This post originally appeared on our Arsenal blog, but I thought it was worth covering here. There are some mind blowing quotes from Arsene Wenger in Tuesday's Daily Mirror.

Arsene Wenger is quoted as talking about how much he likes Lille's £30m-rated Eden Hazard, but he basically says that Hazard is too expensive for Arsenal.

With the departure of Cesc and Nasri, no matter what you think of the players, it's obvious that our goals from the midfield area have reduced. Whether this be down to the injury of Wilshire, or the lack of width provided by the full backs, I don't know. But, with Arshavin looking increasingly on his way out, what has become clear is that Arsenal are in need of an attacking midfielder/wide player who can create and score goals in equal measure.

With the departure of Cesc and Nasri, no matter what you think of the players, it's obvious that our goals from the midfield area have reduced. Whether this be down to the injury of Wilshire, or the lack of width provided by the full backs, I don't know. But, with Arshavin looking increasingly on his way out, what has become clear is that Arsenal are in need of an attacking midfielder/wide player who can create and score goals in equal measure.

Well that did take long. About 48 hours after firing Neil Warnock, QPR have hired Mark Hughes as their new manager.

Hughes told QPR.co.uk:

"It's a great feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of QPR. I'm fully aware of the challenge in the short and long term and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the owners.

Well that did take long. About 48 hours after firing Neil Warnock, QPR have hired Mark Hughes as their new manager.

Hughes told QPR.co.uk:

"It's a great feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of QPR. I'm fully aware of the challenge in the short and long term and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the owners.

Fernando Torres doesn't often speak to the media but when he does we sit up and take notice. If you are a Chelsea fan reading this blog post, you will know that Torres hasn't started a game for Chelsea in weeks now and it must be frustrating.
Torres's future at our club was called into question last week with reports that he would be sold for £20m in January which was denied by AVB stating that he is not for sale!

Liverpool's hopes of signing Brazilian youngster Lucas have been dashed after he revealed he is scared of leaving his country for Europe.
The midfielder is under contract with Sao Paulo until 2015 and is valued at around £30m, with Liverpool among a string of admirers from across Europe.
Manchester United, AC Milan and Barcelona have all tracked his progress but Lucas believes he is better off staying put for now.

Last night news broke that Chelsea will be willing to listen for offers of around £20m for Fernando Torres in January as long as someone can match his reported £150K per week wages. The story continued that Chelsea had already put the feelers out around Europe amongst the elite to see if anyone wanted to take him.

Dimitar Berbatov has praised Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's man-management style despite the striker struggling to break into the first team this season.
Berbatov, 30, has started one league game and his future at Old Trafford is far from certain with a year remaining on his contract.

Newcastle's managing director Derek Llambias has allegedly launched a stunning rant against former managers Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer and said that Andy Carroll was not worth the £35 million that Liverpool paid for him.
A report in the Sunday Mirror claims that Llambias was caught on tape slamming the Newcastle legends to Toon fans in a bar and former Magpies striker Carroll bore the brunt of the foul-mouthed abuse.

Since returning to Anfield, Kenny Dalglish has spent more than 100m on new players. Which, if any, of these players could be sold at a profit for Liverpool in the future?
One of FSG's goals is to buy young players with a view to increasing their value over the duration of their contracts, with Liverpool (hopefully) benefiting in the meantime.

Racing Santander's administrators have announced that the club has a total debt of almost €48m, a figure over €10m in excess of the one presented when the Cantabrians applied to enter bankruptcy in July.

The difference was explained by the fact that investment company Western Gulf Advisory (WGA), owned by Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed who purchased the club in January, 2011, is shown amongst the list of creditors as being owed €8.

El Mundo Deportivo reports that midfielder Mesut Ozil has grown increasingly unhappy at Real Madrid and is seeking a way out of the Santiago Bernabéu at the end of the season.

According to the newspaper, Inter Milan have already been in contact and have asked to be kept informed of any developments concerning the German international, although Madrid President, Florentino Pérez, will attempt to get the player to reconsider his position.

Comolli Scouting Dortmund Talent

Damien Comolli has been spotted at several of Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund's recent games, where he is believed to be running the rule over their starlet Mario Götze, among others. Comolli's most recent visit was just last Saturday, where he witnessed the home side put four past the lowly Augsburg, including one from 19-year-old Götze.

Arsene Wenger said last week that the Gunners would begin talks with captain Robin Van Persie on a new contract extension.

As expected, the Sunday papers are full of teams who are waiting to pounce on any indication that Van Persie is becoming disillusioned about the future of Arsenal.

It is said that you learn more in defeat than you do in success. In Liverpool's case, they will have learned a lot from Saturday's defeat at the hands of Stoke City. So fickle is football these days, that following three straight victories, there was heightened talk of a possible title push this season.

With the Champions League starting again tomorrow night and Michael Ballack making an "emotional" return to Stamford Bridge, I thought I would re post an article I wrote back when the day it was confirmed that Ballack was leaving us was announced (so remember all of the below is back then).
Ballack spoke about tomorrow and said:

"I was very happy.

Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll illustrate perils of a striker's lot | Paul Hayward

Spain and England left out £85m of misfiring striking talent this week but when a centre-forward is on song it lifts the entire team As any Middlesbrough fan will tell you – just mention Afonso Alves or Massimo Maccarone as prompts – buying the wrong striker is a peculiarly calamitous act that invites external derision and internal angst.

The summer verdict must be one of failure, late flourish or not. It was all left far too late, the boss and indeed the board too had the chance to get our house in order well before the start of the season after a shambolic late winter and spring. Look back over 2011 and there have been a handful, literally, of victories.

It would not be a transfer deadline without a surprise Liverpool and Chelsea deal. In January it was Torres going to Chelsea and this transfer window is was the sale of Raul Meireles to Chelsea for around £12m, who has signed at four-year deal with Chelsea.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas worked briefly with the Portugal international at Porto before Meireles moved to Anfield last August.

It would not be a transfer deadline without a surprise Liverpool and Chelsea deal. In January it was Torres going to Chelsea and this transfer window is was the sale of Raul Meireles to Chelsea for around £12m, who has signed at four-year deal with Chelsea.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas worked briefly with the Portugal international at Porto before Meireles moved to Anfield last August.

Liverpool complete their clear-out on hectic transfer deadline day

• Joe Cole loaned to Lille for first refusal on Hazard • Craig Bellamy due to return on free transfer Joe Cole's loan move to Lille will cost Liverpool more than £3m, after the Premier League club agreed to pay 60% of his wages in exchange for a first refusal option on the Belgium midfielder Eden Hazard.

Arsene Wenger is closing in on £8million Germany defender Per Mertesacker and has completed a £6.2m deal for Brazil left-back Andre dos Santos and there are reportedly more signings on the way.

At least Mertesacker is a Gooner. Back ion 2004 he said: "Since I was small I was an Arsenal fan.

We all know that Chelsea have tried on what seems to be three confirmed occasions to tempt Spurs into selling Luka Modric to us. Modric himself has even tried to leave Spurs but that hasn't helped either. We have all had our say and our opinions but it seems that AVB has admitted defeat finally and has turned his attention on other targets.

Let's be honest, apart from the four signings we have made this summer in Piazon, Romeu, Courtious and Lukaku, we have all been pretty much sitting here waiting for some big names to come and join our squad.
We have seen the likes of City, United and Liverpool splashing silly money on rebuilding and strengthening their squad and have yet to see Chelsea do the same.

Ignore Rudy and the Barca v. Madrid love-in. Check out that little nugget in the bottom left corner of the cover. That's what we need to be concerned with.

Juan on Juan

While today's front of Marca focused on this small matter of a Spanish Super Cup, rightfully so, there was some information on a potential bid from Chelsea for Valencia winger Juan Mata.

The agent of Porto full-back Alvaro Pereira has refused to rule out a summer move for the Uruguayan but admits any interested clubs will have to pay his full €30 million release clause.
The 25-year-old has been linked with a move to Premier League giants Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as mega-rich French side PSG and his agent Alejandro Savich believes a move could happen.

The Mirror has today reported that Inter Milan have accepted a bid in excess of £30m for Wesley Sneijder.

They have also claimed that PSG are prepared to pay £18m for Dimitar Berbatov.

"Sneijder Bid Accepted? Berba To PSG?" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

As rumours continue of a third and final bid from Chelsea for Luka Modric, the first hints from within the club that the Croatian could be sold may have come from assistant Kevin Bond.

It's thought that the final Chelsea approach could be in the region of £30m and may or may not involve players such as Daniel Sturridge but in the meantime, Bond has had this to say,

"We desperately don't want to lose him, but everyone has a price.

Arsenal fans deserve respect, the respect I am talking about is from our captain Cesc Fabregas. Everyone knows his club as a child was Barcelona, but he of his own free will left them when he was 16 years old to join Arsenal. He and his family made the decision that his career will flourish at Arsenal rather than at the Nou Camp.

Talks between Aston Villa and Liverpool over the transfer of Stewart Downing also included preliminary discussions regarding the future of fellow England midfielder Joe Cole, it is being suggested.
Cole's Liverpool future looks particularly bleak following the news that Downing will move to Anfield in a deal said to be worth up to £20million.

In a list dominated by NFL teams in which all 32 find a spot in the top 50 sports franchises, the pride of place goes to Man Utd with a valuation of $1.86 billion.

Utd is a branding behemoth and their AON shirt sponsorship is worth $32m over four years. Next year their Nike shoe merchandise will be renewed for $70m, an increase of $30m over their existing contract to expire in 2015.

With news of Chelsea's (rumoured) increased £27m offer being rejected and scoffed at by Harry Redknapp, I am wondering exactly how much it is going to take to land Luka Modric.
It's obvious he wants out. Tottenham are refusing to sell but as the saying goes "everyone has a price".
Spurs paid £16m for Modric.

• Kop That: Neville claims fear the obstacle to England success http://bit.ly/nqv54b 23:39:12, 2011-07-12
• Kop That: Liverpool to offload Paul Konchesky and Milan Jovanovic http://bit.ly/mY5SdG 22:37:44, 2011-07-12
• Kop That: Carra sings YNWA for China http://bit.ly/nlE22K 22:06:39, 2011-07-12
• Kop That: Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre still searching for solution to stadium plans http://bit.

Sneijder, Tevez, Carroll, Torres and football's £30m+ players: the hits and misses

Sneijder and Tevez could both fetch big money, but giant fees don't necessarily equal success

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-07-12 17:23:27 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has told interested clubs that they'll have to pay upwards of £20 million if they want Charles N'Zogbia. Liverpool and Aston Villa are the front-runners in the race for the Frenchman, but so far have failed to meet Wigan's valuation of the player.

"I see some of the players being sold for £20m-£30m and Zoggy is better than them," Whelan said.

Wigan and former Newcastle left winger Charles N'Zogbia has one year left on his contract, and could leave next summer for nothing. as a free agent. Charles N'Zogbia £20 or £30M for this player? So would you think Wigan Chairman and owner, Dave Whelan, who initially slapped a fee of £9M on the player, [.

You know those people who, some time in March, get a little newspaper piece about them? The ones who live somewhere by the sea, or up a mountain, and say they can predict the long-term weather because of the amount of moss on the trees or the number of donkeys that are born that year or by the amount of pus that oozes from their canker sores?

André Villas-Boas is the stealthy one.

His snow job on the media took him off the short list of candidates which then concentrated on Guus Hiddink's reported arrival. Everyone believed Villas-Boas would stay on in Porto for at least another season. There were articles devoted to why he would do so as Boas dampened expectations citing astronomical release amounts.

Another Saturday comes around and the usual suspects are still being linked with Arsenal.

Ricardo Alvarez, yes the player were supposed to have signed on a free transfer, who then become subject to a tug of war between Arsenal and Manchester United, is back in the frame or perhaps not.