Rafa Benitez lines up deal for experienced Argentine.

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Sky Sports News understands Liverpool are in talks to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez.

Hello 2010. Hello readers. Pies is back in the saddle, a couple of pounds heavier (thanks poutine) but no less motivated. So, no messing, first up this year we have some breaky news for you. Arsenal fans, prepare to weep into your Fair Trade muesli...

My Spanish is sketchy at best I can say "Dos cervezas por favor" in a reasonably convincing accent but even I can understand the latest headline in Spanish rag AS, which announces with some confidence that Arsenal midfield starlet Fran Merida has signed for Atletico Madrid (the club he supported as a kid).

Real Madrid 2 - 0 Malaga
(1-0) 35' Cristiano Ronaldo, (2-0) 39' Cristiano Ronaldo
It takes them a while to get going, during which they are normally indebted to Casillas and poor finishing from their opponents, but after a while a couple of flashes of excellence gets Real Madrid out of jail and on the road to three points.

Maxi Rodriguez is willing to take a pay cut to seal a move to Liverpool.
The Atletico Madrid midfielder wants to play regular first-team football to cement his place in Argentina's World Cup squad.
The 29-year-old, who has also been linked with Boca Juniors and Juventus, is out of contract at the end of the season but, according to Spanish newspaper AS, will lower his £4.

LIVERPOOL flop Andriy Voronin is on the verge of heading back to Hertha Berlin for around £2.5million.
But he does not look too bothered as these pictures show - and who can blame him!
While his Kop team-mates shiver in the cold, Voronin is on a sunshine break in Miami Beach with wife Yulia.

Much in the way we need to regularly (aka hourly) check our horoscopes in order to feel safe and secure, we also need to know what's happening with the homes of professional footballers. Such is life.

Back in Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United days, most of his off-the-pitch antics occurred in this "offensive, brutal and insensitive" £4 million mansion in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

By Ollie Irish

Maxi Rodriguez, South America's favourite panty liner, is set to hop on a plane tomorrow morning and fly to the north-west for his medical with Liverpool, ahead of a cut-price £1m-£1.5m move from Atletico Madrid.

This could turn out to be a VERY good bit of business for not only Atletico who want the high-earning Argentine off their wage bill but also for Liverpool, who get a proven international for less than the price of a Championship player (salary not withstanding).

Liverpool Football Club have today finally announced the signing of Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer from Atletico Madrid, who has signed a 3 and half year contract at Anfield. The worst kept secret of the transfer window has finally been made public, the Argentine will wear number 17.

Bookies up and down the country are tipping former Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish or former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink to takeover from under pressure manager Rafa Benitez.
Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup last night at Anfield at the hands of Championship side Reading, which now sees the reds fighting for fourth place having been knocked out of the Champions League and League Cup.

By Chris Wright

Here's the hottest transfer gossip to dribble off presses this morning...

Gerrard catches up on a little light Reading

Rumour No. 1: One of those 'sources close to/someone in our office reckons' stories has surfaced this morning as, according to The Daily Star, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has one eye on the exit door at Anfield.

EPL on Setanta: Manchester City - Portsmouth at 8:30am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Arsenal - Manchester United at 11am. Championship on Setanta: Cardiff City - Doncaster at 5pm. Serie A on FSC: Milan - Livorno at 9am and Juventus - Lazio at 2:30pm. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Getafe - Racing Santander at 11pm and Malaga - Atletico Madrid at 1pm.

In Spain, one of the New Year's Eve traditions includes eating twelve grapes before the stroke of midnight, one grape for each of the last twelve seconds of the year. Photo courtesy of Camino Z.

As 2010 arrives through the doorstep, La Liga returns with a vengeance from the winter break that seemingly flew by so quickly.

Liverpool's transfer activity is threatening to overshadow their FA Cup third-round trip to Reading on Saturday.
Manager Rafael Benitez is promising "not too many changes" to his side for the clash at the Madejski Stadium, but there could soon be changes to his Anfield squad.
The Spaniard has been linked with a host of players with the transfer window having only just opened, while sources in Spain and at the club suggest there is a good prospect of Atletico Madrid's winger Maxi Rodriguez arriving on a six-month loan.

According to David Maddock at MirrorFootball, Liverpool are close to signing Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez. Rodriguez's agent Jurgen Milewski said,

"I can say the chances of a transfer are high."

Rodriguez is out of contract after the season so Liverpool should not have to pay that much.

He impressed the Arsenal manager and also the fans with his outstanding display in the Emirates cup and pre-season matches early in the season but now he looked set to leave the club this summer.
Reports said that Merida has already agreed a new contract offered by Arsenal last summer but is yet to sign it.

Rafa appears to be close to completing a very good signing!

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The Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez now appears to be very close to finalizing a transfer to Liverpool and has been left out of the Spanish club`s squad ahead of Wednesday`s Cup tie against Recreativo.

Even though the January transfer window sees far less action than the summer transfer window, that doesn't mean that this month will be without plenty of headlines involving big clubs and big-name stars.

This afternoon's roundup of transfer news tidbits includes bits from England, Spain, Italy, France, and Scotland, and though there aren't any big done deals to speak of just yet, it's looking like a few could be in the cards in the near future.

Liverpool very close to wrapping up £1.5m deal for Atletico Madrid winger Maxi Rodriguez. The experienced Argentine would offer excellent cover for Dirk Kuyt on the right wing, even allowing Rafa Benitez to play Kuyt up front if necessary [Caught Offside]

10 Footballers Who Will Define The Next Decade [The Offside]

ESPN will show the 2010 World Cup opener between hosts South Africa and Mexico in 3D.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez is unlikely to be handed a significant January transfer budget despite hoping to raise around £15 million from the departures of Andriy Voronin, Ryan Babel and Andrea Dossena.
The Anfield club will turn down an £8 million offer for Babel, the Dutch international winger, from Birmingham and are unlikely to settle for anything but a marginal loss on the £11.

The future of 19-year old Fran Merida has never been so unclear. Reports revealed the Spaniard is heading to Spain to join Atletico Madrid but his agent, Joseba Diaz, declared he is only speaking to ...

Ryan Babel may be forced to slug out at least another six months at Liverpool due to Rafa Benitez's concerns about selling a player he might not be able to replace immediately, The Times reports.
Along with Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena and Andriy Voronin, Babel completes a quartet of flops who could be shown the door at Anfield this month as the club attempts to raise transfer funds.

Marouane made the mistake of asking the barber for a 'K.D Lang'

Liverpool have attempted to steal a march on their rivals by offering a pre-contract agreement to Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, who has found himself to be somewhat of a hot property of late.

The Roscón de Reyes is traditionally eaten on Epiphany, January 6. A round, candied sweet bread, there is a hidden "Jesus doll" inside the bread, and the person who ends up with the doll is crowned "King of the Day."

Only the players know whether Los Magos (The Magi) left them with treats or a lump of coal in their shoes on Epiphany, but with this weekend's matches upcoming, they can begin the process of maintaining their good form or making up for their naughty play from last year.

EPL on ESPN2: Hull City - Chelsea at 7:30am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Wigan -Aston Villa at 10am, Birmingham City - Manchester United at 12:30pm. Championship on Setanta: Crystal Palace - Bristol at 10am. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Valladolid - Atletico Madrid at noon. On GolTV: Sevilla - Racing Santander at 2pm.

Lots of news has occured lately, and with a weekend of action coming up, five Premiership matches were postponed, here is a list of the matches postponed:
Hull City - Chelsea
Burnley - Stoke City
Sunderland - Bolton
Fulham - Portsmouth
Liverpool - Tottenham
Togo National Team Attacked on way to ANC Cup


The Togo National team bus was attacked by gunmen on their way to the African Nations Cup, the driver was killed, and two players were hit by bullets, goalkeeper Obilale Kossi, and Serge Akakpo.

Liverpool are confident that a money row between Maxi Rodriguez and Atletico Madrid will not derail the Argentine's £1.2 million move to Anfield.
Manager Rafa Benitez has agreed a fee with the Spanish club and Rodriguez has accepted the terms of an 18-month contract.
But the 29-year-old midfielder's arrival has been put in doubt by a stand-off with Atletico.

Atletico Madrid secured a comprehensive success on their travels on Saturday to maintain their recent momentum.
Saturday
A Lionel Messi hat-trick saw Barcelona thumped Tenerife to stay top of La Liga, while high-flying Real Madrid and Valencia also won.
Sunday

photo credit: prettyfriendship

1) Lionel Messi/Barcelona

The twenty two year old is not only the best young player in all of La Liga, but the Argentine forward/winger is flat out the best player in all of the world. Make no mistake about it.

A few deals have been done already and there are quite a few rumors out there about player transfers this Winter. Some people even started speculating what will happen when the Summer transfer window opens. Winter Deals: David Beckham - LA Galaxy to AC Milan (Loan) Patrick Vieira - Inter Milan to Manchester City Tiago Mendes - Juventus to Atletico Madrid (Loan) Andrea Dossena - Liverpool to

UPDATE: According to the Daily Mail, Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez will finally be able to fly in on Wednesday to take his medical and complete the move to Liverpool.

January 5th, 2010 According to David Maddock at MirrorFootball, Liverpool are close to signing Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez.

It was a relatively slow day in transfer news and rumors on Tuesday, and when such a day comes about, you're bound to get an outlandish story or two for the sake of filler.

Along with The Sun's delivering of such a space filler and time killer, there were actually a few more believable transfer tidbits from here, there, and everywhere on Tuesday, including the latest on Chelsea's hunt for a new striker and Manchester United's hunt for a future #1 goalkeeper.

Liverpool fans by now are waiting with bated breath on the confirmation of Argentinian international, Maxi Rodriquez transfer to Liverpool. Not only Liverpool fans, I might add but also Fernando Torres. It has been well printed that of all the players he would like to have in Liverpool, Torres would recommend Maxi.

Liverpool have completed the signing of Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer, the club has confirmed on their official website.
The 29-year-old Argentine winger has signed a three-and-a-half year contract at the club after completing a medical on Merseyside today, and the move will be confirmed subject to international clearance.

In a difficult week for Liverpool, which say the team crash out of the FA Cup to lowly Reading, fans have taken a crumb of comfort from the one piece of good news to come out of Anfield.
Maxi Rodriguez sealed his free transfer from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday afternoon, after completing a medical on Merseyside.

Acá Salvio robó mas que en el contrato con el Atlético Madrid
Después de la remontada del Atlético frente al Recreativo por la Copa del Rey le fueron a preguntar a TotoSalvio si había visto el partido y este respondió:
"Claro que vi el partido y disfruté mucho de la remontada".

Milan Jovanovic's representatives have held talks with Liverpool, skysports.com understands.
The Standard Liege star is out-of-contract in the summer and has made it clear he intends to take up the option of a Bosman transfer.
Valencia had hoped to land him in January, but now Jovanovic is holding talks with a number of interested parties.

photo credit: Whatsername?

Deportivo La Coruna-Athletic Bilbao

Deportivo La Coruna has performed one of the most insane magic tricks this season. Somehow the squad is in fifth place despite not having one single player on their squad that has scored more then two goals!

Victor Valdes is undoubtedy the most successful goal keeper in FC Barcelona's history. He has won 3 La Liga titles, 2 Champions League titles and had succeeded in kissing the Copa Del Rey trophy and the World Club Championship. He is undoubtedly the No.1 choice for Barca. FC Barcelona management last season tried to find a replacement for Valdes, but in the end decided that he is the best option available for Barca.

Liverpool are to sign Maxi Rodriguez on a six month loan deal from Atletico Madrid, according to reports. The first to break the story was the excellent Well Red blog, while today the Liverpool Echo says the Argentinian is a target for Benitez who wants him on a six month loan. Rodriguez scored against Liverpool for Atletico [.

Liverpool are to sign Maxi Rodriguez on a six month loan deal from Atletico Madrid, according to reports. The first to break the story was the excellent Well Red blog, while today the Liverpool Echo says the Argentinian is a target for Benitez who wants him on a six month loan. Rodriguez scored against Liverpool for Atletico [.