Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is excited about the quality and timing of the club's new signings.
The
Reds have announced four new aquisitions already this summer, with Kolo
Toure, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas and Simon Mignolet all agreeing to move
to Anfield.
Gerrard feels that the fans should be pleased with
the early business and hopes that they can push them to secure Champions
League football next season.
He told the club's official televsion channel: "Especially with
the news of us making a few signings, I'm really looking forward to
getting started.
"It's always important to get faces in as soon
as possible; they can get a full pre-season under their belt, get to
know the lads and how the manager wants to play.
"There are some exciting names in there so everyone is excited."
The skipper admits that he does not know much about the new Spanish pair but has faith in the club's scouting system.
"I
know very little about them but I have got a lot belief and confidence
in Brendan [Rodgers] and the scouting department that they are going to
make the right decisions and I have seen bits and bobs of new signings
we have made," he remarked.
"I am really looking forward to
getting back to work next week and seeing what the new players have got
to offer and see if they can help strengthen our squad to put in a
better fight for a top-four finish."
Rene Meulensteen is set to become Guus Hiddink's assistant at Anzhi Makhachkala after leaving his post at Manchester United on Wednesday.
Meulensteen's departure from the Premier League champions had been
expected following Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement at the end of last
season.
The Dutchman has become the third senior member of staff to leave Carrington following the exits of assistant manager Mike Phelan and goalkeeping coach Eric Steele in May, and he is now excited for a new challenge in Russia.
"I'm looking forward to it and am glad that things with Manchester United have been completed," he told Algemeen Dagblad.
Meulensteen had been in charge of first-team training as Sir Alex
delegated more and more of his daily routine towards the end of his Old
Trafford tenure.
But while reports claim the 49-year-old was offered a more senior
role at United next season, he has suggested that incoming manager David
Moyes' hands-on approach would lessen his own importance.
"My responsibilities at the club had grown in recent years," he
continued. "Moyes is a coach who is still on the training field."
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has again stressed that Cristiano
Ronaldo has no intention of ever leaving for another club amid reports
in Spain suggest the player is seriously considering finishing his
career at Manchester United.
It was reported this week that should Ronaldo see out the final two
years of his contract at Madrid, United would offer him a €50 million
signing on bonus plus the expected huge salary to return to Old Trafford in summer 2015. The player and his agent Jorge Mendes were set to meet with United representatives soon to discuss this possibility, Spanish paper El Pais claimed.
The Blancos chief is rumoured to have a rocky personal
relationship with Ronaldo since the player reportedly asked for a move
last August and subsequently expressed his ‘unhappiness’ at the club.
But he told Spanish national radio that there were no issues at all, and the player remained keen on cementing his status as one of Madrid’s best ever players.
"He has two years of contract left," Perez said. "He is happier every
day here. He has no wish to leave Real Madrid and wants to end his
career here. He wants to go into history as someone very important at
Real Madrid."
Ronaldo currently earns around €10.5 million a year at Madrid, with he
and the club share his lucrative image rights. Talks on extending this
appear deadlocked, with El Pais claiming Perez has made an offer
of €14 million a year up until June 2018, but the player and his agent
feeling an annual figure of at least €20 million [net] would be more
appropriate.
The story also said that Ronaldo had some qualms about playing under
David Moyes at United, and that he did enjoy his life in Spain and now
improved relationship with Madrid's fans.
Ronaldo’s future also came up during Carlo Ancelotti’s presentation as
Madrid’s new coach on Wednesday at the Bernabeu, when reporters asked
the Italian whether he was looking forward to working with his new superstar.
"It will be an honour for me to coach Ronaldo," Ancelotti said. "As it
was coaching players like [Zinedine] Zidane, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho in
the past."
Ronaldo has mostly kept his own counsel on his future plans, but did
tweet recently that "All the news about my renewal with Real Madrid are
[sic] false," a statement which was taken as a rebuttal of Perez’
repeated claims that he would soon sign a new contract at Madrid.
Carlos Tevez spoke of his pride after being handed the iconic number 10 shirt upon signing a three-year contract with Juventus.
The Argentinian completed
a move to the Serie A champions last night following four seasons with
Manchester City, and even before completing his medical in Turin he was
pictured on the balcony of Juve's headquarters holding a number 10
jersey aloft.
The shirt - made famous by Michel Platini, Liam Brady and Roberto
Baggio - has been unclaimed since veteran striker and former Bianconeri
captain Alessandro Del Piero left Turin for Sydney FC last summer.
Tevez's transfer fee has not been disclosed but it is reported Juve have paid City an initial £10million, rising to £12million with add-ons.
The 29-year-old told juventus.com: "I'm absolutely aware of the great effort Juventus Football Club has made to bring me here.
"I feel the responsibility of wearing this number and I am aware of
the great responsibility of representing Juventus and playing for the
club so this number is certainly a great challenge.
"Top players have worn it before and I was number 10 with Boca
(Juniors) before, and (Diego) Maradona played in it too, so the great
responsibility is now that I'm going to play in this great club so
certainly the greatest challenge is to do my best.
"Obviously I didn't want to forget Del Piero who was the last player
to wear number 10. He is a person and player that I greatly respect and
who certainly represents an emblem and symbol of esteem.
"It is a great pleasure and honour to wear this jersey with his number."
Tevez has taken a brief break from his summer holiday in Argentina to
join Juve and upon his arrival at Milan's Malpensa airport yesterday
afternoon he was mobbed by around 200 Bianconeri fans.
He is expected to return to South America after today's unveiling to complete his holiday before joining new coach Antonio Conte and his team-mates for pre-season training on July 12.
"I feel the Italian supporters are really similar to the Argentinian
ones because they really get involved with the club," he added.
"So I was not really surprised by the great welcome I received
yesterday and I know that the Juventus supporters have showed great love
and affection from the very beginning."
Juan Mata believes that the absence of Mario Balotelli could play into Spain's hands in Thursday's Confederations Cup semi-final against Italy.
The AC Milan striker left the Azzurri
camp earlier this week due to a strained thigh muscle and the
25-year-old thinks Italy will be a weaker team without their star
attacker. "Balotelli is a fundamental player for Italy," he was quoted as saying by Marca.
"We
have seen plenty of videos of them and they rely heavily on Balotelli.
His absence will be a blow, but they are still a competitive team."
The
Chelsea star then went on to stress that Spain must remain cautious
against Italy, but insisted that they will try and play their own game.
"Our style of play will remain attacking. We want to have a lot of possession to create chances and cause them trouble.
"It's
true that this could prove to be problematic against Italy, though.
They will be playing with a lot men behind the ball, but we will do our
utmost to beat them."
Spurs will hold talks with David Villa this week ahead of a proposed transfer from Barcelona.
Andre Villas-Boas has prioritised signing the Spaniard, who scored a
hat-trick for Spain in the Confederations Cup last week, after being
left short of attacking options for much of last season.
Kolarov spoke to the Manchester evening news. saying;
I’m in contact with my agent, and soon we will understand what may happen. I am happy at City but want to play regularly as I said to Roberto Mancini.” Money is not everything in life and I have no problem in revising my salary. Simply, I want a place in the starting line-up.
– Manchester City defender Aleks Kolarov speaking to the Manchester Evening news
Cardiff have agreed an undisclosed fee with FC Copenhagen for striker Andreas
Cornelius.
Cornelius, who would be the promoted side's first
signing for the summer, impressed in his first full season in the Danish
Superliga, scoring 18 goals in 32 appearances and breaking into the
national side.
The 20-year-old will complete the move to south Wales once he has passed his medical.
A statement on the Cardiff website said: "Cardiff City Football Club
have today reached an agreement with F.C. Copenhagen for the services of
Andreas Cornelius, the 20-year-old striker is set to join the club for
an undisclosed fee on completion of his medical."
According to ESPN, Cash-strapped Birmingham City, who are having to sell their prized
assets, will be forced to pay striker Nikola Zigic almost £4 million
next year.
Zigic,
26, has a back-loaded contract with the Championship club that contains
an automatic pay rise every season. The source said his wages would go
up to £75,000 a week for the final year of his deal.
Birmingham
have accepted that they cannot sell Zigic, a £6 million signing from
Valencia in 2010, because no one else would be willing to pay his
salary. The Serbia international has always insisted he is happy to stay
in the Midlands.
But the 2011 League Cup winners, who were
relegated from the Premier League that season, have been forced to let
some of their key players go for less than the amount remaining on
Zigic's contract in order to raise funds.
Defender Curtis Davies was sold to Hull for £2.25 million this week,
and Blues have accepted offers of £3 million for England Under-21
winger Nathan Redmond - once tipped to be a £10 million player - from both Swansea and Norwich.
England
goalkeeper Jack Butland was sold to Stoke in January for £3.3 million
and then loaned back to Birmingham for the remainder of last season.
Birmingham,
whose owner Carson Yeung is on trial in Hong Kong on charges of
money-laundering, do not have a transfer budget to bring in
replacements.
Zigic scored in the 2011 League Cup final win over Arsenal, but has contributed a total of just 29 goals in 113 games.
Birmingham
had hoped to sell him to Villarreal in January, and in February manager
Lee Clark criticised him publicly for producing "possibly the worst
training session in terms of a professional footballer I have ever come
across".
Aston Villa
In: Aleksandr Tonev (Lech Poznan, undisc), Jores Okobe (FC
Nordsjaelland, £4m), Leandro Bacuna (Groningen, undisc), Niklas Helenius
(Aalborg, undisc), Antonio Luna (Sevilla, undisc), Jed Steer (Norwich,
free)
Out: Calum Barrett, Joshua Barton, Courtney Cameron, Daniel Devine, Richard Dunne, Eric Lichaj, Andy Marshall (All released)
Cardiff
In: None
Out: None
Chelsea
In: Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen, undisc)
Out: Amin Affane, Yossi Benayoun, Abdul Deen-Conteh, Paulo Ferreira,
Hilario, Florent Malouda, Archange Nkumu, Ross Turnbull (All released),
Thibault Courtois (Atletico Madrid, loan), George Saville (Brentford,
loan)
Crystal Palace
In: None
Out: None
Everton
In: None
Out: Johan Hammar, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sam Kelly, Jan Mucha (All released), Phil Neville (retired)
Fulham
In: Maarten Stekelenburg (Roma, £4m), Fernando Amorebieta (Athletic Bilbao, free), Derek Boateng (Dnipro, free)
Out: Chris Baird, Simon Davies, Mahamadou Diarra, Thomas Donegan,
Corey Gameiro, Georgios Karagkounis, James Musa, Richard Peniket, Mladen
Petric, Mark Schwarzer, Alex Smith, Csaba Somogyi (All released)
Hull
In: George Boyd (Peterborough, free), Maynor Figueroa (Wigan, free), Curtis Davies (Birmingham, undisc)
Out: Andy Dawson (Scunthorpe, free), Danny East (Portsmouth, free), Sonny Bradley (Portsmouth, free)
Liverpool:
In: Kolo Toure (Manchester City, free) Luis Alberto (Sevilla, £6.8m),
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo, £7.7m), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland, undisc)
Out: Danny Wilson, Tyrell Belford, Jamie Stephens (All released), Jamie Carragher (retired), Andy Carroll (West Ham, £15m)
Manchester City
In: Jesus Navas (Sevilla, £14.19m), Fernandinho (Shakthar Donetsk, £22m)
Out: Wayne Bridge (Reading, free), Filippo Mancini (Released), Ryan
McGivern (Hibernian, free), Roque Santa Cruz (Released), Kolo Toure
(Liverpool, free), Carlos Tevez (Juventus, £7.6m)
Manchester United
In: Guillermo Varela (Penarol, undisc)
Out: Reece Brown, John Cofie, Michele Fornasier, Luke Giverin, Luke
Hendrie, Luke McCullough, Gyliano Van Velzen, Freddie Veseli (All
released), Paul Scholes (Retired)
Newcastle
In: None
Out: Steve Harper, Yven Moyo, Danny Simpson (All released)
Norwich City
In: Javi Garrido (Lazio, undisc.), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting Lisbon, undisc)
Out: Marc Tierney (Bolton, free), Chris Martin (Derby, free), Tom
Adeyemi, Lee Camp, Olumide Durojaiye, George Francomb, Simeon Jackson,
Ramil Sheriff, Korey Smith, Elliott Ward (All released), Jed Steer
(Aston Villa, free)
Southampton
In: Dejan Lovren (Lyon, undisc.)
Out: Frazer Richardson, Danny Butterfield, Dan Seabourne, Ryan
Dickson, Ben Reeves, Sam Hoskins, Tommy Forecast, Alberto Seidi (All
released)
Stoke
In: None
Out: Michael Clarkson, Rory Delap, Matthew Gledhill, Jadan Hall,
Matthew Lund, Andrew Musungu, Carlo Nash, Jermaine Pennant, George Rigg,
Mamady Sidibe, Matthew Upson, Dean Whitehead (All released), Michael
Owen (Retired)
Sunderland
In: Valentin Roberge (Maritimo, free), Cabral (Basel, free), Modibo
Diakite (Lazio, free), Duncan Whatmore (Altrincham, undisc.), David
Moberg Karlsson (Gothenburg, £1.7m)
Out: Titus Bramble, Anthony Callaghan, Wade Joyce, Matt Kilgallon,
Ryan Noble, Adam Reed, Ben Wilson (All released), Simon MIgnolet
(Liverpool, undisc)
Swansea
In: Jose Canas
Out: Mark Gower (Charlton, freeP
Tottenham
In: None
Out: Jack Barthram, David Bentley, John Bostock, William Gallas, Jack Munns, Jake Nicholson (All released)
West Brom
In: None
Out: Marc-Antoine Fortune, Zoltan Gera, Gonzalo Jara, Romaine Sawyers, Jerome Thomas (All released)
West Ham
In: Adrian (Real Betis, free), Razvan Rat (Shakthar Donetsk, free), Andy Carroll (Liverpool, £15m)
Out: Carlton Cole, Jake Larkins, Gary O'Neil, Jack Powell, Jami Rafati, Eoin Wearen (All released)
