New York Red Bulls sporting director Erik Soler has made it known that his team will not be using their second Designated Player slot until after the World Cup comes to an end. His declaration has added further fuel to rumors that the club will attempt to land French international Thierry Henry at some point during the upcoming MLS season instead of waiting until his contract with Barcelona expires in the summer of 2011.

Stuart Holden is on his way to Bolton. (Getty Images)

The day has some for those Houston Dynamo fans, their club no now longer has Stuart Holden. Bolton manager Owen Coyle has confirmed that the club will sign Holden as one of two winter acquisitions.

Holden joins former Dynamo teammate Ricardo Clark, who has signed with Eintracht Frankfurt, as Americans to make major transfer moves from MLS this winter.

by Matt Besler
Hello to everyone and welcome back to another version of "Across the Midwest Pitch." Although, this week it should probably be changed to the "Southwest Pitch" because myself and the rest of the Kansas City Wizards just arrived in Phoenix, Arizona.
We are staying in Scottsdale and training at a nearby complex called Reach 11.

In late 2006 when I heard the Galaxy were pursuing David Beckham I said to myself, "Yeah, right. Good luck with that." Well, you know how that turned out.

So now I can't help but investigate crazy rumors of Big Name player acquisitions because, well, you never know.

Yesterday marked the closing of the transfer window, something we Gooners have come to fear/put all our hopes into. In past years, we've made some rather stunning purchases, but alas, the most obvious one of the entire summer never came to fruition. Call it what you may, from Wenger's intransigence to perceived failure of the higher-ups to nab his transfer targets, the purchase of a quality goalkeeper which the majority of fans thought was an obvious necessity never materialised in quite underwhelming fashion.

The MLS Expansion Draft date has now been set. It will occur on Nov. 24th, and will be used to fill out the rosters of the 2 new teams joining the league, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers. Each team will be potentially giving up players to help the two teams build their rosters.

Basically, both new teams will select 10 players each from a player pool populated by the other teams in the league.

We think Chris Hughton has already built up a fairly strong squad at Newcastle, with his good acquisitions in January, and a number of those signings will get a chance to shine in England's top league next season. Wayne Routledge - huge chance next season in Premier League One of those players, who has already [.

Greg Lalas' reports that the Fire have traded midfielder Justin Mapp to Philadelphia for allocation money.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/midfielder-justin-mapp-traded-philadelphia

The amount of allocation money has not been made public but the move allows the Fire to free up $245,000.

Here is my expert analysis of the Mascherano to Liverpool "I know the lies about Hodgson but I'm not telling because I'm in such a good mood" story: Masch is kind of a dick. Certainly the accompanying photo in the Guardian doesn't help, as if the photographer advised him to "look as smug as you possibly can, then try and look twice as smug as that.

Recent American acquisitions might see their first action in the black and gold of Aris Thessaloniki on Wednesday afternoon in the Greek Cup round of 16, pending confirmation of the completion of their loan to the Greek club last week.

The team announced the sixth coach in team history today. It can be debated whether this was a good move, but I, for one, will put faith that the club has done it's due diligence in making the decision to have Curt Onalfo lead the charge starting this season. I believe there are reasons for optimism:
1) Youthful, energetic coach, 2) His familiarity with the team ideals and staff, 3) His history of working with young players in his time directing our United Youth Development program for two years.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

At the end of the past two seasons, D.C. United have found themselves in a unusual place -- out of the playoffs. Prior to 2008, the club had qualified for the postseason five years running, and had gotten used to success.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

At the end of the past two seasons, D.C. United have found themselves in a unusual place -- out of the playoffs. Prior to 2008, the club had qualified for the postseason five years running, and had gotten used to success.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Stuart Holden's quest for a European club has finally resulted in a contract, meaning he can now begin working toward battling for a place in the U.S. World Cup squad.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle has confirmed that the club will sign Holden as one of two winter acquisitions, along with Manchester City's Vladimir Weiss.

Some skinny on the Troy Perkins to DC United deal, Steve Ralston, San Jose Earthquakes stadium, Chivas USA acquisitions and much more from ASN Philly.

Spartak Moscow coach Valery Karpin claims Alberto Riera's proposed £5 million switch from Liverpool fell through because the winger demanded too much money.
Riera found himself in the Anfield doghouse after describing Liverpool as a "sinking ship", comments the Spaniard has since backtracked on, and was eager to secure a move to the Russian league before their transfer window shut on April 8.

As we look to understand the type of system United will play under coach Onalfo, it is best to look at the acquisitions being made. At this point, it would appear that we are looking to have attacking wings and a strong defensive middle of the field in order to cover for any ground the wide players will leave exposed.

Part keeping fans' expectations in check, which is a task that MLSE has mastered, is keeping the excitement up for a new season. Even if the upcoming year looks like it could fall flat on its face (just saying), the ownership must try to brand it with enthusiasm. You can't let a minor issue like no major player acquisitions or a long shot at a title get in the way.

The Puerto Rico Islanders' 2010 USSF D2 season begins on April 21st when they face the NSC Minnesota at Juan Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón.

As part of the Islanders pre-season, they defeated last Thursday the Bayamón FC, a fellow Puertorican team also participating with the Islanders in the 2010 CFU Club Championships.

I was listening to Wenger's pre-Wigan exclusive for ATVO. He was asked about Rodallega as there have been some rumors in the last couple of days. Here is what he said,

Yes, he's done well but we're not interested. That's clean.

That quashes the £22 Million double deal rumors which never made any sense in the first place.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is not looking at joining another club or walking out of Liverpool, in fact he is looking at strengthening the team for next season and has targeted the Real Madrid duo of Guti and Royston Drenthe as possible acquisitions for the Anfield outfit.
Guti would be available on a free come the end of the season and even at the age of 33 is still wanted by quite a few clubs including Tottenham and now Liverpool, Benitez knows what Guti is capable of and would not hesitate in offering Guti a rolling contract at Liverpool.

"For a while we were not investing maybe because we had built the stadium but I think our financial situation is now becoming much stronger and we will be capable to buy the players we need to buy"

So we were right all along, the cost of the Emirates did hold back Wenger's spending.

The announcement by Sir Alex Ferguson that he may only sign one more player this summer must have been met by bemusement by Manchester United fans.
After all, despite losing the Premier League title by just a point, a series of poor results during the campaign revealed a squad that relied too much on Wayne Rooney and the aging legs of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

As soon as expected, Jose Mourinho takes over at Real Madrid its being reported everywhere that he has made Ashley Cole his top summer transfer target.
It's worrying news for Chelsea as Cole has been playing better than ever this season and really has got a foot-hold at the Bridge.

-
- Antonio Caliendo's Updated World Champions Club Website: "Club Advice - Not only transfers market WCC offers to football clubs the support to finalize operations on the market of acquisitions and transfers with the utmost confidentiality, discretion and professional competence requirements that this job demands in order to optimize the clubs' technical patrimony.

Former Juventus director Luciano Moggi has criticized Juve for the signing of Jorge Martinez. Moggi claims that Martinez is not the sort of player that his old club should be attracting if they are interested in claiming a much anticipated Serie A title.

"The acquisitions made by the former Sampdoria director [Giuseppe Marotta] are not Scudetto players," Moggi told SportItalia.

According to this article over at SBI, Cuauhtemoc Blanco is still weighing the offer from Irapuato and no deal has been finalized. This jibes with what I've been able to gather from inside Toyota Park.

There have also been rumblings of additional player acquisitions although no names have surfaced yet.

By Chris Wright

Those were the days my friend

Liverpool winger Albert Riera is expected to complete his long-overdue Anfield exit today by joining Greek side Olympiakos in a deal thought to be worth around £4.

Ryan Giggs have played down suggestions that Manchester United need to make a big money summer signing, insisting that the current squad is good enough for the coming season. The Red Devils have only made two acquisitions this transfer window, with Mexican World Cup star Javier Hernandez joined by former Fulham defender Chris Smalling.

Poland: Ekstraklasa 2010/11 Season Preview part 1 is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's Polish football correspondent Adam K is back after a summer off to assess the new season of the Polish Ekstraklasa, which kicks off this week. Here he predicts how the competition will pan out and analyses the teams to watch.

Barclay's Premier League club, Tottenham, has been strongly linked with bringing in Lassana Diarra from Real Madrid and Redknapp even went on to admit his interest in Diarra but has also stated that the price Madrid are asking for maybe a bit to much for the Spurs. With Madrid looking at a permanent transfer fee of around £8.

A few weeks ago I used my amateur MLS accounting skills to take a look at the Fire's salary cap situation. I wrote the piece before the acquisitions of Castillo, Ljungberg, and Segares and the departures of Mapp and Ward so I've decided to take another stab at attempting to decipher the puzzle known as the MLS salary cap.

As a national team, Spain grabbed glory at this summer's World Cup in South Africa, and as La Liga gets under way this weekend, the two clubs that dominated the championship roster will square off once again.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are prepared for battle, and have endured contrasting summers.

As a national team, Spain grabbed glory at this summer's World Cup in South Africa, and as La Liga gets under way this weekend, the two clubs that dominated the championship roster will square off once again.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are prepared for battle, and have endured contrasting summers.

Yesterday marked the closing of the transfer window, something we Gooners have come to fear/put all our hopes into. In past years, we've made some rather stunning purchases, but alas, the most obvious one of the entire summer never came to fruition. Call it what you may, from Wenger's intransigence to perceived failure of the higher-ups to nab his transfer targets, the purchase of a quality goalkeeper which the majority of fans thought was an obvious necessity never materialised in quite underwhelming fashion.

Eight days after Forest fans realised they were getting nothing to improve their hopes for the new season, the club finally issued a response to the criticism they have, rightfully in my opinion, received. But rather than Mark Arthur apologising for his public naming of targets and making the club's Acquisitions Panel look like the amateurs that they are, he prefers to treat the fans with contempt and an air of arrogance [.

There has been many rumors that Brazilian star Kaka was linked to a move to the Serie A giants, Inter Milan. With the Italian club having said to be (supposedly) looking at making a big signing and they were looking to acquire the services of Kaka, it seems that the rumors were all nothing but just rumors.

Real Madrid hasn't had much success in chasing the Champions League title; last won by Los Blancos in 2002. However, with all the new acquisitions that the club has made in the past 2 seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo is confident that much will change in the upcoming Champions League.

It has been 6 seasons of turmoil for Madrid in the Champions League as they have constantly been shown an early exit from competition.

Manchester City today announced they lost £121m for the 12 months ending 31 May this year, up from a loss of £92.5m for the previous year. The £121m is the second largest loss in history for a Premier League team. Chelsea back in 2004-2005 set the record with a £141m loss.

Man City chief executive Garry Cook tried to spin the result somewhat by saying:

"Player acquisitions on the scale we have seen in recent transfer windows will no longer be required.

Manchester City today announced they lost £121m for the 12 months ending 31 May this year, up from a loss of £92.5m for the previous year. The £121m is the second largest loss in history for a Premier League team. Chelsea back in 2004-2005 set the record with a £141m loss.

Man City chief executive Garry Cook tried to spin the result somewhat by saying:

"Player acquisitions on the scale we have seen in recent transfer windows will no longer be required.