SPORTS UPDATE WITH EMMAH ATAI: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been chasing new signing Danny Welbeck for much of the summer. Last night, Wenger has made a dramatic move to solve his lack of goal power by agreeing a £16million deal to sign Manchester United striker Welbeck. Reports say Wenger originally had Welbeck earmarked as a possible replacement for Lukas Podolski, who was set to leave Arsenal earlier this summer. But with Arsenal so short of striking options following Giroud’s serious ankle injury, he will be asked to play in a central role for the Gunners. Meanwhile, Radamel Falcaos loan move to Manchester United was the major deadline day signing as Premier League summer spending hit a record £835m. The Colombian strikers £6m switch, Daley Blinds £13.8m move to United and their sale of Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for £16m helped set the new landmark. Overall deadline day spending was down £55m to £85m compared to 2013. But earlier deals, such as Uniteds £59.7m British record signing of Angel Di Maria helped set the record. Financial analysts Deloitte said Louis Van Gaals near £150m spree was the highest gross transfer spend in a single window by any club. Manchester City revealed Alvaro Negredo had been sent on loan to Valencia.City also allowed England international Micah Richards to go on loan to Italian side Fiorentina, with United strikerJavier Hernandez going on loan to Real Madrid. Hull were the busiest Premier League side on transfer deadline day, signing four players,including Palermo striker Abel Hernandez for a reported club-record £10m and Premier League trio Hatem Ben Arfa, Gaston Ramirez and Mo Diame. Crystal Palace broke their club record to sign £7m Wigan midfielder James McArthur. Petr Cech is happy to remain a Chelsea player. Queens Park Rangers had been offered Cech by Chelsea, but the goalkeeper, who has lost his place at Stamford Bridge to Thibaut Courtois, was believed to favour a move to a London club. He will remain at Chelsea in his 11th season at the club. QPR boss Harry Redknapp confirmed they had a bid for Fabio Borini accepted by Liverpool yesterday. But the Italians personal demands proved too rich for the Rs. Redknapp told talkSPORT: We tried with Fabio Borini. We agreed a deal with Liverpool and everything was sorted with the club but we just couldn’t agree terms with the boy. We couldn’t get anywhere near [the wages] he was asking for. “His wages were way, way, way out of reach. Believe me, they were big wages. We just couldn’t get near him.” African football governing body CAF have rejected an appeal by Rwanda against their disqualification from the 2015 Cup of Nations qualifiers. The decision means Congo Brazzaville will compete in Group A with title-holders Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan. Rwanda were thrown out of the qualifying competition for using dual-identity player Dady Birori-Etekiama Agiti Taddy in preliminary-phase aggregate victories over Libya and Congo Brazzaville. A Libyan appeal to CAF against the striker failed, but one by Congo succeeded. Birori becomes Taddy when playing for Vita Club in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. He holds Rwandan and DR Congo passports with different dates of birth -- one claims he is 24 and the other that he is 28. TENNIS: Andy Murray believes he is close to playing his best tennis after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the US Open quarter-finals. The Briton won 7-5 7-5 6-4 at Flushing Meadows to set up a meeting with world number one Novak Djokovic. Murray will play Djokovic for the 21st time on Wednesday, with the Serb leading 12-8 and having won four of their last five meetings.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 10:31:12 +0000
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