Bayern sign Donovan

LA Galaxy's Donovan will join Bayern in the next transfer window as he looks to maintain his fitness during the Major League Soccer close-season. "The goal will be to see if we can get him long-term, at least until the end of the season," Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann told the club's official website. Donovan, 26, follows the likes of team-mate David Beckham, who will join up with Milan in January, in seeking a move rather than taking a break from the game.

Capello hails perfect year

England manager Fabio Capello has admitted he could not have imagined a better year following Wednesday's 2-1 friendly victory over Germany.The result means England have won seven and drawn one of his nine matches in charge, with the only blip being the 1-0 defeat by France in March. This was Germany's first defeat in Berin since Brazil prevailed 35 years ago. More importantly, England have made a wonderful start to their World Cup qualifying campaign having won all four of their matches to date. "I cannot have imagined a better year in charge. I think it would have been impossible to be better than this," he admitted. "We've played 10 games and, after every game, I've seen the players taking another step forward. "Against Germany, I saw another step forward because a lot of players played very, very well. "Like a team. This is very important for me, very important. It's perfect. "When I started my job, I had to recover the confidence. I think all the players in this team understand and have experienced this. You can see that the confidence is coming back, during training and during games. This is very important." Both England and Germany used Wednesday's friendly to give younger players a chance to stake their claim for a regular place and Capello felt it was an interesting encounter. "I think it was an interesting game for Germany because they played new players from their squad," he continued. "The same for us. I saw some players who have not played a lot of games under me. Agbonlahor played well but the team's movement with the ball into space and as a defensive unit was very impressive. There was good balance for the team when we went forward and when we had to defend. The performance was very, very important for us. "We played well, with confidence, and with good technique. I'm happy to have selection problems after these players did so well. I needed to know these players better, and now I do."

Speculation mounts over Schuster

Real Madrid have confirmed that sporting director Predrag Mijatovic will hold a press conference at the Bernabeu on Monday evening as speculation over the future of coach Bernd Schuster grows.The German coach watched his Madrid side lose 1-0 to Real Valladolid at the weekend - their third defeat in four games. Last week the Primera Liga champions suffered an embarrassing exit from the Copa del Rey at the hands of Segunda B's Real Union and the Spanish media claimed Schuster would be sacked if Madrid lost against Valladolid. Schuster, who has a frosty relationship with the press, had to endure with a barrage of questions after the Valladolid game but insisted he was not overly concerned about his position. "I am calm. We are working towards what we want to do and I am focused on my job," said Schuster. "It is a difficult time at the moment but we had a similar situation last season." Spanish newspaper AS claimed that Schuster's decision to give his players two days off after the defeat at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla has angered club president Ramon Calderon, who has assigned Real chiefs Mijatovic and Miguel Angel Portugal to seek out possible replacements. Meanwhile, Real Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez insists all the club's players are 100 percent behind under-fire manager Bernd Schuster despite media reports that the coach had lost the respect of the dressing room. "It is a lie to say that we are not behind the coach," said Raul. "Of course we are all with him. There is no problem there." However, Madrid golden-boy Jose Maria Guti and defender Sergio Ramos have been critical of the abrasive German in interviews.

Carlos Tevez has admitted to Argentina boss Diego Maradona that he is concerned by his lack of regular first team action with Manchester United

The striker has been a peripheral figure this season with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov established as Sir Alex Ferguson's first-choice strike partnership. Despite insisting he is happy with the Premier League and Champions League holders, Tevez has told his new national team boss that he wants to be part of the starting XI. Maradona told The Sun: "Tevez is worried about not being in United's first-choice team. "He's got a challenge ahead of him to win a place among lots of extremely good players, including Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. "But I saw he was in good shape and told him the best way of showing his ability is to win the arm-wrestle against all the other players. "Then he'll give himself a chance with the Argentina team. I believe in his ability and I know he features in Sir Alex Ferguson's plans."

Javier Mascherano has agreed to become the captain of Argentina under new coach Diego Maradona.

"I've convinced him," Maradona told Radio La Red after returning from a six-day trip to Europe during which he visited a number of his top players. "I explained to him what I thought about him and told him what I thought he could give the team." Mascherano, 24, initially said he did not feel he was ready to take on the role. Maradona is also hoping to make former defender Oscar Ruggeri his assistant despite reports of the appointment being opposed by Argentina Football Association president Julio Grondona. "I don't think Oscar's impossible," said Maradona. Ruggeri's recent coaching record would make him a controversial choice. He resigned at Mexico's Tecos UAG after losing his first six games in 2003, then took charge of Independiente in his homeland before resigning four months later after being jeered by fans at a home game. In 2004 he managed Spanish second division club Elche but was fired after 20 games. He returned to Mexico and joined America and this time lasted just six matches. Ruggeri's last coaching job was with San Lorenzo in 2006 where he was again fired after poor results including a 7-1 home defeat by Boca Juniors.

Barca to make a move for Fabregas?

According to the Daily Star this morning, Cesc Fabregas could be out of the Emirates in January.
It says that Barcelona are ready to make an immediate £30 million bid for the Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, rather than waiting until the summer.
It has been well known for some time that Barca are keen to re-sign the twenty-one year-old, who left the club six years ago.
Fabregas has repeatedly said he is happy at Arsenal but it would be interesting to see if he would be tempted by a move in January. I hope he isn’t because I enjoy watching him in the Premier League.
(Source - Daily Star)

Andrei Arshavin is so keen to leave Zenit St Petersburg that he claims he will not play for the club next year if they block a transfer.

The Russian playmaker looked set for a move to Barcelona or Tottenham Hotspur in the summer but both moves collapsed over Zenit's asking price, thought to be more than £20 million. The 27-year-old believes his club have priced him out of a transfer and has again pleaded with Zenit to allow him to move. "It all comes down to one thing - for Zenit to set a realistic price," Arshavin told Sport Express. "If they do that, I will, of course, leave. [If not] I will remain a Zenit player, but only on paper. Next year I don't want to play here and I will not be playing here. "That is not an ultimatum, rather a natural reaction to what has happened. I always believed we could come to an agreement on good terms and I could leave the team in a proper manner. "I have conducted myself reasonably, but the longer things go on the less faith I have. It looks like some kind of conflict is unavoidable, although, as God is my witness, I more than anyone don't want that to happen. "Everyone tells me that I have won things having stayed at Zenit, in particular the Super Cup. But this isn't the most important thing. The most important thing is a feeling of inner fulfilment, and I don't feel that at all. I also feel that my team-mates are not getting any pleasure out of playing with me by seeing me in this way." Arshavin admits he has not been personally following the ups and downs at Tottenham this season. "If I'm honest I haven't seen a single [Tottenham] game. I don't need to - I get a full report of what's happening there," he said. "After the epic of my failed transfer in the summer, a lot of people at Zenit are following this team now."

Manchester United and Arsenal play the beautiful game but like Liverpool and Chelsea, they don’t win

Yesterday I wrote this editorial about the fact that the English teams, Chelsea and Liverpool had come unstuck in their Champions League matches and asked the question whether this was a one-off or whether the English teams have been ‘found out’.
Win their games
In all honesty, I wrote the article in the belief that both Arsenal and Manchester United would win their games last night against Fenerbahce and Celtic respectively.
So how did those two English teams get on last night?
One sided
I’m really not sure I have ever watched a more one sided game than the one between Celtic and Manchester United at Celtic Park last night. United had nearly 74% of the possession. They had thirty shots to Celtic’s six. They had thirteen corners to Celtic’s four and they totally dominated the game from start to finish.
United gave Celtic a lesson in passing, moving, ball retention and football generally. In truth it looked like United had at least one more player than Celtic and I’m really not sure how they didn’t win the game.
Desire
If nothing else, this game showed that a team with considerably less ability can match a team in a one-off game if they show the necessary amount of organisation, fight, desire and determination. If effort is enough to deserve a point then Celtic definitely deserved theirs.
Apart from putting the ball in the net, Manchester United were absolutely magnificent all over the pitch. They were on a different planet from Celtic yet the home side came away with a point and very nearly took all three.
Series of chances
An excellent finish by Scott McDonald in the thirteenth minute put Celtic ahead and that was pretty much the last time Celtic attacked in the whole game. A series of chances came and went for United and it took until the eighty-fourth minute for Ryan Giggs to nick an equaliser when he followed up a Boruc parry from a Ronaldo strike.
So in the end, United escaped with a draw despite being totally dominant and Berbatov missing a glorious chance with the last kick of the game. Another English team that failed to get a result on match day four in the Champions League. At least the English had Arsenal who would undoubtedly beat Fenerbahce who they had thrashed 5-2 in Turkey a couple of weeks ago.
Dominated
Well, no, actually. Arsenal failed to beat Fenerbahce. It finished 0-0 at The Emirates. This was another game dominated by the English side. Arsenal had 68% of the possession, sixteen shots to Fenerbahce’s seven and six corners to Fenerbahce’s two. However, as in the Manchester United game, those figures count for nothing if the game is not won.
Fenerbahce did a great defensive job against Arsenal in much the same way that Celtic did against Manchester United.
No wins
So, match day four is over and none of the English teams have won. When was the last time that none of the four English teams won in a round of Champions League matches?
So much for the much vaunted English teams, which of the other tournament favourites did well last night?
Evergreen
Juventus had an excellent 2-0 win at Real Madrid with the evergreen Alessandro Del Piero scoring both goals.
Fiorentina and Bayern Munich played out a draw and Villarreal only managed a draw at Aalborg. In fact, Juventus are probably the only team who could remotely be described as having half a chance of success in the tournament who had a victory over the past two evenings.
Fantastic football
Is this an unusual blip, or have the lesser teams worked out how to play against and frustrate the top teams? I think it is a blip but it could be a worrying sign that the fantastic football of Manchester United and Arsenal has been found out.
It is still very possible that the qualifiers for the knockout stages will be Chelsea, Roma, Inter, Werder Bremen, Barcelona, Sporting, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United, Villarreal, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Porto, Juventus and Real Madrid.
Real trouble
We could all have predicted those qualifiers more or less and Werder Bremen are the only team in real trouble who could miss out.
If all of those teams go through you still have to fancy the four English teams, the three Spanish teams and maybe one of the Italian teams. So in reality, nothing has changed. In fact, the only thing that may possibly have changed is the attitude of the English teams who may have been beginning to think that Europe was a walk in the park. All four of them now know that it is far more difficult than that.

Manchester United and Arsenal play the beautiful game but like Liverpool and Chelsea, they don’t win

Yesterday I wrote this editorial about the fact that the English teams, Chelsea and Liverpool had come unstuck in their Champions League matches and asked the question whether this was a one-off or whether the English teams have been ‘found out’.
Win their games
In all honesty, I wrote the article in the belief that both Arsenal and Manchester United would win their games last night against Fenerbahce and Celtic respectively.
So how did those two English teams get on last night?
One sided
I’m really not sure I have ever watched a more one sided game than the one between Celtic and Manchester United at Celtic Park last night. United had nearly 74% of the possession. They had thirty shots to Celtic’s six. They had thirteen corners to Celtic’s four and they totally dominated the game from start to finish.
United gave Celtic a lesson in passing, moving, ball retention and football generally. In truth it looked like United had at least one more player than Celtic and I’m really not sure how they didn’t win the game.
Desire
If nothing else, this game showed that a team with considerably less ability can match a team in a one-off game if they show the necessary amount of organisation, fight, desire and determination. If effort is enough to deserve a point then Celtic definitely deserved theirs.
Apart from putting the ball in the net, Manchester United were absolutely magnificent all over the pitch. They were on a different planet from Celtic yet the home side came away with a point and very nearly took all three.
Series of chances
An excellent finish by Scott McDonald in the thirteenth minute put Celtic ahead and that was pretty much the last time Celtic attacked in the whole game. A series of chances came and went for United and it took until the eighty-fourth minute for Ryan Giggs to nick an equaliser when he followed up a Boruc parry from a Ronaldo strike.
So in the end, United escaped with a draw despite being totally dominant and Berbatov missing a glorious chance with the last kick of the game. Another English team that failed to get a result on match day four in the Champions League. At least the English had Arsenal who would undoubtedly beat Fenerbahce who they had thrashed 5-2 in Turkey a couple of weeks ago.
Dominated
Well, no, actually. Arsenal failed to beat Fenerbahce. It finished 0-0 at The Emirates. This was another game dominated by the English side. Arsenal had 68% of the possession, sixteen shots to Fenerbahce’s seven and six corners to Fenerbahce’s two. However, as in the Manchester United game, those figures count for nothing if the game is not won.
Fenerbahce did a great defensive job against Arsenal in much the same way that Celtic did against Manchester United.
No wins
So, match day four is over and none of the English teams have won. When was the last time that none of the four English teams won in a round of Champions League matches?
So much for the much vaunted English teams, which of the other tournament favourites did well last night?
Evergreen
Juventus had an excellent 2-0 win at Real Madrid with the evergreen Alessandro Del Piero scoring both goals.
Fiorentina and Bayern Munich played out a draw and Villarreal only managed a draw at Aalborg. In fact, Juventus are probably the only team who could remotely be described as having half a chance of success in the tournament who had a victory over the past two evenings.
Fantastic football
Is this an unusual blip, or have the lesser teams worked out how to play against and frustrate the top teams? I think it is a blip but it could be a worrying sign that the fantastic football of Manchester United and Arsenal has been found out.
It is still very possible that the qualifiers for the knockout stages will be Chelsea, Roma, Inter, Werder Bremen, Barcelona, Sporting, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United, Villarreal, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Porto, Juventus and Real Madrid.
Real trouble
We could all have predicted those qualifiers more or less and Werder Bremen are the only team in real trouble who could miss out.
If all of those teams go through you still have to fancy the four English teams, the three Spanish teams and maybe one of the Italian teams. So in reality, nothing has changed. In fact, the only thing that may possibly have changed is the attitude of the English teams who may have been beginning to think that Europe was a walk in the park. All four of them now know that it is far more difficult than that.

Ferguson charged by FA

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after a dispute with referee Mike Dean.The charge comes after Ferguson confronted Dean following United's 4-3 victory over of Hull at Old Trafford on Saturday. Ferguson marched on to the field immediately after the match to complain to the official. The Scot has been given until 19 November to respond. Ferguson was thought to be upset that Dean, having already booked Michael Turner, did not issue a second yellow card when the Hull defender brought down Michael Carrick in the second half. "It should have been at least a yellow card, in which case the player would have been sent off," Ferguson said after the match. "It made a difference." An FA statement said: "Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been charged with improper conduct in relation to his behaviour towards referee Mike Dean following the match against Hull City on 1st November." Last season Ferguson served a two-match touchline ban and was fined £5,000 for a finger-pointing rant at referee Mark Clattenburg during a defeat at Bolton after Patrice Evra came under a heavy challenge from Kevin Davies. That same campaign also saw Ferguson brand referee Martin Atkinson a "disgrace" after eventual winners Portsmouth knocked United out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 quarter-final victory at Old Trafford in March. The UEFA Cup continues this Thursday with another set of the group games. See the BestPrice betting and draw here.

The Stuart Attwell Gossip

NEW DEAL FOR RONALDO? Various rags this morning run with speculation that Manchester United are going to offer Cristiano Ronaldo a bumper new contract to ward off yet more interest from Real Madrid. Seems to have all started in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, who claimed that Ferguson was scraping together enough pennies to chuck a £150,000-a-week deal at Ronaldo, hoping it would stick. No matter, it seems, that Ronaldo is a mere 18 months into a five-year deal worth a piffling £120,000-a-week. Tricky to live on that in these tough economic times, eh? However, The Times seems to p**s on the Telegraph's chips somewhat, carrying quotes from a 'United source' that read thusly: "There are no plans to offer Cristiano a new contract next summer." Seems pretty definite to us. UNITED & ARSENAL DUKE IT OUT FOR YOUNGSTER While some papers will have you believe they are pricking around trying to make Cristiano happy, The Daily Mirror claims they are busy scrapping with Arsenal for a youngster currently on Fulham's books. Dominic Vose is the name of this whipper-snapper, who the Mirror say has been labelled (presumably by The Daily Mirror) 'the new Paul Scholes'. Apparently Vose spent last week at Old Trafford, and in a footballing version of speed-dating will now have a look round Arsenal to see if that tickles his fancy more. In a 'no s**t' moment, the Mirror confirms to us that Fulham 'will demand a hefty compensation fee'. BECKS IN MORE LOAN TALKS More from The Daily Mirror, who reckon that David Beckham is already in talks over a second loan spell at AC Meeeeeelan. Apparently if his time in Italy turns out to be a success in 2009, he'll go back a year later in order to limber up for a spot in Fabio's 2010 World Cup squad. Assuming that England qualify of course. No chicken counting here. BOLTON WANT CORK And that's where the decent gossip ends. The only other thing of mild note to, err, note is that The Daily Mirror claims Bolton are sniffing around Chelsea whipper snapper Jack Cork. Thrilling stuff.

CARRICK HOPES FOR FITNESS BOOST

Michael Carrick is hoping his fitness will continue to improve after starting Manchester United's 4-3 win over Hull City.
The midfielder has been sidelined by ankle and foot injuries this season and is keen to put an end to his fitness troubles.
He returned from six weeks out as a substitute against West Ham last week before starting Sunday's nail-biting success over Hull.
Carrick scored United's second goal in the game and he is happy to have opened his account for the season.
"It was nice to score and get off the mark," said Carrick in the Manchester Evening News.
"It was the longest I have played in three months, so hopefully that is going to get my fitness up ready for the coming weeks."
The England international admits United nearly slipped up against Hull, having led 4-1, but he is now focused on Wednesday's UEFA Champions League tie at Celtic.
He added: "It was a strange game.
"Being so close at the end did not really fit with how the game went. We created so many chances and played some extremely good football, but we shot ourselves in the foot with a few errors.
"In the end it was a bit crazy really.
"When you step away from it, we have won the game and got three points. Now we can move on to Celtic."

The 33-year-old's representatives flew into Milan on Thursday for talks with the Italian club on Thursday and reached agreement on a deal that will se

“Joachim Low and Michael Ballack were able to establish a new basis of trust during their private meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday and Michael Ballack will therefore remain team captain,” the German FA (DFB) said in a statement on Friday. The Chelsea midfielder flew to Frankfurt at the coach's request to discuss comments made to a German newspaper about Low's decision to drop team mate Torsten Frings for the last two World Cup qualifiers. Ballack had already issued a public statement ahead of the meeting, saying he would apologise to Low. “The precondition (for remaining captain) was he had apologised to Loew, allowing the conflict to be resolved,” the DFB added. Ballack said in the DFB statement it “was not acceptable” for him to comment in public on Low's decisions. “He is the national coach, he makes the decisions and we all have to accept that,” said the midfielder. “Following our discussion I do not have the slightest doubt the national team will achieve its aims within a good atmosphere.” Low said it was important the talks took place openly. “Michael Ballack remains my captain but he as captain must also stick to our rules,” Low said in the DFB statement. “He knows he can discuss anything with me internally but that all sporting … decisions are ultimately made by our training staff and I have made that absolutely clear to Michael. “I am delighted a fantastic player, who has played a major role in our past successes, will now continue to help us reach our goal of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.”

Milan have confirmed that England midfielder David Beckham will join the club on loan from 7 January.

The 33-year-old's representatives flew into Milan on Thursday for talks with the Italian club on Thursday and reached agreement on a deal that will see Beckham stay in Italy until March. Beckham, who plays for US side LA Galaxy, wants to stay fit during the MLS close-season to maintain his place in Fabio Capello's England set-up. "Milan have made a good addition," said Capello, who coached the Rossoneri from 1991-96 and 1997-98. "At Madrid I left him out of the squad because he had signed a contract with Los Angeles but he continued to come on the field and train and I put him back in the team. "He is a very serious lad, very sensible, a professional. People think he is a playboy off the field, it's not true at all." Former England captain Beckham had been a target of Milan before, in January 2007, but opted instead to move to Los Angeles from Real Madrid. Milan director Umberto Gandini told Sky Sports News: "Only David knows his future, but for sure he has a commitment to go back to the MLS and I think he will fulfil that." Earlier this week LA Galaxy announced they have postponed their December tour of Australia because of Beckham's move to Italy. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena gave Beckham his blessing, despite the risk of returning to American with an injury or suffering fatigue later in the MLS season. "I think when players don't go 100% they get hurt, so I'm not going to give him any advice about pulling out of tackles," said Arena. "David's a very experienced player and he understands when to go into challenges and when not to. "Once in a while it doesn't always work out that way but if he goes and can play and train in that environment against players of that quality, it can't be at 50%. "He needs to play at 100% and he needs to position himself to get on the field for first-team minutes. "Players can get injured whether they are in training camp or playing games and there's no method you can create that can prevent injury."