Weekly Football Round-Up: 3rd August 2008

August 3, 2008 by CLDsport

Welcome to the Sunday football summary! I hope you’ve all had a fantastic week, and are not too upset that the weekend is almost over.

With the pleasantries over, let’s get to the action…….

Weekly Transfer Updates

In our first Weekly Football Round-Up we mentioned that the press were reporting that a certain Robbie Keane was set to join Liverpool. Just one day later, and the reports became reality. Keane moved to Anfield for an initial £19million - but this could rise to £20.3million. Read More Here.

Spurs were quick to spend some cash themselves, hastily wrapping up a deal for Blackburn midfielder David Bentley at a price of £15million. The North London club had been chasing the 23-year-old for several months.

Bentley used to be an Arsenal player, but I’m sure Spurs fans will forgive and forget……. especially as the winger scored on his debut in a 2-0 win over Celtic in the Feyenoord Jubileum Tournament. As we write, Spurs have just beaten Borussia Dortmund 3-0 to win the tournament. Goals came from Giovanni dos Santos, Darren Bent, and Jamie O’Hara.

Meanwhile, Sunderland have wrapped up the signings of Teemu Tainio, Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda - all from Tottenham - and El-Hadji Diouf from Bolton Wanderers. Younes Kaboul is still a Spurs player at present, after both Sunderland and Portsmouth seem unwilling to meet the £7million valuation.

In other transfer news, Tal Ben Haim has moved to Man City for a fee believed to be around the £5million mark. The former Bolton defender has spent just 13 months at Stamford Bridge, and making only 13 appearances in the process.

Weekly Football Rumours

Rumours this week have not really been too different to the situation 7 days ago.

Real Madrid are reportedly set to make a final attempt to capture Cristiano Ronaldo, with a £60million bid. However, a deal now looks unlikely.

If Real fail to capture the United star, then Chelsea may have to give up on their pursuit of Robinho. The Spanish side are unwilling to let Robinho leave without a replacement being signed first.

Back to White Hart Lane again, and since the sale of Robbie Keane, and the possible departure of Dimitar Berbatov, Spurs have been heavily linked with Russian forward Andrei Arshavin.

Arshavin is without doubt the most talented player to come out of Russia in recent times, and Spurs need to bolster their strike force. His current club, UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg, value Arshavin at £28million - and the deal looked to be dead.

But, reports in today’s papers suggest that the transfer will go ahead this week, and Spurs are set to pay just £19million for the 27-year-old. Watch this space…….

According to recent newspaper reports, Frank Lampard DOES want to leave Chelsea to link up with former boss Mourinho in Milan, but feels it’s not the right time - for family reasons.

Meanwhile, Didier Drogba and Emanuel Adebayor are set to sign new contracts with Chelsea and Arsenal respectively - ending speculation of their impending departures. Both will get large pay rises - was the transfer speculation simply fabricated by over zealous agents desperate to improve their clients’ contracts?!

Weekly Football Results

This week has seen Man City beat EB Streymur of the Faroe Islands 2-0 in their UEFA Cup First Round Qualifying match, and go through 4-0 on aggregate. City face little-known Danish side FC Midtjylland, with the first leg due to be played on the 14th August.

As previously mentioned, Tottenham have won the Feyenoord Jubileum Tournament with a 2-0 win over Celtic, and 3-0 over Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Arsenal lost 1-0 to Juventus on Saturday, but beat Real Madrid 1-0 today after an Adebayor penalty. Man Utd saw off Espanyol 1-0 at Old Trafford yesterday, with youngster Fraizer Campbell scoring the only goal in Ole Gunner Solskjaer’s testimonial match in front of almost 69,000 fans.

Robbie Keane made his debut for Liverpool in a 4-0 drubbing of Rangers, and although the 28-year-old didn’t get on the scoresheet, Rafa Benitez will be impressed with the way he linked up with strike partner Fernando Torres.

Chelsea have beaten a weakened AC milan 5-0 in Italy, with Nicolas Anelka scoring 4 times, and Frank Lampard grabbing the other.

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