UPDATE - It’s looking as if Barry’s deal with Liverpool will go down as the latest reports have the England International heading to the Champions League side for 17.5 Million Pound AND right back Steve Finnan.

Will the trickle down effect have Jermaine Pennant heading to Blackburn to replace David Bentley?

Aston Villa are claiming that the time for Liverpool to make a deal for Barry has come to an end. This could very well be another ploy that Villa is using to get more money out of the Reds, or it could just be that this saga has come to an end. Could be a tough one for Gareth as the fans have not been happy with him these days. How long do you think the Villa fans can hold a grudge?

UPDATE - Spurs have captured Bentley after the wide midfielder passed his physical tonight at White Hart Lane.

The perspective 6 year deal cost Tottenham 15 Million Pound.

Expect Tottenham to announce the capture of Arshavin within days.

Having completed the sale of Robbie Keane to Liverpool for some £20 million, Tottenham are set to spend some of that coin on Blackburn Rovers and young England up and comer David Bentley. Blackburn have already turned down a previous off from Spurs and one from Aston Villa because neither club matched their £17 million valuation. With all the money that Spurs have on hand after selling Keane, look for this deal to be wrapped up soon. Check out a video of David Bentley after the jump.

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So yesterday I told you that Spurs were going all in with their bid for young England ace David Bentley.  Now, to the surprise of very few people, their transfer dream is looking to be complete as they are willing to spend £36million on Bentley and the Russian baby faced assasin Andrei Arshavin. That is some serious scratch for Spurs to splash out, but these moves could put them on a new level…at least potentialy. Do you think Bentley and Arshavin would make up for selling Defoe and Keane?After the jump check out an Arshavin compilation.

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Looks like the Robbie Keane to Liverpool deal is just about signed, sealed and delivered. Liverpool is reportedly paying £18million for the Irish hitman and he is expected to earn around £80,000 per week. That is some serious scratch that Liverpool is paying to get their hands on Rafa’s top target. Look for this one to be done very soon.

[Soccernet]

Eredivisie runners up Ajax has paid 3 million Euros to Catalan side Barcelona for the services of defender Oleguer Presas (so that’s his last name).  If Ajax make it to the Champions League just once over the next three seasons, they are required to pay Barcelona another 2.5 Million Euro.

Oleguer is reportedly set to earn 750,000 Euros a year for three season and is the 4th addition (Ismael Aissati, Miralem Sulejmani and Dario Cvitanich) this summer.

Oleguer, known to be one of the deeper thinkers in the game, published his first book, Cami d’Itaca (Road to Ithaca) which told the story of his struggle with anorexia as a youth and publicly questioned the Spanish governments involvement in both of the Gulf Wars.

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While Harry Redknapp has long been adamant about holding onto Ghanian Sulley Muntari, selling the 23 year old to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan might be the move necessary to bring in Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips.

With capturing Jermain Defoe from Tottenham just into the new year and the summer move of Peter Crouch from Liverpool, selling Muntari for 12.7 Million Pound would be a good return on an initial 7.1 Million Pound purchase from Udinese in 2007.

With Nugent and Nigerians Kanu and Utaka already on the books at Portsmouth, selling Muntari is good business IF you can capture Wright-Phillips, long admired by Redknapp.

Former Duke standout and Norwegian American Abroad Robbie Russell has made his way back to the States and MLS after 8 years, signing with Real Salt Lake.

After Matias Cordoba (back to Argentina) and Carey Talley (trade to Chivas USA) both left the club, RSL had two roster spots open and has filled one of those spots with a player that could possibly be one of the fastest players in the league.

Russell started his European adventure after by passing his LA Galaxy draft in 2000, choosing instead to sign with Sogndal where he made a major name for himself.  In stepped Norwegian powerhouse Rosenborg B.K., where Russell started and helped the Champions League Club win it’s 19th league title before suffering a major knee injury.  After a change in management, Russell moved to Viborg of the Danish SuperLiga (the same as Danny Califf) in the summer of 2006.

Russell is normally a right back, but could very well see time as a right wide midfielder as well.

image via Wikipedia

Kosovo born - Switzerland representing Valon Behrami has made the move to the Premiership after Lazio accepted a 5 Million Pound move to West Ham for the 23 year old.

A player with an amazing engine that gets up and down the flank, Behrami was a consistent figure on the right side for Lazio either at right mid or as an overlapping right back and that’s exactly what Alan Curbishley forsees at Upton Park.

Behrami started and played every minute in Switzerland’s 2008 Euro campaign and has signed a 5 year deal with the East London based club.  And don’t forget, he’s got Champions League experience that can hopefully help a squad that finished 10th last season in the 2007/08 Premiership table.

image via Accel23

Everton have accepted a £10.5million bid from Fulham for striker Andy Johnson, according the Liverpool Echo. The England frontman’s future at Goodison Park has been the subject of constant speculation all summer with a host of clubs believed to be keeping tabs on him. And Fulham now appear to have jumped to the front of the queue - ahead of Wigan and Sunderland - by having their offer accepted.

I know everybody here is focused on the “Big Four”, but this would be a great acquisition for the Cottagers.

Image via BBC

With Spurs looking like they will be selling Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent, their main transfer targets have become the Russian pair of Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko. According to The Independent, Spartak Moscow want £15-20m for Pavlyuchenko and Zenit St. Petersburg has said Spurs are prepared to offer £15.9m for Arshavin.

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