King Kenny to talk it over with Suarez before deciding if his main man starts. Dempsey returns to the Fulham fold as Senderos stakes a claim for centre-half. Norwich deny Holt to Leicester stories. Reports claim Torres will start the season on the bench and Arsenal reject a fresh Barcelona bid for Cesc Fabregas just this morning. Here’s today’s Scribbles:
Kenny Dalglish will decide on whether to start Luis Suarez next week after discussions with the player himself. Suarez reports for training in a few days time but, wary of the forward’s exertions in this summer’s Copa America, the Liverpool boss clearly does not want to over extend his star man:
He’ll be back next week some time. We’ll start thinking about him then. We’ll just see with Luis when he comes in. He’s had a fantastic summer. He should be pretty happy with himself and pretty confident looking forward to the start of the season.
We need to be careful with every player. So we’ll see how he is when he comes in and have a discussion with him. We can’t predict how he is going to be like.
Clint Dempsey made his first Fulham start under Martin Jol last night in the club’s Europa League match with RNK Split . Back after playing in the Gold Cup this summer, the American took the place of Matthew Briggs on the left of midfield. Jol also benched Chris Baird, moving Aaron Hughes to right-back and giving Philipe Senderos a chance to partner Brede Hangeland in the heart of defence.
The Hangeland-Hughes partnership central defensive pairing has offered plenty solidity in Fantasy terms over the past couple of seasons, though with Jol just through the “In” door, it’s perhaps too early to read deeply into last night’s XI. If Senderos is offered regular starts under Jol, however, a starting price of 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) will surely tempt more than a few Fantasy managers.
Norwich have moved to deny stories suggesting Grant Holt is on his way to Leicester. Speculation arose yesterday that suggested the forward was set to join the Sven Goran Eriksson revolution but the Canaries have issued a statement saying:
“There is absolutely no truth at all in the stories saying we have accepted a bid for Grant Holt. Our captain is simply not for sale.”
Reports have surfaced this morning concerning Andre Villas-Boas’ first XI thoughts ahead of next weekend’s game at Stoke. Fernando Torres is set to be benched for the match at the Britannia, with Didier Drogba leading the line, flanked by Florent Malouda and, according to the Mirror, Daniel Sturridge. Sturridge is, of course, suspended for the first three games of the upcoming season, so the speculation is probably unfounded.
Darren Fletcher has taken part in his first training session since the end of last season. The midfielder has struggled to shake off the effects of a virus that sidelined him for a few months in 2010/11 and although he won’t be ready for first-team action just yet, his return will be a major boost for Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jonathan Woodgate played the full 90 minutes in Stoke’s Europa League match with Hajduk Split last night. Signed as a free agent after his contract at Spurs ran out, Woodgate comes in at 4.5 in FPL and if (big if, perhaps) he can stay injury-free, Woodgate could be something of a bargain next season, with Robert Huth at 6.0 and Ryan Shawcross at 5.0 in comparison.
Ah, the Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona saga. Reports this morning suggest the Spanish champions have had a new bid rejected by the Gunners. Arsenal are reportedly holding out for £40m and won’t budge on this one. Arsene Wenger will be hoping this deal comes to fruition one way or another soon- the nightmare scenario for Arsenal would be a final-day transfer away from the Emirates for Fabregas, giving the Gunners plenty cash but no time to spend it.
