UPDATE: According to Sky Sports News, Birmingham have made another bid for Ryan Babel that was once again rejected by Liverpool.

January 19th, 2010 According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Birmingham are preparing to make a third bid for Liverpool footballer Ryan Babel after having £9million and £10million bids rejected.

13:42 Apparently Joe Cole isn't actually fit, according to John Motson, who probably knows better than we do. That would be a good explanation for him not starting the Slovenia match!OK, let's kick this thing off.13:37 - Expected England team: James; Johnson, Terry, Upson, A Cole; Barry; Milner, Lampard, Gerrard; Rooney, DefoeSo, it looks like Heskey is dropped in favour of Defoe and there is no

UEFA website says Song and Arshavin have not travelled to Ukraine. We already knew Cesc was going to miss this game and none of those who were unavailable before the West Ham derby are back. According to John Cross even Denilson has not travelled.

It will be very interesting to see the team Arsene puts out.

Far too often when we lose a game, we lose another straight after. Why that is I don't know maybe the players are still sulking a few days later, but in this case it would be the worst possible thing to happen. This team have been humiliated, the boss has given them the rollicking of their lives, keeping them in the dressing room for close to an hour after the game and went absolutely mental, The Sun ran the story today and it is also emanating from other sources as well.

According to John Percy at the London Evening Standard, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson will not go out and spend big money despite recent injuries to Bobby Zamora and Brede Hangeland. Hodgson said,

"Like most other clubs we're not looking to go into a situation where we splash a lot of money around.

UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, defender Sol Campbell, who played with the Arsenal reserve squad earlier today, intends to sign with Arsenal for the rest of the season . Campbell said,

"I need to get minutes under my belt, a couple of reserve games at least, before I can start looking any further ahead.

Was it an attempted coup? Are we, the media, exaggerating it? Was John Terry abandoned by the rest of the England squad?

It is quite obvious there is squad disharmony in the England camp. We can't take too much for certain from John Terry's words but the disharmony is quite obvious. According to John Terry, the players have asked for Joe Cole to start in the final match, insisting that he, with Wayne Rooney, is the only England player capable of opening up rigid defences in this current system.

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Arsenal are keeping tabs on Dynamo Kiev goalkeeper Maxim Koval.

According to John Curtis at The Independent, Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill does not want to sell striker Emile Heskey, who has been linked with Liverpool. O'Neill told Press Association Sport:

"After the Blackburn game on Saturday, someone asked me about Heskey, a hypothetical question about 'What if Emile wanted to go?

UPDATE: According to Darren Lewis at MirrorFootball, Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo is set to turn down a move to Hull City as he would prefer to play for Malaga.

December 31st, 2009 According to the Hull Daily Mail, Hull City boss Phil Brown confirmed the rumor that he is interested in Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo.

According to John Percy at the Daily Star, Stoke City have slapped a price tag of £20million on defender Ryan Shawcross as they are not interested in selling him. Stoke boss Tony Pulis said,

"We have made it quite clear that he is going nowhere and we were delighted when Ryan signed a new deal late last year .

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Arsenal are prepared to offer defender Sol Campbell a contract for the rest of the season if they are able to sell Philippe Senderos.

UPDATE: According to James Olley at the London Evening Standard, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger would not confirm or deny the rumor that he is interested in defender Sol Campbell. When asked, Wenger said,

"We have a level of interest for every good player.

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is considering making a move for Wolverhampton defender Richard Stearman to replace the injured Glen Johnson.

UPDATE: According to Malaga's website, Malaga have have signed Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo on loan.

* The link is in Spanish. Manchester City did not post this news on their site yet *

January 5th, 2010 According to Darren Lewis at MirrorFootball, Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo is set to turn down a move to Hull City as he would prefer to play for Malaga.

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa will not be leaving the club despite rumored interest from Blackburn, Everton, and Manchester United. Ben Arfa said,

"I am flattered by the interest but I am staying at Marseille and hope that my career will move forward here.

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos is drawing interest from Real Zaragoza, Bayern Munich, Cagliari, and Atletico Madrid.

It is reported that Wenger is looking for around £1million for Senderos.

UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is looking to sign free agent defender Sol Campbell. Wenger said,

"I think he will sign later today ... There are no major problems and it's all sorted out now .

UPDATE: According to Arsenal's official website, Arsenal have signed defender Sol Campbell for the rest of the season.

January 15th, 2010 According to ESPN Soccernet, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is looking to sign free agent defender Sol Campbell.

Was anybody holding out hope that Major League Soccer might kick off its 2010 season under the existing collective bargaining agreement? In case you were; don't. Because MLS players are united in their stance and will not take the field without a new CBA, according to John Wolyniec, the union representative for the New York Red Bulls.

Union news

The Inquirer reports that Le Toux is questionable for Saturday's game.

Jack McInerney and Amobi Okugo have been called up for the U.S. under-20 men's national team's trip to the Netherlands, where it will play in the Cor Groenewegan Tournament. The tournament will run from May 14 through May 25 and will include friendlies against Senegal on May 18 and Korea Republic on May 20.

According to John Nisbett at The Independent, Robinho did not rule out returning to Manchester City this season. Robinho said,

"I honestly don't know what will happen at City. We will just see what happens over the summer but I haven't ruled out a return.

UPDATE: According to the Daily Mail, the deal for Mark Schwarzer should be completed next week. It is reported that Fulham are looking to sign Portsmouth goalkeeper David James on a free transfer to replace Schwarzer.

UPDATE: According to Liverpool's official website, Liverpool have completed the signing of manager Roy Hodgson. Click on the link above to read Hodgson's first interview as manager of the club.

June 29th, 2010 According to John Edwards and Simon Cass at the Daily Mail, Liverpool have completed the signing of manager Roy Hodgson and plan to make it official today.

UPDATE: According to the Telegraph, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti once again admitted that Ashley Cole is not for sale. Ancelotti said,

"Ashley is a Chelsea player and nobody wants to sell him .

UPDATE: According to Neil Farrington at the Evening Chronicle, David James is not interested in joining Sunderland. A source close to James said,

"With Craig Gordon out until perhaps Christmas at the latest, Sunderland's need is probably short term, but David is looking for something a little bit more permanent," said a source close to 40-year-old James.

According to John Cross at MirrorFootball, Arsenal are interested in signing Werder Bremen defender Per Mertesacker, who is thought to be worth around £10million.

It is also reported that two backup options for Arsenal are Dynamo Kiev defender Pape Diakhate and Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen.

UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Werder Bremen have no intention of selling defender Per Mertesacker. Bremen general manager Klaus Allofs said,

"Per remains 100 percent committed to Werder .

Nick Clegg waxes lyrical about England's 2018 World Cup chances.

"You could technically hold the World Cup here tomorrow."

No you can't. Fix that Wembley pitch for god sakes before it breaks the legs of the players. Listen to what Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger, and Harry Redknapp have to say about the divots and the boggy state of the pitch that cause so many players to slip.

According to John Curtis at The Independent, former West Ham manager Alan Curbishley interviewed for the Aston Villa manager position yesterday.

Ronald Koeman has also expressed his interest in the coaching position today.

According to John Curtis at The Independent, Wolverhampton have agreed to sell defender Jelle Van Damme to Standard Liege for £2.5million. Van Damme has passed a physical and has agreed to a four-year deal. Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said,

"The agreement has been struck in exactly the same way as when we brought Jelle to the club from Anderlecht in June .