Tottenham Hotspur and Wales Winger Gareth Bale has admitted that he would have ‘no qualms’ about moving abroad if the lure of a Real Madrid or Barcelona came about. Wales have not qualified for a World Cup finals since the days of legendary Leeds and Juventus forward John Charles – when he led his nation to the quarter finals of the 1958 tournament, only to lose to a single goal against Brazil. Bale is Wales’ greatest talent since the emergence of Ryan Giggs nearly two decades ago and has been unplayable at times this season.

Gareth Bale’s most memorable performances so far this season have come against Italian and reigning European Champions Internazionale. Bale tormented Brazilian Maicon in the return match at White Hart Lane, providing two assists in the match. This followed on from his heroics a fortnight previous, when he scored a hattrick in the San Siro – after Tottenham had been four goals down. Bale had been linked to a move to Inter Milan earlier in the season, however this is the first time the Welshman has spoken publicly on his future.

Bale was quoted as saying:

There’s something brilliant about watching deadline day unfold from a (relatively) neutral point of view, the chaos and excitement. Not knowing just exactly what’s going to unfold, if the domino effect of transfers will all work out according to plan. Or if someone will throw a hissy fit and ruin it for everyone. This window however everything did go according to plan (depending on your opinion on Andy Carroll for 35 million pounds that is). Chelsea strengthened (massively), City strengthened and Liverpool did as well, and they all spent big.

It really is worrying thought when City spending a reported 27 million pounds on Edin Dzeko. Chelsea spends 20+ million on David Luiz and 50 million on Fernando Torres aren’t the biggest shocks of the window! I’ve already said it twice before but I feel that the point needs reiterating. Liverpool FC spent 35 million; wait let me type that out 35,000,000.00 pounds on Andy Carroll. Take a moment to really think about that. He’s Liverpool’s record signing, and the most expensive ever Englishman. If you want to make the figure seem even more obscene think about this. He’s scored 32 goals in his career, making each one of them worth over a million pounds. I know that one he scored against Liverpool was good, but it wasn’t that good.

Is this a sign of football truly gone mad? Well whilst I don’t think its good evidence that its operating in the realms of reality I wouldn’t go as far to say it was terrible business, yet. Let’s look at the facts. Torres handed in a transfer request on Friday, four whole days before the window closed. This doesn’t really give Liverpool the greatest amount of time to find a replacement (and in their current mid table predicament 50 million in the bank doesn’t help). They already had their replacement lined up (Suarez) but they now needed another striker, with only the deadline day in which to strike a deal. The whole world knew this so that instantly knocked up any fee Liverpool would pay, as everyone knew they had to.

They need European football next year (even if it’s not the champions league) for simple monetary reasons and to attract better players in the summer. They had to sign someone who could make an instant impact incase Suarez didn’t settle straight away. Carroll himself has acquitted himself well in the league this year (so far) he’s young and English (which instantly raises a players price these days). However, you still have to come back around to that 35 million figure, I just can’t fathom it. 20 – to 25? High but understandable, he’s got at least ten years left to play so it’s not like he’ll be declining anytime soon.

All in all whilst Liverpool certainly overpaid for Carroll, when you look at it it’s probably not as much as you would think initially. After all if they were to sell him in three to four years they could easily get 15 million if he flops utterly. Is he going to be the next Shearer? Not likely, will he help Liverpool move up the table this season? Probably. Is he good enough for Liverpool? Only time will tell. There are many, many question surrounding Carroll and his transfer to Liverpool and there are only three things we know for certain. Firstly, Sir Alex was – as ever – correct when he said there’s no value in the transfer window right now. Second United should probably call up Real Madrid and ask for another 50 million for the Ronaldo transfer and three, how brilliant does Javier Hernandez for seven million look now?

Rumours of a move for Fernando Torres to Chelsea have been around for years, so news that Roman Abramovich is willing to stump up a reported £40m for ‘El Nino’ is no big surprise. But it is a mark of just how far the Spaniards’ stock has fallen when people start questioning the money involved in this saga.

Thirty months ago, Torres was the hottest striker in world football after a superb Euro 2008 in which he was influential as Spain ended their tournament hoodoo. His goal in the final showed his full repertoire; brave, quick, strong and deadly.

The following year he would give Nemanja Vidic, one of the very best defenders in world football, the run-around on more than one occasion as Liverpool came as close as they have in my life time to adding to their 18 league titles.

And yet just a year on and those memories are a thing of the past. Torres was dropped by Vicente Del Bosque at the semi-final stage as his national side added the World Cup to their European Championship success and Liverpool have spectacularly fallen from grace, not even qualifying for this season’s Champions league for the first time since the 2003/04 season.

On this form, upwards of £40m seems a lot to risk on a player, especially from a club who have tightened the purse-strings in recent years. So should Chelsea not bother and continue to rely on their youth movement for new players? In a word, no.

It must be pointed out that, while Torres may be getting criticised for some of his displays, he is still scoring goals. He has nine in the league this season, just one less than Didier Drogba and new Aston Villa ‘goal-machine’ Darren Bent. In this year’s Premier League campaign, the next highest scorers from the Liverpool side are Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt, who have just four.

And when Torres scores, Liverpool usually win. The 26-year-old has scored in seven separate games this season, and the Reds have won five, drawn one and lost one. His finest hour came against his current suitors. He was restricted to four shots as Chelsea travelled to Anfield. Two were from outside the box, the other two were goals.

On his day, he remains one of the most lethal, clinical goalscorers in world football. Him seemingly needing to be in the right mood to achieve this is no different to many of the finest footballers. For example, Dimitar Berbatov struggled for two years at Old Trafford before he came out flourishing this campaign.

And like Berbatov, Torres is a player that occasionally leaves the paying punters lost for words. While we all love a hard working footballer, is there anything finer than witnessing a moment of pure inspiration? Yes they can be frustrating, but at times players like Torres can be worth the ticket money alone. You can’t say that about Park Ji-Sung, Dirk Kuyt or Ramires, no matter how good they in their respective roles.

Chelsea have a history of handling difficult players. Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are famed for being hard to handle, but Carlo Ancelotti regularly gets the very best out of the pair of them. It was said the duo couldn’t play together, but they were a part of a record-breaking Chelsea attack last campaign. Adding Torres to that would be a frightening thought.

The only problem would be where would he fit in? Chelsea play with a front three, with Drogba the pivot, Anelka on the right and Florent Malouda on the left. Torres likes to be played down the middle. Could he play with Drogba?

Chelsea could switch to a 442, with Drogba and Torres up-front together. The pros to this would be most of the defenders in the Premier League would be wetting themselves the night before at the thought of facing this duo. Both are strong, both are quick. They can hold up the ball, get in behind and can score goals ranging from close-range headers to long range thunderbolts.

This would see Anelka drop to the bench, with Malouda either dropping back a bit, or moving more centrally with the wingers being removed. On paper, a midfield of Ramires or John Obi Mikel sitting with Michael Essien, Malouda and Frank Lampard further forward behind Torres and Drogba looks a mouthwatering prospect.

Alternatively, Drogba or Torres could adapt their game and move out to the right-hand side of the front three, or interchange between themselves during the game. Again, should this work Chelsea could be unstoppable and may just about drag themselves back into the title race.

But it would not be a guarantee. Torres has played his best football as a lone striker with support from midfield. Drogba is the same. Playing them both together might not work. But, remember, people said Anelka and Drogba wouldn’t work and Ancelotti found a way. Going further back, Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t want to play Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke together initially and they went on to form one of the deadliest striking partnerships in Europe.

Buying Torres is a no-brainer. He’s a goalscorer, he’s still young enough to play for at least half a decade and he knows he can play in the Premier League. Chelsea couldn’t get anyone better to boost their attacking options. Drogba and Anelka are both in their 30s so even if Torres can’t hit it off with either of them he’ll be around a lot longer.

Torres wants out of Liverpool. He wouldn’t join Real Madrid or Manchester United. Barcelona don’t really need him. Chelsea is the biggest club he can join in Europe at this time. And they could really do with him too, no matter how much it costs them.

Arsenal captain and Spanish international, Cesc Fabregas has been the subject of a lot of transfer speculation linking him with a return to his home-club, Barcelona. Today, Barcelona have confirmed that despite the imminent World Cup, they have made a formal written offer to Arsenal for the transfer of Fabregas.

A statement on the club’s website had this quote from Club Director General, Joan Oliver:

“Everybody knows that Cesc wants to sign for Barca and that we also want him to come here, but there is also a third party involved –Arsenal. Any agreement has to be with them. The official window for transfer negotiations opened on June 1st and although we’d had unofficial conversations with them before yesterday, we’ve now made a formal written offer, which we presented to Arsenal yesterday afternoon.”

A second quote from Club Vice-President, Rafael Yuste reads:

“I’m optimistic that he’ll be able to sign for Barca as soon as possible and it’s clear that everybody here will give him a warm welcome. We’ll do nothing that might make it more difficult for him to come here and we won’t rush things – but we won’t stop either!”

This deal may even be concluded before or during the World Cup as Txiki Beguiristain and Raül Sanllehí lead the negotiations for Barcelona. Spain, one of the favourites for the competition, will be hoping that it will not affect the performances of Fabregas during the competition. Barcelona are renowned for trying to conclude transfer dealings as quickly as possible once a target is identified and the first bid has been made – with that in mind, there may be more news to report soon.

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Mexico’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has today had a work permit granted enabling him to join Manchester United on the 1st July when the transfer window opens.

The process was not always going to be straightforward as the player had not featured in 75% of Mexico’s international fixtures in the past two years; but Manchester United argued that since his first cap in September 2009 he has featured regularly and will continue to do so throughout his career.

It was announced on the 8th April that his former club, Chivas Guadalajara had agreed a fee with Manchester United and that the player had agreed personal terms. Hernandez was selected as part of a 24 man pre-World Cup Mexican team. Providing he is not the one player cut, fans of Manchester United will hopefully be able to see more of their new signing as he adds to his 10 caps at the World Cup.

In the meantime, Mexico and Manchester United supporters can expect to see him feature against Gambia and Italy in the next week before he will hopefully be helping to kick off the World Cup as Mexico play South Africa in the opening game.

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Spanish forward David Villa has signed for Spanish Champions Barcelona from Valencia in a £34Million transfer, which will see him link up with international team mates Xavi, Iniesta and possibly Cesc Fabregas. Villa has played for Valencia for five seasons now, scoring 108 goals in 164 appearances. However, his scoring record for Spain is even more impressive, with the striker finding the back of the net 36 times in just 55 appearances. Villa is closing in on Raul’s 44 goals – which is currently the highest in Spain’s history.

Villa notched up seven goals in World Cup qualifying, just three behind top goalscorer Theofanis Gekas of Greece. Valencia’s president Manuel Llorente said they had accepted Barca’s bid for the prized striker, who scored 21 league goals last season. He stating that there were some big money offers for the player from England- “There was a big offer from England that was not from Chelsea but Barcelona’s was the best for us and the footballer. Villa has delivered a lot (to Valencia) and he deserves this chance.”

The player also released a statement, highlighting his love for the club and the difficulty in the decision to leave Valnecia. Villa released the following statment: “This is without doubt the most difficult and emotive moment of my entire career. After five marvellous seasons I take away many feelings and leave behind many friends but also knowing that it is a good thing for the club. I have given my all for Valencia football club, which I will always have in my heart, of which I am a shareholder and which I wish all the luck in the world.”

FIFA announced on Thursday morning that Chelsea are banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows following a contractual dispute involving the transfer of Gael Kakuta from French club Racing Lens in 2007 (pictured above).

The decision will ultimately mean Chelsea cannot register any new players until early 2011. The next transfer window is in January followed by another in 2010. Chelsea have recently offered new deals to high profile players such as Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and club captain John Terry.

This ruling is a massive blow to big spending Chelsea – who do not have the youngest side in the Premier League. FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber ruled that, following an official complaint from Lens, Kakuta had breached his contract with the French club and that Chelsea had invited him to do so. Chelsea have been ordered to pay training compensation of 130,000 euros ($185,700) to Lens and the player has been ordered to pay 780,000 euros compensation and is banned for all competitive matches for four months.

Chelsea’s have made an offer for Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo which has been rejected by the seven time European Champions – AC Milan. Chief executive Adriano Galliani explained the the big is ‘too low’ to consider and prize yet another valuable asset away from the San Siro.

Pirlo, who was an invaluable asset in Italy’s victory over France in Germany back in the summer of 2006, only scored once in Serie A last term – although Chelsea will be looking to his creative guile and passing ability to challenge both Manchester United and Liverpool in the Premier League this season. Rumours of Pirlo’s potential transfer have been heightened since Carlo Ancelotti moved to Stamford Bridge. The reject offered was rumoured to have been a player exchange, Claudio Pizarro is believed to have been the player in question, and £8 million.

AC Milan have already lost Kaka to Real Madrid and there were rumours that Brazilian starlet Alexandre Pato was also a target of the South London club – Pirlo would be another massive loss to the club. “At this price Pirlo is not for sale,” Galliani told Italy’s Sky television before adding that Milan were renewing their interest in Real Madrid forward Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

French International forward Franck Ribery looks like he will be staying at Bayern Munich as both European Cup final managers reveal their interest has cooled over the past few weeks. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that his club ‘explored’ the idea of signing the player, whilst Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola believes that the signing would be ‘impossible’.

The United boss was upfront about the potential transfer in a recent press conference “We didn’t try to buy Ribery, we explored it in a nice, quiet way when David Gill was at one of his meetings with Bayern in March. They told him, ‘absolutely no chance’ and the one thing you can say about Bayern is that, when they say something, they mean it. When we negotiated with them over Hargreaves, at the beginning they said ‘no’, but they also said that, if it ever changed, their minds, we’d be the first to know. It was exactly the same this time. There is no way that they will sell Ribery.”

Barcelona are currently in talks with Internazionale regarding a potential swap deal with Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o and Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic – however believe that adding Ribery to their already impressive front line is now impossible. Pep Guardiola was quoted as saying “It seems impossible to me. I think he will not come. First of all because Bayern does not want to let him go. And then because his agent prefers that he go elsewhere.”

Javier Zanetti has spoken of the fact that he is ‘tired’ of all the talk surrounding the potential transfer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona and Samuel Eto’o to Internazionale. The Inter legend wants to deal to be ‘sorted as soon as possible’ so that his teammates are ready for the new season.

Barcelona are reported to have agreed to hand over Samuel Eto’o, Aleksandr Hleb on loan and a £35m transfer fee, but all the players are yet to work out personal terms. Zanetti was quoted as saying: “I don’t know how this story is going to end, but I hope it comes to a conclusion as soon as possible. If Samuel does arrive, then we are getting a great champion who will certainly want to keep on winning. Eto’o is a player with different characteristics to Ibra, so the team must be able to adapt to his qualities and vice-versa so we can triumph in every available competition.”

The potential transfer negotiations have dominated Internazionale’s pre-season training and Zanetti is looking forward to a conclusion: “The squad looks very enthusiastic after the summer break. This is going to be an important year and we are preparing as best we can, as always. My philosophy remains the same – be ready to take on many roles for the Coach. The club has made some excellent buys, as Diego Milito, Thiago Motta and Lucio are all great champions.” Zanetti has played in two World Cup finals (1998, 2002) as is Argentina’s most capped player.