Mark Hughes: Pressure Will Grow..

On the surface Mark Hughes seems to be revelling in the transfer market this summer. It must feel like monopoly money between his fingertips, a kid in a sweet shop. Under the surface though he must be quietly contemplating the pressure he will confront. Quite possibly this is the most important six ...

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Summer Window Watch; Fulham - Week 2

Beefing up the attack is still high on the list of Roy Hodgson’s priorities at Fulham. The much-travelled boss has, according to Monday’s Times (July 6) set his sights on signing Pawel Brozek from Polish outfit Wisla Krakow. The 26-year-old has 14 caps for Poland, scoring twice, and could be avai...

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Emmanuel Adebayor could be the catalyst to push Manchester City past Arsenal

The gap in financial spending power of Arsenal and Manchester City is one of the sub-plots of the summer, with City busily installing new pegs in the dressing room to make room for up to six more £10m+ players to go with the four signed in January. City will probably be fielding a team costing arou...

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Summer Window Watch; Stoke City - Week 2

On Tuesday (July 7) Stoke learn that they face competition for the signature of Benjani Mwaruwari. The Potters were linked with the Zimbabwean striker last week, but according to the Portsmouth News the former Pompey striker would welcome a return to Fratton Park, now that things are getting a lit...

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Villain's Role For Zenga

As press conferences go, Walter Zengas first as Palermo manager was surely entertaining, in a ha-ha funny sort of way: if his initial I have a squad brimming with important players and Im aiming for the league title made you smile then his follow-up Im convinced that between myself and Maurizio Zamp...

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Summer Window Watch; Birmingham City - Week 2

You would think that any club willing to take on Joey Barton would be wise to cut his pay, given the risky nature of putting their faith in the man. So seen in that light Birmingham’s approach for the former Manchester City midfield man appears to make some sort of sense. But then you consider tha...

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Summer Window Watch; Portsmouth - Week 2

Into the second week of July and the pesky attentions of Sunderland still surround Peter Crouch. The England striker is thought by the Guardian (July 6) to be main target for Steve Bruce, who is also interested in Tottenham’s Darren Bent. The thought of a Bent-Crouch headline should be enough to m...

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Manchester City: Terry's All Gold?

Manchester City was quickly out of the metaphorical spending blocks this summer and set up purchases of Gareth Barry for £12m (2 June 2009) and Roque Santa Cruz for £17.5m (22 June 2009) before the notional opening of the window on the traditional contract renewal date of 1 July. Also with Joe Hart...

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Summer Window Watch- Wigan Athletic (1)

Wigan are really suffering for their successful 2008/09 campaign. The guts of the side that performed so well up to March has been ripped out, plus the manager who blended the team so successfully. Emile Heskey, Wilson Palacios and Ryan Taylor went in January and now Luis Valencia has moved on too....

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Summer Window Watch- Blackburn Rovers (1)

Blackburn have been off the mark quickly in the summer transfer market but the signings so far wont overcome the anxiety of the fans about the loss of Roque Santa Cruz. Gael Givets signing confirms the decent impression the Frenchman made in his loan spell from Marseille last season. His signature ...

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Summer Window Watch; Stoke City - Week 1

Does anyone remember Benjani Mwaruwari? Go on, you do. Played for Portsmouth for a season or two under Shonky Harry, bagged a load of goals before moving on to Manchester City. Several injuries and great sacks full of Middle Eastern cash later, Benjani as he prefers to be known is surplus to require...

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Manchester United: Fergie gambles and rages against the dying of the light

Manchester United usually approach the summer transfer window in a very sensible manner. With a couple of key targets (one of which is usually a Tottenham player) to buy, whilst a bunch of academy players are sold off for a few million and a couple of senior players are moved on. United like to do...

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Championship: Is QPR's loss going to be Swansea's gain?

The managerial merry-go-round in the Championship this summer has seen two interesting appointments made, one at Queens Park Rangers and one at Swansea City. Just weeks after being relieved from his duties at Ipswich Town, Jim Magilton became the latest man to take on the challenge of making QPR a ...

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