Rumours and gossip

[Craig_H]

That's such a brilliant piece of juvenile humour Love it.

[Shaggy]

Portsmouth wrap up twelve signings


Portsmouth have wrapped up twelve signings.

Wigan's Michael Brown, Tottenham's Kevin-Prince Boateng have signed permanent deals with Aruna Dindane and Jamie O'Hara brought in on loan from Lens and Spurs.

Also joining are Petar Kyumurdzhiev from Plovdiv Blobdiv, Pump Flinkenfloom from Halmstadts BK, Edson Disco Minga from FC Fourway, Innocent Kipketer from Wydad Casablanca and Wilfried Urbain Elvis Endzanga from Kawkab Marrakech.

Completing the twelvesome are SV Elvesberg's Simon Goldhammer, Miodrag Anđelković from Internaţional Curtea de Argeş and Brendan Silent from Orlando Pirates.

Midfielder Boateng, 22, joined Spurs for £5.4m in 2007, but made only 10 starts and has cost Pompey about £4m.

Experienced midfielder Brown, 32, has arrived for a nominal fee, while striker Dindane, 28, may sign a longer deal at the end of the season.

O'Hara signed a new Spurs deal but will go on loan to Pompey until January.

Portsmouth will then have the option to extend the deal until the end of the season.

In a busy day for the south coast side, manager Paul Hart has also had a bid rejected for Sunderland's Nyron Nosworthy for a fee of about £4m.

Brown is Portsmouth's fourth signing of a busy summer that has seen a takeover and 11 players departing.

"When Michael was at Sheffield United, I was at Nottingham Forest. We had some memorable games," manager Paul Hart said of his new signing.

"He's a good player, a hard little so-and-so and there were times I felt like getting on the pitch and giving him a belt myself.

"He has vast experience and he knows his way around the pitch. He has had a lot of experience with some top clubs."

Boateng arrived at Spurs under former manager Martin Jol in 2007, but the Germany Under-21 international failed to justify his hefty price tag.

He managed a meagre 14 minutes of Premier League action last season before being loaned out to Borussia Dortmund in January.

O'Hara had more opportunities than Boateng at Spurs, but could be allowed to leave to secure regular football.

Dindane, meanwhile, has won 40 caps for the Ivory Coast, and says Chelsea forward Didier Drogba was instrumental in helping him make the move to English football.

"I'm friends with Didier. I spoke to him on the phone and he said I was making a great choice coming to Pompey," Dindane told Portsmouth's website.

"I'm very happy to sign. My integration will be fine because there are a lot of French-speaking players in the dressing room. That's a big help for me."

And centre-back Nosworthy could come in as a replacement for Sylvain Distin, who was sold to Everton on Friday, if Portsmouth up an initial offer to meet Sunderland's valuation.

Portsmouth sold Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch over the summer, with nine other players also leaving, but to date their only notable signings have been Brown, veteran full-back Steve Finnan and Watford striker Tommy Smith.

On Wednesday, Arab businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim completed a protracted takeover of the club.

However the new board's has to balance servicing debt with investing in new players.

The club have lost all three of their Premier League matches this season, in direct contrast to Sunday's opponents City who have a perfect record after spending more than £100m on players since the end of last season.

If Brown were to feature he would be playing against the club where he spent the first six years of his career.

During that time, he spent a month on loan at Portsmouth in 1999, playing four times.

[MrsB]

Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo is set to become football's first billionaire, earning £16,000 per minute. The former Manchester United star is being offered £1.5m a game by foreign tycoons to show off his skills in a series of friendlies.
BBC, full story: Daily Star

[Reece]

Just been reading that too. Mental. Absolutely mental.

[Exiled_red]

Would Real Madrid let him do that? they have a major investment to project would they let him play some meaningless friendly and risk him getting injured, or are they getting some cash too if he plays?

[Chrono]

What a load of crap! How does him playing friendlys at that rate equate to him having the potential to be a billionaire.

Firstly, 1 billion (which he will not earn) does not make you a billionaire and secondly he would need to play over 650 friendlys to get to that sort of money

[MrsB]

Arsenal are leading the chase for 14-year-old Montenegro midfielder Nikola Zvrko. Chelsea and Barcelona are also interested in the youngster. (Daily Mail)

A 14-year-old!

[MrsB]

Germany's World Cup players have been warned to expect to wear bullet-proof vests if they venture away from the team hotel at the 2010 finals in South Africa.
Full story: The Daily Telegraph

Wtf?

[Nick77]

Wtf?

Made me laugh too - I've lived in South Africa for 32 years (my whole life) & I've NEVER needed a bullet proof vest!

[Baracus]

Made me laugh too - I've lived in South Africa for 32 years (my whole life) & I've NEVER needed a bullet proof vest!

But your not german

[Chrono]

But your not german

[MrsB]

Gerard Houllier is set to return to the Premier League at Birmingham City as new owner Carson Yeung weighs up managerial options, with Alex McLeish currently holding the reins. Full story: News of the World