Premier League News – Thursday 26th August 2010 (Part 1)
Arsenal
Former Manchester United and Arsenal defender, Mikael Silvestre has been strongly linked to a move to German club Werder Bremen. The former French international has now become a free agent following the expiry of his contract with the Gunners this summer. Sporting Director at Werder Bremen, Klaus Allofs claimed that he is in “promising” talks with the French International and believes that the player would soon join the club. Silvestre joined Arsenal from United back in 2008 but has officially left the Gunners this summer.
Aston Villa
Manchester City midfielder James Milner believes that his former club Aston Villa would do well even without manager Martin O’ Neill. Milner was part of a season long transfer saga between Aston Villa and Manchester City, but has finally joined the latter last week. The player praised the club’s ability to perform well, notifying Randy Lerner’s impact at the club. Milner claimed that Lerner has been doing a fantastic job at the club and believes that the way he’s running the club is top class. Milner added that both fans and players are delighted to have Lerner at the helm of affairs and look up to him to take Villa to newer levels in English football.
Birmingham City:
The club has made a huge offer to land Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia. Birmingham has been after the French International all summer but an offer was officially turned down by Wigan at the end of the 2009/10 season. Manager Alex McLeish however is still very keen to bring the player to Birmingham and has made a big offer to Wigan for the former Newcastle man. N’Zogbia has made himself as one of the key players at Wigan but it is widely believed that the Frenchmen fancies a move to some other club. Steve Bruce, who signed the winger at his time with Wigan, is also interested in landing the player to his current club Sunderland. Reports suggest that Wigan rate the winger to be in the region of 10 million pounds which is a huge price tag for many premier league clubs. N’Zogbia, should he join Birmingham City, would become the fifth signing of the summer following the inclusion of Ben Foster (Manchester United), Nikola Zigic (Valencia), Enric Valles (NAC Breda) and Matt Derbyshire (Olympiacos)
Blackburn Rovers
Morten Gamst Pedersen’s performance in the Carling Cup match made Rovers Manager Sam Allardyce singing songs of praise for the player. The manager was impressed by the player’s new role when he partnered Diouf up front, instead of his regular midfield role. The manager stated that Morten has the ability to play up front, as he tested the player in pre-season friendlies. Sam Allardyce was thoroughly impressed by the player’s performance in the match and admitted that he was delighted to see an alternative forward line than the usual. The manager added that playing him along with Diouf got the best out of the player as he provided various opportunities to his counterpart, as well as taking a shot or two at the goal himself.
Blackpool
Former Manchester United defender Craig Cathcart who joined Blackpool this summer has been recalled in Northern Ireland’s squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Ireland will open their qualifying campaign when they play World Cup qualified team Slovenia next Friday. The defender may well get his first international cap, following his omission from the squad in friendly matches against Turkey and Chile. The player never made a single appearance for Manchester United despite being part of the first team squad since 31 March, 2007. The player was an unused substitute when United thrashed Roma 7-1 in a Champions league draw. Owing to a reduced number of first team opportunities for the 21-year-old, Cathcart sought a transfer with newly promoted Blackpool signing the player for three years for an undisclosed fee. The player finally made his premier league debut when Blackpool managed to defeat Wigan 4-0 at the DW Stadium.
Tags: