Zenit lead the Russian revolution & will Bayern Munich hijack the Berbatov deal?

Comment & analysis round up

Quote of the day: “Do I have a good relationship with him [O'Neill]? I don’t think so. If I have to say hello then I will say hello to him; I don’t have any problem. I had a good relationship with Martin O’Neill before this summer and I was surprised at what has been said. I talked with him in April and I haven’t spoken to him since then but I do not believe there will be any problem shaking hands; we can do it. My concern is to see my team playing well on the pitch and if the other things can be good, then that’s good. But if not, I will stay concentrated on my team. I don’t know what the reaction will be from the Villa fans. But we were correct in what we did with the transfer.” - Rafa Benitez.

Runner-up: “It’s a win-win. James [Milner] has got a fantastic move and we have got some more money in the pot, should we choose to use it in this window or the next. I did want to keep James but there comes a point when a deal is right to do. I’m convinced that despite the fact that it won’t look a positive move to our fans at the moment, I think what will happen over the next two or three days will be positive for the future of this club.” - Kevin Keegan.

Today’s overview: Following Zenit’s fabulous shift in the UEFA Super Cup, Martin Samuel wonders whether “the threat to Premier League dominance may not come from La Liga or Serie A after all, but an entirely unexpected quarter.”

From United’s perspective, Henry Winter and Daniel Taylor were both critical of the champions performance, with the lack of fire-power up-front picked up by both scribes. Mark Ogden and Sachin Nakrani interject to claim that (once again) Dimitar Berbatov is on the brink of joining Manchester United, but Jorg Althoff and Felix Seidel claim that Bayern Munich could hijack the deal.

Tottenham’s players voice their thoughts on their club in the Saturday papers. Marc Isaacs reports on Jonathon Woodgate’s criticisms of Berbatov, while Daniel Taylor sat down with Jermaine Jenas, who hugs to his belief that “it’s important that we trust the club.”

It now looks like the Robinho-Chelsea move is off. Sid Lowe reports on the troubles facing Real Madrid’s Roman Calderon, who “like Michael Jackson… [has] lost face,” but Tom Dart believes that Calderon still pulls the strings at Real, shutting down any sale of the Brazilian.

With time running out in the transfer window Tim RIch reflects on a summer of spending at Eastlands, Michael Walker wonders whether Newcastle are in crisis after shrinking their squad to just 14 first-teamers. while James Lawton claims “Wenger wants it all. He wants beautiful football and, sooner rather than later, he would like to win.”

The two main Saturday interviews sees Michel Platini sits down with Henry Winter, talking about a range of subjects including his efforts to introduce supplementary referees, and Michael Walker interviews Nick Barmby in the Independent.

On the international scene, Terry Venables tries to convince readers that the future is bright for England with Rooney and Owen up-top. Tom Wells delivers a scoop undermining Capello’s England, claiming that the players are smuggling food into the England camp in reaction to the Italian’s new diet restrictions. And Oliver Kay reports on the latest injury to hit Owen Hargreaves, adding to England’s midfield woes.

Finally, turning to European football, Frank Dunne looks at the return to football for Jose Mourinho, the Financial Times reports on the difficulties some La Liga clubs are experiencing during the current financial crisis, and Jozy Altidore admits he is in the dark about whether he will play for Villarreal this weekend.

In The Times, Martin Samuel wonders whether Russian football could come to challenge the dominance of the Premier League. “Russian technique has always been impressive. If the capacity to sign the best players, and the best managers to coach them is now added to that package, we could be witnessing the dawn of a new force in the European game. The threat to Premier League dominance may not come from La Liga or Serie A after all, but an entirely unexpected quarter.”

Henry Winter gives his assessment of United’s performance in the Telegraph. “Always looking for the quick pass, Scholes partnered the busy Anderson in central midfield with Darren Fletcher and the left-sided Nani trying to provide the width. Tevez, again terrific, buzzed around in support of the front-running Wayne Rooney, whose uncertain movement against the excellent Russians gave Capello food for thought. At right-back, Gary Neville looked far short of sharpness for Super Cup action, let alone England.”

Reflecting on Manchester United’s Super Cup defeat to Zenit, Daniel Taylor (Guardian) was critical of the champions performance. “United should have plenty in reserve to come through a relatively moderate opening assignment in their defence of the trophy. But Scholes’s indiscretion was fitting for an evening when too many of Ferguson’s players seemed distracted or to care little about the possibility of adding another trophy to the club collection… Carlos Tevez was the exception, playing indefatigably, yet this is a strange time for Rooney, who had another peripheral game. Moreover Nani flickered only sporadically and, not for the first time, it is easy to understand why Ferguson is so keen to bring in Dimitar Berbatov.”

The Guardian’s pairing of Mark Ogden and Sachin Nakrani join heads to claim that (once again) Dimitar Berbatov is on the brink of joining Manchester United. “United’s willingness to allow Saha to leave for no initial fee suggests a deal with Berbatov is imminent. The Frenchman, a £12.8m buy from Fulham in January 2004, still had two years left to run on his £65,000-a-week contract. His departure, combined with the defender Mikaël Silvestre’s exit for Arsenal last week, has taken over £100,000 off United’s weekly wage bill but left United short of strikers before Monday’s transfer deadline.”

Yet Bild’s duo of Jorg Althoff and Felix Seidel claim that Bayern Munich could hijack the Berbatov deal. “New evidence suggests that Bayern are keen on the player, and could swoop in and use Spurs’ hostility towards last season’s Champions League winners to take him from under their noses. Berbatov is reportedly on a list of players drawn up by the German champions who they are interested. Bayern are also looking for a defensive midfielder, with Anatoly Tymoschuk (29), currently with UEFA Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg, apparently a strong contender.”

The Telegraph’s Marc Isaacs reports on Jonathon Woodgate’s parting shot at the Bulgarian. Woodgate: “If it was me, I wouldn’t do it in the first place – I would play. It doesn’t give out a great message but it makes the boys work twice as hard for each other. If I was in the same situation, I would be working for the club as hard as I could until told otherwise. I’ll always give 100 per cent wherever I am. If I didn’t want to be somewhere, I’d still give my all – every training session, every game, all the time.”

Daniel Taylor sat down with Jermaine Jenas for the Guardian. Jenas: “It’s important that we trust the club. We’ve already spent a lot of money on people like David Bentley and Luka Modric and I have confidence that the club won’t be standing still. OK, to see someone like Robbie leave is tough. He was a great player for us, he’s a great lad, we’ll miss him and we wish him well. Berba is another brilliant player although, for now, he is still a Spurs player. But no player is irreplaceable. And maybe it can be Darren Bent’s season as well. I can’t give Darren enough credit for his attitude. Even last season, when he was sat on the bench, he was patient, he never moaned and he trained hard every single day. He was on the bench in the Carling Cup final but when that whistle went he was out on the pitch celebrating with everybody else.”

The Guardian’s Spanish supermo, Sid Lowe, looks at the troubles facing Roman Calderon. “Like Michael Jackson, Calderón has lost face. Of all the players he has promised, only Arjen Robben has actually turned up - and he came a year late. He looks like a liar or an incompetent impostor. Or both. He’s got the fans on his back and the coach in a strop: Schuster wanted new signings; the supporters wanted the old ones, chanting “where’s Kaká?” at Robben’s presentation last year and “Ronaldo! Ronaldo!” at Rafael van der Vaart’s this. His continued search for a signing to salvage credibility makes him look more desperate and less credible than ever. He can’t manipulate the media like his predecessor, doesn’t have the guile others had, and lacks the popular legitimacy he frantically seeks - despite the success for which he deserves, but rarely gets, credit. He has lost Madrid’s members’ assembly and had more pañoladas (displays of disapproval) than Florentino Pérez ever faced. Forever teetering on the edge of the abyss, the second Madrid stop winning, he’ll fall in.”

But Calderon looks to have had the final say in the Robinho-Chelsea saga, Tom Dart (The Times) reports the the deal now seems dead in the water. “Real value Robinho at £32 million, but Chelsea’s offer falls about £5 million below that. Real, though, had wanted to secure a replacement for the forward before allowing him to leave, but failed to capture David Villa, of Valencia, or Santi Cazorla, of Villarreal. Without a big-name signing this summer after his pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo fell flat, Calderón would suffer criticism from Real fans if he allows Robinho to leave, especially after Bernd Schuster, the Real coach, had expressed a desire to hold on to him.”

Tim RIch (Telegraph) reflects on a summer of spending at Eastlands. “Jo, Tal Ben Haim and Vincent Kompany may lack the ‘wow’ factor of those long-ago world footballers of the year but as men for the longer term, they are far more valuable… With Martin Petrov and Wright-Phillips, City will boast perhaps the most potent wing attack in the Premier League… The fact that the arrival of full-back Pablo Zabaleta from Espanyol will take Hughes’ spending to about £50 million should ease those worries, although Vedran Corluka is still likely to leave for Tottenham and Nery Castillo for Real Betis.”

James Lawton focuses on Arsene Wenger in the Independent, asking “the question now facing every Arsenal fan – and current and putative directors and investors – is whether Wenger’s version of football’s Holy Grail is something to be prized and suffered or tossed out as so much fancy thinking placed in the path of such financial behemoths as Chelsea and Manchester United…. [Wenger] says that the ambition to win is fundamental, but it is also important how you do it, how you build an understanding of how you secure the future and shape that most precious of assets: a real identity. Wenger wants it all. He wants beautiful football and, sooner rather than later, he would like to win. Yes, it is a dream, but sometimes a dream comes true – and doesn’t that make the life of a true fan ultimately worthwhile?”

With just 14 squad players after the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa, Michael Walker (Independent) wonders whether Newcastle are in crisis. “Keegan will offer Newcastle supporters’ faith another test by placing Joey Barton on the bench at Arsenal for this evening’s televised game. It is Barton’s first appearance in club colours since his release from prison for assault. His Football Association hearing is next Friday. Barton’s presence is due to an injury crisis that has affected an already small squad to the point where Keegan said he has 14 fit first-teamers. A 17-year-old called Nile Ranger may start today. Recently released from Southampton’s academy he signed as a free agent a few weeks ago and slipped virtually unnoticed on to Newcastle’s bench at Coventry City on Tuesday night.”

Michel Platini sits down with the Telegraph’s Henry Winter, talking about a range of subjects including his efforts to introduce supplementary referees. “In his effort to encourage ‘clean’ sport, Platini plans to introduce two ’supplementary referees’ patrolling the touchline looking for simulation. ‘I dived once,’ he revealed. ‘It was in a game for Nancy against Nantes in 1975. Now I can admit it. The referee didn’t see it. I was happy to do it on that occasion. If we could win the match because I cheated, everyone was happy. What the referee can’t see, the supplementary referees can see. We won’t have diving around. It will also mean less running for the central referees, who can referee until they are 50. We will test it at the Uefa youth championships.’ Platini’s ideas are beginning to be turned into reality.”

Michael Walker interviews Nick Barmby in the Independent. Barmby: “I like reading autobiographies. I’ve just finished reading Martin Johnson’s book, and Lawrence Dallaglio’s. I’ve got respect for people like that. The biggest thing that stands out was their passion to play for their country, and their conduct. In the Rugby World Cup final against Australia, a bad decision was given against England and Australia kicked a penalty to draw level. Johnson didn’t have a go at the referee; he just accepted it. It must have been difficult. That stood out. That’s respect.”

Delivering his regular weekend column, Terry Venables (The Sun) once again tries to convince readers that the future is bright for England with Rooney and Owen up-top. “In Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen we have two of the greatest strikers in the world. Put them together and we could, we should, have one of the most lethal partnerships in the game. OK, I agree, they haven’t exactly set the world alight yet. But when two players are so gifted and so rich in natural talent, then it only takes a few minor adjustments for the fireworks to start… The ground rule here should be this: Owen must go no further than the halfway line — and then Rooney must go no further than 12 yards deeper than this. The logic is simple. If England counter-attack, Rooney is close enough to Owen to be able to break out and give him support. And if England are defending, once Rooney has stopped at this 12-yard point, there are still eight more players left to cover the small area of the pitch that is left in front of our goal.”

But The Sun’s Tom Wells delivers a scoop undermining Capello’s England, claiming that the players are smuggling food into the England camp in reaction to the Italian’s new diet restrictions. “Desperate England aces smuggled chocolate bars into their rooms to fill the hole left by coach Fabio Capello’s new super-tough diet. They also battled agonising hunger pangs with bags of crisps… One senior source highly placed in the England camp said: ‘Players were complaining of feeling light-headed and nauseous after training. They’d been together four days and couldn’t believe how little they’d eaten. Most are used to diets packed with carbohydrates to keep going. Now all they’re allowed is a bit of cereal and toast.’”

Oliver Kay (The Times) reports on the latest injury to hit Owen Hargreaves, adding to England’s midfield woes. “Capello will name his squad tomorrow for the opening World Cup qualifying matches away to Andorra a week today and Croatia four days later and, with Hargreaves joining Steven Gerrard and Michael Carrick on the injured list, his options will be severely limited. Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry, who failed to impress as a central-midfield partnership in the recent drawn friendly with the Czech Republic at Wembley, appear certain to start both matches, with Jermaine Jenas their only obvious understudy. Beyond that, Capello may have to call up a player such as Tom Huddlestone, out of favour at Tottenham Hotspur, Scott Parker, Mark Noble, Nigel Reo-Coker or even contemplate a recall for Nicky Butt, who has not played for England since 2004.”

Frank Dunne looks at the return to football for Jose Mourinho. “Mourinho appears untroubled. Asked if he was nervous about his first game in Serie A, he snorted with derision. ‘Why should I be nervous?’ he said. ‘It’s just another game. It’s the most important game of my life, because it’s the next game. But we’ve worked all week to prepare for it and we’re ready.’”

The Financial Times reports on the difficulties some La Liga clubs experiencing during the current financial crisis. “Financial pressures have triggered a wave of club sales. Most spectacular, if only because its stadium bears his name, is property developer Manuel Ruíz de la Lopera’s sale, due for completion in October, of his majority holding in Seville club Betis. Mallorca’s president, Vicente Grande, is selling his 93 per cent holding to British entrepreneur Paul “The Plumber” Davidson, a man with an eventful business career who sees ownership of the club as an opportunity to publicise his pipe-fitting and other enterprises. Meanwhile, builder Juan Soler has passed on the presidency of Valencia to Vicente Soriano, the second-biggest shareholder and previously a rival for control, and has entered tortuous negotiations for his 37 per cent holding with Juan Villalonga, former chairman of Telefónica, the telecoms company. Villalonga last month said the club’s total debt was €439m. Technical director Juan Sánchez resigned this week after falling out with the new regime.”

Blogging for the New York Times, Jozy Altidore admits he is in the dark about whether he will play for Villarreal this weekend. “We won’t know the lineup until the day before the game, so I’m not sure if I’ll be starting or coming off the bench. I just have to be ready to play. I have the feeling that I’ve been given a reward in a way because the coach has liked what he’s seen from me. Also, we have a couple of injuries to our forwards, [Giuseppe] Rossi and Nihat… Again, I don’t know if I’m going to start on Sunday, I really would be shocked, but I’m just really excited and can’t wait to get on the field and to be a part of the whole thing.”