Henrique: still off to QPR?

São Paulo director, João Paulo de Jesus Lopes, says that the door has not been shut on forward Henrique's transfer to QPR. The Morumbi club say that contrary to earlier reports, Henrique has not been denied a UK work visa. "The truth is the visa wasn't turned down.

Liverpool is reportedly in talks with Real Madrid ahead of a bid to sign midfielder Esteban Granero. The Anfield side is keen to beef up their central midfield options and have earmarked a move for the adaptable 24 year old this month. The Merseyside club is lining up a bid in the region of £8m for the former Spanish Under-21 international.

It's been a frustrating period for Jermain Defoe whereby he has spent most of his time on the bench in recent weeks. Despite scoring some valuable goals when he has been on the pitch, the striker is a firm third in the White Hart Lane pecking order behind Adebayor and VDV.

JD will surely get his chance this weekend however as Adebayor is forced to sit out the game against his parent club and in his newspaper column, manager Harry Redknapp almost went overboard in praising his ‘back up' striker.

Forward-thinking Richards Can Add Attacking Edge To England - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Castrol EDGE performance analysis shows that Manchester City's muscular full-back, Micah Richards, has rediscovered his best form this season, providing his star-studded City side with a potent and creative attacking threat.

The agent of Real Madrid's out of favour midfielder Esteban Granero has admitted that he would relish a transfer to Liverpool.
Teofilo Lazaro has spoken out about the future of 24-year-old Granero, who has slipped down Real boss Jose Mourinho's pecking order at the Bernabeu this season.
And, he revealed that the £8million-rated midfield man would be happy for a move away to secure regular first-team action elsewhere, namng the Reds as a possible destination.

If the January U.S. Men's National Team camp was all about wins, adding Jermaine Jones might have been the correct decision. That has never been the case.

The January camps, instead, have always been about giving deserving, often overlooked, players in their offseason a chance to impress while their more established European colleagues are in the midst of their season.

Spanish giants Real Madrid are expected to lose a number of key players this month as another of their brightest talents Angel Di Maria said to have welcomed offers from both Manchester United and Chelsea.

Along with Kaka and Esteban Granero, Di Maria is the third player who could possibly leave the Bernabeu this month.

Well Florent Malouda is doing his best to keep in favour with the manager isn't he!. After reports of AVB's cull at the club of the older players coming to the end of their contracts, Florent Malouda has spoken of the situation here and that fact that we should be winning things year in, year out.

One week into the transfer window, I wish there were more concrete transfer new items to share. But instead, it's just the same rumors we've been reading for the last few weeks, for the most part. I'll start with players making exits, or rumored to be making exits.

Vito Mannone is now on loan with Hull, and he played today against Ipswich in an FA Cup win.

When I was in Germany back in December, I watched an interview with Bayern Munich's Sporting Director Christian Nerlinger. Part of the discussion revolved around Bayern's interest in the newest young German football star, Marco Reus, who Bayern executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge termed "a person of interest.

By Chris Wright

In no particular order, Pies' ten-strong run down of the rumoured January deals we'd absolutely love to see come to fruition for one reason or another...

1. Didier Drogba (Chelsea) to Shanghai Shenhua...

Word is that there are several Chinese clubs queuing up to throw upwards of £400,000-a-week at The Drog in order to coerce him into semi-retirement.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt could be in line for a shock Anfield departure during the January transfer window with Galatasaray showing an interest, according to reports in The Metro.
Since arriving at Liverpool from Feyenoord for £10million in 2006, Kuyt has been one of the key players for the Anfield outfit.

As City wheel and deal in another transfer window, Samir Nasri falls further down the pecking order. And he just joined. Think how early-adopter Wayne Bridge feels.

It's hard to watch several leagues simultaneously, which somewhat tempers the distaste for the phenomenon of sugardaddied Manchester City and makes the team an intriguing entity to behold.

For the last few months if speculation has been made over where Arsenal should make a signing in January it's been in the striking position.

Beyond Robin van Persie we have few options. Or, to put it another way, we have options which no longer produce goals or which the manager clearly has little faith in.

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov could leave the Premier League champions in January for his former side Bayer Leverkusen if reports doing the rounds are anything to go by.

Berbatov spent 6 years with Leverkusen before joining Tottenham in May 2006 where his impeccable form saw him score 26 goals in 70 appearances before United signed him 2 years later.

Joe Cole has not ruled out a return to Liverpool but is enjoying his time on loan at Lille and feels it would be 'logical' for him to stay with the French club.
Cole joined the Ligue 1 champions on a season-long loan deal over the summer and has caught the eye with a series of impressive performances both in their domestic games and the UEFA Champions League.

Season's greetings Arse addicts. It's been an unusual kind of week with two away games yielding mixed results. Yet we've probably found more praise for our performance in defeat at Eastlands than we did for our somewhat serendipitous victory at Villa Park. Football is a funny old, blah, blah, blah etc.

Liverpool are rumoured to be considering a January move for out-of-favour Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Huddlestone.
According to reports on Footybunker.com, Liverpool is desperate to sign a replacement for the injured Lucas Leiva, who will miss the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is preparing to step up his pursuit of a new midfielder to replace the injured Lucas who is out for the rest of the season and has set his sights on Tottenham's Sandro, according to reports in The Metro.
Sandro signed for Tottenham from Internacional in 2010 for £8million, however the Brazilian international has failed to nail down a regular first-team place and since the arrival of Scott Parker has found himself even further down the pecking order at White Hart Lane.

Since Ju Young Park arrived from Monaco in August he has made less than a handful of appearances for Arsenal.
Now I understand there is always going to be a period of 'transition' for a player coming in from a different country, but at times I wonder whether Park is actually real or a figment of my imagination.

Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou's imminent January departure for the African Cup of Nations, along with the sale of Nicolas Anelka to Chinese Super League Club Shanghai Shenhua has left manager André Villas-Boas facing a possibly head-scratching dilemma.

The loss of these three household names could force goal-shy Fernando Torres back in to the equation at Stamford Bridge, a move which some would consider a risk.

Barcelona has reportedly placed David Villa on the transfer list, sparking a scramble for his signature between Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
The Spanish international, 30, has dropped down the pecking order at the Nou Camp this season, and more importantly, has allegedly fallen out with star player Lionel Messi.

Chelsea told to forget replacing Fernando Torres with David Villa

Chelsea and Liverpool have been told to forget any move for David Villa. The Barcelona striker is out of favour at Barcelona after falling down the pecking order.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-14 12:57:42 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Chris Wright

Not that we're giving it much credence, but word in the Daily Mail this morning is that Chelsea are prepared to listen to offers for Fernando Torres come January in a bid to cut their losses as £50 million's worth of doleful Spaniard slips ever-further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool v QPR – Suarez, Barton or Mason to star?

QUEENS PARK RANGERS are the guests at Anfield today and will feel they have a chance of taking points off Liverpool on their home patch. They'll be well aware that The Reds' record against newly-promoted sides hasn't been the best in recent times and will also have noted how many sides have at least left Anfield with a point this season.

So Friday rolls round again in a flash, apparently seven days after it last did. That doesn't feel quite possible.

Olympiacos on Tuesday started badly and never really picked up, but if you haven't yet filed that one away under ‘nothing to dwell too much on' then I shall politely recommend that you do.

By Chris Wright

Here we go folks. Pies' pick of the top ten Premier League players who are in desperate need of, or who could simply benefit tremendously from, a loan move come January time...

10. Carlos Tevez, Man City

Let's get the obvious one out of the way up top.

Carlos Tevez's move to Italy seems to be gaining momentum with every new day. Just last week Tevez's agent Kia Joorabchian met with Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani for a dinner which many believe was a disguise to discuss the fate of the Argentine striker.

This is the second meeting between both players after their first meeting at Milan headquarters more than a week ago.

It's official, Anelka and Alex will be leaving Chelsea in January. The Duo have become srplus to needs at Stamford Bridge and Coach Villas-Boas has confirmed that the club had received their offers to leave the club in January.

I would not quite call this a loss for Chelsea, but rather a step in the right direction as both players are indeed past their prime.

Rumours abound that Liverpool may be looking to sign Nicolas Anelka in the January Transfer-Window, either on loan, or to buy him for around £4 million.
The former Liverpool striker, under Gerrard Houllier, is out of favour and soon out of a contract at Chelsea.
Since the arrival of Villas Boas and the purchase of fallen-Red, Fernando Torres, Anelka has found himself way down the pecking order, behind young Daniel Sturridge who is beginning to find the net quite frequently.

Galatasaray look to be back in the hunt for Benfica's Javier Saviola. The Turkish club knows that the striker has fallen to third choice striker behind Cardozo and Rodrigo. Benfica also look to be leaning towards using U21 portuguese sensation Nelson Oliveira, Saviola could find himself further down the pecking order, with the transfer window set to open in a few weeks.

Another abject performance from Marouane Chamakh in the League Cup match against Manchester City, overshadowed by Park Chu-Young despite the South Korean's average performance, will have cast even more doubt on his "second-choice" position in the pecking order of strikers. Recently he had this to say about having the bit-part role at the club: "It [.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt is expected to leave Anfield with Italian giants Inter Milan reportedly interest.
According to reports in Italian publication Mediaset, Inter failed with a move for the Dutch international 18 months ago, but Kuyt has dropped down the pecking order at Liverpool with Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez now ahead of him.

Dimitar Berbatov has praised Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's man-management style despite the striker struggling to break into the first team this season.
Berbatov, 30, has started one league game and his future at Old Trafford is far from certain with a year remaining on his contract.

Chelsea attacker Salomon Kalou is refusing to put pen to paper on a new deal as he contemplates his options and tries to decide whether to leave in order to get regular first team football.
The Evening Standard suggests that Kalou is currently weighing up his options after a number of Premier League clubs were linked with the Ivory Coast international.

Manchester United third choice goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszchak has launched a blistering attack on his employers accusing them of slavery.

And I bet anyone of you reading this would love to become a 'Slave' if you were to earn anywhere near his £30,000 a week?

Kuszchak (29) who spent the last four years as Edwin Van Der Sar's understudy without actually stepping up to the plate with performance's to match his obvious big head has fallen behind Anders Lindegaard and David de Gea in the pecking order is desperate to leave Old Trafford before January to enhance his chance's of making Poland's Euro 2012 Finals squad had this to say:

"I've become a slave to Manchester,".

By Alan Duffy

Kuszczak begs for his freedom

Poor old Tommy Kuszczak the Polish goalkeeper has slipped down the pecking order at Manchester United, and now finds himself behind David De Gea, Anders Lindegaard and even Ben Amos.

Eager to stake a claim for a place in the Polish squad for the Euro 2012 finals, Kuszczak was hoping to move to Leeds United on loan until the end of year, but according to the 29-year-old, Sir Alex Ferguson blocked the move.

Photo by Perry McIntyre/ISIphotos.com

It happens every time the U.S. national team releases a roster for a friendly or meaningful game. Fans and pundits clamor that a certain player or certain players who didn't make the cut deserved the call-up.

Thursday's roster release for the November friendlies against France and Slovenia was accompanied with a similar reaction.

My, the hardworking folk at The Mirror have been a busy lot this morning; none more so than resident ink-slinger, Darren Lewis, who's been cooking up a spicy bit of gossip concerning that of Liverpool Football Club and one Thomas Andrew Huddlestone. Despite the Merseyside club having more central-midfielders than I've got angry red letters from the council- not to mention Liverpool's position as ‘direct rival' in the hunt for those precious Champions League spots- the story's author seems fairly determined to make it stick.

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool plot swoop for Spurs midfielder

Tom Huddlestone has fallen down the pecking order at White Hart Lane

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-11-01 22:25:31 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.