Aston Villa sign Darren Bent 24 million

Aston Villa have completed the club-record signing of Sunderland striker Darren Bent in a deal which could eventually be worth £24million.

Villa are splashing out an initial £18million for Bent but additional add-ons mean the final figure could rise by another £6million.
The England player is in line to make his debut in Saturday evening's home Premier League clash with Manchester City.
The four-and-a-half year deal was completed on Tuesday after Bent agreed personal terms and passed a medical.
After completing his move, Bent told Villa's website: "Aston Villa is a massive football club and as soon as I knew they were interested in signing me I wanted to join.
"The size of the football club and the history of the club are major reasons for me coming here."
Bent's capture surpasses Villa's previous transfer record of £12million which was paid for James Milner (Newcastle) and Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough) respectively.
The 26-year-old moved from Tottenham to the Stadium Of Light 18 months ago and scored 25 goals in his first season for the Black Cats.
Bent has been less prolific during the current campaign but has scored 81 Premier League goals in the last five seasons - a figure only bettered by Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney on 82 apiece.
Bent began his career with Ipswich a decade ago and also had a spell with Charlton before a £16.5million switch to Tottenham in 2007.
He spent two years at White Hart Lane before moving to Sunderland during the summer of 2009.
In total he has scored 128 league goals in 308 appearances.
Bent has won seven senior England caps and scored his first goal for his country during the Euro qualifier with Switzerland in Basle in September.
His signing will take Villa's potential spending in this transfer window close to the £30million mark after already signing Lyon midfielder Jean Makoun for £6million.
Villa boss Gerard Houllier is also still interested in Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam and is looking to bring in a new left-back.

Babel set to leave Liverpool and join Hoffenheim

Ryan Babel is set to leave Liverpool after the club announced they had accepted an undisclosed bid from Hoffenheim for the Dutch forward.

Babel has been given permission to travel to Germany and discuss personal terms with his prospective new employers.
He has struggled to nail down a first-team place at Anfield and was again on the bench on Sunday during the derby draw with Everton.
Babel was fined £10,000 on Monday and warned about his future conduct for posting comments and a doctored picture of referee Howard Webb on Twitter.
About his lack of first-team chances, the 24-year-old said: "For a player of my age it is important to be playing week in week out."
According to Germany's Bild newspaper, the two clubs have agreed on a fee in the region of seven million euros and Babel is set to fill a void which has emerged in the attack this winter.
"Following the departure of (Demba) Ba and the injury to (Chinedu) Obasi, we were in an emergency situation," said Hoffenheim's owner Dietmar Hopp.
"Babel was one of the prime candidates who our general manager Ernst Tanner was most convinced about."
Babel could make his debut against St Pauli on Sunday, should the deal be completed in the next few days.
However, the player himself earlier spoke of his hope for a loan move back to Ajax - and stated that deal could form part of Luis Suarez's potential transfer to Liverpool.
Babel indicated he wanted to return to the club he left for Anfield in 2007 to get regular first-team football.
Liverpool are reported to be interested in Uruguay striker Suarez, who scored three times at the 2010 World Cup before his infamous sending-off for a goal-line handball in the quarter-final against Ghana.
"The transfer of Suarez to Liverpool opens the door for me to go to Ajax," Babel was quoted as saying by De Telegraaf newspaper.
"If Liverpool and Ajax - whether in combination with Luis - can reach an agreement over me I will surely come to the club. For the chance to play I am willing to settle for far less pay."

Steven Pienaar has completed his move to Spurs

Steven Pienaar has completed his move to Tottenham after signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with the London club.

The 28-year-old midfielder passed a medical at Spurs' Chigwell training ground before putting the finishing touches to his transfer from Everton for a fee believed to be between £2.5million and £3million.
Earlier confirming his destination on his Twitter account, Pienaar said: "To end speculation I am going to Spurs. I've had brilliant years at Everton and it will always be a special place in my heart."
He later added: "I can also confirm I'll be jersey number 40."
Confirming the completion of the transfer on their official website, Spurs said in a statement: "We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Everton and Steven Pienaar for the player's transfer to the club."
Pienaar could make his debut in Saturday's Premier League game at Newcastle providing his work permit comes through in time.
Tottenham beat Chelsea to land Pienaar, who failed to agree personal terms with the champions.
That does not appear to be a problem with Spurs, who nevertheless risked missing out on the South Africa star by refusing to meet Everton's asking price.
But the clubs came to an agreement last night, with some reports claiming Tottenham had matched Chelsea's £3million bid for the player and others suggesting a compromise figure of around £2.5million had been reached.
Once all the paperwork is complete, Pienaar will officially become the north Londoners' second January signing, with international team-mate Bongani Kumalo having already penned a pre-contract agreement.
Everton decided to sell the influential playmaker, rather than lose him on a free transfer when his contract expired in the summer.
Spurs are thought to have been interested for some time and were considering offering a pre-contract deal for the end of the campaign, but Chelsea's intervention forced them to enter the market.
Manager Harry Redknapp said over the weekend he was unsure whether Spurs could match the Blues' offer.
Everton have disclosed no details of the bids but confirmed last night Pienaar had been given permission to discuss terms with Spurs as well as Chelsea.
Pienaar made his name at Ajax after joining them from their club partners Ajax Cape Town in January 2001.
The versatile midfielder enjoyed great success during his time in Amsterdam, helping Ajax to the Eredivisie championship in 2002 and 2004 and playing in the Champions League before making the move to the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in 2006.
He joined Everton on loan from Dortmund in 2007 and the move was made permanent the following year for £2million.
He became one of the club's most influential figures and was named Player of the Year after an outstanding 2009-10 season.
It became apparent then, however, that problems were arising over a new contract.
Pienaar failed to give firm assurances that he wanted to stay beyond the end of his deal and his name was conspicuous by its absence as a succession of players signed new contracts last year.
Tim Cahill, Leighton Baines, Seamus Coleman, Jack Rodwell and Mikel Arteta all committed themselves to Goodison Park but an offer to Pienaar remained unsigned.
His departure might at least give manager David Moyes some leverage to pursue a striker in the current transfer window, having repeatedly said he lacks funds and must look for value loans.
Spurs actually have an embarrassment of riches in central midfield but Pienaar's all-action approach might give them something different.
It could mean that Niko Kranjcar moves on having fallen down the pecking order at White Hart Lane and previously expressed a desire for first-team football.

Fulham want to sign Shaun Wright-Phillips in a £4million deal

FULHAM want to sign Manchester City star Shaun Wright-Phillips in a £4million deal.

Craven Cottage boss Mark Hughes signed the England man from Chelsea when he was Eastlands boss in 2008 and is keen to work with the winger again.
Fulham can afford the small transfer fee but SWP would need to take a drop in wages as the Londoners would not be able to offer anywhere near his current £60,000-a-week wages.
Yet the player is keen to end his second spell at the City and is desperate for more first-team football.
City are looking to offload some of their fringe players during this month's transfer window and Wright-Phillips, 29, is one of them.
Sparky is also keeping a close eye on another of his former players, Blackburn's David Dunn.
He has 18 months left on his contract and has finally put his injury woes behind him with a string of impressive performances.
That has not gone unnoticed by former Rovers boss Hughes and also Newcastle, who are considering a raid for the £2m-rated midfielder.
It is the second time Toon have shown an interest in Dunn after the late Bobby Robson tried to sign him.

Maradona: Premier club wants me

DIEGO MARADONA will hold talks next month about bossing an English club - and Blackburn could be favourites to land him.

The Argentina legend had discussions with Rovers after they sacked Sam Allardyce in December.
He said: "In February I am going to England to listen to a firm offer. If they convince me, I may take it up. I am not desperate. I know that some day I will coach another team."
New owners Venky's put first-team coach Steve Kean in charge until the end of the season after firing Allardyce.
But Venky's, who bought Rovers in November, admitted their interest in Maradona, 50.
Chairwoman Anuradha Desai said: "We thought about Maradona as a coach after we took over. Talks were at the initial stage then, but there is no development on that front yet."
Reports in Argentina suggest Maradona is off to Fulham, where he was a guest of owner Mohamed Fayed last November.
But a source at Craven Cottage insisted: "It's not us."
Blackburn believe Maradona would strengthen their bid to sign big-name South American players after failing to land Brazil's Ronaldinho last week.

Chelsea come back and win 7-0 over Ipswich

Chelsea went some way to lifting the gloom at Stamford Bridge as they began their defence of the FA Cup with a crushing 7-0 win over Ipswich.

The managerless visitors proved ideal cannon fodder for Carlo Ancelotti's faltering double winners, who went into Sunday's game on their worst Premier League run for almost 15 years.
Ancelotti's decision to continue last season's policy of fielding some youngsters in the early rounds of the cup did not backfire, with Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard scoring twice, Salomon Kalou also finding the net and Nicolas Anelka ending the personal goal drought that has coincided with Chelsea's two months of misery.
Ancelotti, who handed rare starts to 17-year-old Josh McEachran and 20-year-old Patrick van Aanholt, will be praying Sunday's win helps inspire his established stars, like the rested Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole, to kick-start their ailing league campaign.
Despite the number of changes and standard of opposition, Chelsea - looking to become the first club to win a hat-trick of FA Cups since the 1880s - continued to be dogged by a lack of cutting edge in the opening half-hour.
Sturridge, rewarded with a start after scoring five times for the reserves on Thursday, saw one chance closed down by Marton Fulop and another balloon off target.
They were almost made to pay by the team who had boss Roy Keane sacked on Friday.
A fine break involving Scotland and David Norris ended in the former unleashing a left-footed piledriver which Petr Cech could only beat away.
Chelsea surged down the other end and Anelka looked to have put them ahead but Troy Brown produced a brilliant clearance off the line from the Frenchman's low finish.
Lampard blasted over after good work down the left from Van Aanholt and McEachran's drive was deflected behind off Connor Wickham.
A lovely Chelsea move was then spoilt by a horrible finish from Anelka, who made amends by providing the breakthrough in the 33rd minute after Ipswich gave the ball away in midfield.
Chelsea sprung forward and Anelka's finish hit Fulop and squirmed towards the line before Kalou made sure.
It was 2-0 less than a minute later, Sturridge tucking home Jose Bosingwa's low cross after more poor defending from the visitors.
Lampard's weak 20-yard shot was straight at Fulop as Chelsea looked to kill off the tie before half-time.
Ipswich captain David Norris was booked for a poor tackle on John Terry and Lampard made him pay from the resulting 41st-minute free-kick, with Carlos Edwards flicking the ball into his own net.
Anelka's mis-hit finish was straight at Fulop at the start of the second half but the striker finally ended his barren spell in the 49th minute, finding the bottom corner after a neat exchange with Kalou.
Ipswich had been preparing a substitution at the time and immediately withdrew Scotland for Ronan Murray.
Chelsea began to play with a swagger and Sturridge made it 5-0 three minutes later, curling superbly into the top corner from just inside the box.
Ancelotti threw on another youngster, with Gael Kakuta replacing Kalou.
Peters drilled wide in search of a consolation before the highly-rated Wickham was replaced by Tamas Priskin.
Chelsea lost Van Aanholt to injury for the final 20 minutes, with Jeffrey Bruma entering the fray.
The home side were in cruise control but Ipswich pressed the self-destruct button again twice in a minute to hand Lampard a quickfire double.
The England midfielder blasted home from 15 yards after the visitors failed to clear a corner, and then bundled home Branislav Ivanovic's low cross.
It was party time at Stamford Bridge and Ramires fired over with the outside of his right foot before Chelsea fans showed their support for the under-pressure Ancelotti, who responded with a wave.
Kakuta, Anelka and Ivanovic all had chances to make it 8-0 in stoppage-time before the final whistle ended Ipswich's torture.

Adler: Come and get me, Man United

Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler has issued a 'come and get me' call to dream club Manchester United.

The Red Devils are understood to have scouted the Germany international goalkeeper as they prepare for the expected retirement of Edwin van der Sar at the end of the season.
The 25-year-old has a £15million get-out clause in his contract if United come calling and he admits he would love to follow in the footsteps of his hero Peter Schmeichel.
Adler, who has 18 months left on his current deal, told the Sunday Mirror: "I have told the Leverkusen board that I am not willing to discuss any new contract until April.
"I just want to achieve a Champions League spot with my team here now.
"The board of the club are aware of the special clause in my contract.
"As a kid, my friends were interested in cartoons, MTV and German TV programmes, but I was the only interested in one person - Peter Schmeichel - who was in goal for Manchester United.
"I thought he was fantastic and loved every minute he was on TV with United.
"My whole bedroom was full of Schmeichel posters and United things. I had one or two other heroes in football like Paul Gascoigne and Zinedine Zidane.
"But nobody, in my eyes, was as impressive as Schmeichel."