The COS Big Up brings you a daily batch of our favourite stories. Avast ye mateys! [Read the rest of this entry »]

The summer of 2008 will almost certainly not be remembered as ‘The Hunt for Aaron Ramsey’, but it did leave Manchester United with egg on their face [Read the rest of this entry »]

Some might argue that Theo Walcott hasn’t made a great deal of progress since leaving Southampton for Arsenal, although there are countless examples of Arsene Wenger signing a player and helping them progress into a world-class talent. Take Cesc Fabregas for example, or Kolo Toure. Maybe Thierry Henry instead, or Emmanuel Adebayor. Will Aaron Ramsey be a star of the future, or even next season, after agreeing terms with the Gunners according to the BBC?

Aaron Ramsey has joined Arsenal from FA Cup finalists Cardiff City in a £5m deal, BBC Sport understands.

Champions League winners Manchester United and Premier League giants Everton were also fighting to sign the 17-year-old Welsh wonderkid.

But Ramsey has chosen Arsenal after the Gunners flew him out to Switzerland for face-to-face talks with boss Arsene Wenger, who is at Euro 2008.

Cardiff confirmed that Arsenal was the “best cash offer” for the young star.

Once the midfielder was on that plane, Arsenal moved firmly into the driving seat to sign him, although it remains to be seen as to whether he plays much of a role next season or instead farmed out on loan to glean some Premier League first-team experience.

What a wild goose chase this one has become. We all knew that Aaron Ramsey was attracting plenty of interest from the top Premier League clubs, but Chelsea are the odd one out by virtue of the fact that they’re the only team in the ‘Big Five’ who haven’t lodged a bid for the 17-year-old. The Guardian reports that Arsenal may have stolen a march on United, Liverpool and Everton due to Arsene Wenger meeting the young Bluebird in Switzerland on Saturday.

Aaron Ramsey will not decide on his future until after he has met Arsène Wenger in Switzerland on Saturday, despite Manchester United’s hopes of completing the 17-year-old’s signing this week. United announced on Tuesday that a fee, thought to be in the region of £5m, had been agreed with Cardiff City but they appear to have jumped the gun, with Everton, Liverpool and Arsenal all in the race.

It must be tremendously flattering for Ramsey to have these clubs falling over themselves to acquire his signature, although it’s important for him to choose wisely. It’s inconceivable that he’ll play too prominent a role for any of his suitors next season, and the likelihood is that he’d be farmed back on loan after signing on the dotted line anyhow.

Looks like Everton have thrown their hat into the ring in the chase for Cardiff “wunderkind” Aaron Ramsey. Moyes clearly fancies taking the 17-year-old under his wing and has tossed out a £5m bid, how successful their attempts to bag him will be, remains to be seen…

Everton have now been given permission to talk to the player about a move to Goodison Park.

Manchester United have also had a bid accepted, whilst Arsenal are reported to have expressed an interest in the player. (Official Everton Site)

So a decent sized bid for an exciting talent in what is the weakest area of Everton’s squad, Moyes is ticking all the right boxes!

Champions League and Premier League winners Manchester United have agreed a fee, thought to be between £5m to £6m, with FA Cup finalists Cardiff City for their 17-year-old teen sensation Aaron Ramsey.

Midfielder Ramsey, seen as a new Ryan Giggs, has been under the spotlight with the Bluebirds with their two appearances at Wembley. He was subject of interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and the boarding school that is Spurs, despite only 22 games and 2 goals for Cardiff.

A statement on manutd.com said:

Manchester United is delighted to announce it has agreed terms with Cardiff City for the transfer of Aaron Ramsey subject to terms being agreed and the player passing a medical.

I believe its a good move for United and Ramsey. His development will grow at United and it is great to see Fergie investing in young British talent. Its just a good job he isn’t English or he would have cost £10m+.

There is talk of him being loaned back to Ninian Park for the 2008/09 season, surely a good move for all three parties, what with the successes of Ben Foster at Watford and Fraizer Campbell at Hull.

Maybe Joe Ledley is next on the shopping list?

Cesc Fabregas was 17-years-old when he broke into the Arsenal first team and it’s possible that Aaron Ramsey will follow in his footsteps at the Emirates. However, the Gunners will have to up their bid for the Cardiff City midfielder after being told by the FA Cup finalists that they value their starlet at a much higher price than the £5 million on the table.

The Daily Telegraph report that Liverpool have also made a similar offer to try and secure Ramsey’s services, although it’s possible that the player will remain at Ninian Park for at least one more season before warming the bench of a Big Four club (plenty of time to do that as Theo Walcott can testify).

Liverpool and Arsenal, planning to build on their recent summer transfers, have both seen offers for 17-year old midfielder Aaron Ramsey rejected by Cardiff City.

Both offers, said to be close to £5m, were deemed unsuitable by the FA Cup finalists as a large part of the deals were based on provisions dependant on the teenager’s development. Cardiff are looking for a more sizeable cash settlement up front before they release their prize asset.

This rebuff clearly won’t stop Premier League clubs sniffing around the player, in an attempt to snare him before his valuation goes through the roof. However, with the Bluebirds gunning for promotion from the Championship next season, the princely sum of £10million could be enough to acquire the player and give City the chance to sign a handful of new players in the process.

But will one of the ‘Big Four’ make an offer that Cardiff City just can’t refuse? It’s clear that Aaron Ramsey is a star in the making, with the 17-year-old having already featured in an FA Cup final during his short career to date. However, despite potential overtures from Old Trafford, Anfield and The Emirates, the midfielder has told BBC that he’s happy to stay put for the time being.

“I don’t take much notice to be honest, I just ignore the speculation.

“I will do what I want to at the end of the day, but I am happy at Cardiff.”

The Welshman will be looking to avoid the path of Theo Walcott, who has only had limited first-team opportunities with Arsenal since signing from Southampton. There is the possibility that he will be snapped up in the summer, only to be loaned back out to a Championship club, even Cardiff. However, it seems as though there’s a wise head on those young shoulders.

Many have cited Arsene Wenger’s decision to allow Lassana Diarra leave in January as a reason why Arsenal lost some serious momentum in the Premier League title race. While it’s probably absurd to suppose that a squad player (albeit a very good one) was central to any hopes the Gunners had of winning the league, the Frenchman may well have been made to feel more welcome if Arsene Wenger had known that Mathieu Flamini was jumping ship to Milan before the season ended.

The Independent reveals that Diarra never felt as though he could please his former manager at The Emirates Stadium, despite what he felt were some very strong performances when he had the opportunity to play. The midfielder has a chance to be an FA Cup winner with Portsmouth this Saturday and doesn’t exactly have anything complimentary to say about his old club.

“I don’t think about Arsenal FC now, I am just focused on Portsmouth,” the 23-year-old Frenchman said as he prepared for Saturday’s FA Cup final at Portsmouth’s Hampshire training ground. “I left Arsenal because I wanted to play every week. When you are in the team, and even if you play well, the manager doesn’t put you on the pitch [for the next game] you have to do something. Every time he put me on the pitch I tried to do my best. For him, I don’t know if it was good enough, but for me…”

As we’ve pointed out in the past, Diarra certainly isn’t short of self-confidence and his performances in a Pompey shirt have been of a very high standard. Indeed, the Premier League outfit will be glad he’s in the team to face Cardiff, especially as a lack of firepower without the cup-tied Defoe means they might have to rely on winning by a solitary goal as they did in the semi-final against West Brom.

Did Arsene Wenger make a mistake in allowing Diarra to leave for the South Coast or was it a case of having his hands tied in so far as he couldn’t offer the player first-team football and the Frenchman wouldn’t hang around to try and hold down a place in the starting XI?

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Say what you like about Craig Bellamy (feel free to sum it up in six words!), but the Welsh hot-head of a striker is not all bad. Yes, he might have beaten John-Arne Riise up with a golf club while at Liverpool and OK, he might have had a heated exchange of words with a young lady in a Cardiff nightclub. However, the BBC report that he’s also prepared to put his money firmly where his mouth is by building a football academy in Sierra Leone.

“Because of the war, children haven’t had any opportunity,” he said.

“They haven’t been thrown a football, they’ve been thrown a gun.

“Now we can give them a chance that their fathers or grandfathers never had. That’s the buzz for me.

“I’m not looking to find and sell players. I’m not an agent. I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy.”

The article reports that the ex-Liverpool striker has set up the Craig Bellamy Foundation, ploughing £650k into creating a better life for the children growing up in this war-torn region. It’s good to see a minted footballer doing something positive with his wealth, albeit an unlikely one. Whatever next, Ashley Cole helping with the relief operation in Burma! That would change our opinion of the Chelsea defender!

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After all, his team looked pretty pretty shabby against Middlesbrough on Saturday, another team who looked like they needed the points more than Pompey. Sky Sports reports that Harry Redknapp is adamant that his team aren’t going to go through the motions against Fulham, alhough exactly how heartening that is for fans of Birmingham and Reading remains to be seen.

Redknapp told Sky Sports: “I will field a full strength side as I owe that to other people in a relegation battle.

“I wouldn’t do that – it is not fair, I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me so I won’t be doing that.

“It will be a tough game against Fulham. I know some people say you have to look after yourself maybe, and if I get injuries they will say I shouldn’t have done it but next week I will be putting out as good a team as I can field.

“They have had a flyer, they have done what we did two years go – everyone wrote us off and everyone wrote Fulham off and now they are right back in the race and it will be a very difficult game again next week but I will make sure we are up for that game – I will make sure of that.”

In a way, fielding a full-strength team may be to Fulham’s advantage anyway. After all, if Redknapp played a bunch of fringe players, they might be more likely to play their socks off in an attempt to get into the reckoning for the Wembley final against Cardiff. Perhaps the first-teamers will be more likely to shun a few tough challenges and make sure they are fit for one of the biggest games of their footballing career.

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Unlike Afonso Alves’ brilliant effort yesterday, it’s been ages since we had a decent FA Cup song. Obviously, the best one ever to grace the charts was the ‘Anfield Rap’, courtesy of Liverpool, although Manchester United’s ‘Come On You Reds’ was half-decent. Apart from that, they all fade into obscurity, although Three Lions was a decent hit in 1996 for the England team and so was World in Motion in 1990.

Can Cardiff City put together something memorable ahead of the FA Cup Final this season? Probably not, although icWales have reported that James Fox, lifelong fan and Broadway ’star’, has put together ‘Bluebirds Flying High’ for the Championship team.

“It did cross my mind at Chasetown in the third round that we might need the traditional FA Cup song if we went all the way to Wembley,” said 32-year-old Fox, who represented the UK in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

“But as soon as we beat Middlesbrough in the last eight, I decided to write and record it.

“It’s a real honour as a fan to be able to do this for City.”

Here at COS, we have just one thing to say. Portsmouth, where’s your song? Portsmouth, Portsmouth, where’s your song?

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There’s never been any love lost between Cardiff and Swansea, two of the three Welsh clubs in the Football League. Indeed, ex-Swan Lee Trundle received a pretty hostile reception when he recently visited Ninian Park with new club Bristol City. He won’t be forgetting that in a hurry!

The Times reports that this rivalry has led to BBC pundit Leighton James being dumped by BBC Wales after admitting he wants Barnsley to trounce Cardiff in the FA Cup semi-finals. Surely the bloke’s entitled to an opinion?

James, who played 88 times for Swansea in a career that included spells with Burnley, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, made it plain in his column in the South Wales Evening Post that he retains his loyalty to “his” Welsh club. “To see Cardiff in the final would be hard to take for Swansea fans,” he wrote. “So, to be brutally honest, I think I’m behind Barnsley on this one.”

Is this harsh or should the pundit not be making these sort of comments, considering BBC Wales are representative of all Welsh clubs? It doesn’t stop other pundits on BBC, Sky and ITV from having a clear preference for certain teams to win, although it appears the broadcasting company have no option other than to incur the wrath of their viewing public by keeping the guy on.

Middlesbrough’s defeat to Cardiff in the last 8 of the FA Cup at the weekend was definitely something that rips apart Boro’s season even more but manager Gareth Southgate insists that his team needs to put the FA Cup exit behind and look towards the future.

Southgate’s men are battling for Premiership survival and they next face Europe-bounded Aston Villa and Southgate says that they need to beat Villa:

We know that we have let everybody down as a team.

And the only way that we can respond to that is to put on a performance at Aston Villa that starts to try and re-build the relationship with the supporters.

We are all hurt by what happened on Sunday enormously and I could stand here and talk for hours, but they only way to put things right is on the field.

We decided we had to discuss what happened because I have to learn the lessons in terms of did we get the preparation right. The players have to learn the lessons of what we could have done better.

We all take responsibility for a result like that, but the ultimate responsibility lies with me.

We have to look forward very quickly to the last 10 games of the season. That is all we can affect now.

Nothing we can say or do will heal the wounds of Sunday. But we have got to make sure that we perform at our very best in the last 10 games to start to re-build the trust of the supporters.

Middlesbrough might just not be able to give the quick response against Aston Villa in their next match and they should be struggling to remain in the top flight until the end of the season.

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Aston Villa are one of a host of Premiership clubs vying for a lucrative UEFA Cup place and the Villains are up against relegation threatened Middlesbrough in the Premiership. Villa manager Martin O’Neill has already stressed his intention to play in Europe next season and reiterates that playing in the UEFA Cup next season would actually help them establish a reputation that will help the club in the long run.

Martin o’Neill says:

It’s our game in hand and we’ve not got to try and win it, we have got to win it.

Playing in Europe is a definite lift when you are bringing players in. The club is progressing along the right lines – but the possibility of European football is very enticing.

It’s all to play for now. Everton and Liverpool have opened up a considerable gap which means less room for error.

These boys enjoy playing week-in, week-out and I’m not fearful of losing them. But playing European football is a massive part of their development now.

Villa should win against a Boro side that is still struggling to claw itself out of the relegation mire and lost to minnows Cardiff in the FA Cup quarter-final last weekend. But even if Villa do not qualify for the UEFA Cup through their league position, they should still have the scope to enter Europe through the Intertoto backdoor.

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Cardiff face a tricky tie at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday and are clearly the underdogs. However, in Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, they have a striker capable of winning the match, especially boosted by the idea of scoring against the club that released him. The Dutchman scored an absolute peach for the Bluebirds in the previous round against Wolves and Sky Sports reports that the striker can’t wait for the FA Cup quarter final match.

“I remember scoring at The Valley and it is instinctive to celebrate,” he said.

“It wasn’t meant to be a sign of disrespect to the club or their fans.

“But with the benefit of hindsight I probably just wished I had walked back to the centre circle.

“I would be lying to say it would not be special to score at the Riverside, especially as we at Cardiff are just as anxious to be in a cup semi-final as Middlesbrough.

“I don’t want to contemplate that too much. I will worry about that if it happens.

“Maybe this time I just smile inside. Middlesbrough fans would understand.”

Clearly the neutrals would like to see JFH roll back the years and send the Bluebirds soaring into the semi-finals of the competition. Let’s at least hope that the game’s not a dullfest, like the other 40 Boro matches this season. It’s all very well for insomniacs but not those wanting to watch a decent game of football.

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Arsenal is to young football talent what cheese is to burgers – and by this I mean they go well together.

If you don’t like cheese in your burgers, this metaphor does not work but hey-ho, back to business. Arsene Wenger is said to be eyeing up an additional cog to his young footballing wheel. I must remember to stop using bad metaphors (yes you must, ed).

According to the Daily Mirror, Wenger is jumping to the head of the queue for Cardiff’s young midfield dynamo Aaron Ramsey and is plotting a shock raid.

The 17-year-old Caerphilly lad has already had a taste of first-team action this season and appears to like it. Apparently last summer the Welsh club turned down a £1m bid from a London-based club.

Could that have been Arsenal? The odds suggest so.

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o has added to the garrulous Nou Camp gossip layer cake that Didier Drogba will no doubt leap out of in the summer by claiming that the Ivorian would be welcomed with open arms at the Catalan club. (Daily Star)
…Meanwhile, Barca defender Lilian Thuram may leave the Catalan giants and waltz over to Arsenal to take up a player-coach role. (Daily Telegraph)

Lanky Portsmouth striker Kanu is mulling over a move down under to Australian club Gold Coast Galaxy, who unfortunately have links with the LA Galaxy. (Various)

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley will make a summer move for Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell, and he will bid £5 million for his services. (Daily Mirror)

Liverpool to make a profit on something! The Anfield club may sell ‘keeper Nikolay Mihaylo to FC Twente, especially as the big spending Dutchmen are willing to shell out £4m on a player that Liverpool spent a mere £225,000 on. (The Sun)
…And the spawn of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish (no we’re not talking about the “stunna” Kelly Dalglish) – tepid footballer Paul Dalglish has been snapped up on trial by Leeds. (The Sun)

And over on the other side of Stanley Park…Everton are wincing at the thought of an audacious Cardiff City loan bid for striker Victor Anichebe. (Daily Mirror)

Dwight Yorke is playing every minute like it’s his last at the Stadium of Light, his Sunderland contract runs out in the summer and he wants to impress Roy Keane. (Various)

Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill will be given a huge war chest marked “transfers”, in a bid to gatecrash the Big 4’s stranglehold on the Premier League. (Daily Star)
…While Villa ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen has turned his nose up at a potential loan move to Barnsley. (The Sun)

Upsets left right and centre in today’s FA Cup action. But what was the biggest shock?Coventry somehow managed to obliterate Blackburn 4-1, whilst League One Huddersfield beat Birmingham 2-1. Special mention should also go to Sheffield United who booted out Bolton with a 1-0 win lowly and injury ravaged Oldham, who beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park.

So what was your upset of the day?

Here are today’s 3rd round results in full:

Barnsley 2-1 Blackpool
Blackburn 1-4 Coventry
Bolton 0-1 Sheff Utd
Brighton 1-2 Mansfield
Bristol City 1-2 Middlesbrough
Charlton 1-1 West Brom
Chasetown 1-3 Cardiff
Chelsea 1-0 QPR
Colchester 1-3 Peterborough
Everton 0-1 Oldham
Huddersfield 2-1 Birmingham
Ipswich 0-1 Portsmouth
Norwich 1-1 Bury
Plymouth 3-2 Hull
Preston 1-0 Scunthorpe
Southampton 2-0 Leicester
Southend 5-2 Dag & Red
Sunderland 0-3 Wigan
Swansea 1-1 Havant and W
Swindon 1-1 Barnet
Tottenham 2-2 Reading
Tranmere 2-2 Hereford
Walsall 0-0 Millwall
Watford 2-0 Crystal Palace
West Ham 0-0 Man City
Wolverhampton 2-1 Cambridge Utd
Manchester United LATE KICK OFF Aston Villa

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The second half of our transfer rumour frenzy, with plenty of slices from the succulent transfer roast.

Everton have turned down a Celtic loan move for James McFadden. The Scot has only started three games for Everton this season and McFadden himself claims that he will wait to see if he gets more first team football before signing a new contract extension. (BBC)
…Whilst Everton’s captain Phil Neville has hit out at coddled party boy players with easy relaxed millionaire lifestyles, and says that there should be a crackdown on the slackers in Premier League football…cough..Rio…cough. (various)

Tottenham will sign 18-year-old Cardiff full back Chris Gunter for £2million fee after he underwent a medical at the weekend. (The Sun)

Birmingham’s Alex McLeish wants to bring Celtic’s central defensive stalwart Bobo Balde south of the border. (Mirror)
…And Alex McLeish is also after Hibernian left-back David Murphy, and is ready to spend £1.5million on him. (The Sun)

Man City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has been given a boost in that a pro-Thaksin party is leading the polls in his native Thailand which means his frozen £830million assets could be handed back to him – which in turn could give Sven a massive wodge of dosh to splurge in January. (various)

QPR are after West Ham’s Hogan Ephraim, and the “super-rich Super Hoops” are willing to blow half a million to get their man. (The Sun)

Reading gaffer Steve Coppell is frantically batting away persistent interest in Stephen Hunt and Nicky Shorey from Everton and Sunderland. (Mirror)

Tottenham have lashed out at claims that Darren Bent is disgruntled and will leave in January for West Ham, they assert that he is part of their long-term plans. (Mirror)

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard wants to manage the Merseyside giants one day, but thinks that team-mate Jamie Carragher may get there before he does. (The Sun)

West Ham are after Derby’s Giles Barnes, and will not take no for an answer in their pursuit of the 19-year-old winger. A rumoured £5m bid is said to be imminent. (The Sun)

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