In these still early stages of the season a few new additions to the Premier League have looked like excellent additions to the league and indeed their respective clubs. The English game may have lost the massive talent of Cristiano Ronaldo but the following players have already made an impression on the Premier League.

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In all honesty, Liverpool deserved their victory. And whether you decide to blame the referee is your choice, but at the end of the day the team who had far more chances and looked better when they had possession deserved to win.

The harsh reality was that United failed to create much and were lacking any real cutting edge.

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Antonio Valencia's impact on the team has hardly been spectacular since his £16 million summer move from Wigan. But what a difference a goal can make. Well, two actually, and in back to back games to boot.

Goals breed confidence, and if Valencia is short of a little confidence, his latest performances in a United shirt will go some way to building it up.

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Zat Knight Not a Beach Ball

• Saturday, October 17, 2009
• Venue: Old Trafford
• Attendance: 75,103
• Referee: Mark Clattenburg

• Zat Knight (og) [5]
• Antonio Valencia [33]
• Kevin Davies [48]
• Matthew Taylor [75]

An unfortunate start for Bolton's trip to Old Trafford saw The Wanderers chasing for the rest of the afternoon.

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I got on to the concourse just in time to catch the Chelsea game from the 89th minute onwards. After Villa had gone 2-1 up I thought at best Chelsea would score an injury time equaliser, at worst, an injury time winner but kept my fingers crossed they would drop points regardless.

There was a roar at the final whistle before then pouring up the steps in to our seats in anticipation it what could be a table topping result.

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A nervy encounter which Manchester United got through in the end, but early dominance and chances were not converted into goals, but this win against Bolton Wanderers does mean that United are top after Chelsea had lost 2-1 at the hands of Aston Villa.

It was good to see some very good performances from Michael Owen, taking advantage of Rooney's injury, and Ryan Giggs in particular.

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The FSSL season starts today and I am going to give you a heads up on the clubs who will be battling it out for the Premier Division title. The division grows by two sides this season to a total of eight clubs. Of the six teams in the division last season, last place Valrico SC is not returning. Three new clubs join for 2009-10 including OFK United Serbs, Largo United, and Real Sarasota. Click to continue reading...

"4 Games, 12 Points" will be the headlines ringing around the Lane come 5pm tomorrow. I don't know what the odds are, but I am sure they're stacked in our favour.
I can see Birmingham trying to get in our faces during the first 15 minutes. You can also expect Alex McLeish to pack his midfield with Bowyer, O'Shea, Larsson, Ferguson and Carsley with McFadden playing up front on his own, but dropping back when needed, which may be the majority of the time tomorrow. Click to continue reading...

The transfer window is open and come teatime on 31st August we shall all be glued to Sky Sports news (whilst comprising our Top 3 female presenters obviously) and praying that the yellow ticker at the bottom of the screen flashes with a big name or that new wonder kid from South America who is having a medical at our club.

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So United took on Valencia in a match that I (for some reason) thought was supposed to be the Testimonial for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Perhaps not? Regardless, a rather young United side managed to knock two past their Spanish counterparts and managed to look rather convincing in the process.

Second half goals from Wayne Rooney and Tom Cleverley (both assisted by a once again impressive Antonio Valencia) gave United the victory, and made me even more excited about this Sunday's Charity Shield match against Chelsea.

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Fergie has every right to be a happy manager following the team's latest pre-season victory which came against Boca Juniors in the Audi Cup semi-final in the Allianz Arena last night. New signing Atonio Valencia scored on his debut, the Ecuadorian's finish wasn't exactly exemplary and Abbondanzieri in Boca's goal will know he should have dealt with it, but if there was an element of good fortune Click to continue reading...

Antonio Valencia made an impressive start to his Manchester United career as he scored in a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors in the Audi Cup in Munich.

The £16 million signing from Wigan skipped past two players before drilling a low shot into the net to make it 2-0 in the 42nd minute, and while Boca keeper Roberto Abbonanzieri made an incredible howler in letting the ball spill under his body, it was still a fine goal from the Ecuadorian.

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Manchester United will kick off the European leg of their preseason campaign with their first match in the Audi Cup 2009 against Argentinean side Boca Juniors. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30PM EST, and will be immediately followed by Bayern Munich going up against AC Milan.

While preseason friendlies can sometimes be tedious affairs, today's match should be particularly interesting as United fans will get their first chance to see Antonio Valencia decked out in a Red Devils kit.

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Real Madrid opened their preseason with a match against Irish Premier Division club Shamrock Rovers. It was the first match with Cristiano Ronaldo who broke the tranfer record leaving Manchester United. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Real Madrid defeates Shamrock Rovers 1-0 in friendly - Video Highlights - Real Madrid struggled in their first preseason match as Cristiano Ronaldo played his first game for the Spanish club.

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If there is one team that is secretly thriving in a summer of high-profile transfers, it is Birmingham City. As mentioned by my fellow Premiership Talk writer, Brian Lofrumento, the newly promoted outfit is reportedly pursuing former Arsenal captain Patrick Viera, which is in addition to a handful of other acquisitions made recently.

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Whether or not Sir Alex Ferguson sees his first signing of the summer Antonio Valencia as a direct replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, the transfer from Wigan was a gamble.

The signing of the midfelder is likely to be around £15m, and it's difficult to imagine Valencia emulate what Ronaldo acheived at the club, and he won't emulate him.

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Sir Alex has to rebuild his Man Utd team. When players like Ronaldo and Tevez leave, rebuilding is probably an appropriate term to use.

He started that process when he signed Wigan's star Antonio Valencia. There have been immediate comparisons to Ronaldo which are natural given the circumstances but the two players have very intrinsic differences.

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Well that was quite a month, wasn't it? We're already at the end of June, believe it or not, and it was quite the busy month in the transfers world.

Many pounds and euros have exchanged hands around Europe already, and it's no surprise that the month ends with a couple more new signings to add to our summer transfer lists.

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It's being reported (and now confirmed by the official site) that United have sealed the transfer of Wigan winger Antonio Valencia for a fee believed to be around £16 million. The Ecuadorian international has long been linked with Old Trafford, but that pursuit now seems to be at an end.

"Joining Manchester United is a dream come true for me," stated Valencia.

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Winger Antonio Valencia joined United today from Wigan. The Ecuadorian signed a four year deal. Click to continue reading...

With Manchester United's £16 million deal for Wigan's Antonio Valencia set to be sealed today, Bryan Robson has claimed that Ecuadorian is not going to be a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo. Whilst Valencia will be running down our flanks as Ronaldo did, there isn't the expectation that we will see anywhere near the same amount of goals from him, given his past scoring record.

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Ecuadorian Luis Bolaños has put an end to Inter's poor run of form after scoring a remarkable second half hat-trick last night at the Beira-Rio.
The 3-0 victory, Inter's first in six; put's the Colorado level on points with Atlético-MG and gives them a much need boost ahead of Wednesday Copa do Brasil final second leg. Click to continue reading...

From Goal.com:
Internacional share top spot of the table after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Coritiba at the Beira-Rio stadium on Sunday. After a slow start Inter dominated their opponents and a superb second half hat-trick from Ecuadorian international Luis Bolaños gave them the three points. Click to continue reading...

Since their inception into the Premier League in 2005, Wigan have been what

Closet Man U fan?

could be described as a selling club. Even before the start of the '05/06 season, their top scorer from their promotion campaign Nathan Ellington left to join West Brom. Over the years, stars like Pascal Chimbonda, Wilson Palacios and Jimmy Bullard have left the JJB Stadium (soon to be called the DW Stadium after the ever modest Manchester United loving chairman Dave Whelan) for a 'bigger club'.

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Inter are rewarded by last year's Copa Sudamericana triumph with a place in the ‘Recopa' against 2008 Libertadores winners LDU, albeit a very different side from that which unexpectedly defeated Fluminense a year ago.

Tite will undoubtedly be look to use tonight's first leg to turn around an uncharacteristic and untimely run of five games without victory which cumulated in a crippling 4-0 defeat to Flamengo on Sunday night. Click to continue reading...

Let's get one thing straight, it is highly unlikely that Real Madrid want Atonio Valencia; if they did, they'd have signed him already. The fact that the press are reporting United and the Spanish club are "vying" for the Ecuadorian's services is ridiculous.Real Madrid are going to sign Frank Ribery, they have already signed Ronaldo and Kaka - and quite probably David Villa too. Click to continue reading...

After defeat in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil final, Inter will be looking for their first win in five games when they visit the Maracanã to take on Flamengo this evening (18:30 local time).
A victory against 14th placed Flamengo could put Inter back top of the Brasileirão with Atlético-MG facing a difficult trip to Santos, but Tite still finds himself without several key players. Click to continue reading...

Inter could be boosted by the availability of recent signing Luis Bolaños for tomorrow's game against Flamengo.
The 24 year old forward has not featured for Inter since joining last month but has been undergoing an intensive conditioning programme with Elio Carravetta. Yesterday, the player's registration was confirmed in the CBF's BID document, confirming that the Ecuadorian is eligible to play in tomorrow's clash in the Maracanã. Click to continue reading...

Well, that didn't take long. I've been concerned about United's lack of presence in the transfer market, but that problem has finally been addressed this afternoon. Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has confirmed that Manchester United have made a bid for Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia.

No concrete figures to be had, but the best estimates indicate that Valencia could be a United player for around £15 million.

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The likely departure of Cristiano Ronaldo is sure to leave a huge gap in the Manchester United team, but that gap can always be filled with the £80m in exchange for Ronaldo. Who will the Red Devils bring in this summer?

Frank Ribery, Bayern Munich: Well, here is a quality winger that may just be able to fill Ronaldo's boots, but he definitely won't come cheap.

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So Ronaldo has finally got his way and his extensively protracted move to Real Madrid is happening. To be honest I'm gutted that we're losing a truly terrific talent but then again the Madrid switch was an inevitability and in a way it's good that it's over without dragging on into the summer which gives us a chance to find apt replacements.

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Last summer, we heard numerous reports that Ronaldo was to move to Madrid. A deal was in place. It was definite. It was going to happen next week. But then, there was some delay; and the deal would go through the week after that. It never did. No matter for the Spanish press, as they continued to rinse and repeat the story.

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Tite has given a strong indication to the side he will select for Sunday's Brasileirão clash with Vitória, after working with what appeared to be his preferred starting eleven in training yesterday afternoon.
Inter have growing list of absentee's as a combination of international call ups, injury, suspension and fitness causing Tite a selection headache. Click to continue reading...

The knives are out for Maradona. What was a whisper campaign is now leading to high anxiety and open calls. Where is Bilardo? Where is Pekerman? Where is Bianchi? There is serious doubt building up in Albiceleste fans whether Argentina can qualify for the World Cup with Maradona at the helm.

The inspirational quality of Maradona as player is crumbling before Maradona, the clueless manager.

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We're into a new week, and this is a week that could get off to a big bang in the transfers world. AC Milan star Kaka could very well make the switch to Real Madrid in the coming days, and a few other top European clubs could nail down a few new squad additions sometime this week as well.

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