Even the strongest Scottish ogres injure hamstrings sometimes
Wayne Rooney is doubtful for United's match Saturday against Aston Villa with a hamstring problem. He did not feature today in the Champions League against Wolfsburg.
And while United have a massive defensive injury crisis, I think the loss of Rooney for a game or two is not the end of the world.

According to reports, Liverpool FC allegedly has only £1.5m to spend for the remainder of the current transfer window. Predictably, Tom Hicks and George Gillett are being demonised over this issue and Rafa Benitez is being painted as the blameless victim whose hands are tied due to lack of funds. Poor Rafa, right?

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Phil Brown, manager of Hull City, lets loose on the delay Jozy Altidore is going through, still waiting for his move to the club. Apparently, he didn't think the U.

Get on that Kevin Doyle train
This week's Funny Feeling Friday selection is Wolves' Kevin Doyle (5.4M) who has scored 3 goals in his last 4 games, but is only 3% owned in the Fantasy Premier League. He is - what we may call - an "against the grain" selection...
Doyle comes cheap, but will continue to go ignored by thousands of fantasy managers as Wolves take on Aston Villa at home this weekend.

At first, I was fooled too. The Football League's official Agents' Fees Report for the 2008/9 season splashes on the introductory page that "In total, League clubs have committed £8.8m to agents during the last twelve months, compared to £11.1m in 2007/08." And the League's official website builds further on this headline decline, with Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney saying that "Given the severe economic recession, it is encouraging to see these figures declining.

After searching and searching for information on the richest footballers, I finally came up with this list. The amazing thing about it is that it contains 3 Brazilians, 3 Britons, an Argentinean, 1 Portuguese, and 1 German and no players of African or Asian decent.

David Beckham is by far the richest footballer but I personally feel that either Kaka or Ronaldinho should top the list.

An argument for the negative version of bonus points: blunder points.

The Daily Express published some gossip today that may catch Fantasy Premier League managers' attention. David James (4.8M) has been linked with Manchester United.

It makes sense.

With the signing of Joleon Lescott yesterday for for £24million, Manchester City have now spent £216.5m in transfer fees in the last 12 months.

Mark Hughes' incredible spree on 13 new players, plus Stuart Taylor and Sylvinho on frees, has rocked English soccer and newspaper reports say that City's Arab owners have pledged even more if boss Sparky can identify anyone else he wants before the deadline, plus another £100m in January!

Italian giants considering move for utility player.

Juventus Plan Move For Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue

Juventus are looking at Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue as the answer to their right-back questions, according to Tuttosport.

The reports indicates a move is being planned by club directors for the winter transfer market, as Ciro Ferrara has asked for a reliable defender for his right side.

Solid answer to a problematic area?

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Having failed to complete a last gasp deal to bring former West Ham man Anton Ferdinand Harry Redknapp may try a lot harder to make the Sunderland centre back a Tottenham man come January, not least because his defence is once again decimated by injuries.

There could have been some unfortunate news being reported yesterday, if Newcastle fans were able to read between the lines. Mike Ashley and daughter is he staying at Newcastle? In many of the Sunday papers it was reported that Ashley had planned to give out around £8M to Kevin Keegan, at least from a planning perspective, [.

He may be racist, but he's cheap and in form (and Nicky Butt approves)
Most Premier League fans will forever remember Lee Bowyer for his famous on the pitch brawl with his own teammate Kieron Dyer a few seasons back. Bowyer is one of those players who statistics / trivia addicted footie fans (like myself) can always impress their friends with fun facts:
"Did you know Bowyer is Mark Noble's cousin?

The most consistent performer in the EPL
Far and away the most consistent fantasy performer this season, Cesc Fabregas is set for a spell on the sidelines after limping out of Arsenal's poor 1-1 draw today with newly promoted Burnley.
Arsenal's captain was forced off with a dodgy hamstring and will certainly miss the weekend match with Hull and possibly the Aston Villa fixture next week.

Why are you celebrating? You lack pace and are prone to senseless bookings
Cheap, cheap, and in great form. And well, cheap.
That was the story with Sunderland studs throughout most of the fall and the first few months of the Premier League season.
Darren Bent was a no-brainer from the start of the season (moving over from Tottenham with the price tag of a 4th choice striker), Michael Turner looked irresistible (moving over from Hull with a low price tag), and Andy Reid lost a bunch of weight.

He doesn't celebrate Christmas, he just celebrates scoring big goals
The Funny Feeling Friday selection has historically been reserved for those unpopular, under the radar, or out of form players who we believe will break out in the short term, so Yossi Benayoun, at 9% owned in the Fantasy Premier League game, is a unique selection.

Looks like a flashback to the '80s as the notion of us being a selling club starts to become reality.This time it looks Steven Taylor could be out the door. If not then we face a battle to keep him as Everton are prepared to pay £8m to offer him the chance of Premiership football [...]

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If the latest report from Lee Ryder in the Chronicle is anything to fo by, Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton won't be getting much cash to spend in the January transfer window. Following Keegan's tribunal and the £2m it awarded him, it was speculated that Ashley would give Hughton some of the £8m he had set [.

Em artigo esta semana publicado no Futebol Finance, afirma-se que:

"Até há 2 anos atrás o novo estádio de Wembley era considerado o maior elefante branco do futebol mundial. Com um custo de construção superior a 1.000 milhões de Euros e depois de ter ultrapassando em mais de 50% o custo inicialmente previsto, as expectativas não eram famosas para a WNSL (Wembley National Stadium Ltd.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger could revive his bid for Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh over Robin van Persie's ankle injury.
Van Persie is upbeat over his setback, confident he'll be back in "four to six weeks", however scans today will reveal the true extent of the ligament damage.
The Sun says fellow striker Nicklas Bendtner is already out until the New Year after groin surgery and Wenger could be forced to spend in the January transfer window.