Current Borussia Dortmund fullback and former German international Patrick Owomoyela liked to keep all his options open when he was a teenager. While honing his football skills at TSV Stellingen, he also played competitive basketball and apparently pursued a career as lip-sync rapper in a Eurodance project.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has voiced his frustration at his sides failure to compete at the top of the table this season. Liverpool currently trail leaders Chelsea by 13 points, they lie in seventh and have lost five times already. Their performances have been some way off the form that led them to finish second last season and you can understand Gerrard's frustration.

If Spurs top four ambitions are more than mere pretension, tonight's match is the biggest of the season so far. Not only do we face one of our biggest rivals for a top spot, we badly need to boost our flagging form and morale. After a good period, we're now looking over our shoulders at Birmingham. [.

Yesterday Landon Donovan signed a new four year deal with MLS, and simultaneously confirmed the rumors that he would soon be off to Everton on a loan deal:

"This is a very exciting day for me," Donovan said. "This has been a very ... I would say ... interesting decision for me.

There are always members of your team that you think could do a great job in coaching or management down the road, but unless you have a crystal ball, it is hard to predict which players will follow down that path.
"It's difficult to assess that because you don't know what ambitions the players have," said Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to Inside United, in reference to being able to predict which of his players would end up in management.

That's right, shut it about the transfer.

Haha...haha...haha!!!! It's not as if there is a chance in hell that Wenger would sign you, Roman Pavlyuchenko. Finally the rumour has been shushed away by Wenger.

There is no truth in the Pavlyuchenko stories

This was just rumour all along.

Many apologies for the brevity of this week's match report, but the writer is coming down with something nasty. Hopefully, things will be back to normal as soon as possible.

After a start which suggested that this season might turn out to be uncharacteristically one-sided, the Championship is now starting to take on its more familiar face of unpredictability.

The Bundesliga's in-form teams travelled through Germany to spread shock and awe.

Bayern. Following Bayern's notti magiche in Turin, Louis van Gaal warned that the game against Bochum would be very difficult. He later conceded that he was wrong. Bayern continued where they had left off on Tuesday and dominated every aspect of the game with ease.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has affirmed his belief that striker Fernando Torres can be successful with the Reds.
As the Merseysiders' season stumbles along, many have speculated that Torres may consider leaving the club if the chances of winning silverware decrease.
There is also a real fear that the Reds won't qualify for next season's Champions League.

A little less than forty-eight hours ago Florin Pelecaci, Bath City's popular Romanian midfielder, entered the following status on his Facebook account:

I'm thinking to my future.....I've seen my flag in my wall and I'm moved. What can I say... I had nice moments with Bath City thanks to my collegues and the fans for support, but unfortunatelly for me, I think is imposible to play anymore for Bath.

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

In Episode 9, Andy Brassell evaluates the influence of derbies on title winning ambitions of Premier League teams and finds out that usually the top teams in London and the north have easily negotiated their local derbies.

It should be plainly obvious to any football fan with half a brain that Craig Bellamy is looking at the front door.

From the moment that his fellow Welshman Mark Hughes was sacked at Manchester City, reports emerged that Bellamy was preparing to hand in a transfer request. Just days later, Bellamy and new boss Roberto Mancini reportedly clashed over Bellamy's training regimen, which Hughes created to help Bellamy with a recurring knee problem.

Fernando Torres' long- term loyalty for Liverpool is being stretched to its limit with the club battling to keep him beyond this season.
Rafa Benitez has already turned down a £70million bid from Manchester City for his star striker.
Chelsea also had an approach for Torres rebuffed last summer, with the player uninterested in leaving Anfield at the time.