Seven home games without a goal... Here's hoping the end of the transfer window and a few loans might change things. James Bolton reports from the City Ground. The big news as kick off approached was that youngster Jamaal Lascelles would start in the centre of defence in the absence of Luke Chambers through suspension [.

There may only be a couple of days left to go. Darlington FC continue to stare into the abyss and the comments of the club's joint administrator, Harvey Madden, in an interview with BBC Radio Tees this evening will have offered no comfort to those of the opinion that it is now only a matter of time before this football club folds after one hundred and twenty-nine years.

A Nigerian player that burst onto the Serie A scene in 1999 has finally turned his back on European football after twelve years of trying to establish himself. Here's Paul Grech with the story of Hugo Enyinnaya.

"I'm going to be rich!" was the typically honest reply of Antonio Cassano when asked what went through his mind after scoring a fantastic goal against Inter as a 17 year old, upon making his first start for Bari in 1999.

Well it sounds like you can rule another team out of the running for Omar Bravo's services during the MLS offseason. Previously Atlas had ruled it out due to lack of funds. Although Bravo moving there was unlikely due to his history with their main rival Chivas. But today from ESPN Deportes comes word that Estudiantes Tecos is now out of the running as well.

Rochdale have completed the signing of striker Nathan Eccleston on a month's loan from Premier League club Liverpool.
The 20-year-old will go straight into Steve Eyre's squad for the weekend clash at Exeter.
Eyre told the club's official website: "I'm very grateful to Liverpool for their co-operation.

Yes, I know it's still a few months away. But since the interlull is upon us, this might be a good time to sort through some of the possibilities for January. There's no way to touch on every rumor that's been written over the last month, but I'll try to recap the things that are most important and most likely.

Outside back, Scott Lorenz was supposed to be on loan to the NSC Minnesota Stars for the rest of the season. The Stars today though announced that they have terminated the loan deal and that Lorenz is returning to Kansas City. KC coach, Peter Vermes confirmed that Lorenz was returning today. In his last appearance on Wednesday with the Stars, Lorenz played only 42 minutes before being subbed out in the first half by Minnesota coach, Manny Lagos, against FC Tampa.

Woof! Looks like Daniel Levy's finally worked out how to use the telephone in his office. It's like that scene in The Simpsons where Mr. Burns is forced to try and contact the outside world whilst hiding under his desk. I've seen people activate this machine a thousand times. Doesn't seem to be any trick to it.

Could it be that AVB has been impressed with our current squad enough to not need to sign anyone? Remember, David Luiz and Ramires are still to link up with the squad this week.
Well according to Ron Gourlay, he expects a couple of loan deals for our youngsters to be completed before the end of the transfer window and that's it.

What is the truth about Arsenal's finances? Does Wenger have money to spend or has the move to the Emirates crippled Arsenal? These are questions that we are left asking every week as we speculate what money we have to spend.

Arsene and the board go on about UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FPP) as justification for not splashing out on players, fearful that we will not be admitted into UEFA competitions, at this rate we will be luck to qualify!

News from English ( paper Daily Mirror) being picked up locally by Spanish Football Sports papers is that English Premier League Club EVERTON has asked REAL MADRID if they would consider a loan of their young 20 year old International midfielder SERGIO CANALES. Sergio Canales for Real Madrid The kid was bought from Liga Club Racing de Santander last season by Real Madrid as the "next big"

If you haven't a chance to watch the second episode of the series MNT in England, take a look at 'Life at Loan'

This was an interesting topic to explore given the fact that so many U.S. players were on loan for the second half of the season. Beyond the three we spoke with, we had Brad Guzan at Hull, Eric Lichaj at Leeds, Jozy Altidore at Bursaspor, and others.

Ukrainian-born and American-raised striker Eugene Starikov gave Zenit St. Petersburg, the club that owns his rights, a good glimpse at what they might want to consider keeping after he scored a goal to help FK Tom Tomsk beat Zenit, 2-1, on Saturday.

Starikov was called into U.S. national team camp in January, and spent some time with the U.

Earlier this week the Guardian Data Blog published financial data for the English Premier League. They chose to go with the obvious story about how in debt the clubs are (and it's true, it doesn't look good) while others have decided to look at the relationship between wins and wages (also true, there is a correlation between the two).

Frank Arnesen, as we all know, is taking over as Sporting Director at Hamburg next season and if reports are to be believed, is looking to raid his former club to bolster his squad for next season.
According to goal.com, Arnesen is quoted recently as saying:

"We don't have big sums of money available this summer.

It was the fear that did it. When it was first mentioned that Liverpool were looking to move away from Anfield a group called Anfield 4 Ever (A4E) set about presenting the opposing view, one that argued that Anfield should be redeveloped rather than demolished.
Yet theirs was a lost battle.

Sunderland have announced a net loss of £25.5million for the year ending July 31 2010.

The lose came despite an increase of turnover to £65.4million but operating expenses (which includes staff/player wages, match costs, utilities etc) also went up, to £70.4million, resulting in a loss before player trading of £5million.

Depending on what you read today, Spurs loanee Robbie Keane either faces six weeks on the sidelines, or is having a late fitness test tomorrow after suffering a calf injury.

Robbie scored on his debut for West Ham at Blackpool, but the calf problem saw him taken off during the club's defeat at Birmingham on Sunday.

Listen Lee, thankfully next week we'll get actual referees

Before we move on to the things I want to touch on today, I promise this will be the last I touch on the Newcastle game. Read this. Finally someone who recognizes what most non-Arsenal fans are not able to see. It is not about whingeing or being a sorry loser (don't think "drawer" can be use in this context) but more about looking at events in perspective.

If this winter seemed like an especially period for American players in Europe, it's because we saw more movement in this transfer window than in any window recent memory.

By the close of the transfer period in England on Tuesday, a total of eight Americans had made moves in the month of January.

With the European transfer window shut for the winter, a number of Americans are settling in to their new clubs, having just been loaned or transferred elsewhere. For a few others, though, their club situation is anything but secure.

Take Eric Lichaj, for example, who enjoyed his first taste of first-team action with Aston Villa early in the season only to find himself in manager Gerard Houllier's notorious doghouse.

Monday marked one of the craziest transfer window closing days in recent memory, with blockbuster deals and several Americans making moves.

Fernando Torres stole the show, moving to Chelsea on an $80.5 million transfer, while English striker Andy Carroll moved to Liverpool for an astonishing $56.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

American striker Eddie Johnson is heading to League Championship side Preston North End on the loan move for the rest of the season, sources told SBI on Monday.

Johnson has earned more playing time this season at Fulham than last season, but the loan to Preston should help him earn considerably more playing time as he heads toward the summer, when his contract will expire.

Woke up this morning & found some interesting news & specualtion concerning possible loans, transfers & signings coming out of Spanish Sports daily "AS" in reference to REAL MADRID CF. The "Winter Transfer Market" ends the 31st of January & Clubs are making their last minute moves & deals. Apart from this, the mentioned Sports daily speculates on the future set up of the Real Madrid squad for

Everton striker Victor Anichebe signed a new four-and-a-half year contract last week for the Toffees, and now he is talking about his future with the club and how his injury-plagued career has helped put things in perspective for him.

"I am 22 now and 17 seems a long time ago. I am not really one to dwell on the past.

The club has announced that Andros Townsend has joined Watford on loan until the end of the season, after spending the first part of this campaign at Ipswich. He has previously had loans at Orient, MK Dons & Yeovil.

Townsend impressed during his Spurs debut in the FA Cup third round game against Charlton, scoring our first goal in the 3-0 win.

Liverpool has been boosted in the race to sign Portuguese international left back Fabio Coentrao.
The Benfica defender has been linked with an Anfield switch in recent months, and has now revealed his personal feelings towards Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool side.
"I love Liverpool," Coentrao is re-quoted as saying on Live4Liverpool.

It says a lot for Everton's finances that David Moyes has to loan a striker to a Championship club - who will cover all his wages - in order to fund a loan signing.
But as the Scot desperately searches for a striker he is forced to release one of his current crop – admittedly one who has only scored once in 15 games – in order to have enough cash to do so.

Though it is now something of old news, two of the league's biggest DP's, David Beckham and Thierry Henry, will be spending time "training" during the offseason with Tottenham and Arsenal respectively. The key word here, of course, is training, as it is simply that: training. These are not trades, nor are they loans.

Hi all, I wanted to do a quick overview of the winter transfer season this year. So far there have not been any major transfers but the rumors dominate the headlines as ever.

Transfers
Of the transfers that have taken place so far in the Russian Premier League, most have been loans [read more]

According to ESPN Soccernet, Birmingham are looking to bring in a few players this month but they will not break the bank for them. Manager Alex McLeish said,

"I've already sat down with Peter Pannu last week and we've agreed that we are going try and bring some players in.