Despite having a vast catalogue of top European sides chasing his signature, the man dubbed the next Zinedine Zidane, Sofaine Feghouli, appears destined to stay loyal to Grenoble until the end of the season.

Comparisons with the great Zinedine Zidane may be a little premature for 18 year-old attacking midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, however, the Grenoble player already has a lengthy list of clubs chasing him that even the great Zizou would be proud of.

The majority of Europe’s elite sides are represented in the hunt for the French U-21 international, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Barcelona amongst a clutch of clubs chasing the highly regarded young talent.

It seems that these teams will have to wait until the summer before a bidding war begins for the Paris-born star as he revealed to 10Sport that he is not prepared to leave the south-east of France before the summer.

“I want to finish the season with Grenoble and do my best to help the club continue in Ligue 1,” he explained. “Personally, I’d like to stay in France. That is my priority. I don’t want to go abroad to be regarded as a player well down the order and rarely play. I need game time and I will leave my advisor to handle these things. For the moment, nothing is concrete.”

The news that Feghouli is receptive to a move to one of Ligue 1’s bigger sides is sure to alert the likes of Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille and even hometown club Paris Saint-Germain, all of whom would surely like an additional player of Feghouli’s quality amongst their ranks.

The latest chapter in the William Gallas story involves the defender being linked with a move to Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur are set to make an audacious bid for Arsenal defender William Gallas, if a report in the Sunday Mirror is to be believed.

The paper claims that Gallas’s future remains unclear after recent events, which have seen him stripped of the club's captaincy and dropped for the game against Manchester City.

Although the defender has since regained his place in the team and looks set to play for the Gunners today against Chelsea, the Mirror suggests that he will shortly depart the Emirates, possibly as early as the January transfer window.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is reportedly prepared to offer Gallas a way out of Arsenal in a move that is likely to rile both sets of supporters and echo Sol Campbell’s switch when he left Spurs to join Arsenal back in 2001.

Gallas never appears to be far away from controversy at the moment having hit the headlines recently after comments made about his team mates riled manager Arsene Wenger and led to him losing the Arsenal captaincy.

Last season the defender’s actions also caused much debate in a match against Birmingham City when Gallas refused to watch a penalty taken against his side and staged his own personal ‘sit in’ after the final whistle.

The centre-back also left Chelsea amid reported accusations that he would score an own goal if he remained at Stamford Bridge and should ensure he receives a hot welcome when he returns to West London this afternoon.

Of course Spurs manager Redknapp has experience of the friction caused when leaving a club to join their local rivals.

The 61-year-old left his role in charge of Portsmouth to join Southampton back in 2004 before moving back to Pompey after a year at St Mary’s and may therefore have no qualms about asking Gallas to swap North London clubs.

The official world XI has been announced by FIFPro and the best team has split fans, pundits, journalists and professionals across the globe. Goal.com reporters from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa got together and voted for their favoured eleven from the nominations provided by FIFPro. Who would have made your dream team?

From the nominations provided by FIFPro, who would have been in your World XI?

Nominees (teams played for last season)

Goalkeepers:
Artur Boruc [Poland/ Celtic]; Gianluigi Buffon [Italy/ Juventus]; Iker Casillas [Spain/ Real Madrid]; Petr Cech [Czech Republic/ Chelsea], Edwin van der Sar [Holland/ Manchester United].

Defenders:
Daniel Alves [Brazil/ Sevilla]; José Bosingwa [Portugal/ FC Porto]; Fabio Cannavaro [Italy/ Real Madrid]; Ricardo Carvalho [Portugal/ Chelsea]; Gaël Clichy [France, Arsenal]; Ashley Cole [England/ Chelsea]; Patrice Evra [France/ Manchester United]; Rio Ferdinand [England/ Manchester United]; Philipp Lahm [Germany/ Bayern Munich]; Ferreira Lucio [Brazil/Bayern Munich]; Paolo Maldini [Italy/ AC Milan]; Alessandro Nesta [Italy/ AC Milan]; Pepe [Portugal/ Real Madrid]; Carles Puyol [Spain/ Barcelona]; Sergio Ramos [Spain/ Real Madrid]; John Terry [England/ Chelsea]; Nemanja Vidic [Serbia/ Manchester United]; Gianluca Zambrotta [Italy/ Barcelona]; Javier Zanetti [Argentina/ Inter]; Yuri Zhirkov [Russia/ CSKA Moscow].

Midfielders:
Deco [Portugal/ Barcelona]; Michael Ballack [Germany/ Chelsea]; Michael Essien [Ghana/ Chelsea]; Gennaro Gattuso [Italy/ AC Milan]; Cesc Fabregas [Spain/ Arsenal]; Steven Gerrard [England/ Liverpool; Andrès Iniesta [Spain/ Barcelona]; Kaká [Brazil/ AC Milan]; Frank Lampard [England/ Chelsea]; Javier Mascherano [Argentina/ Liverpool]; Andrea Pirlo [Italy/ AC Milan]; Franck Ribery [France/ Bayern Munich]; Marcos Senna [Spain/ Villareal]; Wesley Sneijder [Holland/ Real Madrid]; Xavi [Spain/ Barcelona].

Forwards:
Andrei Arshavin [Russia/ Zenit St Petersburg]; Dimitar Berbatov [Bulgaria/ Tottenham Hotspur]; Didier Drogba [Ivory Coast/ Chelsea]; Samuel Eto'o [Cameroon/ Barcelona]; Thierry Henry [France/ Barcelona]; Zlatan Ibrahimovic [Sweden/ Inter]; Lionel Messi [Argentina/ Barcelona]; Ruud van Nistelrooy [Holland/ Real Madrid]; Ronaldinho [Brazil/ Barcelona]; Cristiano Ronaldo [Portugal/ Manchester United]; Wayne Rooney [England/ Manchester United]; Carlos Tévez [Argentina/ Manchester United]; Luca Toni [Italy/ Bayern Munich]; Fernando Torres [Spain/ Liverpool]; David Villa [Spain/ Valencia].



Here is the official World XI according to FIFPro:

A selection of Goal.com's international journalists got together and voted for their own World XI. The weighting from our international office was as follows:

Casillas - 61 per cent of the vote

Ramos - 61%
Ferdinand - 50%
Terry - 45%
Evra - 45%

Xavi - 61%
Gerrard - 45%

Ronaldo - 78%
Ribery - 39%
Messi - 67%

Torres - 45%

Those unlucky not to make Goal.com's World XI were:

Buffon - 17%

Vidic - 33%
Carvalho - 28%

Senna - 33%
Fabregas - 39%
Iniesta - 28%

Ibrahimovic - 39%


Interestingly, the dominant division in Goal.com's world XI was the Premier League.

Premier League: 54%
La Liga: 37%
Bundesliga: 9%

The dominant nationality though was Spanish.

Spanish: 37%
English: 27%
French: 18%
Portuguese: 9%
Argentinian: 9%


We at Goal.com want to know who would have made your World XI! Scribble down your dream team below and hit enter... is it any different to the FIFPro or Goal.com's favoured selection? Do you think either teams made a serious error in omitting Ibrahimovic, Fabregas, or Vidic? Let us know...

Arsenal's pacey wingman Theo Walcott says he cannot wait to zip down the lines at the Emirates Stadium this evening as he will be up against fellow Brit Gareth Bale.

Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale will now much about each other's game as they used to train and play together during their Southampton days.

Since then they have moved on to two of the most successful clubs in English football, although one is enjoying more fame than the other.

While Walcott has put in some assured performances for club and country, Gareth Bale on the other hand has never won a Premier League match with Tottenham Hotspur. All of Spurs' league wins have come when Bale has been absent.

Walcott has said he is relishing the chance to come up against his former team-mate in tonight's north London derby.

"I’m sure he’ll get everyone’s confidence up. I get messages from Gareth all the time and I’m looking forward to it," Theo told the Telegraph.

"Hopefully, deep down, he isn’t looking forward to it. I’ve never played against him. It will be a big challenge – he’s one of the best left-backs and he could play left wing as well.

"A lot of people are surprised about Tottenham’s start, the amount of money they’ve spent and the players they’ve got. Obviously there has got to be something going on in the background, they have so many world-class players," he said.

"I’ve been lucky to come into an Arsenal team that’s doing well. It’s difficult when a team’s struggling to find your top level, but they will find their form, I’m sure."

Arsene Wenger has criticised Tottenham Hotspur's decision to axe manager Juande Ramos, insisting that the Spaniard was not given a fair chance...

Ramos was replaced by Harry Redknapp, the former Portsmouth manager, at the weekend after Tottenham had failed to procure a single win in their first eight games of the season.

It was a highly disappointing end to a tenure which many believed would see Spurs succeed in their long-held ambition to challenge for Champions League places. Last season's Carling Cup win was supposed to be a stepping stone to greatness - but, alas, it was not to be.

Despite the Lilywhites' dreadful form, the club's board have received harsh criticism from some quarters for sacking Ramos so soon into his his first full season at the helm. Wenger is one of those critics.

Patient

"I don’t think he’d have been sacked if he had only arrived at Tottenham in July," the Arsenal manager said in The Sun. "But the fact is he arrived in the middle of last season and people were less patient with their league position.

"What sometimes happens in this league is when a team doesn’t go for Europe and wins the Carling Cup, they suddenly switch off.

"Without anyone noticing, slowly you lose results. And then, if you don’t start the next season well, which is what happened to Ramos, his environment slowly lost confidence in him."

Ramos arrived at White Hart Lane with a sterling reputation after winning back-to-back UEFA Cups at Sevilla, and Wenger is not the only one who is confused by the Ciudad Real native's failure in the Premier League.

"I am very surprised it didn’t work for Ramos and I feel sorry for him because I rate him as a coach and as a man," he said.

"It takes time to get your ideas through. I understand Tottenham have to make decisions but you would want anyone to be given more than eight or nine games."

Different Direction

Damien Comolli, the Spurs sporting director, was also relieved of his duties after taking much of the blame for the club's transfer blunders over the past few summers.

Ramos was less than sympathetic towards his former colleague, however, insisting that he (the manager) had no say in the signings of David Bentley, Giovani Dos Santos, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Luka Modric and Heurelho Gomes.

Tottenham have opted not to replace Comolli for the time being, drafting in Redknapp - a traditional English manager - to oversee all team affairs.

Wenger is interested by the appointment: "Now they have gone a completely different way and done away with the director of football because they were suddenly convinced it doesn’t work for them.

"Only time will tell whether Harry Redknapp will be a success."

Spurs claimed their first win of the season at the weekend, but the odds will be against them when they take on Arsenal in the North London derby this evening.

Fifa have today revealed the nominations for their World Player of the Year award.

3 players are in the running for the accolade, which is voted for by international captains and managers, with the award winner revealed on January 12 at a ceremony in Zurich.

All of the players listed are currently playing their football in Europe, with the English Premier League heading the nominations with 10 representatives.

Spain’s La Liga has 8 players nominated, while there are just 3 listed from Italy’s Serie A.

Germany’s Bundesliga and the Russian top-flight complete the nominations with one player each.

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently won the FifPro player of the year award, is the current favourite to win the accolade.

However, he can expect heavy pressure from the likes of Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi and Kaka, who won last year’s award.

Full list of nominees for the Fifa World Player of the Year award:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal, Togo), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, Argentina), Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg, Russia), Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain), Deco (Chelsea, Portugal), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan, Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain), Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich, France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), John Terry (Chelsea, England), Fernando Torres (Liverpool, Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, Holland), David Villa (Valencia, Spain) and Xavi (Barcelona, Spain).

Brazilian players have dominated the history of the award with 8 winners since its inception in 1991. Barcelona have been the most successful club, having had 6 winners playing for them when picking up the trophy.

An incredible game at the Emirates saw Arsenal and Spurs share the points and four goals each in the North London derby. Goal.com rates the performers.

ARSENAL

Almunia: 5.0 - Strangely chose to punch on some occasions and his howler gifted Darren Bent his goal. 

Sagna: 7.5 - Got forwards well and defensively fairly solid.

Silvestre: 8.0 - Opened his Arsenal account with a great header to level the scores and could have had two but his second header was wide.

Gallas: 7.5 - Missed a half chance by blasting well over and distribution was poor early on but atoned by scoring Arsenal’s second.

Clichy: 6.0 - An all action performance by the full back yet he loses marks for an awful mistake which allowed Jenas in to score. 

Walcott: 7.0 - Lively, his pace and direct running worried Spurs but his decision making and shooting were poor at times.

Fabregas: 8.0 - His passing and movement were as superb as ever.

Denilson: 7.5 - Decent shot tested Gomes and saw plenty of the ball in his return to the side.

Nasri: 7.5 - An influential performance, set up Adebayor’s goal and a decent display.

Van Persie: 8.5 - Involved in just about everything. Got his rewards with a great finish for Arsenal’s fourth. 

Adebayor: 8.0 - Had an excellent chance to make the game safe but smashed it wide before showing the desire to outsprint Hutton and finish the third and laid on Van Persie for the fourth.

Substitutions

Eboue: n/a

Diaby: n/a

Song: n/a

TOTTENHAM

Gomes: 5.0 - His unconvincing form continues. He got nowhere near the ball for Silvestre’s goal and might have been expected to at least get a hand to the second.

Hutton: 4.0 - Should have been closer to Silvestre for the first goal, beaten by Adebayor for the third and guilty of giving the ball away for Arsenal’s fourth. Not a good night.

Corluka: 6.0 - Some dodgy clearances and struggled to cope as Arsenal poured forwards in the second half.

Woodgate: 7.0 -  Tottenham's best defender and kept Adebayor quiet in the first half, although second half was a different matter.

Assou-Ekotto: 6.0 - Had his hands full against the pace of Walcott and endured a frustrating evening.

Bale: 6.0 - Hit the post in the opening exchanges on a run forward but saw very little of the ball after that and came off early.

Bentley: 7.5 - Responded to the boos by scoring a quite exquisite goal and posed problems with his deliveries.

Modric: 7.5 - Showed his quality and his fierce shot which struck the post set up Lennon for the winner.  

Jenas: 8.0 - Quick to press the ball and close Arsenal down and a super finish to put Spurs right back into the game.

Huddlestone: 7.0 - Solid but some shaky moments. Put Bale through early on but it was his foul from which Arsenal took the lead.

Pavlyuchenko: 6.5 - Hard working although he looked lonely up front.

Substitutions

Lennon: 7.5 - Introduced in the second half and was in the right place to slot home a late, late winner.

Bent: 7.5 - Came on and scored within minutes of his introduction.

Gunter: n/a

Cesc Fàbregas has reiterated that he is keen to stay at Arsenal at the moment but admitted that he would be keen to return to play for Barcelona during his career.

The Catalan midfielder has been strongly linked with a move away from the Emirates in the opening weeks of the new campaign in both the English and Spanish media.

While Barça are not keen to make a move without knowing that he would certainly say yes, Cesc sought to ward off any approach by the club by stating that he is still keen to play for the Gunners.

"Right now I am happy at Arsenal, but I cannot deny that returning to my country to play for Barça would be the realisation of a dream," Sport quote him as saying.

"Last summer I chose to stay in London and at the moment I am sure that it was the right decision and I hope to win trophies here."

Coming from a Barcelona-supporting family in Arenys del Mar, north of the Catalan capital, Cesc still watches the Blaugrana whenever he can and is pleased with what he is seeing this season.

"The fact is that Barça are producing some fantastic football that is always great to watch," he explained.

Sport believe that if Arsenal fall short again this season then a move by Barça could prove to be too tempting for Cesc, who has stated in the past that the north London club need to strengthen.

 

Kings Road billionaires Chelsea are keen to swoop for Inter striker Mario Balotelli, according to the Daily Mirror...

Following much hype and speculation regarding interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid, Chelsea have now jumped on the Balotelli bandwagon and they are ready to make old coach Jose Mourinho a mega offer for the Italian hit-man.

Fireworks are likely to start exploding between the English and Italian clubs, given the relationship 'Special One' and the Blues, who sacked him last year.

The Daily Mirror claims the West London club are keen on the Italian under-21 international following his outstanding performances. Balotelli fired the Azzurrini to a 3-1 win over Israel on Wednesday night and he is quickly becoming one of the hottest properties in football.

However, the striker is not finding much space at San Siro, fuelling speculation over his future as well as posing new questions on whether he would be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are looking at Balotelli as an interim replacement for the injured Didier Drogba, but reports in Italy suggest the striker isn't keen on moving to the Premier League as it may ruin his chances of making a step up to Marcello Lippi's senior Azzurri squad.

A January bid for the player is expected and Inter may be tempted to part company with the rising star if they recieve a good offer from Chelsea supremo Roman Abramovic.

However, there is still the question regarding Mourinho, the coach is likely to shackle his player and scoff at his old club when he hears of their plans.

Europe’s premier club competition is now well underway and 32 of the continent’s finest teams are all still in the running to reach the knockout phase next year. Mark Pickering assesses the credentials of three of the more noteworthy teams in this year's edition of the Champions League...

The tournament, which enters group Match Day Three on November 4th, is replete with squads that are the envy of world football and features no less than eight previous Champions League winners.  

While there’s the usual cast of mainstays like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, who are synonymous with the competition, there are also some little-known newcomers and returning sides in this year’s European showpiece.  

Three of the most intriguing entrants are Spanish standouts Atlético Madrid, Cypriot newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj.

The headline-grabbing trio have already made a splash in this year’s competition and are well placed to reach December’s draw for the knockout stages.  

Atlético are participating in the tournament for the eleventh time in their history and are intent on making up for lost time with their last appearance in the competition coming over a decade ago.  

Serbian Radomir Antić guided the Los Colchoneros to a famous league and cup double in 1996 and a much coveted Champions League berth.  

The double winners had a squad brimming with talent including Argentine legend Diego Simeone, Serbian playmaker Milinko Pantić, Madrid native Juan Manuel López and his widely popular countryman Kiko.  

The Spanish side won their group ahead of eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund but narrowly lost out 4-3 to defending champions Ajax in the quarter finals.  

Twelve years on and the Spaniards have a squad reminscent of their class of 1996.

Now under the stewardship of Mexican Javier Aguirre, whose best known for guiding perennial strugglers Osasuana to the brink of the Champions League, Atletico are well placed domestically and gearing towards European honours.  

The star-laden squad has a strong Argentine influence with 20-year-old prodigy Sergio Aguero, captain Maxi Rodriguez, veteran keeper Leo Franco, on loan midfielder Ever Banega as well as naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernia.

Aguirre’s ranks also prominently feature a Spanish core with namesakes Luis and Raul Garcia and their compatriot Antonio Lopez also holding key roles.  

The Mexican coach invested well in the summer, boosting his squad with a string of shrewd signings including Ajax’s John Heitinga, former French number one Gregory Coupet from Lyon, Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi and Porto’s Paulo Assunção.  

Their timely spending spree added much needed depth to the squad and all but ensured Atletico would be a force to be reckoned with this term. That has proved the case as the La Liga side produced a highly polished performance to convincingly beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in Holland in their opener and followed up with a gutsy 2-1 win at the Vincente Calderon against Marseille.  

Now Atletico lead the way in Group D with maximum points and have a mouthwatering double header against Fernando Torres’ Liverpool in their sights which will likely decide who finishes top of the group.  

With such a talented squad, an ambitious president and the astute Javier Aguirre at the helm the Spanish side were expected to perform admirably in their return to the competition but brushing aside Champions League regulars PSV and Marseille with such ease has raised eybrows.  

Atletico will keen to test their mettle against Liverpool and could well torment their former idol Torres.   

Elsewhere newboys Anorthosis Famagusta, who became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage and are one of the least fancied teams in the competition, are heroically topping Group B.

The little-known Cypriots overcome Greek giants Panathinaikos by three goals to one this week after a hard fought goalless draw away at Werder Bremen on Match Day One.  

Their resolute performance in Germany is the more commendable of their two impressive results as they kept out a free-scoring Werder Bremen side that had scored 18 goals in their previous six Bundesliga games and thumped Bayern Munich 5-2 a fortnight ago.  

Despite their stellar start to their first ever Champions League campaign their efforts have gone largely unnoticed.  

The Old Lady, who are coached by charismatic Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia, might be newcomers to European competition at the highest level but they do boast a wealth of international experience in terms of personnel and some familiar names.  

Former Real Madrid and Brazil star Savio, much travelled former Bordeaux man Paula Costa, former Portsmouth midfielder Giannis Skopelitis and towering Greek defender Traianos Dellas, once of AS Roma, all ply their trade with the Cypriot Champions.  

They may not be household names or at the height of their careers but collectively form a cohesive side who are relishing their first foray in the Champions League.  

The Cypriots have a daunting couple of games against Italian giants Inter ahead but will take heart from their two group games so far and strive to remain in the hunt for an unlikely place in the next round.  

Fellow newcomers CFR Cluj-Napoca have been the darlings of the tournament so far and attracted plaudits as well as unprecedented mainstream attention after beating AS Roma in Italy and holding last year’s finalists Chelsea to a stalemate.  

The Romanian Champions, who have an international flavour with ten South American players on their books, five Portuguese, three Ivorians, a Canadian and a handful of Romanians, have wildly exceeded expections.   

The Champions League newcomers stunned Roma in their first game in the competition with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and in doing so sent shockwaves through European football.  

CFR Cluj proved their result in Italy was far from a fortunate one by taking the game to Chelsea in Romania and could well have emerged with all three points.

Six years ago they were among footballing backwaters in the the third tier of Romanian football - now they’ve become the first team from outside Bucharest to win Liga 1 in 17 years and are more than holding their own against Europe’s elite.  

The latest chapter in their meteoric rise is being overseen by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta who will be looking for more of the same in the crucial double header against bottom placed Bordeaux. 

Mark Pickering