Lil Wayne Wraps ‘Tha Carter IV,’ Announces Release Date

[hbk4894]

TRANSFER RUMOURS

Kevin Keegan is planning to snatch David Bentley for £10m - but that planned raid could be ruined by Blackburn's proposed takeover. (The Sun)

Portsmouth and Spurs have declared an interest in Fenerbahce's former Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman, who would be available for a fee of around £5m. (The Guardian)

Despite reports of a possible transfer window move to Manchester City, Luis Fabiano wants to remain at Sevilla for at least the rest of the season. (The Independent)

Middlesbrough face the prospect of losing both Stewart Downing and Jonathan Woodgate before the end of the month with Spurs and Newcastle interested in the England pair. (Daily Star)

Dean Ashton is a £7m target for Manchester City and West Ham may sell their striker if they can land Darren Bent from Spurs. (The Sun)

Tottenham have given Tiago until Sunday to agree to a move or they will withdraw from a deal to sign the Portugal midfield player from Juventus. (The Times)

Olof Mellberg is set to quit Aston Villa to join Juventus by the end of the month. (Daily Star)

Portsmouth are attempting to sign Milan Baros on loan from Lyon, but the forward feels the deal has become complicated and has yet to make up his mind. (The Times)

Spurs coach Juande Ramos admits he wants to sign midfielder David Albelda on a free transfer from Valencia this summer. (Daily Mirror)

Aston Villa have sounded out Argentine club River Plate about their Colombian striker Radamel Falcao. (Daily Mirror)

Reading's £7m valuation of Leroy Lita appears to have priced him out of a move. Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Sunderland were all interested in the forward. (The Times)

Pascal Chimbonda has stunned Tottenham by declaring he wants to leave the club for a lucrative contract under Kevin Keegan at Newcastle. (The Sun)

Saturn Moscow's Jan Durica's agent says Celtic have had a £3m offer rejected for the defender. (Various)

Portsmouth are poised to launch a £2.5m offer for Celtic left-back Lee Naylor. (Daily Express)

Celtic's hopes of signing Tottenham midfielder Teemu Tainio could be thwarted by the London club's cash demands. (The Times)

Celtic are poised to pay the £1.25m asking price and beat Burnley to the signature of Dundee United's Barry Robson. (Daily Mirror)

Dundee United goalkeeper Grzegorz Szamotulski is set to sign for Borussia Dortmund. (Daily Mail)

Roy Carroll has refused to return to Rangers after the goalkeeper's move to Derby was held up by the Glasgow club. (The Sun)

Derby manager Paul Jewell is angry that Rangers are not allowing Roy Carroll to move until they have signed a replacement. (Various)

Belgium midfielder Thomas Buffel wants to leave Rangers in January because of his lack of first-team opportunities. (Various)

Gillingham have agreed to sell 15-year-old striker Luke Freeman to Arsenal. (The Times)

Stoke manager Tony Pulis has lined up a £600,000 bid for unsettled Sheffield United midfielder Nick Montgomery, who has revealed he wants to leave Bramall Lane. (Daily Star)

Sheffield United boss Bryan Robson, meanwhile, is contemplating a £400,000 move for Brighton skipper Dean Hammond. (Daily Star)

Derby and Reading are interested in Coventry winger Julian Gray, who has a £1m get-out clause in his contract. (The Sun)

MK Dons boss Paul Ince could move for striker Stefan Moore after he was released by QPR. (Daily Star)

Morton are demanding £250,000 from Motherwell for winger Jim McAlister. (Daily Express)

Hearts have joined the race to sign Livingston winger Graham Dorrans. (Daily Express)

Midfielder Russell Duncan will quit Inverness in the summer unless he receives an improved contract offer. (Various)

 

[excellence of execution]

juventus are willing to pay 9 million pounds for momo sissoko.claudio ranieri must be dong hard drugs

 

[hbk4894]

15.38 scores
FA CUP FOURTH ROUND:
Arsenal 0-0 Newcastle 1500 GMT
Barnet 0-0 Bristol Rovers 1500 GMT
Coventry 1-0 Millwall 1500 GMT
Derby 0-2 Preston 1500 GMT
Liverpool 1-2 Havant and W 1500 GMT
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield 1500 GMT
Peterborough 0-2 West Brom 1500 GMT
Portsmouth 1-1 Plymouth 1500 GMT
Southampton 0-0 Bury 1500 GMT
Watford 0-1 Wolverhampton 1500 GMT
Wigan v Chelsea 1715 GMT

PREMIER LEAGUE:
Aston Villa 0-0 Blackburn 1500 GMT

 

[Switchy]

FTW!!! Havent and Waterloo are winning! As for Rovers they gotta beat Barnet if they beat Fulham earlier in the week but with Stevie Elliot injured maybe not...

 

[excellence of execution]

we conceded two goals against havant and waterlooville.finishing 4th in the league will be difficult.i'm glad lucas leiva scored his first goal though and mascherano may not leave after all.

 

[phantomgerald]

That back-up keeper is shit. Bring in someone better.

 

[Switchy]

As much as it pains me to say it, I want Sissoko to leave. If he leaves Liverpool wil be able to keep Macsherano with the added funds and I read somewhere that they are targetting Oablo Ainar as well. I think aimars style would work well in the premiership...

 

[hbk4894]

Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks says he has no plans to sell his stake in the club and he has given his support to Reds boss Rafa Benitez.

The ownership of Liverpool has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks with Dubai International Capital reported to be lining up a takeover bid for the Anfield outfit.

Hicks admitted he had held talks with DIC about making an investment in Liverpool, but the American tycoon says he never considered selling his stake in the club and that he plans to stay in charge of Liverpool for the foreseeable future

Asked if he planned to sell the club to the DIC, Hicks told Five Live:

"Absolutely not. That was never a serious possibility and certainly isn't today. I can't think of a price that I would think of having any interest in selling at all.

"I did talk to them once about a 10-15 percent participation. We gave them a valuation we would accept a minority investor at but they thought the valuation was too high.

"There is no question in my mind that I will still be an owner of Liverpool Football Club in five years."

Backing
Hicks also revealed that manager Benitez has the full support of himself and co-owner George Gillett.

Benitez's future has been the subject of conjecture ever since the much-publicised row between the Spaniard and the American owners last year.

Speculation intensified over Benitez's position earlier this month when Hicks revealed he had held talks with Jurgen Klinsmann about possibly replacing Benitez if the Spaniard left Anfield.

However, Hicks says he expects Benitez to stay at the club as he has two years to run on his contract.

"We have a great manager who has our support," added Hicks.

"We had a lot of consternation about Rafa. After our meeting of December 16, where he really showed his real strong intent to do the right thing with us and by the club, he's been a gentleman ever since.

"We've had much better communication and he's got my total backing. We funded transfer requests in January, we are talking about more in the summer. We've never turned down Rafa's request for money for any player he's asked for.

"He's got a contract for two more years and hopefully longer than that."

Hicks admits Liverpool should be doing better in the Premier League as they currently sit 14 points behind the leaders, but the Texan predicts a bright future for the club.

Confident
"We could do better, the players know that, Rafa knows that. It's all about how we play and it's time for this club to win," noted Hicks.

"But we are on our way, we are going to build the greatest stadium, we have a great manager, we have great fans. It's time to put the press frenzy behind us and move down the road."

 

[excellence of execution]

hicks talk the talk but can he walk the walk?it remains to be seen.pablo aimar could be the missing link between gerrard and torres.he was compared to maradona so he can't be that bad.but he's injury prone though.

 

[Switchy]

^^He may be injury prone but so is Sissoko so althopiguh wed just be getting rid of 1 and getting another we'd still have the best end of the bargain if Aimar is a hit. We already got, Along, Gerrard and Lucas in the middle and having Aimar stuck behind the striker and infront of the midfield would be like an even more successful version of Garcia imo.

 

[excellence of execution]

we already have 3 non EU players in aurelio,mascherano and lucas.I'm not sure we can sign him anyway.

 

[Switchy]

^^That 3 EU players rule doesn't even exist any more that's why we have Leto and when it was in effect it was only in La Liga anyways I think so we can feel free to sign Aimar.

 

[phantomgerald]

Yeah as long as you can get a work permit then it isn't a problem. And I think Aimar have a spainish passport anyway. Why you would want to place you hopes on someone as injury-prone as Aimar is another question.

 

[Switchy]

^^Tbh, I don't even keep up with La Liga so I wouldn't really know anyway if you guys told me but I still think he could be a success if he ever joined the reds. I mean some players are completely different once they changed leagues and hopefully Aimar will leave his injuries in spain and keep his playing ability if that makes any sense...

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

lol. woo go liverpool. anyhoo liverpool need to do something, and fast