Gunners hoping to seal deals for Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin

Arsenal are currently working on signing Malaga midfielder Santi Cazorla on a permanent deal and Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin on a season long loan deal.

Santi Cazorla's deal is complicated due to Malaga's financial problems but the 27 year old Spanish midfielder is expected to have a medical at the Emirates some time this week.

Nuri Sahin, the 23 year old Turkish international, will join the North London club on a season long loan deal if the clubs and player reach an agreement. Though, Arsenal are hopeful of completing both deals before they kick of their Premier League campaign on the 18th of August at the Emirates against Sunderland.

The Gunners have already completed two big deals for German forward Lukas Podolski from German club Cologne as well as French striker Olivier Giroud from Ligue 1 champions Montpellier.

Though, the club still have major doubts over the future of their captain Robin Van Persie, who's contract expires in 2013, has already said that he won't be extending his stay at the club and has been heavily linked with both Manchester club's.

The signings of Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin are not related to Robin Van Persie's situation but has been accelerated by the news that Jack Wilshere will be unavailable until October as he continues on the road to recovery from an ankle injury that has kept him out for some time.

Cazorla joined Malaga from Villarreal last summer and was part of the Spain squads that won the European Championships in 2008 and 2012.

Nuri Sahin was signed by La Liga champions Real Madrid in 2011, after having an excellent spell at Borussia Dortmund, on a six year deal but struggled to make an impact last season at the Bernabeu due to injury and Madrid boss Jose Mourinho said he would allow the Turkish midfielder to leave on loan.

Both these signings would be excellent for Arsenal and would add depth, quality, great passing as well as goals to a midfield that plays some fantastic football.

Villa captain's leukaemia in remission

Aston Villa have announced today that the club's captain Stiliyan Petrov is winning his battle against leukaemia and is currently in remission.

An official statement from the club read: "It is with great delight that we can confirm on behalf of our long-standing captain, Stiliyan Petrov, that Stan's acute leukaemia is in remission,"

The statement continued to read: " Stan's fight is not over. There will be further battles to overcome in the days, weeks and months ahead. But he would like to share with you this tremendous news now."

Petrov has undergone four long months of chemotherapy and was first diagnosed with acute leukaemia in March, and was kept in the role of club captain by new Villa manager Paul Lambert who took over as manager earlier this summer.

Petrov's latest medical tests have brought the 33 year old Bulgarian his happiest news yet and expressed his gratitude to the medical staff who have been there for him over these past four months.

He continued to place on record his appreciation for all the love and support that the Aston Villa fans, players, colleagues and all the football fans around the world.

Wishing Stiliyan Petrov a speedy recovery!

Allen set to join former Swan's manager at Anfield

It seems that Liverpool have agreed terms with Swansea midfielder Joe Allen and that he is on the verge of signing for the Liverpool.

The midfielder has, for some time, been tipped to re-unite with Brendan Rodgers who made the same move to Anfield earlier this summer to replace Kenny Dalglish.

Swansea are still holding out for a fee close to £15 million which would activate a release clause in Joe Allen's contract, but Liverpool have only offered a fee of £12.5 million as well as Jonjo Shelvey on a season long loan deal.

The Liverpool Daily Post reported that Swansea would reject the offer but that Allen would still complete his transfer to Liverpool. Allen has his heart set on a move to Anfield, but new Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has insisted that the clubs haven't completed any deal.

Liverpool have already made a move to free up some space in their midfield with a deal for Anfield flop Alberto Aquilani to join Serie A side Fiorentina nearing completion.

Though, Spurs have retained an interest in the talented midfielder after having signed his former team-mate Gylfi Sigurdsson earlier this summer.

Though, the Team GB star's future is unlikely to be resolved while he is still involved in the Olympic Games but what we do know is that Joe Allen is definitely an extremely talented player with great ability and a bright future ahead (probably at Anfield).

Pienaar rejoins The Toffees

South African midfielder, Steven Pienaar, has rejoined Everton after an unhappy spell at Tottenham Hotspur.

Pienaar has completed a £4.5 million deal that sees him rejoin Everton, 18 months after he joined Tottenham in a deal worth £3 million.

The midfielder joined Everton from German club Borussia Dortmund in 2007 and spent three extremely successful seasons with the Toffees before making the switch to White Hart Lane.

The South African midfielder, who is now 30, has signed a four year deal at Goodison Park after a hugely successful loan spell during the second half of the season.

Pienaar said: "It took a few weeks to sort out but I am delighted to be back and excited to play for Everton,".

He continued to say that he had no doubts that he would be back at Everton and that he had told the manager how he felt and that he is happy that he's back at the club.

Last season Pienaar played only five Premier League games for Tottenham before he moved back to Everton on loan, where he played 14 Premier League games.

Everton manager David Moyes made the move to bolster his attacking options after Tim Cahill completed his move last week to MLS side New York Red Bulls.
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Newcastle retain the services of Ba

Staying on Tyneside

Newcastle United's Senegalese striker Demba Ba is set to stay on Tyneside after the deadline to activate his release clause in his contract passed.

The Senegal international had repeatedly expressed his desire to stay at the club, that took a chance on him when everyone had doubts due to his knee problems, and Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was confident that the club would retain the services of the 27 year old.

Though, there was speculation that the striker would leave St James Park before the 31 July cut-off with interest from the Premier League runner-ups Manchester United as well as Tottenham Hotspur.

It was understood that the release clause in his contract would have been activated by a bid of £7.5 million.

Ba finished last season as the club's top scorer with a total of 16 goals, three more than his compatriot Papiss Cisse, who was a sensational after his arrival in January from German club Freiburg.

One of Cisse's finest goals came in a 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge where he scored an absolutely stunning volley that will be remembered for seasons to come.

All but one of Ba's goals last season came before he went to the African Cup of Nations in January.

United announce shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet

Manchester United have signed a new deal to sponsor their shirts with Chevrolet.

The deal was signed for an undisclosed amount and is for a period of seven years beginning from the 2014-2015 season.

Chevrolet, owned by General Motors, takes over sponsorship from the current sponsors Aon.

Forbes magazine recently called Manchester United the most valuable club in sport (worth $2.23 billion, around £1.43 billion).

Chevrolet will become the clubs fifth shirt sponsor in the club's history.

United's commercial director Richard Arnold said that the deal was a "fantastic, long term deal for the club".

He continued to say that they have been a key partner on the club's current preseason tour and that he knows that they have enjoyed the buzz from the club's fanatical support and the sell out crowds on their preseason travels to South Africa, China and Europe. Chevrolet signed the deal to become the club's car sponsor in May of this year and has also signed a similar deal with United's rivals from Mersyside, Liverpool.

Earlier this month, the club applied to be listed on the US stock market in an attempt to reduce the debt that has accumulated at the club since the take over by the Glazer family, who own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football franchise.

Hopefully this new sponsorship deal with Chevrolet and the club being listed on the US stock can significantly reduce the debt the has accumulated at the club due to the Glazer family.

Watford on a spending spree after recent takeover

Watford have made seven new signings including former Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia as well as former QPR defender Fitz Hall.

Almunia, 35, and Hall, 31, have both agreed one year contracts with the club and will add experience to Gianfranco Zola's side.

The other five players that have joined the Hornets are on season long loan deals from Italian Serie A side Udinese and Spanish side Granada, which are both owned by the Pozzo family who recently took over Watford last month. Midfielders Daniel Pudil and Almen Abdi as well as forwards Matej Vydra, Steve Leo Beleck and Ikechi Anya have all joined the club.

Watford's technical director Gianluca Nani told the club's website that he expects the new signings to have a positive impact on the team and that the club are constantly looking to add to the side.

Manuel Almunia, who joined Arsenal in 2004 and made 175 appearances for them, will fill the void left by Scott Loach after he left the club to join Ipswich. And Fitz Hall, who joins from QPR and has played for Oldham, Southhampton, Crystal Palace, Wigan, as well as a loan spell at Newcatle, will have the job of replacing Adrian Mariappa who left the Hornets to join Premier League new boys Reading.

Though, from the other signings only Ikechi Anya, who was born in Glasgow, has played in England before with Wycombe and Northhampton before making the move to Granada in Spain.

Daniel Pudil and Udinese midfielder Abdi are both full internationals, the Czech Republic and Switzerland respectively, and have both impressed during preseason.

Though, some fans have had concerns over some of the loan signings as the feel that the Pozzo family, who own Granada and Udinese, might use the club as a 'nursery' to help provide experience and develop Udinese's youngsters.

Aquilani's Liverpool nightmare finally ending!

On his way to Fiorentina!

Liverpool have accepted an undisclosed offer for Alberto Aquilani from Serie A side Fiorentina.

The 28 year old Italian midfielder flew to Italy from Liverpool's pre-season tour of the United States to complete his move to Fiorentina.

If Aquilani's deal to Fiorentina is completed as expected then it is likely that Liverpool will step up their attempts to sign Swansea's talented midfielder Joe Allen, who is currently with Great Britain's Olympic side.

Aquilani has failed to settle and secure a place in Liverpool's starting eleven since his £20 million pound move to the Anfield club from Roma in 2009, and have been sent out on loan for the past two seasons.

Aquilani spent last season on loan at AC Milan and the year before at the current Serie A champions, Juventus which means he didn't play under former Liverpool manager and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.

During Roy Hodgson's tenure at Anfield he only made two appearances.

Former Reds' manager Rafael Benitez bought Aquilani as he viewed him as an ideal replacement for Xabi Alonso who departed the club to join Real Madrid, but struggled with injuries and mad only 26 appearances during his first season at Anfield.

And even though Aquilani has appeared for Liverpool during pre-season under new manager Brendan Rodgers, and still has two years left to run on his current contract, it seems as though his unhappy time at Anfield is finally coming to an end.

Ryan Giggs inspires Team GB

Inspired performance the captain!

Yesterday Team GB defeated the United Arab Emirates 3-1 at Wembley and ensured that progression to the quarter finals is only a draw away.

The captain Ryan Giggs headed in the opener and his Manchester United team mate Tom Cleverley hit the post as Team GB went into the half time break in the lead.

In the second half the UAE found an equalizer through Rashed Elisa after a composed finish from the midfielder.

Scott Sinclair then came on and scored almost instantly and a deft chip from Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge sealed the win for Great Britain.

Although the score line seems convincing it was far from comfortable for Stuart Pearce's team, and after the UAE equalized the occasional boo could be heard.

Though there was definitely a better mood in the stadium after GB went up 3-1 though there is room for improvement when they play Uruguay on Wednesday in Cardiff.

Though, Uruguay were stunned 2-0 by a 10 man Senegal yesterday at Wembley. Senegal now sit on level on four points with Great Britain and take on a UAE side that have lost both of their group games thus far. Uruguay sit on three points and a draw for Team GB would see them progress to the quarter finals.

Hargreaves trains with QPR

Owen Hargreaves, a former England international, has not signed with Queens Park Rangers but is currently training with the club in an attempt to recover from injury.

Hargreaves, who has suffered from injury in the last few years, then signed a one year deal last season with Manchester City but his playing time was limited to 13 minutes of Premier League action and was then released by the club in May.

QPR manager Mark Hughes confirmed on the clubs website that Hargreaves is currently training with the club, though there is no obligation for either party.

Hughes aslo said that Owen Hargreaves is keen to remain fit and that him and the club are happy to assist him.

Canadian born Hargreaves spent seven years with the first team at Bayern Munich after joining the club when he was 16 years old. His England debut came in 2001 in a friendly against the Netherlands, and had was arguably one of England's best players in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the in July 2007 Manchester United paid £17 million pounds for him.

Though, Manchester United decided not to renew his contract in 2011 after failing to play for almost two years due to a troublesome knee injury which he failed to recover from despite United's best efforts.

After his release from United, Hargreaves used YouTube to demonstrate that he was still fit and able to play and because of the video had talks with West Brom and Manchester City.

At the beginning of last season he made a shock move to the blue half of Manchester making a scoring debut in a Carling Cup match against Birmingham, though, struggled to play any major part due to injury and only made three more appearances.

His final appearance for City Was in the FA Cup loss to neighbors Manchester United in January at the Etihad Stadium, though he did take part in City's Premier League victory parade.