A new decade, a new year, and 10 players I'll be keeping a watchful eye on for one reason or another in 2010. We all know Drogba, Rooney, Torres, Defoe and the lot will get their 20+ goals and single handily place their teammates on their shoulders and march onwards. But what about the role players that could make or break their clubs championship winning run, help their club break into the top 4, or save their club from relegation and a year in the Championship?

Arsene Wenger linked with bringing in Dutch failure to the Emirates, surely not!

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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has offered Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger the chance to sign Anfield misfit Ryan Babel , according to The People.

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The Galaxy's Landon Donovan may have the ball in this picture of him in action against Birmingham City today, but he apparently did little of consequence with it in a 1-2 Everton loss. (AP photo).

The on-loan Galaxy star lasted 76 minutes before being subbed and I couldn't find a match report that even mentioned his name.

Liverpool's out-of-favour Ryan Babel is reportedly ready to infuriate manager Rafael Benitez by rejecting a transfer to Sunderland, which would have seen striker Kenwyne Jones move the other way.
Babel's future at Anfield remains the subject of much speculation with Birmingham City believed to have failed with a bid for the Dutchman while a range of other clubs including Marseille, Besiktas and Fiorentina have also been linked with the 23-year-old.

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USA - Honduras at 9pm on Fox Soccer Channel and TeleFutura. FA Cup on Setanta: Reading - Burnley at 7:40am amd Everton - Birmingham City at 10am. On FSC: Accrington Stanley - Fulham at 10am, Spurs - Leeds United at noon, and PNE - Chelsea at 5pm. EPL on Setanta: Manchester United - Hull at 3pm. Bundesliga on ESPN Deportes: Bayern Munich - Werder Bremen at 9:30am and Hamburg - Borussia Dortmund at 12:30pm.

Birmingham City continued their fine season with an excellent victory at Goodison Park. Goals from Cristian Benitez and Barry Ferguson gave Alex McLeish's side a two goal lead that they held onto until Leon Osman grabbed one back for Everton but the St Andrews' side held on to make it to round five of the FA Cup.

As one player appears to be heading for the Anfield exit another seems set to continue his Liverpool tenure.

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Liverpool winger Ryan Babel is reportedly close to an Anfield exit, with Sunderland ready to renew their interest.

Is White Hart Lane heading for a busy end to the January transfer window?

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Birmingham balk at £13m for Roman Pavlyuchenko of Tottenham Hotspur
• City make counter-offer for striker

Birmingham City have refused to meet Tottenham Hotspur's £13m asking price for Roman Pavlyuchenko and will turn their attention elsewhere if the London club refuse to negotiate.

28-year-old Brazilian Edu, a former forward in the German Bundesliga with clubs such as Bochum, signed from Korean side Suwon Blue Wings.
Don't miss - EPL Transfer Rumours: Schalke ask Birmingham for more money regarding striker Kevin Kuranyi

The first of four half-term report cards for the Premier League features Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn and Bolton:

ARSENAL (3rd, 41 points from 19 games)

With a fully fit squad, Wenger's young and exciting side have, at times, looked against the pre-season odds like real title contenders.

Listening to the BBC Radio Five Live commentary last Sunday of the match between Manchester United and Leeds United, I was taken aback by a statement that the commentator made at the onset of the program. I'm paraphrasing, but the commentator said that in the interests of simplicity, whenever he mentioned "United" in the commentary, he would mean Manchester United, not Leeds United.

Pennant playing for struggling Zaragoza...Smith injured with Real Union...Ex-Chelsea man Simmonds continues exodus from Hoddle's Academy...Ex-Hammers legend Tommy Taylor joins Torry Army... Spain has been a favourite haunt of English footballers and coaches over the years but those present this season have experienced some indifferent fortunes over the course of the first half of the season.

If you happened to miss anything from yesterday's transfer news headlines, we're here to catch you up on what passed you by (or you intentionally overlooked).

We'll have a nice hot batch of today's transfer tidbits a little later in the evening, but in this batch, we've got the latest on Birmingham's quest to find a striker willing to play for them, Tottenham's pursuit of more midfielders, and a few names for the future that you should keep in the memory bank, along with a few other bits.

German international Kevin Kuranyi appears to be the main target of the midlands club.
Via Tribal Football

As far as articles on the top clubs in the world this week, there's not that much to report. The only matches that had any affect on the rankings over the past few weeks came out of France, which shut down later than most, Spain, which started back earlier than most, and England and Scotland, which neither shut down nor started back.

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.

Birmingham City's manager Alex McLeish has been told that Ryan Babel will consider a move to St Andrews if a fee can be agreed with Liverpool.
McLeish is understood to have had a £9m offer for the 23-year-old striker rejected, despite the fact that the Holland international has started just three Premier League games this season and has primarily been used as a substitute.

Liverpool right-back Philipp Degen is set to leave Anfield this month, with Bundesliga outfit VfB Stuttgart leading the race for his signature, according to a report from The Times.
Several other German clubs are also believed to be interested in the 26-year-old Swiss, who has never managed to become a regular in manager Rafa Benitez's first team plans since joining on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund in 2008.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has rejected an approach from Greek outfit Olympiakos for Yossi Benayoun, according to a report from The Daily Mail.
The Greek giants apparently offered the Reds £5 million for the Israeli winger, who would have reportedly been paid £40,000 a week after tax had he moved.

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.

Galatasary are ready to enter the race to sign Liverpool striker Ryan Babel, according to a report from The Times.
The Dutchman is understood to be keen on a move to mainland Europe rather than elsewhere in England, with a clutch of clubs ready to pounce after the Reds turned down a reported £9 million bid from Birmingham City for the player.

The latest in our classic programme cover series takes us back to a very unusual game, Bobby Charlton's final ever match and his only appearance for Shrewsbury Town in a specially arranged friendly against Zambia at their home ground of the time, Gay Meadow. The home team apparently won 4-0; it's unclear exactly why Charlton appeared for Shrewsbury, though he did do his national service in the area.

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.

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Kick Off : 17:30 GMT
Venue : St Andrews, Birmingham

In only 1 of 3 remaining Premier League matches not to have sucumbed to the dreadful weather conditions today, Premier League champions Manchester United travel to Birmingham on the back of their humiliating 1-0 loss at home to Leeds United in the FA Cup, with Ferguson's men desperate to set things straight in the league having been knocked out of the cup competition.

A week after Manchester United's shock FA Cup exit, Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a side with immense respect for Birmingham City's Alex McCleish at St. Andrews. A match that was 1 of only 2 to survive the inclement weather on Saturday saw a 4-5-1 with Wayne Rooney in a lone striker role supported by Ji-sung Park and Antonio Valencia on the wings.

Did we see a reaction to Leeds yesterday? I don't think so. I'm not one to buy in to the doom and gloom, so I'm not going to start now, but I wanted more from us against Birmingham.

After dominating possession during the first half, we should have been going 1-0 up at half time. Antonio Valencia, who put in another good performance, played in a beautiful ball to Wayne Rooney.

The pose that is now known as 'The Foster'

Manchester United have drawn up a stellar list of goalkeepers of whom they are to track as possible replacements for Edwin Van Der Sar and Ben Foster.

Fiorentina's Sebastian Frey, Lyon's Hugo Lloris, Schalke 04's Manuel Neuer, Celtic's Artur Boruc and Inter Milan's Julio Cesar make up the five man shortlist with French shot stopper 'extraordinaire' Lloris said to be at the man at the top of the pile.

Liverpool have reportedly joined Premier League rivals Birmingham City, Stoke City, Aston Villa and Tottenham in the race for Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones.
The Sunday People claim Rafa Benitez is proposing a swap deal involving Ryan Babel and Jones trading clubs in this transfer window.

West Brom's flying Dutchman Gianni Zuiverloon would love to see best mate Ryan Babel join him in Birmingham.
Birmingham City's £9million offer for Babel was rejected by the Reds and boss Rafa Benitez wants to keep him.
However, given the unpredictable nature of the January transfer window, the fact that Babel isn't getting much game time and is eager to play ahead of this summer's World Cup, an increased bid may tempt Liverpool to sell.

It's a new week, and in case you were in need of your fill of transfer news and rumors after a weekend that was light on the football (no thanks to the weather), we're here to help stuff you to the brim with a big batch of Monday transfer tidbits.

From a possible swap deal to kill two birds with one stone for Liverpool, to Portsmouth trying to once again succeed with their buy low, sell high method of business, to a Scottish swoop into the Swedish league, you won't have any reason to be hungry for more after you're done with today's transfer roundup.

Fabio Capello's main headache is the lack of good English goalkeepers. Of the current top ten clubs in the Premier League table, the only Englishman between the sticks is Birmingham City's Joe Hart and he's only playing for Birmingham because he couldn't get a game for Man City.

Manchester City have emerged as the front runners in the race to sign Lazio striker Mauro Zarate, according to a report from Sky Sports News.

The 22-year-old has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea as well as City in recent days, with his agent confirming earlier today that there was definite interest from the Premier League.

Any pursuit of Liverpool forward Ryan Babel by Birmingham City may be redundant as the Netherlands international has reportedly refused to join the recently promoted outfit, according to The Mirror.
Blues boss Alex McLeish has built a formidable side capable of grinding out positive results, but is believed to be recruiting a goal-scorer.

By Chris Wright

I hope, for his mother's sake, that Mancini was a C-Section

Rumour No. 1: If their loan deal for Inter Milan's lightbulb-headed winger Mancini falls through, Olympique Marseille will look to Liverpool's Ryan Babel as a direct alternative.

EPL on ESPN2: Stoke - Liverpool at 7:30pm. On Fox Soccer Channel: Chelsea - Sunderland at 10am, Everton - Manchester City at 12:30pm, and Portsmouth - Birmingham City at 5pm. On Setanta: Manchester United - Burnley at 10am, Spurs - Hull City at 5pm, and Wolves - Wigan at 8:30pm. Bundesliga on ESPN Deportes: Bauer Leverkusen - Mainz at 9:30am and VfB Stuttgart - VfL Wolfsburg at 12:30pm.

By Chris Wright

Rumoursville is a little quiet this morning, here's the round up...

Kenwyne just laughed off the rumours

Rumour No. 1: Liverpool have had a loan approach for Kenwyne Jones rebuffed this morning as Sunderland have again insisted that the striker is not for sale.

The Mirror reports that Birmingham City are preparing a third bid for Ryan Babel, just as Tottenham Hotspur lock their sights on the unsettled Liverpool forward.
The St Andrew's outfit have already had two offers knocked back, the second of which was said to be in the vicinity of £10 million.

By Chris Wright

Here's Wednesday's gossip round up, and what a round up it is!

Without doubt, the most common sight in Serie A

Rumour No. 1: Real Madrid are keen to add some defensive muscle to their ranks as the new wave of Galacticos continue to leak soft goals.