Robben set for Bayern as United sign Hargreaves
Arjen Robben will leave Chelsea and move to Bayern Munich as soon
as the German club finalise the sale of Owen Hargreaves to
Manchester United
The England midfielder will be sold for around £18million and
Bayern will immediately invest in the Dutch winger, who is thought
to have a difficult relationship with manager Jose Mourinho. Bayern
have already signed Italy striker Luca Toni from Fiorentina and are
keen on Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose, but their star newcomers
will be playing in the Uefa Cup rather than the Champions league
next season. Bayern finished fourth in the Bundesliga, which was
won yesterday by Stuttgart, who beat Cottbus in the final game to
finish two points clear of second-place Schalke.
Robben, 23, moved to Stamford Bridge in 2004 for £12m, but has
started just 51 Premiership games due to continuous injury problems
over three seasons.
Chelsea will reignite their interest in Bolton's Tal Ben Haim. The
Israel defender would have moved to Chelsea in January had Bolton
not demanded a fee of £3m. He becomes a free agent in the summer
and, according to a Bolton source, is 'a very strong candidate to
go to Chelsea'.
Frank Lampard, meanwhile, will attempt to agree new terms now that
the FA Cup has been decided, according to his agent Steve Kutner.
Lampard and John Terry 'still have problems over the money', a
Chelsea source said. Both want parity with Michael Ballack and
Andriy Shevchenko, who are paid around £130,000 a week each.
Portsmouth are set to sign Mark Viduka, who is out of contract at
Middlesbrough and a free agent, but are unlikely to persuade Yossi
Benayoun to join them. Benayoun's West Ham team-mate Matthew
Etherington is a target for Wigan
Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez has released striker Tomasz
Radzinski. Relegated Watford have handed Marlon King and Alhassan
Bangura new contracts.
Thaksin Shinawatra has made a firm offer for Manchester City,
according to the former Thai prime minister's lawyer. 'What I can
say now is that we have tendered a bid,' said Noppadon Pattama.
'But the deal is not formally or legally concluded yet.' Shinawatra
had been expected to appoint Claudio Ranieri the club's new
manager, but reports in Germany claim the former Bayern Munich
coach Felix Magath has held talks regarding the post.
Patrick Vieira is a major doubt for France's Euro 2008 qualifiers
against Ukraine and Georgia next month after doctors assessed a
knee injury picked up playing for Inter in Thursday's Italian Cup
final. His club said Vieira had suffered ligament damage.
David Beckham has involuntarily started a row between Spain's top
referees and the committee who sit in judgment on their
performances. Two weeks ago the Comité de Competicion rescinded a
yellow card shown to Beckham in Real Madrid's game against Athletic
Bilbao for time wasting, categorised by match officials as
'unsporting behaviour'. It was Beckham's tenth card of the season
and would have meant an automatic one-game ban. Beckham played
against Seville the following week, and the furious referees
retaliated by ensuring the next 100 cards shown in Spain's top two
divisions were also rescinded.
The referees marked down every yellow card last weekend as
'unsporting behaviour' regardless of the offence, which meant the
committee had to follow their example with Beckham and annul the
lot. Fifteen players who would have been banned under totting-up
procedures played on.
'It's easy to whistle from a sofa, in front of the telly,' one
referee told newspaper El Pais. 'Every week we get on the field,
make decisions, sanction players, but our decisions are overturned,
undermining us and diminishing our work.'
Yesterday, Joaquin scored a last-minute winner for Valencia at Real
Mallorca. The 1...#8209;0 win took Valencia third, a point behind
leaders Real Madrid, who visit Recreativo Huelva today, and
Barcelona, who travel to Atletico Madrid. Sevilla can return to
third by getting at least a draw at Deportivo.
