Lately there has been plenty of rumors about Zlatan and his whereabouts for next season. Inter Milan Swedish super striker and league top goal scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now rumored to be moving to south London and Chelsea.

According to Daily Mirror and Daily Express is Chelsea preparing a £30m bid for the striker. Owner Roman Abramovitj needs a prestige signing over the summer, already loosing out on Kaka and Ribery can make the Swede Chelsea’s prestige signing.

The other shoe has finally dropped.

Real Madrid have put up nine players for sale, including their whole Dutch contingent. Joining Heinze, Saviola and Mahamadou Diarra on the transfer list are Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rosten Drenthe, Rafael Van der Vaart and perhaps most surprisingly, the young trio of Arjen Robben, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Wesley Sneijder.

According to Sid Lowe, Real Madrid have faxed a list of players for sale to several Premier League clubs and are desperately looking to reduce their wage bill, reduce the number of non-Spanish players in the squad and to bring in funds to supplement their transfer strategy. Robben, Huntelaar and Sneijder are all expected to net Madrid handsome transfer revenue, even if they are unlikely to recover the full amount spent on these players.

After spending nearly £150m on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in the space of 7 days, a massive deal already planned for David Villa (£40m) and with Madrid still needing a central defender, left back and central midfielder, Perez is, in his own words, condensing a 3-year plan into 1 year. If the past is any indication, Perez will not only bring more Galaticos to Real Madrid this summer but he will also load the club under massive debt and clear out the squad to make space for his Galacticos.

According to Sid, Madrid remain determined to sell players, even if they do not recuperate their original fees, and would also consider loans. Together, Sneijder, Drenthe, Robben and Van Nistelrooy account for almost 10m a year in wages, while Diarra is on 2.8m, Saviola 2.5m and Heinze 2m. So effectively speaking getting these 7 players out makes way for Ronaldo and Kaka at the club. The price one must pay for making the same mistakes twice.

I expect Manchester United to consider a bid for Huntelaar, Sneijder and possibly Mahamadou Diarra, considering that they were interested in signing Diarra at one point and both Sneijder and Huntelaar will add quality in the right areas at the club.

Then again, when it comes to Huntelaar, Robben, Diarra and Sneijder, they will have no shortage of suitors this summer, and you can expect Liverpool and Chelsea to be in the mix as well, not to mention Tottenham and Manchester City.

Fans of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Everton and even Portsmouth (if the takeover goes through before Madrid sells all the players) – who do you think your club will sign from Real Madrid?

“Real Madrid Firesale: Sneijder, Huntelaar, Robben, Diarra, Van der Vaart and Ruud for sale” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

We’re already in the middle of June, and though the signings haven’t been coming hard and fast just yet, that doesn’t mean that there’s a shortage of action thus far in the summer transfer window.

In this morning’s transfer news and rumors roundup, we’ve got tidbits from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Greece, with many big names and big clubs looking to spend, spend, spend. Some of the rumors are pretty concrete, while there is at least one in the bunch that, like Manchester United being linked with a move for Fernando Torres, are a little head-scratching, to say the least.

There are also a couple of signings to report, and remember, to keep up with all of the latest confirmed signings, check out our summer 2009 transfer lists.

England

Manchester United After Valencia Stars

There has been a great deal of speculation over the last few days about what Manchester United are going to do with the money they get from selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and it could be that a sizable chunk of those funds go towards signing Valencia stars David Villa and David Silva.

United are reportedly set to make a £45m bid for Villa (The Mirror). The competition could wide open between United, Barcelona (Sky Sports), and Chelsea for Villa, as his potential move to Real Madrid appears to have broken down (Daily Mail).

Meanwhile. Rafa Benitez might not like hearing about United making a concerted effort to land Silva, as the winger has been a target for Benitez for a while now but could be the subject of a £25m bid from United. (The Mirror)

Analysis: £25m looks to certainly be enough to land Silva, but even though they could outbid Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Chelsea for Villa, they could be out of luck if Villa prefers the chance to stay in Spain. Of course, if Barcelona land Villa, that’d all but free up the opportunity for a United move for Samuel Eto’o.

United and Boro In Downing Swap Deal?

Middlesbrough are heavily interested in Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, and there are reports that they could offer Stewart Downing to United to try to make a deal happen. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Both Scholes and Neville could be reluctant for such a move, but even so, it’d seem like United would come out a lot better in this deal, especially if they didn’t have to spend much of that sizable transfer kitty on purchasing Downing.

Costa On Shortlist To Replace Ronaldo?

Along with the moves mentioned above, United could be set to swoop for Gremio starlet Douglas Costa. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: Brazil’s becoming more and more of a hotspot for United, and signing a prospect of Costa’s ability and potential would be worth the fee United may have to stump up. He’s only 18, so he’s more one for the future and wouldn’t be expected to step in and star right away. But as Ronaldo did when he arrived at United, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn first-team opportunities immediately.

Bolton Lead Race For Veloso?

Bolton are back in for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, and after refusing to overbid for Veloso in January, could be in with a £10.2m offer for the 23-year-old, who’s also been linked with Arsenal. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £10.2m is still a little lower than Sporting might like to get for Veloso, but it could be a sign that Bolton are willing to fork out a little more in order to land him.

Bentley And Huddlestone To Sign For Villa?

It could only be a matter of time before Aston Villa seal the deal on a couple of new signings, as there are reports that they are close on Tottenham pair David Bentley (Goal.com) and Tom Huddlestone (Birmingham Mail).

Analysis: Considering their interest in Bentley, Huddlestone, and Jermaine Jenas, I’m surprised they haven’t been strongly linked with Darren Bent or Roman Pavlyuchenko, considering a forward should also be on their summer wishlist.

Several Sides Interested In Newcastle’s Martins

Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Everton are all interested in Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins (Tribal Football), but they could face competition from a mystery Bundesliga club (Tribal Football).

Analysis: Everton would be a great fit, considering the familiar faces that would await, but wages would likely be a stumbling block, and that could also be the case with Aston Villa. No telling what the situation could be with the Bundesliga club, but Arsenal may well be the best match financially – but that could all hinge on whether or not they sell Emmanuel Adebayor.

Fulham And West Ham Interested In Acquafresca

It’s a London battle for young Italian striker Robert Acquafresca, as Fulham and West Ham are both interested in the 21-year-old. Acquafresca was supposed to go to Genoa as part of the deal that brought Diego Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter, but he could yet move elsewhere, with even Juventus being linked with a move. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: I don’t have any doubts that Acquafresca could succeed in the Premier League, but if Juventus come in for him, that might be an opportunity that’s too hard to pass up.

Sunderland Bid For Cattermole

Sunderland have made a £7m bid for Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Well they sure aren’t sitting on their money, are they? That’s certainly a tempting offer for Wigan, considering it’s double what they paid for Cattermole just last summer. I don’t know if Wigan will offload him right now though, unless he’s just that eager to be reunited with Steve Bruce. If someone’s willing to pay 7m for him right now, they could be in line to get a lot more if he continues to develop well over the next season or two. Besides, the sale of Antonio Valencia will net a nice amount of transfer funds for Roberto Martinez.

Wolves Sign Milijas

Wolves have completed the signing of Red Star Belgrade midfielder Nenad Milijas. (The Guardian)

Analysis: For a little while, the deal looked to be in some doubt, but in the end, Wolves fought off some pretty good competition to land the free-scoring midfielder.

Birmingham Bid For Gomez

Birmingham have made a £1.5m offer to Espanyol for midfielder Jordi Gomez, who starred on loan for Swansea last season. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: With Roberto Martinez set to complete his move from Swansea to Wigan anytime now, Birmingham could face some competition from Wigan for Gomez, so it might be in Birmingham’s best interests to try to get him signed, sealed, and delivered as soon as possible.

Spain

Real Madrid Offer Sneijder For Inter’s Maicon

Real Madrid could be set to offer Inter Milan €20m plus attacker Wesley Sneijder in a bid for right back Maicon. (Goal.com)

Analysis: Sounds like a reasonable deal. Sneijder’s someone that has been linked with Inter, and €20m + Sneijder would meet the €40m asking price that Inter have for Maicon.

Italy

AC Milan Sign Cissokho

AC Milan have completed the signing of Porto defender Aly Cissokho for €15m. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: This time last summer, Cissokho had just made the jump from France’s Ligue 2 to Portugal, joining Vitoria du Setubal, and now, he’s signed for AC Milan. Talk about a quick rise!

Inter Closing In On Double Swoop

Jose Mourinho could be close to being reunited with Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, as Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti spoke hopefully about being able to agree a deal with Chelsea for the duo. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: Seems to be only a formality, really.

Juventus To Swap Trezeguet For Rossi?

Juventus are prepared to offer striker David Trezeguet as part of a swap deal for Villarreal star Giuseppe Rossi. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £15m + Trezeguet would fall a little short of Rossi’s buyout clause of £40m, but it could get Villarreal to bite, or at least think seriously about the offer. Trezeguet might turn down the chance though, considering the interest that he’s had from the likes of Inter, Real Madrid, and others.

Lazio In Talks For Barnetta

Lazio are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a move for Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Barnetta’s valuation is reportedly €10m, but even though Lazio don’t exactly have the room to break the bank on summer purchases, it shouldn’t be a problem to spend the right amount on a player who’s certainly worth it.

Germany

Wolfsburg Want Berbatov?

In one of the more interesting transfer rumors of the day, Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov is being linked with a loan move to VfL Wolfsburg. (Sofia Echo)

Analysis: Though things didn’t exactly go completely swimmingly at United last season, Berbatov’s not going anywhere.

Stuttgart Interested In Tottenham Striker

VfB Stuttgart could be targeting Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. According to Stuttgart general manager Horst Heldt, the Russian striker has come up in discussions within the club. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: After selling Mario Gomez to Bayern Munich for €30m, Stuttgart have money to spend and a big void to fill up front. Replicating Gomez’s 33-goal output from this past season might be a little much to ask, but Pavlyuchenko does have the quality to succeed in the Bundesliga, even though his struggles at Tottenham last season might convince some otherwise.

France

Shevchenko Offered To French Trio

Chelsea have offered striker Andriy Shevchenko to Lyon, Marseille, and Monaco. Lyon have turned down the opportunity to sign the Ukrainian, but Marseille and Monaco are still considering the chance to snap him up. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Safe to say then that Sheva doesn’t have a future at Chelsea, eh?

Coupet To Sign For PSG

Former Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet could be set for a quick return to Ligue 1, as he has agreed personal terms over a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Coupet moved from Lyon to Atletico Madrid last summer, but after seeing little time last season, will be back on familiar soil if a fee can be agreed. (Goal.com)

Analysis: With current #1 Mickael Landreau looking to leave, PSG needed to swoop for a quality replacement, and Coupet, with his long history of success with Lyon, certainly fits the bill.

Greece

Panathinaikos Close On Drenthe?

Panathinaikos are going all out in their efforts to sign Real Madrid’s Royston Drenthe, as they could offer £11m in order to land the versatile Dutchman. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: That’s about the same amount Real spent to sign Drenthe from Feyenoord in the summer of 2007, so I don’t see them turning down an offer of that amount. Drenthe hasn’t exactly blossomed at Real, and he wouldn’t appear to have much of a future there, so the only holdup might be whether or not he wants to move to Greece or to a more elite league.

“Transfer Rumors (15 June 09): Man United after Valencia stars Villa and Silva, Aston Villa close on Tottenham duo, Berbatov and Pavlyuchenko linked with Bundesliga moves, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

The biggest news in the football world is still the impending sale of Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for a world-record £80m.

However, in this morning’s transfer roundup, you won’t find any Ronaldo-related news, though there is a mention of someone that Manchester United could go after with the money they’re set to soon receive from Real.

Who is else in the transfer pages? The tidbits are light this morning, but there’s more than enough to keep you tided over until the next time around. Let’s hop on the transfer train, shall we?

England

Liverpool Step Up Johnson Hunt

Liverpool will step up their efforts to pip Chelsea to the signing of Portsmouth right back Glen Johnson. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: I think Chelsea are still the team to beat for Johnson, but if Liverpool don’t land him, it won’t be for a lack of trying.

Manchester City Chase Forlan And Lescott

Manchester City are stepping up their efforts to land Diego Forlan and Joleon Lescott. They are set to send a delegation to Spain to push through a 20m deal, while they’re also hoping to persuade Everton to part with Lescott. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Forlan’s well within their reach, though they might have to trump up a little more than £20m to land him. On the other hand, I don’t see Everton taking the money and letting Lescott go, but I could be wrong.

Sunderland To Bid For Keane

Sunderland are plotting an audacious £15m bid for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane. (The Mirror)

Analysis: That’s a nice sum of money, but of the many names that will be leaving Tottenham this summer, I don’t foresee him being one of them.

Tottenham Want Aston Villa’s Carew

Tottenham are interested in Aston Villa striker John Carew, and the Norway international could be (Daily Mail)

Analysis: As much as Carew’s been linked with a move away from Villa, I think he’s one of the last players they should consider selling. There have been reported issues in regards to attitude, but he was their most consistent producer last season, and if not for a few key goals from him, their slump through the last few months of the season could’ve been all the more unsightly.

Dann’s The Man For Birmingham

Birmingham have completed the signing of Coventry defender Scott Dann. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: The word was that Dann preferred Wolves to Birmingham, and it’s pretty unfortunate for Wolves to lose out on him, because as I’ve stated before, the back line should be their priority this summer ahead of next season.

Spain

Atletico Open Door To Aguero Sale

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo says that the club will open talks over forward Sergio Aguero if an ‘interesting offer’ comes in for the Argentine star, who has been linked with Chelsea and could potentially be a target for Manchester United. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: With the money that Sir Alex Ferguson will have at his disposal, Aguero should be one of the names at the top of his list. Whether or not he’d move for him, given an asking price that could be upwards of £50m, is another story.

Barcelona Offer Eto’o For Mascherano

Barcelona have offered striker Samuel Eto’o to tempt Liverpool to part with midfielder Javier Mascherano. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Tempting offer, especially because Liverpool could use a striker like Eto’o, but it’s not a deal that needs to come at the price of selling someone as influential as Mascherano.

Atletico Madrid Plan Sneijder Swoop

Atletico Madrid are planning to raid city rivals Real for midfielder Wesley Sneijder. The Dutchman could be set to leave the club this summer, and he’s also been linked with Bayern Munich, Tottenham, and Inter Milan. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: With Maxi Rodriguez being linked with a move to Tottenham, Atletico could be in need of someone to replace his production in attack, and Sneijder, while likely costing more than what they’d receive in any sale of Rodriguez, would be a more than capable replacement, provided fitness doesn’t become an issue.

“Transfer Rumors (13 Jun 09): Barcelona offer Eto’o as bait for Liverpool’s Mascherano, Atletico Madrid open to selling Chelsea target Aguero, Sunderland plan audacious bid for Tottenham’s Keane, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

Carlos Tevez is out, Dimitar Berbatov is out, Park Ji-Sung and Ryan Giggs are in. The paper claims it’s a real ”insult” to Tevez to be left out, but we’re not sure why as no-one has expected him to play from the start with all the focus on his future.

John O’Shea keeps his place at right-back and Cristiano Ronaldo continues his not-going-to-give-the-ball-away-as-much effort as a lone striker. So it’s pretty much exactly the same team as against Arsenal in the semi. Except Darren Fletcher of course.

Transfer gossip now, and there are some pretty interesting deals going on if you believe the media. Chelsea, for some reason, are being linked with a new right-back. We all thought Jose Bosingwa had done rather well this season, but the Blues are apparently tracking Inter Milan’s Brazilian defender Maicon for £22m.

The Daily Star reckon that when Carlo Ancelotti takes over in the summer, he’d just love to take him along for the ride. Probably wouldn’t please Jose much, but he has given his backing to the Italian for the Stamford Bridge post.

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, is looking to Fulham for his defensive stability next season. Brede Hangeland has done a good job at the heart of the Cottagers defence, and his extra height and power has caught the eye of the Frenchman, according to the Sun. But would he really spend £15m on him?

The Sun also have the news that ‘Arry Redknapp is keen to raid his old club once again for full-back Glen Johnson. Liverpool are believed to be in the prime position to sign the England defender as they need a player to shout back at Jamie Carragher when he gets in a mood; but Tottenham may swoop for their fourth right-back in the past year.

Once an England player, Dean Ashton gets the treatment (and he’s used to that) in the Daily Mirror. The paper thinks he’d be offloaded to Newcastle or Aston Villa in the summer, but someone would have to take a big chance to take the injury-prone striker anywhere.

However, Newcastle won’t be signing anyone decent if they go down and Sebastian Bassong could be the first to leave, says the Times.

Another team struggling for top flight status, Sunderland, could turn to Hamburg manager Martin Jol next season, according to the Daily Star. Quite why the Dutchman would want to trade a chance at the Bundesliga title and possible qualification for Europe for the drudgery of another relegation battle is beyond understanding. So he’ll probably just stay put.

And finally, Chelsea have cancelled their plans for an FA Cup parade. Not because they haven’t won it yet. Not because it’s a mere consolation prize given they really wanted to claim the Champions League. But because of the CREDIT CRUNCH! We know Roman Abramovich has been cutting costs, but if one of the world’s richest men can’t even get a open bus tour together, we know it’s bad.

Today’s tittle-tattle is off to live in a floating duck house – because we deserve to be safe from foxes too

Forget Manchester United v Barcelona, The New Harry Potter Movie v The New Terminator Movie or Peter Andre and Katie Price v The Possibility That Newspapers Might Stop Writing About Them Soon, the real heavyweight clash of the summer is going to be an all-out three-way tussle between Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Glen Johnson for the title of Interminable Transfer Story of the Year 2009.

Today’s updates in brief, because if we’re not sick of these yarns already we certainly will be soon:

1) Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t going anywhere – “at the moment I’m at United and I don’t care what happens in Madrid”.

2) Nobody could be arsed making up anything new about Carlos Tevez yesterday, except for the not entirely surprising revelation that he’s going to start next week’s Champions League final on the bench.

3) Harry Redknapp and Rafa Benítez are giving Glen Johnson a clear choice between cockerel and liver bird. Either way it looks like he’ll have some kind of avian lifeform on his chest next season.

Now, on with the other stuff.

Firstly, an excuse to point you in the direction of the undisputed goal of the season (alright, you can dispute it if you like, but it’s pretty popular here at the Mill): Swindon goal machine Simon Cox is favouring a £1.2m switch to Celtic over rival offers from West Brom, Bolton and Leicester.

Because a couple of them happen to be quite tall, today’s defensive rumours will be brought to you in order of the players’ height: Birmingham City want 6ft 6in Zat Knight to make the long trudge from Villa Park in order to create a dream defensive partnership with coming-on-a-free veteran Bobo Balde. Arsenal – for whom Emmanuel Adebayor looks to have played his last game – are ready to test Fulham’s resolve with a £15m bid for 6ft 5in Brede Hangeland (for that money, the only thing they’ll be testing is Mohamed Al Fayed’s resolve to agree gracefully, rather than dropping to his knees, drooling and crying “yes, yes, yes” repeatedly).

And Chelsea are lining up a sensational £22m swoop for Internazionale’s 6ft 1in Douglas Maicon, although Real Madrid are also interested. If this is true and the deal indeed goes through at this price, it would take Roman Abramovich’s spending on first-team right-backs alone to £57.5m, following the purchases of Jose Bosingwa (£16.3m), Paulo Ferreira (£13.2m) and our good friend, the Rumour Mill veteran Glen Johnson (£6m).

Back to Birmingham, who are vying with Villa for £8m-rated Argentinian midfield starlet Lucas Biglia, currently wowing Belgians with Anderlecht, and plotting a £6m double raid on Derby County for Kris Commons and Giles Barnes.

While Blues are planning for promotion, Newcastle are making contingency plans for relegation. If they do go down, Sébastien Bassong will be off sharpish. “You have to plan for your career and playing in the second division would be a step backwards,” he says in one paper. “I’m an ambitious boy and playing Championship football never crossed my mind – it would be a step backwards,” he adds in another. It’s all in the translation, you see. They would also be happy to loan Alan Smith for the season if they go down – perfect for any club that needs a £60,000-a-week adornment to their treatment room.

Talking of which, West Ham are open to offers for Dean Ashton – perfect for any club that meeds a £7m adornment to their treatment room.

And Sunderland want Hamburg’s former Tottenham manager Martin Jol to replace Ricky Sbragia. “He wants another chance in the Premier League, where he feels he has unfinished business,” says “a source”.

]]> http://www.latestfootballnews.net/football-transfer-rumours-brede-hangeland-to-arsenal/feed/ 0 http://www.latestfootballnews.net/wright-phillips-to-miss-england%c2%b4s-wcup-qualifiers/ http://www.latestfootballnews.net/wright-phillips-to-miss-england%c2%b4s-wcup-qualifiers/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 14:05:00 +0000 admin http://www.latestfootballnews.net/football-news/wright-phillips-to-miss-england%c2%b4s-wcup-qualifiers/ Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has been ruled out of England’s World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra with a knee injury.
Wright-Phillips was expected to be named in Fabio Capello’s squad for the June double-header, but City manager Mark Hughes said on Friday the former Chelsea star is due for a knee operation that will [...]

There’s nothing quite like the buzz and thrill of expectancy when your club announces a new signing. Let’s face it, it doesn’t matter if you follow a team in the lowest echelons of the Conference South or one of the European superpowers at completely the other end of the spectrum, you just can’t beat that feel-good feeling of a new recruit.

The problem is that there are invariably times when a manager’s faith in a new signing simply fails to come to fruition and we’ve certainly seen a fair few of them up and down the country this season. I can see you nodding your head now so without me blabbering on for too much longer I would like to welcome you to the not so wonderful world of the transfer flop. 2008/09 Premier League edition!

5. Deco

At £8 million it looked an inspired signing and with two goals and two assists coming in his first three matches, we were all guilty of jumping on the Deco bandwagon. It had looked like a stroke of genius from Scolari and yes I’ll be the first to admit it – I thought Deco was the man who completed Chelsea’s midfield.

Although the Portugal international’s season rapidly derailed thereafter to the point where he is rarely even considered a first-teamer at Stamford Bridge these days.

With just one goal against Bolton to add to those rousing first few displays in a Chelsea shirt, Deco has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season and I doubt he’ll be around too much longer to be given a chance to silence his critics.

4. Fabricio Coloccini

The frizzy haired former Deportivo central defender arrived in Newcastle with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Yes Coloccini would supposedly be the man to rejuvenate the Toon Army’s shoddy defence and he’s ultimately caved in under the pressure.

It would seem that Shearer can’t get rid of this £10.5million Argentine international quick enough and after a nightmarish season that has comprised of a bucket load of mistakes and an array of lacklustre defensive performances, you can’t really blame him can you?

3. Robbie Keane

What can you say about Robbie Keane and his time at Anfield? I mean was it simply Rafa’s fault for failing to play to his £20 million signing’s strengths or did Keane ultimately struggle to produce the goods when he was given a chance to impress?

You could debate what went wrong for the Irishman long into the night but at the end of the day Liverpool splashed the cash on a goal-scoring striker who was supposed to do exactly that. Score them goals. He didn’t, so that’s the fundamental reason why he’s on this list.

2. David Bentley

What on earth has happened to Bentley this season? He was supposed to be Beckham’s heir apparent on England’s right-hand-side but on the evidence of this Premier League campaign, he’d be lucky to get in the B team.

That goal aside, the £15 million signing from Blackburn has endured a frustrating start to life at White Hart Lane culminating in him having played just 18 minutes of first-team football since February.

The form of Aaron Lennon has hardly helped his cause but Spurs fans must have surely expected a whole lot more from Bentley and he could quite plausibly be the first casualty of Harry Redknapp’s summer clearout.

1. Dave Kitson

I don’t know whether Kitson failed to cope under the radiant limelight of being Stoke’s record signing but he has undoubtedly proved to be one of the only blemishes during what has been a terrific season for the Potters.

The 29-year-old failed to find the net in 16 Premier League outings this term and was quickly moved on to Reading in the January transfer window.

The good news for supporters at the Britannia Stadium? James Beattie came in and did a slightly better job for less than half the price. The bad news? Kitson looks set to return to the club this summer.

“Top of the flops: The five worst Premier League signings of the season!” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.