Oh dear, are the club about to be ripped off royally?

Florentino Perez: This is one hell of a sneaky man!

Liverpool have reportedly given Real Madrid a 48-hour deadline to come up with the cash for Xabi Alonso.

Exit strategy: Xabi Alonso lines up against Singapore on Sunday in what could have been his last Liverpool appearance.

Liverpool will make an official approach to sign Valencia forward, David Villa, according to the Spanish press. Just a day after Villa revealed to the Spanish television that he'll not leave Spain at the moment.

"A week ago my future was clear and now it's not.,"

"I've been through some tough moments, which are partly my own fault, but I decided to put it all aside and I've not thought about it in the last five days.

Almost everything is going wrong for Liverpool. I say 'almost', because last week they beat Manchester United at Anfield, and the gloom was temporarily lifted. "Liverpool have turned a corner... This will kick-start their season... etc" in the end, it hasn't. Liverpool's continued struggles share similarities with those of the aforementioned United in the 2004-05 season, where, after an awful start to the season, a victory against Big Rivals (in that case, Arsenal) threatened to send the Old Trafford club on a march back to glory.

There is little doubt that forwards get the applause on the football field, but a new article has raised questions about who deserves the credit for football victories.
Jonathan Wilson recently composed an article published in the Guardian on why the full-back position is the most crucial on the football pitch.

Liverpool are now resigns to loosing their midfield maestro and a right-back to Real Madrid after the Reds announced the captures of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth.

Real Madrid are prepared to pay Liverpool £30million for Xabi Alonso and £8million on Alvaro Arbeloa. Liverpool are reluctant to sell his players to Premier League rivals, Chelsea and Manchester City, who are also interested in signing the Spanish defensive midfielder.

Two Out, One In!

The Rumour

Benitez is now likely to sell Andrea Dossena to help fund the deal.
Johnson, who joined Portsmouth from Chelsea in a £4m deal two years ago, emerged as Benitez's prime target after having an outstanding season at Fratton Park last season.

Real Madrid reject looks to resurrect his career.

Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has reportedly turned down the opportunity to join Turkish giants Besiktas, as the end of the summer transfer window edges nearer.
The Dutch international has made 32 league appearances netting five times since joining the Madridistas last summer.

The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup is only a week away and all 8 teams have namer their rosters for the tournament. Headlining the field is reigning Euro 2008 Champions Spain as well as 2006 World Cup winners Italy, and perennial powerhouses Brazil. The other teams in the field are the United States, hosts South Africa, New Zealand, Iraq, and Egypt.

This weeks little cutie is Lauren Rice from Liverpool. She has two love's in life, football and modeling, and UKFF brings her love for both together. Lauren is a mad Liverpool fan and even has 2 Liverpool tatoos. She can't wait to see The Reds win the Premier League next season and become a top UKFF girl.

The transfer merry-go-round is starting to wind itself up. A few big money moves have already taken place - Ronaldo, Kaka, Glen Johnson - and the next few days are bound to see some more cash flying around.

Without the title to play for, you wouldn't have blamed Liverpool for approaching the West Brom game a little on the lacsidasical side, after their bubble was well and truly burst 24 hours prior. A West Brom side with Premier League survival at stake, they did indeed try and take the game to Liverpool; however it was the Reds who's class told over the course of 90 minutes.

According to James Walker-Roberts at Goal.com, Marca is reporting that Real Madrid have offered cash + striker Alvaro Negredo for Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Liverpool supposedly turned down a €24million bid for Alonso and a €35million bid for both Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Even footballers have turned on the government. Xabi Alonso believes Gordon Brown's economic policies have weakened English football and that the Premier League's star players could be forced to the Continent to escape the weak pound and the incoming 50% tax rate.
Alonso is refusing to commit himself to Liverpool next season, with Real Madrid eager to to take him to the Bernabeu, and with Alonso estimating he is losing a third of his earnings he is edging closer to a return to Spain.

Hungarian women raced to the Fantasy Premier League finish line with varying physiques and varying success rates
Let's go month by month and revisit some of our premier league predictions. The good, the bad, and the ugly. In part I, we look at predictions from 2008. In part II, we'll look at 2009.

With Liverpool tipped to make a bid for Portsmouth's Glen Johnson, OTP looks at Rafa's problem position 1. Jan Kromkamp Plucked from Villarreal where he was struggling to come to terms with the Spanish language, the Dutchman came to Liverpool where he struggled to come to terms with English football.

Sebastian Leto is set for Anfield departure after reports in the Greek media has mentioned Liverpool have accepted a bid from Panathinaikos.

According to the reports, the Greek club has bid in the region of £3million for the Argentinian midfielder.

Leto has spent last season on loan at Olympiakos, after problems securing a work permit to play in Britain and made 22 appearances for them.

The new Premier League season is less than a week away, and Liverpool's pre-season form has unfortunately been nothing to crow about. This is how our pre-season friendlies went. Liverpool 2009-10 pre-season friendlies results Drew 0-0 with St.Gallen Lost 0-1 to Rapid Vienna Drew 1-1 with the Thailand National Football Team.

Done deal.

Xabi Alonso deal is done. Liverpool are on the verge of striking a compromise deal to sell Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.
Alonso's move to the Bernabeu has dragged on through the summer, with Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez demanding £35million and Real offering £25m for the Spain midfielder.

It's been a long hard summer for Rafa.

In

Glen Johnson

Already proven himself to be a very effective attacking force and offers more than the steady but unspectacular Alvaro Arbeloa. Seemed pricey when initially purchased but seems like a very good transfer even after such a short spell, hopefully will get better and better.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is set to face another summer without some of his top players with Spain and Brazil set to take part in the Confederations Cup in June.
The Spanish national side has confirmed that Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Albert Riera and Pepe Reina will all join up with Vicente del Bosque ahead of the South Africa based tournament.

The Spain international defender Alvaro Arbeloa is likely to cost Los Blancos around €5.9 million. According to a report in the British broadsheet The Independent, Alvaro Arbeloa may move from Premier League outfit Liverpool to Primera Division giants Real Madrid at some point this week. On Sunday, quotes attributed to the 26-year-old's agent suggested that the player [.

Real Madrid decide to make very small valuation just to piss off Benitez! The Rumour Real Madrid refuse to pay over the odds for Liverpool pair Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. The Sun says Real Madrid are keen to bring Spanish midfielder Xabi, 27, home along with Kop team-mate Arbeloa. And Alonso is keen .

There are rumours circulating on the internet that Mascherano and Arbeloa will both sign new contracts in the next week or two.

The rumours go on to suggest that Arbeloa is very happy at Liverpool for now. Mascherano is slightly different, it will be a one year extension with a wage rise.

Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow claims Rafa Benitez had a transfer budget of £20million this summer which, on initial scrutiny, does not quite add up.
Liverpool sold Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sebastian Leto for a total of £36m and bought Glen Johnson, Alberto Aquilani and Sortis Kyrgiakos for a total of £39m, leaving £17m apparently unspent.

Liverpool defender, Alvaro Arbeloa is aware that compatriot, Xabi Alonso could very well be on his way to his old club Real Madrid this summer.
The return of Florentino Perez to the ‘White House' as club president has ushered in another era of big money, high profile signings at the Spanish capital but Arbeloa does not believe that it is necessarily a bad thing.

UPDATE: According to Lucas Brown at Goal.com, Real Madrid general manager Jorge Valdano admitted that Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa is a possibility for them to sign. He told AS,

"The lad only has a year left on his contract with Liverpool and this gives us more possibilities .

It seems that Real Madrid still haven't forgotten the embarrassing elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Liverpool, as Los Merengues are reportedly trying to hurt their rivals by taking three of their very important players. Florentino Perez is ready to offer €65 million for Alonso, Mascherano and Arbeloa and we are yet to see Liverpool's reaction.

Oguchi Onyewu has apparently caught the eye of none other than mega-million-spending club Real Madrid, who could land the U.S. defender if its bid for Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa falls through.

That's what Spanish website Mundo Deportivo is claiming in a report released today.

Thus far, players are making moves all over the place, well, except here. Aside from the destined to be overpriced addition of Glen Johnson, there hasn't been any moves in or out by key players. Before the transfer window opened, it was believed that Rafa would try to move some "fringe" players to pay for signings, but that has yet to be the case.

Should the club sell to those piss take merchants?

Full back Alvaro Arbeloa is set to join Real Madrid this week.

The Spanish international was the only player not used in the Reds' 5-0 win over Singapore, with Rafa Benitez preferring to use Philipp Degen and midfielder Jay Spearing at right-back.

Hull City manager Phil Brown feels his side could have got something from their match against Liverpool, had it not been for the poor refereeing of Martin Atkinson.
The away side opened the scoring when Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso's thunderous strike found the net on 45 minutes.
The home side were then reduced to ten men after Caleb Folan was giving his marching orders for kicking out at Martin Skrtel.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is set to face another summer without some of his top players with Spain and Brazil set to take part in the Confederations Cup in June.
Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Albert Riera and Pepe Reina are expected to be selected by Vincente del Bosque while Lucas Leiva and Fabio Aurelio are possible candidates for Dunga's Brazil.

First things first: well done to everyone associated with West Bromwich Albion. This might seem hollow at this point in time, but your support despite relegation earned my respect, for what its worth, and did your club proud.
As for Liverpool, this was something of an anti-climax given that United had already won the league yet the fact that there was a determination to win was nice to see.

Radio City News reported last week that Rafa Benitez will have £15-£20M to spend this summer plus whatever he can bring in through sales.
It's not a fortune in terms of the competition we face from Man United, Chelsea & Arsenal so if its cloth-cutting time, how are we going to strengthen the squad and also bring in that world class player who will turn draws into extra wins?

Xabi Alonso has reportedly told his agent he wants his future resolved by July 19.
The Liverpool midfielder, who has been on international duty with Spain at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, met his representative Inaki Ibanez immediately after flying back to Madrid yesterday.

Oguchi Onyewu has apparently caught the eye of none other than mega-million-spending club Real Madrid, who could land the U.S. defender if its bid for Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa falls through.

That's what Spanish website Mundo Deportivo is claiming in a report released today.

There are rumours circulating on the internet that Mascherano and Arbeloa will both sign new contracts in the next week or two.

The rumours go on to suggest that Arbeloa is very happy at Liverpool for now. Mascherano is slightly different, it will be a one year extension with a wage rise.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was delighted his captain Steven Gerrard could now "focus on football" after being cleared of affray on Friday.
This has not been the smoothest of pre-seasons for Benitez, as injuries to Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar forced the pair to return to England for treatment, while speculation continued around the futures of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Well...crap. One of my favorite players is now off to Real Madrid. Although, I'm not totally surprised after the signing of Glen Johnson. The fee is reported to be around £3.5million which seems really low to me and makes me really worried about the Xabi Alonso situation.

Arbeloa was heavily rumored to be part of Real's raid on Liverpool and this might be related to that.

LIVERPOOL FC has announced on its web ( see top left side) thetransfer of their Spanish International defender ALVARO ARBELOAto REAL MADRID.XABI ALONSO next? Stay tuned!