Tottenham Hotspurs chased Andrei Arshavin all summer in an on again, off again transfer saga. Th edeal never went through, and they ended up signing fellow Russian Roman Pavlyuchenko. However, after an awful start to the season, it looks like Spurs are back in and confident they will land the 27 year old Arshavin for £15million in the January transfer window. I hope they do just so this ongoing drama can come to an end.

Sami Hyypia is not a happy camper after finding out that he’d been left off Liverpool’s Champions League squad just after the Transfer Day Deadline.

Hyypia, who was the subject of a 2.5 Million Pound bid by Stoke was notified AFTER the deadline but felt that if he had known he was left off due to the new 8 home-grown rule by UEFA, he might have made a different choice.

Hyypia said: ‘The decision to leave me out of the squad is a big disappointment. But the club had perfect timing.

‘They didn’t want me to move elsewhere, so I was told just after the transfer window.’

image via TheWorldOfUs

Quite an impressive list of last moment deals before the deadline in England.

image via DailyMail

Manchester City has confirmed the capture of want-away Brazilian Robinho after Real Madrid accepted the highest British Transfer Fee on record at 32.5 Million Pound.

The 24 year old has signed a four year deal and just yesterday called together a press conference to cement his decision on leaving Real Madrid for the bright lights of Chelsea. Guess that just flew out the window.

“I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho,” Hughes told the club’s official website. “I have said that in order to compete with the best teams in the Premier League we have to be in the market for players of this calibre, and Robinho is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.

“I am really looking forward to introducing him to the rest of the squad, and to the City fans at the earliest opportunity. This is a real statement of intent as to the ambitions of Manchester City Football Club.”

Just a couple of weeks ago Manchester City was facing the horror of an owner who’s future really doesn’t look that bright, to the capture of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jo, Robinho and a possibly buyout by Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) that is already in it’s due diligence stage, City might just have the backing to become the newest Chelsea.

And how’s Abramovich going to handle not only losing out on Robinho to City after the player came out publicly with his desire to join the club less than 24 hours earlier, but being outbid as well. Looks like this type of money might just outweigh and / or compete with the Russian Billionaire tactics.

image via DailyMail

SkySports is reporting that the drama filled transfer saga of Dimitar Berbatov is finally over after the Bulgarian passed a medical and agreed to personal terms with Manchester United.

Tottenham’s acceptance of United’s 30.75 Million Pound deal included a season long loan for highly rater Frazier Campbell and as part of the deal, Tottenham will no longer be pursuing their “grievance” of the tapping up claims in early August.

image via SpursPies

FC Porto has accepted Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan’s packaged 18.6 Million Euro + 20 year old Portuguese midfielder Pele bid for 24 year old Portuguese midfielder Ricardo Quaresma.

Quaresma’s initial big money move saw him leave Sporting Lisbon in 2003 for the bright lights of Barcelona before heading back to Portugal with FC Porto in 2004 after only 22 games.

The Portugal International has 23 Full Team appearances with 3 goals and was omitted from Felipe Scolari’s 2008 Euro team due to what the papers refer to as “defensive liabilities”.

Mancini, Muntari and Quaresma together is a pretty damn good summer transfer window in the midfield department for Inter Milan.

Quaresma v Ronaldo video after the Jump….

(more…)

The man who scored 77 goals in 147 appearances for Russian side Spartak Moscow, Roman Pavlyuchenko has made the 12 Million Pound move to Juande Ramos’ Tottenham Hotspur, aka Spurs.

The 26 year old Pavlyuchenko has scored 9 times in 23 matches for the Russian National Team.

With only two days left before the end of the Summer Transfer Window, last minute deals are about to go down.

image via Yimg

Concacaf and Honduran International David Suazo has left Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan and headed west for the 2008 - 09 season, signing with Portuguese side Benfica.

The 28 year old Suazo (who by the way is one of the strongest players I’ve ever played against) had dropped 95 goals in 255 appearances for Cagliari between 1999 - 2007, but suffered in form after Inter paid 10 Million Euro with only 8 goals in 27 matches in the 2007 - 08 Serie A campaign under Roberto Mancini, while Mario Balotelli flourished.

After Pablo Aimar, Jose Antonio Reyes and Real Madrid’s Javier Balboa, newly minted Director of Football Rui Costa’s done a pretty damn good job of bringing in talent ahead of the 2008 - 09 BWINLIGA season.

image via Cache