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.

Peter Crouch

The transfer fee has not been disclosed but is believed to be in the region of £10million with a five year contract for the 28 year old England striker. Crouch will once again team up with Jermain Defoe, having formed a good partnership while briefly together at Portsmouth.

Redknapp is ecstatic over the arrival of Crouch, who had turned down a move to Sunderland because he wanted to stay in the south of England. The Spurs manager says;

“We now have four top strikers which is what you need at every club and so I am delighted to have Crouchy, he is different to almost anyone else in the league in terms of his size and the way he plays the game. With Crouch, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko we have a good strikeforce.”

Clearly Redknapp believes that Darren Bent has no future at Spurs and says that he expects the misfit to accept an offer from Sunderland over the coming days.

Portsmouth have defended the sale of Crouch with a statement that says, “His sale was necessitated by the club’s commitment to repay scheduled debts while we are in a transitional period of completing the takeover.” The statement goes on to say that Pompey will be looking to strengthen the squad with ‘fresh faces’ as soon as the takeover is finalised.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has agreed personal terms with Barcelona following Samuel Eto’o doing the same at Inter Milan the previous day, both club’s have issued statements that the deal is on.

Inter Milan say they are on the verge of signing Eto’o, while Barcelona have today said that Ibrahimovic is very close to moving to the Spanish treble winners.

Both club’s agree that the deal is done in principle but still requires a contract to be drawn up.

One problem that neither team appear to have considered is Alexander Hleb. The player has been offered to Milan on a season long loan as some sort of makeweight in the deal, as if the money was not enough, but Hleb says that he knows nothing about it and as far as he is concerned he wants to stay at Barcelona and fight for a place.

“I have a contract with Barcelona and am currently preparing for the new season with the team,” the Belarus international told Sport Bild,”My aim is to make the breakthrough here and be successful with this club.”

Hleb’s agent confirmed that nobody from Milan or Barcelona has spoken to the player about a move.

There is no secret that Barcelona have tolerated Et0′o over the last couple of seasons and despite his prolific scoring last season were always keen to see the back of the striker. I know nothing much about Ibrahimovic, other than Jose Mourinho has labelled him ‘the best striker in the world’ and that the player has constantly failed to impress in important games.

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola says that Eto’o’s departure will be good for the team. The straight talking coach said;

“I am convinced that the best thing for Barca is for Eto’o to leave. Could I be mistaken? Maybe so. But I am here to make these decisions.I feel that it is best for the club and the team. It’s a question of feelings, I am not here to change anyone’s character, but I can decide on which players I want to count on for the season.”

“After what we won, we had to change the dressing room. I took this decision from my experience as a footballer.”

Emmanuel Adebayor

Adebayor will join an enviable selection of strikers at City, with recent signings Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz joining Robinho, Craig Bellamy,Valeri Bojinov and Benjani to fight it out for a regular place in the team.

City manager Mark Hughes says:

“Emmanuel has been one of the top forwards in the Premier League since he arrived from France and we are delighted he has agreed to come and join us, he adds vital balance and power to our attack. He has everything a top forward needs. He is versatile, powerful, quick and agile on the ball.”

“I am looking forward to working with him as are the rest of the staff. He will definitely add a new dimension to our play. I have been a great admirer for a long time.”

The arrival of Adebayor takes City’s spending this summer to around the £80million mark, but Hughes is confident that there may be more signings before the new season kicks off, with rumours rife in the sports press that he is about to up the ante to bring in Chelsea and England captain John Terry.

While there is little doubt that Terry would not have entertained such a move during the Mourinho years at Chelsea, there are sure signs that the defender is seriously considering his future and Mark Hughes is confident of getting his man.

No fee has been disclosed, but it is understood to have been settled by tribunal.

Sturridge made 26 appearances for City last season scoring four goals. He will join goalkeeper Russ Turnbull as the new boys at Stamford Bridge, the 24 year old keeper having signed on a free transfer from Middlesbrough yesterday, on another four year contract.

Meanwhile City have been told in no uncertain terms by Chelsea, that club captain John Terry is not for sale at any price. A statement on the Chelsea website says that the club have ‘completely rejected’ a bid for Terry, adding that they ‘would not entertain any conversation on the subject.’