Less than one full season into his contract, Aston Villa has parted company with Gerard Houllier who was hospitalised before the end of last season. That said, I felt Houllier was about to get the sack anyway and expected Rafa Benitez, who has been loitering around since returning to his family home in England in January, to become the next Aston Villa manager.

But Fulham boss Mark Hughes is the bookies favourite for the job. This follows rumours that Hughes has recently fallen out with Fulham owner Mohammed Al- Fayed and that he has a get-out clause in his contract. But yesterday I heard that ex-Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has stated that he would like to stay in England rather than return to Italy. I am sure both parties would be interested in Ancelotti becoming the next manager of Aston Villa.

The other manager-less Premier League team, Chelsea look like they are closing in on their first choice to replace Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge, as Guus Hiddink has apparently stated he is ready to leave his current position coaching the Turkey national team, to return to club management. If there is any truth in this statement then I would expect Hiddink to be the next Chelsea manager by next week.

Guus Hiddink to Chelsea & Carlo Ancelotti to Aston Villa is my bet.

The appointments of a Chelsea and Aston Villa manager will be followed by what I believe will be a busy summer for transfers in the English Premier League. Chelsea desperately need to buy some younger players and begin to build a team around striker Fernando Torres. While Manchester City will be throwing a lot of money around again, only in this transfer window they will be able to attract the very best players in the world with Champions League football next season.

The Luiz Suarez deal has been going on for some time now whereas Liverpool made their initial bid for Andy Carroll either late last night or early this morning; and though Liverpool are in desperate need to strengthen their squad in all areas, I believe they will let Torres go to Chelsea if the price is right.

Allegedly Chelsea had a £35 million bid for Fernando Torres turned down on Friday, stating he is not for sale.  But then reports over the weekend suggest their asking price is £50 million.  Another report suggests Chelsea have offered a bid of £43 million + Nicolas Anelka; a deal that I believe would be beneficial for both teams.  That is a big price tag for an out-of-form striker who has had his fair share of injuries over the past 18 months. However, if Chelsea were to get the same player Liverpool signed, arguably the best striker in the world, then it would be worth every penny.

Whatever happens today it looks as though someone at Stamford Bridge has finally managed to explain to Roman Abramovich that Chelsea need to spend some serious money to boost their squad and replace the likes of Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Deco.

Chelsea play Liverpool in the Premier League this Sunday.

The arrival of Suarez and an offer from Chelsea have however unsettled the player considered to be Liverpool’s prize asset, Fernando Torres and he has submitted a written transfer request which has been categorically turned down by Liverpool.

With the January transfer window now only hours from closing it will be interesting to see how the situation develops over this weekend and whether rivals Chelsea can get their man in an eleventh hour bid.

Even if the London team can pull off the impossible and prise Torres from the Reds, where does that leave Chelsea and their current strike force of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

Neither Drogba or Anelka have been in their best form this season, but then again neither has Torres, although the Liverpool player has still to reach his peak, while arguably the Chelsea strikers have perhaps already reached theirs.

If I was a Chelsea fan I would on the one hand be ecstatic that the team have set their sights on one of the best natural strikers in the world, but equally I would be more than a little concerned that it would have a negative effect on players like Drogba and Anelka who have a history of unsettling team mates.

It is possible of course, and one would certainly hope, that Chelsea have already thought this through and already have plans to capitalise on the transfer of one or other of their current strikers.

As Man City continue to push for a Champions League position, if not the Premier League, it is essential they add one or two top quality strikers to their squad to relieve the pressured shoulders of sulky home-sick Carlos Tevez considering the ineffectiveness of Emmanuel Adebayor and Joe; and the surprising statement from Roberto Mancini that Paraguay international, Roque Santa Cruz is surplus to requirements.

I’m surprised Mancini is letting Roque Santa Cruz go as I have always considered him to be a good striker, and he showed he can play in the Premier League when he was at Blackburn Rovers.  It is no surprise that several clubs have apparently shown interest in signing Roque Santa Cruz including Fulham who are currently managed by his former boss, Mark Hughes.  West Ham and Aston Villa are also allegedly interested in his services.

So, on to Blackburn Rovers whose owners decided to sack Sam Allardyce in December.  At the time I felt this was to announce a new manager in time for the January transfer window and we were going to see a well-known manager be given a large sum of money to stamp his authority on the team and also announce the Indian Venky Group ownership to the world.  Well, this week they have been linked to one of the biggest names in world football, Ronaldinho.  A well seasoned player that would certainly make a statement of intent for the new Blackburn owners though I’m not sure what else they would receive from a footballer that is currently overweight, overpaid and well past his sell by date!

Furthermore, the owners have stated that caretaker manager Steve Kean will remain in charge at least until the summer.  But it’s clear that any big name signings with overinflated wages and egos are going to create even more problems for a little known manager.

Other transfer speculation includes Tottenham’s ‘serious’ attempts to agree a two-month loan deal with LA Galaxy for David Beckham similarly to his previous loan spells with AC Milan.  Beckham would be a great impact sub.  But Spurs are also keen to strengthen their squad and are showing interest in Uruguay striker Luis Suarez who is currently playing his football for Ajax.

Chelsea have shown interest in signing Gary Cahill from Bolton.  They are desperately in need of top quality players that could hit the ground running but it’s not clear if Roman Abramovich is prepared to put his hand deep enough into his pockets to afford the quality players Chelsea need for a very quick fix.

As for Liverpool, I think they will sack Roy Hodgson.  It is a matter of when, not if.  So depending on how much influence he actually has over new signings will determine whether Liverpool by sell/buy players this month or hold off until the end of the season.  Either way, they need a good clearout before adding to a poor squad.

I don’t believe there will be too many big transfers this month but expect a few players surplus to requirements to be looking for new horizons.  I expect Robbie Keane, David Bentley and Jonathan Woodgate and possibly the eternally “unhappy” Emmanuel Adebayor to be on the move.

mirror football

The revelations yesterday that Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney no longer wants to stay at Old Trafford and has refused to enter negotiations for a new contract with the club have shocked the football world.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says that he had been informed of Rooney’s decision back in August, but presumably expected to talk the player round with his sweet talking charm.

The news has alerted the top teams in Europe that one of the best strikers in football is up for grabs and many have already responded by adding Rooney to their January sales wish list.

United will be keen to off load the want away player in January rather than let him go for nothing when his contract ends in the summer.

Manchester City are believed to be interested in Rooney and are possibly the only English club that could afford to make the sort of bid that would interest United.

But will the United really want to sell to their unsettled star player to their hated Manchester rivals who have already shown that they are better equipped than United to win the Premiership title this season, or would they prefer to lose the player to another of their Premiership rivals such as Chelsea for instance.

Barring a move abroad, which maybe what Rooney desires, United have to weigh up the offers from their premiership rivals an make the all important decision while they can.

So how would you deal with the situation?

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Sulaiman Al Fahim

Only last week club chief executive Peter Storrie, obviously concerned that there was no end in sight in the ongoing drama announced that he would set up a consortium himself to buy the club.

It is welcome news for Pompey fans who were elated that Al Fahim was keen to invest in the club, given his role in the Manchester City takeover. As the summer has gone on however fans have seen the departure of top players Glenn Johnson and Peter Crouch  sold to balance the books and the chances of investment looking very slim indeed.

Having lost their first three Premier league games of the season Portsmouth can do with some decent news and manager Paul Hart will be champing at the bit, not just to replace Crouch and Johnson, but to hang on to players like Sylvain Distin who has been the subject of enquiries from Aston Villa and Everton.

Although there will not be the pot of gold that Manchester City have enjoyed from their Middle East investors, the takeover will give some much needed stability to the south coast club and hopefully get them the new football stadium that they have been promised for so long.

A statement issued by Portsmouth FC says;

“The chairman of the club would like to extend his gratitude to the players, staff and the supporters of Portsmouth FC who have shown an extraordinary level of commitment and loyalty to this great club.”

Striker Tommy Smith looks set to join from Watford for a fee of £2million, while progress is being made in Pompey’s pursuance of Ivory Coast striker Aruna Dindane from French club Lens.

Everton

Lescott has been hotly pursued by Manchester City throughout the last month or so, even while negotiating with Chelsea for captain John Terry, but Everton have so far resisted any offers for Lescott and have hit out at Mark Hughes for being ‘un-proffessional’ in his pursuit of the player.

But things could be about to change as David Moyes has today said that while he has no intention of letting the defender go, every player has his price.

Moyes said: “Joleon’s attitude has not been right these past days, he has disappointed me and he has disappointed his team-mates. He is not in the right frame of mind. People can read what they like into this. But I have said all along I don’t want to sell him. But it is a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United, there is always a price. At this moment no club has made us an offer for the player that we want to accept.”

Real Madrid

On the other side of Liverpool, Everton’s Joleon Lescott has followed Alonso’s initiative by handing in a transfer request to get his move to Manchester City. Everton have meanwhile been holding talks with Phillipe Senderos of Arsenal as a possible replacement for Lescott.

Everton are expected to complete the signing of American forward Cody Arnaux on a years contract, in the next few days.

blackburn rovers-ewood park

Blackburn Rovers have added striker Franco di Santo to their squad, having agreed a loan deal for the Argentinian with his club Chelsea. The loan deal is initially for five or six months with the Lancashire club having first option on renewing the deal.

Di Santo joined Chelsea from Chilean team Audax Italiano as an eighteen year old in  January 2008. He has made sixteen appearances as a substitute for the Blues.

Hajduk Split claim that Rovers have agreed a deal for Croatian International Nikola Kalinic, saying that the 21 year old has signed a four year deal with the Premier league club for a fee of up to £12million. Kalinic had been a reported target of Portsmouth following the sale of Peter Crouch to Spurs.

Blackburn have neither confirmed or denied the claim from Hajduk.

Bent is undergoing a medical with Sunderland and the transfer is expected to go ahead as soon as possible after he is proved fit. Reports of £14 to £16million have been quoted in various places, which if it is true makes Harry Redknapp’s cheeky £10million offer for Chelsea’s Joe Cole appear the steal of the century. Chelsea were quick to nip the stories in the bud saying Joe Cole is going nowhere. At least not for that money!

Aston Villa have been praised by Leeds United for the way they have conducted themselves in making an approach for highly rated Fabian Delph. Villa have agreed a transfer figure with Leeds and need to discuss terms with the player. Leeds say they have refused permission to other Premier League clubs.