It's all transfer talk today, with the big news being Darrent Bent signing for Tottenham in a 16.5 million pound deal. I talked about this transfer yesterday so there's not much more to say. It's a lot of money but Bent is a young English goalscorer with a proven ability in the Premiership, and Tottenham obviously have the money to spend, so it looks like good negotiations all round.

A couple of managers and a couple of strikers lead the news today. Firstly, we have the managers.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in the red corner, coming in at 37 years old, we have Chris Coleman. The Welsman who recently managed Fulham has been appointed as manager of Real Sociedad, who have just been relegated from the Primera Liga in Spain. He was reccomended to the role by John Toshack, the current Welsh manager, who holds a legendary status among the Real Sociedad fans.

Not the most exciting day in the footballing world with the main news being that apparently Liverpool are locked in talks to sign Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid. Liverpool are stalling over the 27 million pound fee that Atletico want, and since Atletico are reluctant to sell their star striker, it looks as if they are holding the cards. Torres has been Atletico's top scorer for the past five seasons, and would be a great asset to Liverpool and the Premiership.

After all the reports surrounding the Henry transfer, the dust has now settled, and it has gone pretty quiet in the football world today.
The biggest news is that Sven-Goran Eriksson has apparently agreed a 3 year deal to manage Manchester City, as long as the Shinawatra bid goes through. This is good news for City fans, Sven may not have the best reputation after his spell as England manager but people forget that he had a very good record in club management before his spell at England, and even as England manager his competitive record was very good.

It's official, Thierry Henry is now a Barcelona player. After passing a medical earlier on today, he was officially unveiled at 5pm in Barcelona, with the transfer fee being about 16.1 million pounds. I don't think there's much more that can be said about this transfer, Arsenal and the Premiership are losing a great player, but I do believe that Arsenal will recover from this and still challenge for the title this season.

As the news of Thierry's transfer reverbarates around the football world, here at deadballdispute we must keep an eye on the other happenings in this football world...but the truth is, there's not a whole lot going on. Keith Harris, a banker, claims that the money Thaksin Shinawatra is using for the takeover of Man City is 'clean' money that "has been legitimately and transparently transferred to the UK".

The big news today is that Thierry Henry is set to leave Arsenal and join Barcelona for 16 million pounds. It is a move that seemed inevitable over the past few weeks, and once Thierry has completed a medical, the transfer should be confirmed. In his explanation of the move, Thierry has cited the departure of David Dein, and the uncertainty over Arsene Wenger's future as part of his reason for moving, but this seems like some excuses on his part.

All's fair in Love, war and football. Spot the mistake. It's amazing what teams do to unsettle possible targets, they use agents to release rumours, papers to release rumours, they announce their targets and they meet their targets before agreeing a fee with the club, but most Clubs know that they can only get away with so much, that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed.

And so the Man City saga continues with news that Thaksin Shinawatra has lodged an 81.6 million pound takeover of the club, backed by the City board. This was always going to happen because yesterday I wrote about it not happening for a while, writer's curse. Anyway, I stick to the point made yesterday that Thaksin is still trying to put a good public face on his situation, and I'm sure the man does have 81.

Today we start with the circus that is Manchester City. The BBC are reporting that if Thaksin Shinawatra completes his takeover of City, then he will appoint Sven-Goran Eriksson as the new manager, but Sky Sports are telling us that more of his assets have been frozen, about 300 million pound's worth of assets. As i've said before, it's just a big mess up there, and one that doesn't look as if it will be sorted out quickly.

The news today, in transfer talk it seems that Chesea may be leading the race to sign Malouda with a reported fee of around 17 million pounds. Liverpool are in second place, which will not make Benitez happy. Decent winger at about the same price that Man Utd paid for Nani, but with more experience and a good World Cup run under his belt, but having two top teams interested obviously pushed the money up a fair bit.

Not a huge amount going on in the Footballing world today with only a few bits of interest. The FA have lodged a complaint over the racism in the U21 game last night, which is definitely the right move, but Huddlestone has been suspended for 2 games after his sending off, which means he'll miss the sem-final and the final of the tournament. Very silly sending off, he was only on the pitch for 3 minutes, and the kid should've known better, he's got a lot of talent and hopefully he'll learn from this.

Tonight the headlines have been stolen by Beckham. In his final game for Real Madrid, they came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and secure the La Liga title...unfortunately for Dave, he was subbed off pretty early due to his foot injury but still, it was a good night for him and a good way to finish his career. A lot has been said about Dave, both good and bad, and his move to LA Galaxy has been anylised by a lot of pundits, so I figure I might as well have my say too.

Pretty dead today in the football world, with the same transfer rumours running the wire! We've talked about Henry before but it seems as if he is heading towards the exit, and in to the waiting arms of Barcelona. Not sure how the exact deal will work out but seems Arsenal may get Eto'o in a part exchange deal or a lot of money. Thierry will be a real loss to the Prem but I trust Wenger knows what he's doing, so watch this space.

Transfer news leads the way today starting with Darren Bent rejecting a move to West Ham. The deal was thought to have been about 16 million punds plus Hayden Mullins for the striker but in an unforseen move, Darren has decided that the move isn't for him, but why has he rejected this move? It's a no-brainer, a great deal for Charlton who get a very good amount of money for losing their top striker, and Darren gets to go back to the premiership, work under the same manager who bought him originally, play in a team that looks as if it'll make a push for Europe, and try and push for a place in the England squad.

Kevin McCabe leads the news today after saying that he would turn to the European commission for compensation if an independent court of arbitration fails to overturn the relegation of Sheffield United. Mr. McCabe is chairman of the Blades and will not look to the European commission to appeal any decision made by the court of arbitration, but rather to gain compensation for those who will lose their jobs and other "human rights" issues.

If there is one way to stop any transfer rumours, we have seen it today from Samuel Eto'o who has dismissed all links with any possible move away from the Nou Camp. Today he said this,
"The club can't get rid of me because of my contract and as we both want to continue anyway, there is nothing more to talk about. I am staying at Barcelona and I don't know where these stories saying I'm going come from.

Today sees the clearest indication that all is well at Arsenal with news that Thierry Henry's agent has slammed reports of a provisional 3 year contract with Barcelona. Jeff Weston, the man in charge of the group looking after Henry, stated,
"There's never been any question of him not being at Arsenal next season"
Considering that agents are usually the trouble-stirrers, this is a pretty clear indication that Thierry is most likely going to stay at Arsenal next season, which is great news for the Arse and for the premiership.

So Calderon's at it again, and boy this guy just won't stay out of the news. Today he's trying to persuade Becks to stay at Real Madrid after stating that he has a clause in his contract that allows him to stop his move to LA Galaxy. Galaxy have come out and said they know of no clause, and sources close to Becks say he's set on his move. So Mr. Calderon loses again but before we have any sympathy, this is the man who called Dave, "an average cinema actor living in Hollywood", when Becks first announced his move Galaxy.

Pretty quiet today on the transfer front with no major news to report. Ancelotti of AC Milan has come out and said that getting Henry from Arsenal will be very difficult but then I think pretty much everyone could work that out. Sneijder may snub both Villa and Spurs and stay at Ajax for another season, which would be a pity since he would be a major asset to the premiership, though I do hope he doesn't end up at Spurs!