Villa are close to completing a £6.5m deal for midfielder Jean Makoun (right) from Lyon - The Times

Arsenal look set to beat Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United to the signature of Southampton's highly rated teenage midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for £5m - Daily Mail

Arsène Wenger will also tie up a cut-price deal for West Ham central defender Matthew Upson. The Arsenal boss is willing to pay £500,000 for the England centre-back - The Guardian

Everton are set to sign Burnley winger Chris Eagles in a £1.5m deal - The Sun

Blackpool are back in for Plymouth's Bradley Wright-Phillips and Barnsley's Adam Hammill - The Guardian

The agent of Borussia Dortmund's Neven Subotic has told Arsenal they would be wasting their time pursuing the Serbia international defender - Talksport.co.uk

Newcastle are ready to offer Joey Barton a new deal to keep him at St James' Park. Barton, is thought to have attracted the interest of a number of clubs, including Aston Villa and West Ham. The midfielder has 18 months to run on his current contract and Newcastle are planning to give Barton a new deal to ward off interest from his list of suitors - Skysports.com

Crystal Palace today signed Jermaine Easter (right) from MK Dons for an undisclosed fee. The Welsh international has penned a two-and-a-half year contract with South London club - cpfc.co.uk

Valencia have moved to tie down highly-rated winger Juan Mata by extending his contract to 2014 - Skysports.com

Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara has emerged as a target for Italian side Sampdoria - Inside Futbol

Derby County want Leicester striker Martyn Waghorn - The Guardian

Real Madrid have identified Bayern Munich's Miroslav Klose as possible cover for the injured Gonzalo Higuain. With their leading marksman set to be sidelined for the foreseeable future after undergoing back surgery, Real are in the market for a proven striker - Skysports.com

Goalkeeper Adam Federici has penned a new two-and-a-half-year contract with Reading - Skysports.com

Celtic have pulled out of a £2m deal for Brann Bergen striker Erik Huseklepp after the Norwegian club asked for more money for the 26-year-old - Daily Record

Carlisle United have signed Lubomir Michalik on an 18-month contract after leaving Leeds United - Skysports.com

All The Latest Transfer Gossip

With the January transfer window less than two weeks away, rumours are rife both at home and abroad as Clubs look to reinforce their squads in an attempt to secure the services of new players for various reasons.
Some managers jobs may be on the line as a result of their teams failure to meet pre-season expectations, whether they were trophy or survival driven. There are unhappy players, owners and fans across Europe, and of course we are in the middle of an global economic recession.

Do clubs have the money to sign new players in an attempt to achieve their goals? Are clubs willing to risk putting themselves into debt in order to fund transfers and players salaries?

Whatever the situation, which varies hugely from club to club the transfer rumour mill is really hotting up!

It is interesting to note that there are some players that look certain to be on the move in January, but their destinations seem to vary according to the source of the rumour!

Manchester City, AC Milan, Barcelona, Wolfsburg, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Celtic, Zenit St Petersburg, Tottenham, Lazio, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle, Blackburn, Everton, West Ham, Blackpool, West Brom, Sunderland, Fulham, Norwich, Sheffield United, Millwall, Southampton and Swindon.............are all currently caught up in transfer gossip.

Is your Club involved?

Manchester City are reportedly planning a January move for AC Milan star Ronaldinho. The 30-year-old is thought to be surplus to requirements at the San Siro caughtoffside.com

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has renewed his interest for Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko (right) and could offer over 20 million Euros for the Bosnian international. However, the German club officials want more than 30 million Euros - footballpress.net

Manchester City are set to battle Chelsea for the signing of Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko - imscouting.com

Manchester United are also interested in Dzeko and are planning a club-record £35m offer for the 24-year old - caughtoffside.com

West Ham are lining up a January swoop for Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor - The Sun

Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is ready to resume his pursuit of Joey Barton. He tried to sign Barton for Liverpool when the midfielder was at Manchester City and has joined West Ham in a bid to prise the 28-year-old away from Newcastle in January - Daily Mail

Fulham and Liverpool are interested in 24-year-old Irish midfielder Stephen Ireland, who wants to leave Aston Villa after a recent bust-up with coach Gerard Houllier - footballpress.net

Bayern Munich are lining up a £9m offer for Everton defender Leighton Baines - Daily Mail

Bayern Munich are planning to sign 26-year-old right-back Glen Johnson from Liverpool in January. The England international is valued at 15 million Euros - footballpress.net

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly interested in securing the signing of Zenit St Petersburg's attacking midfielder Danny (right) as well as young Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Marco Reus and Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Götz - sport360.com

According to Russian media reports, Zenit St Petersburg are tracking Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, and hope to sign him in January - footballpress.net

Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Denilson is attracting the interest of Spanish giants Barcelona - imscouting.com

The Gunners will use the money from Denilson's sale to Barcelona to fund a move for Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott - Metro

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is planning a double swoop for Tottenham striker Peter Crouch and Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips - caughtoffside.com

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is set to offer Newcastle £20m for striker Andy Carroll and could use forward Peter Crouch as part of the deal - Daily Express

Birmingham will bid £6m to pinch Tottenham forward Robbie Keane from under the noses of neighbours Aston Villa - The Sun

Blackburn want to start their rebuilding process by signing Blackpool's Scottish midfielder Charlie Adam (right) - Daily Mirror

Lazio chairman Claudio Lotito wants to sign an additional striker in January and one option is Bayern Munich's Miroslav Klose 33, who is for sale in January before his contract expires at the end of the season - footballpress.net

West Brom are set to make a January offer for Celtic striker Georgios Samaras - Daily Mail

Celtic's bid to sign Anton Ferdinand next month is set to be scuppered by a defensive crisis at Sunderland - Daily Record

A host of clubs are chasing Norwich midfielder Owain Tudur Jones, including Sheffield United, Millwall, Southampton and Swindon - Skysports.com

The UEFA Champions League Group Draw, My Predictions & The Betting Odds.

An intriguing Champions League draw has paired Celtic & Man Utd together in Group E along with Danish champions Aalborg & the dangerous Spaniards’ Villarreal, runners up to Real Madrid in La Liga last season & finishing ten points clear of third placed Catalan giants Barcelona.
In fact if they had performed to the same degree during the first half of the 2007/08 La Liga season, as they did in the second half Villarreal would have been crowned Champions, conceding just one goal at home & losing only 3 of their last 19 domestic league fixtures. 'The Yellow Submarines' won 12 of all their 19 league games away from the El Madrigal Stadium, so they don’t suffer from travel sickness!
I believe Man Utd & Villarreal will both qualify for the first round knockout stage of the competition. The tournament second favourites Man Utd can be backed at a best priced 13/2 to win it outright while you can get 40/1 on 'The Yellow Submarines' shooting down all around come Rome next May.
The Bhoys are 8/1 to get through to the next stage but I would keep my money in my pocket & Aalborg managed by Scotsman Bruce Rioch, the former manager of Middlesbrough, Bolton & Arsenal to name but a few, make their first appearance in the competition for 13 years & I expect them to be the whipping boys of Group E.

The so called ‘Group of Death’ is probably a toss up between Group F & Group G.
Group F looks like a straight three way fight between Bayern Munich, Lyon & Fiorentina. The 1986 European Cup Winners Steaua Bucharest look unlikely to qualify from this group, but not I feel without putting a few noses out of joint along the way. It is worth bearing in mind that the Romanian domestic champions disposed of Turkish giants Galatasaray in the qualifying round, so any trip to their Stadionul Ghencea is fraught with a potential upset.

Group G hosts Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce & Dynamo Kiev. All of these teams are a shadow of their former selves. Kiev were Ukranian league runners-up last season & winners of this competition way back in 1999.
Porto are the current Portuguese Liga champions & were victorious in the Champions League back in 2004 whilst under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho, but have had to sell many of their best players of late.
Meanwhile Arsenal are without a trophy of any description since the 2003/04 season. Fererbahce, Turkish league runners-up last season & Champions league quarter-finalists last season (along with Arsenal) are probably on paper at least the best equipped team in the group along with Arsenal to reach the last sixteen. In addition they have a hugely partisan home crowd in Istanbul & the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, will be a daunting & unforgiving place to go for any visiting team.
My money is on The Gunners & the Turks to qualify for the next stage. Incidently Arsenal can be backed to lift the trophy at 12/1. A big price & a big gamble!

Group C should see Catalans Barcelona canter into the next stage of the competition but who will join them?
Shakhatar Donetsk & Basle are both winners of their own domestic leagues in the Ukraine & Switzerland respectively, & along with Sporting Lisbon, will fight it out for the one remaining place.
I feel Shakhatar are the best of the three. They have a touch more in their locker than Sporting & Basle, including six Brazilians in their squad & a 5-1 demolition of Dinamo Zagreb in qualifying.
Barcelona are joint third favourites to lift the trophy along with Inter Milan & can be backed at odds of 7/1 to do so.

Inter like Barcelona are the stand out team in their group, Group B with the German Bundesliga runners-up Werder Bremen the best of a meadioca bunch. Group B is the weakest on paper & with Jose Mourinho installed as boss & an array of talent on the pitch including Toldo, Figo, Ibrahimovic, Adriano & Cruz the current Serie A Champions should stroll into the last sixteen.
Anorthosis Famagusta the first Cypriot side to play in the Champions League, along with the Greek side Panathinaikos will certainly do well to take points off anyone, other than each other!
Inter & Werder Bremen to go through then, & Inter to win it the tournament at an over generous 7/1. Get on now!

Liverpool shouldn’t have any trouble qualifying for the first knockout round in Group D, but their uninspiring start to the Premier League season both on & off the field may require them to be slightly on their guard. PSV, Marseille & Athletic Madrid are all to be respected but of the three only PSV qualified automatically as Dutch champions, with Marseille & Athletico Madrid making it through via the qualifying stages.
Athletico finished fourth in La Liga but should & could have finished higher before they ran out of gas in the second half of the season. They lost 12 in total out of their 38 league games, but 8 of those 12 were in the second half of the season.
Liverpool to win the group with Athletico Madrid to also qualify.
Liverpool to win the competition are 12/1, a bit skinny but once out of the group stages I expect any off field business to have be resolved & the players to be firing on all cylinders.

The big guns of Real Madrid & Juventus – 11 times winners between them dominate Group H. The only question here is who will win the group? Juve are 2/1 to win it, with Real at 4/5. Zenit St.Petersburg the UEFA Cup holders & Bate Borisov of Belarus make up the rest of Group H.
Put Zenit in Groups B, C, F or G & I would fancy them to go through. They are going to have to cause an almighty shock here to make any progress & I personally don’t fancy their chances.
Madrid & Juventus to qualify comfortably. The Spaniards are 15/2 & Juve 20/1 to be victorious in Rome.

Finally Group A features favourites Chelsea, the dangerous AS Roma, Serie A runners-up to Inter, Bordeaux surprise league runners-up behind Lyon & the Romanian champions CFR Cluj.
CFR were the first Romanian team to win the title outside of Bucharest for 17 years.
Cluj more famous for Dracula & The Cheeky Girls are making their first ever appearance in the Champions league. Whether it lasts more than 6 games remains to be seen, so I have to stick with Chelsea & AS Roma to qualify from Group A.
Chelsea & John Terry are a best priced 5/1 to lift the trophy in May, whilst AS Roma are attractively priced at 28/1 to go all the way.
A bit of each way value beckons the Italians.( Each-way ½ 1,2 )


Group A

AS Roma 3/1 Q
Chelsea 4/11 Q
CFR Cluj 50/1
Bordeaux 15/2

Group B

Werder Bremen 5/2 Q
Inter Milan 4/11 Q
Panathanaikos 10/1
Anorthosis Famagusta 50/1

Group C

Sporting Lisbon 6/1
Barcelona 1/4 Q
Basle 22/1
Shakhtar Donetsk 6/1 Q

Group D

PSV Eindhoven 13/2
Liverpool 4/5 Q
Athletico Madrid 3/1 Q
Marseille 9/2

Group E

Villarreal 100/30 Q
Man Utd 3/10 Q
Aalborg 66/1
Celtic 8/1

Group F

Lyon 7/4 Q
Fiorentina 11/4
Bayern Munich 11/8 Q
Steaua Bucharest 14/1

Group G

Porto 100/30
Arsenal 8/13 Q
Dynamo Kiev 8/1
Fernerbahce 5/1 Q

Group H

Real Madrid 4/5 Q
Zenit St Petersburg 7/2
Juventus 2/1 Q
Bate Borislov 66/1


# Group stages to be played: Sept 16-17, Sept 30-Oct 1, Oct 21-22, Nov 4-5,
Nov 25-26 & Dec 9-10.

Q = My prediction to qualify for the next stage.

* Odds supplied courtesy of Coral bookmakers & are for teams to qualify through to the first knockout round only.