In a bid to bolster his often-injured back line, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been in hot pursuit of Blackburn center back Christopher Samba. Now, however, it appears the Gunners are set to miss out on the giant Congolese player.

Blackburn's owners the Venky Group have confirmed that they would like to hold on to Samba, with chairperson Anuradha Desai has called on her prized asset to stay at Ewood Park for one more year.

Carlos Tevez has reiterated his desire once again to leave Manchester City for family reasons.

The Argentina captain, who joined City from rivals Manchester United in 2009, said he cannot continue to live in the north west without his two daughters.

"I need to be closer to them and to spend more time with them," Tevez said in a statement.

Newly appointed Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas arrives at Stamford Bridge from FC Porto with very little managerial experience, but a growing reputation that usurps even the most accomplished of European coaches. Awaiting the young Portuguese tactician, the toughest job in football – not the act of managing Chelsea Football Club, but the unenviable task of satisfying Roman Abramovich's ambition.

Being heavily linked with a move away from Arsenal, Samir Nasri, was being accused of becoming money oriented as rumors claim he refused a new deal at the Gunners due to wanting a better wages.

In an attempt to clear things out, Nasri denied all of the negative accusation on him by stating that he never put money as the main priority in playing adding that should he decided to leave the Gunners it will mostly because of pursuing the chance of winning trophies.

Today is the day pre season starts for Chelsea (apart from Ramires and David Luiz who are with Brazil) and I have to say after a long summer it will be great to see Chelsea back together and preparing for the new season.
I have had my say on AVB ever since he was appointed and so have you and it's now down to business.

So, Wayne Rooney scores a wonder goal and the whole world goes absolutely bat-sh*t crazy. Every back page is talking about it, every sport columnist wanted to write about it and every news station top loaded their sports section with video replays from every angle.

It was a great goal, that's for sure.

By Chris Wright

Chelsea have officially unveiled Andre Villas-Boas as their new manager at Stamford Bridge this morning with the poor sod having to face the English press for the first time in his new capacity and, as you'll be fairly unsurprised to know, it didn't take long until questions about a certain fellow Portuguese dreamboat began to fart forth.

I published a quick article earlier that caused a bit of a stir. Maybe I should explain my thinking a little more..

The league champions have brought in a very good player in Ashley Young - a player Arsenal had been keeping an eye on all season they have also brought in a fantastic young defensive player in Phil Jones.

They defended him, they worked their socks off for him and praised him in front of Mohammed Al Fayed when he demanded why the club was in the relegation zone at Christmas.

The players rallied together in strong spirit, digging the club out of bad league form with booming away wins at Stoke, Birmingham and Sunderland whilst keeping up their excellent home form, propelling Fulham FC to their second highest top flight finish and securing European football.

Apologies for the slight lateness of the post this morning but once again I am vexed by hard drive issues. My main computer won't even start up, which is something of a frustration. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that both hard drives (main and back-up) are manufactured by Samsung, the filthy Chelsea twats.

Most mornings Arseblog is easy to write. This morning not so much. Not because we haven't gone through the loss of important players before but this one just seems a little different.

Most of the time Arsene lets 'his' players go only when he thinks it's the right time. Thierry went to Barcelona at 29, going on 30.

So, in a piece of shocking news akin to "sun rises in east" or "John Terry proven to be total twunt", it was finally confirmed that Cesc Fabregas is leaving us to join his DNA soulmates in Barcelona.

I could echo Shakespeare and say I come here to praise Cesc, not to bury him. But there has been no shortage of teary-eyed eulogies around the Arsenal blogosphere bidding farewell to our little Spaniard.

Chelsea new boy Fernando Torres said he left Liverpool because they were a club in transition and a long way from delivering the success he craves.
Torres, 26, signed for a British record £50m on Monday, said: "Things had changed a lot in the last year.
"I think they have great ambition and they are doing the right things to get back, but it will take time.

There hasn't been many peeps out from the Camp Nou regarding Cesc Fabregas lately but I'm sure there will be over the summer.
I have heard and seen little snippets. Apparently after the Champions League final Carles Puyol said: "I'm convinced Cesc will play with us soon."
It does make me wonder though.

Just like past summer, Cesc Fabregas' name is always a hot property in the transfer market especially after Arsenal once again fails to grab any trophies while the Spaniard's youth club, Barcelona, reportedly keeps on luring the midfielder back home.

Acknowledging all of the situation, Fabregas recently speak out about everything, although admitting that he is frustrated with the lack of success at the Gunners recently, the midfielder do claim that he is more than willing to stick around and won't ever forced a move from Emirates.

"I want to leave Tottenham as friends. I have enjoyed my time there, but now it is right for me to look at another club."

I know it's the Daily Mail, but they can't make shit up like this can they? Can they?

Open arms

Everyone's topic of choice at the moment, Luka Modric, has apparently been speaking to Sportsmail aka Matt Lawton.

By Stefan Bienkowski, writing from Glasgow

Arturo Vidal (Chile)

Considered by many, as the sole reason for Leverkusen's fantastic second place finish in the Bundesliga this season. The Box-to-Box midfielder contributed 10 goals and 12 assists for Werkself and will be well aware that his ambition and talent may have outgrown the Rhine side by the end of the summer.

Carlos Tevez has reiterated his desire once again to leave Manchester City for family reasons.

The Argentina captain, who joined City from rivals Manchester United in 2009, said he cannot continue to live in the north west without his two daughters.

"I need to be closer to them and to spend more time with them," Tevez said in a statement.

...And thus, that shall be the first and only time you will see me mention Oxtail-Chamberpot by his full and proper name.

In all seriousness, today both Arsenal and Southampton announced the signing of the young forward to Arsenal, where he will immediately come into the first-team and start training with them.

Over the past couple of years, Arsenal have been severely criticised for their transfer policy and their reluctance to splash the cash on big name players. The Gunners have been accused of everything from a lack of ambition to manipulating the share price, as their time without a trophy grows longer and longer and Arsene Wenger's men slip further and further down the Premier League pecking order.

Grant Wahl: MLS team ambition rankings

Wahl ranks the Dynamo 10th overall and he makes some good points about the team's current ownership situation. Want to get annoyed though? Read the paragraph about the Galaxy.

History is on Arsenal's side for the encounter against Manchester City. Including the League Cup, City have lost 21 of their last 28 visits to Arsenal, failing to score in 18 of those games.

I haven't checked the details but I think West Brom had a similar record. Add the wealth Citeh have been able to splash out and it's not difficult to see history will have little bearing on the outcome of this particular match.

Federico Macheda scored the winning goal for Italy U21 against England U21 this week and whilst he's enjoying the weather in Italy whilst on loan with Sampdoria, he admits he's missing Manchester United.

"I'm looking forward very much to getting back to Manchester United but not the English weather," said Macheda.

Chelsea's plan to rejuvenate the team may also filled with the addition of another defender, despite already signing David Luiz in the summer, as one of their transfer target, Diego Godin, has open the door for a move to Stamford Bridge.

The Uruguayan international revealed that playing at the Blues with definitely be a step forward in his career as at the moment Roman Abramovic's team are certainly bigger than Atletico Madrid or his former club, Villareal.

Luca Modric has pretty much been a hot property this summer as despite the rejection of Tottenham Hotspurs in selling the player, reports claim that the player's suitors are not giving up on them and his agent pretty much encouraged the move.

Nikky Vukan, who represented Modric stated to the press that the recent offer worth around 22 million pound, allegedly made by Chelsea would be to little for Spurs in considering as the number are not far from what the Lilywhites paid to sign him few years ago.

‘I don't want to have an argument with Tottenham,' said Modric. ‘The supporters have been very good to me and I have enjoyed my time playing for the club, but it is for football that players leave clubs and move. It has happened to Tottenham before. It is normal for a player to dream about playing for a bigger club.

‘I don't want to have an argument with Tottenham,' said Modric. ‘The supporters have been very good to me and I have enjoyed my time playing for the club, but it is for football that players leave clubs and move. It has happened to Tottenham before. It is normal for a player to dream about playing for a bigger club.

Nine months ago, Wayne Rooney told the world's press that he had no intention of extending his current deal with Manchester United, which had just over 18 months remaining.

The player knew that United would be forced in to selling him sooner rather than later in order to recoup some of the £27m we spent on him.

Liverpool Leaning Towards New Stadium

Liverpool are leaning towards the prospect of building a new stadium in Stanley Park, having previously professed their desires to redevelop Anfield. The Reds require increased capacity in order to compete with the Premier League's major players, and have favoured an Anfield stay ever since FSG assumed control of the club.

Manchester United,s striker Dimitar Berbatov has been highly linked with a move away from Old Trafford this summer especially after not being selected as starter in several big game in the later part of last season by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Interest from several clubs especially Italian side, Juventus, constantly emerged in the media but the player and also his agent has now denied all of the rumors, while insuring that the striker has no intention in leaving Man United.

Football hardly seems important in N17 today. Regards to the families and good people of Tottenham.

Here's part 1 of the season preview an overview. More on Tuesday, earlier if i pull my finger out the best of the rest, tactics and off the field

Season 2011-12 represents a watershed in the modern history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

It is hard to imagine that in seven days time the first game of the new season will have taken place. There is a remarkably strange feeling about at the moment.

Possibly that feeling is down to Arsenal looking no better than at the tail end of last season and there being only minute changes in the playing staff.

No in-depth review, just a few take aways for a quick post match discussion, starting by stating the obvious.

1. Mario Götze is a very special player. Following a week full of praise, comparisons and speculation about his possible future place in Germany's Football Hall of Fame, I'll just leave it at that.

Tumbling is not the way to go for big Nick

There's not much to go on about today. That title is true but only extend to the Arsenal reserves team. We were at the end of a 10-1 drubbing. That is a side which includes a slightly more experienced duo in Craig Eastmond and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. No matter which way you look at it, being beaten by 9 goals is not good regardless of the level of competition.

Cesc Fabregas has been one of the names that always filled the rumors section in every sports media especially in every transfer market session as the Arsenal midfielder is being watched by many big clubs especially his youth team, Barcelona.

Last summer, the player is reportedly close in re-joining the Spanish champion but the plan failed to materialize, now with Arsenal's current promising run that potential transfer could also be gone as Fabregas recently pledged his future to the London club.

Gerard Houllier claimed the signing of Darren Bent is a "major milestone" that will send out a message about the club's ambitions.

"We are absolutely delighted to have him here and we know he will be a tremendous asset for the months and the years ahead," Houllier said. "His arrival sends out a clear message about the ambition of our football club.

In the wake of Darren Bent's shock transfer to Aston Villa Sunderland manager Steve Bruce attempted to side with the fans by declaring his dismay at the strikers transfer.
Bruce said he felt ‘massively let-down' by the forward, who completed his £18million move to Villa Park on Tuesday.

During transfer negotiations, Liverpool reportedly tried to strike a gentlemen's agreement with Chelsea that ensured Fernando Torres would not face his former side when the two teams meet at Stamford Bridge.
However, the Reds failed in their attempt and the Spanish World Cup winner will make his debut against his former club on Sunday, barring a sudden injury.

I guess now we have moved past winter and entered the Cliché season. So every game will be like a Cup Final. Home games are a must win. No team can be underestimated, certainly not Wolves who've just beaten The Pretenders. So on and so forth, I could probably write a thousand words just with clichés; but don't worry, a headache and a modicum of common sense will prevent me from doing that.

I realize this is a radical question that can easily be misinterpreted as being defeatist or lacking ambition. But that doesn't take away the fact that apart from Wenger no one has come close to winning the Premiership on Arsenal's budget. Even then if we accept for a moment that Arsene should go, it's important to consider who can come in and deliver the big trophies.