I encourage people to read Pete Gill's piece on F365 (which is normally a bit anti-Arsenal):

He's really got a grasp of the issues at hand here.

OK, it's unfortunate that Eduardo got injured, and it's unfortunate that it was Martin Taylor, because I do believe he's a nice chap, and there's idiots like Roy Keane, Robbie Savage, Joey Barton, Steven Gerrard and so on that have gotten away with worse, more intentional tackles, but only because the other players avoided injury.

The issue here isn't about the individual making the tackle, it's about this ridiculous mentality in British football about "getting in their faces", and "letting 'em know we're there". It's about a coaching staff telling a non-aggressive guy like Martin Taylor to go and start kicking people as soon as they get the ball, and the idea of the tackle not being to "win the ball", but to "stop the man". And then injuries like this happen.

It's ridiculous to hear people defend the tackle. It's one thing to say "OK, he doesn't deserve more than a 5 or 7 match ban", it's another to say things like "the tackle was harmless, he was just unlucky", or "it looks worse than it is because he got injured". That logic is pathetic, and it's ridiculous, and as Gill says in his article - just how lawless is English football becoming, that people think it's OK to get away with this kind of thing? You have people like Stephen Kelly and Garth Crooks saying it shouldn't have been a booking, and Alex McLeish coming out and basically lying outright to the media (probably because he was the one who instructed his players to "get stuck in"), it is absolutely disgusting.

There was a time when the physical defensive play of English football was highly respected around the world - when guys like Adams, Keane, O'Leary, Vieira, Parker, Woodgate, Campbell... even Des Walker - they could slide into thumping challenges from 5 feet away and perfectly get the ball. Why did Rio Ferdinand cost 30 million pounds and why does he play for one of the world's top clubs? Not because he kicks people or injures them, it's because he is good at what he does.

Why have Everton and Aston Villa improved so much and become European contenders in recent years? It's because their midfields have become focussed on playing football with players like Petrov, Arteta, Young, Pienaar, Barry and so on, and their defences have players that can win the ball and use it properly - Laursen, Lescott, Yobo, Mellberg - their game isn't about just kicking opposition players up into the air, it's about playing football the right way. Teams might still be over-physical at times, but they aspire to be more than that.

The next time someone complains about foreigners ruining the English game, and how England doesn't produce any decent players... think twice about it. It's not because skilful English youngsters aren't getting a chance, it's because the manager's first reaction to a player or team of skill that they're facing is to try and kick or foul them, and this style of play becomes a blueprint for football. Even now in the lower leagues, some of the most sought after players are ones that are just big lumps who kick the opposition. There is an absolute paranoia against people that try to play football the right way, and managers respond not by trying to outplay them, but by trying to kick the sh*t out of them.

Joe Cole twice broke his leg as a youngster, but managed to survive to the top level, probably because of being in a good football environment at West Ham. Others haven't been so lucky. Former Arsenal youngster Ryan Smith was one of the club's and England's best youth prospects - a dazzling left winger. One day against an Ipswich reserve team, after another dazzling display of skill, he was taken out by a 16 year old Ipswich player who made no attempt to win the ball, and just wanted to stop the player. Smith's knee ligaments were destroyed, and his career was never the same. He came back scared, without confidence, and his progress was ruined.

So the next time someone asks why England doesn't produce any skilful or creative players, tell them it's because of the sh*t mentality of the game at the moment. Unless they're at a big club like Everton, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool (where they're well protected), they are either going to suffer many injuries at a young age, or stop trying to play the way they can to avoid getting kicked. Of course some might get through, but the fact is that is very rarely happening.

You can appreciate the English mentality of wanting to always win, but this has to be done the right way. The problem is right now that the administrators of the game seem to think it's OK to tackle and foul people just for the sake of it, and so managers are pushing this to the extreme. They send their players out to kick the opposition first, and play football second, and the FA just seems to allow this. I'm not suggesting that we become like Italy, with the game stopping every 5 minutes, but that bad tackles and bad behaviour are properly punished. Managers should not think that it is an acceptable tactic to try and unfairly stop the opposition, and that violence is acceptable as long as it doesn't do any serious damage. This is what needs to change.

Obviously the mini-media-buzz that surrounded Fabio Capello's omission of David Beckham from the England squad was reasonably warranted, but it makes us wonder about Beckham's future, as well as the intentions of Capello.

It's understandable that he's well short of match fitness, and one can't hold that against Capello - sentimentality would have been a silly reason to call him up, and I'm sure that both the coach and player would want the 100th cap to be merited, and the call-up to be necessary.

However, on the issue of match fitness - it is a tricky situation. The MLS doesn't start until late March, and it's possible that by then Capello will have become more familiar with the English game and players, and a bit more rigid in his team selection. Capello has in any case not been a big one for rotating players, and if he finds his side working by the time Beckham gets match fit in April, it might be tough.

Granted, there aren't too many international ties between now and then, but International management often involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work and premeditated decisions; because you don't have the players together very often, team selections and tactics are made ready so that when training sessions begin, everything is in place for match preparation.

As for the actual issue of match fitness, the low standard of the MLS will prove to be an obstacle. It's quite possible that the month of training at London Colney with Arsenal has got Beckham in better shape than what a couple (or more) of months in  the MLS would. Arsenal are well known for their intensive training sessions, and the excellent fitness of their players. Beckham spent two weeks on intensive fitness training, and by the end of his stint was fully involved with the players.

The poverty of the opposition (and to some extent his own teammates) in the MLS means that Beckham is going to take a while to find his feet. Physically he might be fit, but match sharpness, especially the level required for the England squad, might be hard to come by. And even if Becks is sharp, and playing well, it's entirely possible that Capello would rather pick someone who is performing well in the Premier League. All the other England squaddies are domestically based, and Capello is not going to travel all the way to the States to watch Beckham play. He will have to rely on the word of his scouts, and TV coverage (assuming he doesn't destroy the TV after 5 minutes of having to put up with the MLS commentary); it's always hard to tell how prepared a player is from so far.

And lastly, there is of course the possibility that Capello is just testing out the other players, before making an eventual decision. He is well aware of Beckham's abilities after he broke back into Capello's Real Madrid side last season, and helped inspire them to the title. He knows exactly what Beckham can bring to his team, and he knows exactly how Beckham operates under his tactics, so he might just be using this time (they are friendlies) to see how the other England candidates do.

What do you think about Beckham's chances for his 100th cap, and his England future? Leave your comments below!

The Draw:

Bristol Rovers v Southampton

Cardiff v Wolves

Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough*

Liverpool v Barnsley

Manchester United v Arsenal*

Preston v Portsmouth*

Coventry v West Brom

Chelsea v Huddersfield

(Ties to be played on February 16th and 17th)

With just 6 Premier League sides left in the 16 teams in the 5th round, it promises to be a very interesting cup.

The choice fixture of course is Manchester United hosting Arsenal at home. The FA Cup has thrown up some crackers between these two teams over the years, and none more so than the semi-final replay in 1999 - Beckham opened the scoring with a great long-range goal, Bergkamp equalised with a neat one himself, Roy Keane got sent off, Schmeichel saved Bergkamp's penalty, and then Ryan Giggs scored THAT wonder goal, and United went on to win the treble. Then in 2003, Arsenal sent a second-stringish side to Old Trafford and won 2-0, with goals from Edu and Wiltord, and Franny Jeffers putting in a memorable hard-working performance up-front. The next meeting was the semi-final in 2004, Arsenal were unbeaten and top of the league, and a few players were rested for this fixture. United ended up winning 2-0, some might say unjustly, after Arsenal had had the post twice and wasted several chances to take the lead early on in the game. And finally, in 2005, the teams met in the final of the FA Cup. Arsenal were negative and lucky (but decimated by injuries), and nervously saw out the 90 minutes goalless, before Jens Lehmann made an excellent save from Scholes' spot-kick to seal the penalty shootout and cup for Arsenal.

You can expect another very entertaining fixture, although both teams will be resting players because of the Champions League, and Man United are likely to have the better side out, since they have a larger, stronger squad.

The other matchup of interest is Sheff Utd vs Middlesborough. The Blades have an excellent cup record, and have engineered many upsets over the years. Even though Neil Warnock is gone, they still have a strong setup, and Bryan Robson keeps his troops spirited. Middlesborough had some difficulty seeing off lowly Mansfield Town in the previous round, and are ripe for an upset given their indifferent form over the season. The arrival of Afonso Alves might just give them a big boost though.

Chelsea won't have much trouble with Huddersfield, although Liverpool might with Barnsley, especially given the proximity of these fixtures to the Champions League ties. The Blues' young striker Scott Sinclair started out at Huddersfield, and may just get a long run-out in this fixture.

Portsmouth should be able to beat Preston, although it will be a very tricky fixture for them. Pompey benchwarmer Dave Nugent will be coming up against his former club, where he did so well and earned his first England cap. 

Cardiff and Wolves will be a tight all-Championship fixture, as will Coventry v West Brom (in addition to being a Midlands derby), and Southampton should dispatch Bristol Rovers without much trouble

There were a few upsets in this round of the cup, although 11 of the 20 Premiership sides had already been eliminated in the previous round.

Two Premierleague sides went out this time, although only one of them was really an upset.

Derby lost 1-4 away to Preston, and it's been a tradition over the years for teams at the foot of the Premier league table to lose clubs that are doing well in the Championship. This was one such case, and I think Paul Jewell will already be looking at how best to mount a challenge in the Championship next season.

The other upset, which was significantly more shocking, not just for the result, but the events of the match as well, was Sheffield United beating Man City 2-1 at Bramall Lane. City have an awful record there, having not won in 6 games, but no one could have expected to see what happen.

The incident, in case you haven't seen/heard about it yet, was caused by several balloons thrown onto the pitch by the travelling Man City fans. Joe Hart dealt with whatever crosses and shots came his way, but unfortunately failed to deal with the balloons, and they just lay around in the home penalty area. The eventual irony was of course majestic - a cross coming in from the left hit two sets of balloons in the area, the path of the ball went wonky, and it ballooned (haha) away to evade the foot of Michael Ball(oon), sitting up nicely for Luton Shelton to pop home. Jonathan Stead scored a neat second, and City were in trouble. Elano came close, hitting the post with a free-kick, but it was his second-half replacement, youngster Daniel Sturridge, who scored City's consolation with an excellent strike.

The unfortunate Man City squad had more misery heaped on them after it was found that the dressing room had been robbed, with money being stolen from the players and staff. 

Arsenal and Emmanuel Adebayor recovered from the Spurs' debacle, beating Newcastle 3-0. Keegan's men started quite promisingly, but were outplayed by the end of the encounter with two top quality goals from Adebayor, and and own goal from Nicky Butt.

Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile continued his amazing form, scoring a brace to give Man United a 3-1 win over Tottenham, and giving him 25 goals for the season. Robbie Keane had scored first for Spurs, but Carlos Tevez equalised, before Ronaldo scored a penalty and then the winner.

Chelsea had a few hiccups against a decent Wigan side, but easily prevailed as 2-1 winners, with Nicolas Anelka scoring his first for Chelsea. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored their second, and Atoine Sibierski scored a consolation. 

In other news (apologies for not going into detail, but I can't be bothered), Cardiff just edged out Hereford in a 2-1 win, Wolves absolutely hammered Championship title challengers Watford 4-1 away, and in Saturday's "fairytale" fixture of non-league Havant & Waterlooville vs Liverpool at Anfield, the Hawks actually took the lead twice before being put down 5-1.

The full list of Round 4 results is listed below. The amazing thing about this round is that all the matches were conclusive (wins), meaning no 4th round replays for the first time in 57 years.

Southend 0-1 Barnsley
Mansfield 0-2 Middlesborough
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Barnet 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Derby 1-4 Preston
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & Waterlooville
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield
Peterborough 0-3 West Brom
Portsmouth 2-1 Plymouth
Southampton 2-0 Bury
Watford 1-4 Wolves
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
Hereford 1-2 Cardiff
Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham
Sheff Utd 2-1 Man City

Ghanaian youngster Andrew Ayew is in Ghana for the Nations Cup, and will be looking to make a big impact.

The French-born left-winger/striker is said to be wildly talented, and is the son of Ghanaian, African and Marseille legend Abedi Pele. The youngster also plays for Marseille, and he has received rave reviews for some of his performances this season (although he hasn't made too many).

He is definitely one to watch in this tournament, and it's rumoured that Arsenal are close to tying up a £5 million deal for him.

Who do you think will be the best new talent of this tournament? Leave your opinions in the comments! 

In a recent interview, Alex Ferguson said that it was his duty to produce English players, because nobody else was going to. Whether he intended it that way or not, the media interpreted it as a pop at Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, and probably a bit at Liverpool as well.

Of course, this all comes on the back of England's defeat to Croatia, and their generally bad football over the last year, and how all this is somehow the fault of foreign players coming in, and how clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool don't produce enough English players. Of course clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea are hailed for having "English souls" and whatever else, but that's really a lot of crap. It's easy for the two richest clubs in the country to go out and spend 10-20m on an English player and then claim that they have homegrown players. It's also nonsense.

So I thought i'd take a look at the two clubs named as the big "saviours" of English football, and see just exactly how many English international players they've "produced".

From the England squads, Manchester United have Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Rio Ferdinand and Ben Foster. Which is fine I suppose, it's nice to have 7 England internationals, and I guess Alex Ferguson can be proud of that. But when it's used as stick to beat other clubs and managers with, then it becomes very, very unfair, because how much did these players cost?

Well, Rooney cost £27 million, Carrick cost £18m, Hargreaves cost £17m, and Ferdinand cost £33m. Ben Foster was a £1 million buy from Stoke, and ONLY two players - Gary Neville and Wes Brown - are from United's "famed" youth setup. Well, that's a total cost of £96 million! It's easy to brag about your "English core" when you're filthy rich isn't it!

And Chelsea? Well they have Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Shaun-Wright Pillips. Once again, errr... well done for having all these Englishman in the squad, but again, how many have Chelsea produced? Just one - John Terry. As for the rest? Ashley Cole cost about £17 million (£5m + William Gallas), Wayne Bridge cost £7m, Frank Lampard cost £11m, Joe Cole cost £7m and Shaun Wright-Phillips cost £21m. Total cost: £63 million.

Chelsea and Manchester United spend more on their beloved English players than most clubs (Arsenal included) do in 2 or 3 seasons on ALL their players. And how many can you say are worth it? Is Owen Hargreaves really worth £17m when Mathieu Flamini cost £1m? Is Rio Ferdinand really worth £33m when Kolo Toure cost £750,000? Is Wayne Bridge worth £7m when Patrice Evra was only £4.5m? And Michael Carrick £18m when the far superior Xabi Alonso was only £11m? There's a reason that clubs look abroad for players, and it's not because they dislike English players or want to harm English football, it's because the prices and hype that surrounded even a moderately talented English player are ludicrously high, and clubs other than Chelsea and Manchester United can't really throw the money around.

In any case, we've seen that between them, Chelsea and Manchester United presently have only three club-produced England internationals in their squads. So why don't we look at the recent England squads, and the number of players that have been club-produced by the "Big Four", and when they won their first caps:

Manchester United: Gary Neville (1995), David Beckham (1996), Phil Neville (1996), Wes Brown (1999)
Arsenal: Ashley Cole (March 2001), David Bentley (September 2007)
Liverpool: Steven Gerrard (2000), Michael Owen (1998)
Chelsea: John Terry (June 2003)

OK, so Manchester United have the most home-produced players of those 4, but the most recent cap of them all was Wes Brown in 1998, and he's not even that important. They're basically still living off the reputation of their much vaunted "Golden Generation", but the fact is that United have not produced a decent English player in years and years, and their present crop are decidedly ageing and average at the ages of 32, 31, 32 and 28.

And I'd like to follow that up by asking you which club from the "Big Four" has produced the most number of players to be capped in this decade? Well the answer to that, funnily enough, is Arsenal! Two is not a large number, but it's certainly more than Manchester United have given to English football in the last 7 years. And if you look at the recent England youth squads, you will find that it's Arsenal who are producing the most talented young English players, and in good numbers as well. Surely this can only be because of their foreign manager, and all the incredibly talented foreign players that are there in training and on the field?

Incidentally the two clubs that have contributed the most to recent English squads are Leeds and West Ham. Leeds - Aaron Lennon, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Scott Carson, and Jonathan Woodgate
West Ham - Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe (although the latter was schooled mostly at Charlton)

Well, it's finally happened. Football fans everywhere speculated that Tottenham's tie against Getafe would be Martin Jol's last game (irrespective of the result), and it being a 2-1 defeat at home only helped speed things up.

Spurs have been absolutely shit. Make no mistake. They haven't been unlucky, they haven't had unjust decisions go against them, they have just been rubbish. Their defenders make hordes of schoolboys everywhere look like armies of Maldinis and Cannavaros, and their midfield is an uncomfortable, depressing selection of limited players. And they haven't scored many goals either.

Berbatov is one of the classiest players in the league, Defoe one of the most pure goalscorers, and Bent a consistent, pacy striker who has been a consistent scorer for two years now, and cost them £16.5 million (half a million more than Thierry Henry went for, they gloated when the legendary Frenchman was sold).

Any club thay has a strikeforce like they do should be mid-table at the very least, but as ever, Spurs are just a petty circus. Obsessed with their "big club" fixation, and need to somehow try and hangon to the coat-tails of their now far-superior neighbours Arsenal, the wheels really have started to come off the wagon in a big way.

So what suddenly made Spurs crap? Well it wasn't Martin Jol.

He was in fact the man who rescued them from years of crapness, and put some attacking spirit into their football, and led them to consecutive 4th placed finishes when they had spent past years struggling to even make the top 10.

Originally hired as assistant to the dire Jacques Santini, he was given the position full-time, and set about rebuilding Spurs. Of course it helped that the EUNUCH seemed to be willing to spend any amount of money so long as the players were English, but Jol did a good job of putting together a team, and they played as such for two years.

However, there were constant rumours of him not getting along with board members, and of abrasive encounters. As good of a coach and manager as he was, he perhaps didn't have the nous and experience to deal with tricky boardroom situations, and the overriding presence of Frank Arnesen.

Things worsened with the arrival of former Arsenal scout Damien Comolli as the Director of Football following Arnesen's departure to Chelsea. The Spurs board, as they are prone to with their Arsenal obsession, trumpeted the signing of Comolli as some sort of one-upmanship over their North London neighbours, with the media and fans suddenly claiming that he was the one who had been responsible for all the European talent at Arsenal, and that Arsene Wenger never knew anything anyways. Comolli was very close to the board, and with the following summer's transfer activity, it became clear that there was a power struggle in place.

In came Didier Zokora, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto and all the other "talents" that Comolli had found, replete with media stories about they had all rejected Arsenal to sign for Spurs, when in fact there had never been any concrete interest. Jol's teams were constantly being re-jigged, and Michael Carrick was a huge loss for him. But the Spurs board had been convinced by Comolli that Zokora was the better player, and so they sanctioned the sale, which Jol was furious about.

And so it developed into a situation that was quite similar to the one that had existed earlier - Santini unable to come to terms with Frank Arnesen's overwhelming influence over the football matters. Jol was being marginalised, and then when it emerged that Spurs had approached Juande Ramos in the summer about talking over at White Hart Lane, the speculation over Jol's future turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

From day 1, he has looked miserable, and the team has looked disjointed and aimless. The defending has been slack, the attacking has been selfish, and the overall play confused. Against Getafe on Thursday, nobody was interested in making runs, the players were sulking, and when they scored to go 1-0 up, Jol looked as grim as ever.

The only surprise in all of this, is why didn't they get rid of him earlier? Surely when you start the season knowing that your board no longer wants you, and your players know this too, then the situation is already too broken to mend. 

When young Yoann Gourcuff left Stade Rennais for Milan, he was supposed to be the next big thing. There had been concrete interest from Arsenal and Lyon for a year, and it didn't take a particularly gifted talent-spotter to see that the boy had promise. Likened to Robert Pires, Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane, Gourcuff is a technically supreme midfielder, able to see the game and manipulate the ball like few others. To add to that, he is tall and considerably strong (hence the comparison to Zizou), and able to work as a more conventional central midfielder in addition to his obvious abilities as an attacking one.

He emerged through the excellent youth setup at Rennes, but was lured away by the allure of Milanello, the San Siro, and all the dreams that come with. Arriving as one of Europe's most talented young midfielders (and NOT a raw one at that), the idea was that he would slot into the fluid, unpredictable Milan midfield - able to substitute for Seedorf, for Pirlo, and even for Kaka, with the eventual hope being that he might end up as consistently brilliant as the Brazilian.

But of course AC Milan being AC Milan, nothing went as planned.

After a promising start, Gourcuff found no playing time, and this season he has seen even less. The arrival of Emerson in the summer meant that central midfield was now more congested. Add to this the hype of Brazilian superkid Pato (who will arrive in January), and the odd return of Ibrahim Ba, and one wonders what Gourcuff is still doing there. The Pato situation is quite unfortunate, because in all the hype, people have forgotten that Gourcuff too is a "wonderkid" (albeit a slightly older one).

The French youngster has understandably become frustrated, and spoke out about how he wanted more playing time. This drew a reaction from the AC Milan supremo Adriano Galliani, and his quotes are quite ludicrous in places. I've higlighted a few of the choice bits:

"Gourcuff is partly right when he says that he hoped he would get more playing time, because that's what he agreed on with our coach last summer. But that was before we got the chance to sign Emerson, even though we had told Gourcuff we would buy no one in midfield to allow him more playing time.

However, Gourcuff has to understand he is lucky to be playing in the team that has won the most trophies in the world, and if he is really that good he should be able to break through into the side, even if now we have one more midfielder.

Nevertheless, I can understand his situation and I didn't get angry about what he said."

Well Adriano, you shouldn't get angry about what he said, he should be getting angry about what you and Ancelotti said! If it was agreed that he would get more playing time, and that no more midfielders would be signed, then why should he be content? What difference does it make to Gourcuff that Milan have won so many trophies if he's not getting any games, and unable to contribute to the team or improve as a player?

It's quite ridiculous stuff, and one would hope that Gourcuff just leaves. I'm sure Arsene Wenger would still be interested - he has a good record of rescuing talented French youngsters from their misery in Italy (see Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry). In fact, this situation is so similar to the Vieira one, it's uncanny. The Gunners legend arrived in much the same way as Gourcuff - one of the most talented young midfielders in France, who had only just had a season or two of establishing himself with his club (Cannes). When he arrived in Milan, chances were few, and he found his path to the first team blocked by expensive, more experienced players. Wenger rescued him from the reserves, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So don't rule out Arsenal making a move. Wenger is a keen admirer of his talents, and with Rosicky constantly injured, and a replacement for Robert Pires still to be found, it just might happen. And if not the Gunners, well previous suitors Lyon, as well as Ajax, Valencia, and many others are all still keeping an eye on him.

Sorry to interrupt everyone's Copa America fever (who would have thunk it eh?), but I just thought I'd take a quick look around what's been happening in the transfer market. Please note that this is more or less just what is on my mind, so sorry if I miss out on discussing any transfers that people want, but you can always add on in the comments, or discuss it on the forums.

David Rozehnal
From PSG to Newcastle - £2.9 million
This is an interesting signing, and the type of signing you continually find with the German or French leagues - decent players being sold at decent prices, without the ridiculous over-hypedness/over-pricing(England) or buyout clause nonsense (Spain) or just general bickering, corruption and co-ownership (Italy and South America). Lyon, Marseille and Bayern Munich aside, all the clubs in those leagues seem perfectly content to transfer players between each other, irrespective of nationality or rivalries.

Newcastle have acquired a very solid, decent defender at an excellent price. 26 year old Czech centre-back Rozehnal is good in the air, has decent pace, and is a great reader of the game who can play the ball out of defence as well. It's one of those situations where the bigger clubs have busied themselves going after defenders who are quicker, stronger, and bigger, and Newcastle managed to strike a quick deal with struggling PSG, and Rozehnal was probably more-than-happy to come to a well-supported club in the "almighty" Premier League. Good luck to him, and Sam "I am the Walrus" Allardyce has added solidity to a backline that was about as stable as a jellyfish when featuring the talents of Titus Bramble, Ogyuchi Onyewu, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Craig Moore. NEXT.

Darren Bent
From Charlton to Tottenham - £16.5 million
Tottenham have continued their policy of "If it's English and runs, buy it". Livewire striker Darren Bent has signed from Charlton for a colossal feel of 16.5 meeyun quid. It's basically got most of England asking - "Did I hear correctly? Is Darren Bent actually more expensive than Thierry Henry?" I don't think that there will ever be an end to this ridiculous intra-England policy of deciding that English players are 100 times more valuable than their foreign counterparts (most of whom speak better English than them anyways). What is only slightly more bizarre is that West Ham had bid £18 million, and offered Bent £75,000 per week (he eventually signed for Spurs on £45,000 a week).

Still, Bent is a really good young player, very quick, subtly powerful, and with a real enthusiasm to score goals. He's still very raw, but will inject much needed pace into Spurs' front line. He will complement Berbatov well, but there are rumours that Berbatov is being lined up by Manchester United. His arrival will put into doubt the future of fellow Arsenal fan and Spurs teammate Jermain Defoe, who has gone from being a 20-goal a season man to a 20-minutes from the end substitute.

Olivier Kapo
From Juventus to Birmingham City - £3 million
Almost 4 years ago, Olivier Kapo was touted as being one of the biggest talents in France. Kapo, one of those weird attacking players who has never really been allowed to settle in any role (an AM LC/FC on FM), was a product of Auxerre's acclaimed youth system, and a member of the "golden generation" that saw the emergence of Philippe Mexes, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Khalilou Fadiga and Djibril Cisse (admittedly, some a bit less "golden" than others).

Unfortunately, instead of taking gradual steps up, he made the mistake of signing for Juventus (who promptly signed about a dozen other midfielders the next day), and never saw any first team football. He went on loan to Monaco and Levante, but seemed to be in limbo, and now has the chance to resurrect his talents in the midlands. If Birmingham do manage to sign Mathieu Flamini from Arsenal, then Flamini's workrate and running, and Fabrice Muamba's covering and tackling should provide a great base for Kapo to attack freely. Of course this is all dependent on Steve Bruce showing at least a little bit of tactical ability, and I have no faith in that.

And in the realm of rumours:

Djibril Cisse from Liverpool to Marseille (rumoured fee of £7 million)
About time really. All Cisse has done at Liverpool (apart from scoring in the FA Cup final) is break his legs. We all know the biggest part of Cisse's game is his hair, and he made the massive mistake of marrying his hairdresser on Merseyside... a marriage clearly not made in heaven, because in almost Samson-like fashion his hair and football ability both went to shit, and he was later arrested for assaulting his wife. Off you go.

Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool (rumoured fee of £27 million)
If Rafa Benitez wants to sign El Niño, he is going to have to pay a hefty fee. The iconic young no. 9 is supposed to have a release clause of about £25 million pounds, and Atletico also want Liverpool to pay the £2 million loyalty bonus that Torres is supposed to be receiving from the Madrid club. Loyalty bonus. Can you believe that?

Anyways, although Torres has a lot going for him, he is very overrated. He has the potential to be a great player, but so far has always flattered to deceive. I wonder if he will flourish under Rafa Benitez, because Rafa doesn't really have a great record for grooming young players (or playing attacking football for that matter). He might have done better under the tutelage of Wenger or Ferguson, but it looks like Liverpool it is. Torres is talented, he's got bags of potential, and he's got great charisma and marketing value, but he is VERY overrated. When Djibril Cisse arrived, he was an expensive, overrated player, but one who had scored bags of goals. Torres arrives(?) as an expensive, overrated player as well, but one who really hasn't scored many goals.

Juninho Paulista to Hull City
THIS IS THE STRANGEST RUMOUR OF THEM ALL. Juninho, once the darling of the Middlesborough fans, one of the most talented players to have played in the Premiership, and one of the stars for Brazil in their 2002 World Cup triumph, is going to end up in the orange strip of Hull City FC. Bizarreness. In a career that has taken him from Sao Paulo to Boro to Atletico to Boro to Vasco to Flamengo, back to Boro AGAIN, and then Celtic and then back to Brazil with Vasco and then Flamengo (I AM COMPLETELY CONFUSED BY THIS MERRY-GO-ROUND NOW), Juninho is now set to go back to England.

He seems to have a special place for the English fans in his heart, and English fans all over remember him fondly as well. Hull City would be an interesting option. They are one-tier below the Premiership, and if Juninho was to help them get promoted, he might enjoy one last-love affair with the Premiership, and it might be worth it just for the reception at Boro vs Hull alone. That's assuming that Hull get promoted. Or that Boro get relegated :) Either way, it'll be the only way that Middlesborough manage to fill up their stadium for the first time in years.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, i'm done. That was long. Hope you enjoyed it.