While the FM database let me down a bit with United's new Brazilian trialist, Alfredo, it appears to have a more fully-realized take on another forward trialist: youth US Nat Stefan Jerome. Though not all of his stats are defined in the database, most are, and that's enough to provide us a reasonable picture of where he's at now.

By Chris Wright

Eng-lish Pre·mi·um/ing'liSH ˈprēmēəm/Noun: An amount to be paid on top of any given football transfer fee to recognise the paltry significance of said footballer hailing from these sceptred isles and will hopefully therefore play with 'bags of passion', etc.

Striker links with Spurs are set to increase over the next few days as it seems increasingly likely that Roman Pavlyuchenko will be on a Rocket to Russia next month.

With Adebayor's future far from settled, this seems like a sensible time to get involved in the transfer market and at present, there are a number of German based strikers being linked with Premiership clubs.

It beggars belief really doesn't it. Danny Sturridge has been (when fit) a regular first team starter under AVB and has scored five goals in nine games. He has received his first call up to the full England squad that is preparing to play Spain tomorrow and there is a good chance that he is going to start the game too.

This season's Serie A campaign has saw a number of different teams fighting for dominance, as perennial challengers Inter and Milan have started slowly. Juventus sit on top of the pile after seven games, but their newfound confidence will be tested with tricky away fixtures in Milan and Naples.

When Manchester United signed 20-year-old goalkeeper David de Gea for £20m you could more or less predict what was going to happen. His first mistake would be magnified, he'd get ripped apart in the press and would be under the spotlight from then on.

So, the script had been written and de Gea complied, letting in two soft goals against City at the Community Shield at Wembley.

Andre Villas-Boas has always stated that he wants his players to express themselves, find gaps in the their defence in between the lines and exploit them. Juan Mata spoke of AVB's attacking approach he wanted to implement at Chelsea and Bolton was THE game where everything went right as we got the ball forward.

Sunderland A.f.c won for the first time on Sunday afternoon, against a rugged Stoke City side. To be honest, without sounding disrespectful Sunderland are not known for their intracut passing moves and most the midfielders, bar Seb Larsson + Sessegnon are there to stop goals rather than create them.

One of the positives against Fulham was the fact that Romelu Lukaku got 2 hours of first team football under his belt which will benefit him in the long term. It was more than likely that he would have only played 65-70 minutes to then be replaced by Didier Drogba making his return but we all know that backfired.

I for one was astounded to hear about the ridiculous bids being made by Chelsea for Luka Modric. I have said all along that I felt personally that as far as Luka Modric playing for Chelsea is concerned, the jury is out.
It's all well and good being the main man, play maker for Spurs, but to come to Chelsea with the midfielders we have here already and to dominate possession of the ball, to be the main man, its a very different role here.

Over the last few days, we've looked at some of the existing members of the Spurs squad and tried to judge what sort of season we can expect from them.

At the moment, Aaron Lennon seems to be splitting opinion down the middle and some have even argued that it's time for him to move on.

Apparently some player that used to create a lot of goals for us has left, to a faraway land filled to the brim with delicious tapas and douchebag athletes. And Busquets.
But we can't worry about that right now, because tomorrow Arsenal will play one of their most important matches of the season- the play-off to get into the Champions League group stages, against Udinese.

While we all wait eagerly to see who else will be added to Arsenal's squad this summer, it's worth pointing out that the two most important signings have already been made.

Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere were signed to long term contracts in June and November last year respectively.

Given the near certainty that we will start the new season without either or both of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, it is tempting to feel downhearted.

Teenage tricks: What Sunderland can expect from Connor Wickham is a post from: Just Football

Connor Wickham has long been admired by England's elite. Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur all had their eye on the 18-year-old, but it was Sunderland who stumped up the £8million + cash that proved too tempting for Ipswich Town to refuse.

With some haste, a majority of Liverpool supporters will tell you what their side require this transfer window: a centre-back, a left-back, a striker and some natural width. Far from that list would be another central midfielder.
Few loyal to the Merseysiders would dare question Kenny Dalglish but it would be fair to say there have been slight whimpers of uncertainty following the Jordan Henderson signing.

All the time that Pepe Reina is at Liverpool, and all being well this will be for some time yet, few goalkeepers will get another more than a brief glimpse at the goalposts. The Spaniard is among one of the best performers in Europe, in fact the world, so it'll take something (or someone) special to dislodge him from his rightful place as our number one.

After all the pain we have experienced with our goalkeeping options in the last few years, hands up if you thought we had finally solved them with the emergence of Wojciech Szczesny?

Our 21-year-old stopper certainly has many of the attributes essential for a top class ‘keeper.

His stature, attitude and authority in the box all augur well for the future.

Jason Kreis and Real Salt Lake take on Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League final. I was on a conference call today about the match. The calls take a long time and to give everyone a fair shot, reporters are only allowed a question or two. It takes even longer to write up the quotes, and just as I was finishing, MLS sent out a quote sheet.