TRANSFER BATTLES: Fernandinho, Cavani, Jovetic, Hulk, Baines, Fellaini, Jonjo Shelvey, Schwarzer, Stekelenburg, Yobo, Gomis, Rooney, Wenger, Laudrup

City sign £30m Fernandinho from Shakhtar... and he wants to win ALL the titles available.. The Brazilian has sacrificed a £4million pay-day to ensure Shakhtar Donetsk’s demands do not scupper his dream move to Manchester City.

The midfielder has been confirmed as a City player after a medical in Manchester. But he had to intervene after Shakhtar insisted that City meet a £42.5m buy-out clause. Talks brought the price down to £34m, but the deal was deadlocked until Fernandinho waived a £4m entitlement.



City will now pay about £30m for the 28-year-old, who is determined to use the Premier League as a platform to earn a place in Brazil’s World Cup squad.

Fernandinho said: ‘Playing for a huge club in a huge league makes me so happy. I hope to repay City for what they have done for me.

'My ambition here is to win all the titles, the team here is strong, and so is the greatness of the club and the supporters. Professionally this is a spectacular thing.

'I know I will face challenges but I am prepared for them. Every player at a high level faces pressure and must respond and I am ready for that too. I know a lot about City. Ever since they expressed an interest in me, I have been learning more.'



Chelsea's search for strikers intensified last night after they opened talks over a move for £50million-rated Napoli striker Edinson Cavani just hours after placing a £34.9m bid for Zenit St Petersburg's Hulk.

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis said last night: 'There is interest from Chelsea in Cavani, they'll call me in the next few hours. I'll be delighted if he stays, but if he leaves then he will be adequately replaced.'

Manager Jose Mourinho has shortlisted four players with Fiorentina's Stevan Jovetic and Manchester City Edin Dzeko also on his list.



Mourinho is confident of signing £25m-rated Jovetic ahead of Juventus but faces a battle with former club Real Madrid to sign Cavani while Dzeko is seen as a back-up plan. Napoli have not yet ruled out a Cavani-Dzeko swap with Manchester City but it seems increasingly unlikely.



Brazil striker Hulk has also confirmed Mourinho wants him at Stamford Bridge.

Zenit have however so far resisted Chelsea's approaches and made it clear they want to recoup more of the £44m they paid Porto for the explosive frontrunner at the start of last season. Hulk's wish to quit the Russian League and link up with Mourinho could prove pivotal, and he underlined his eagerness to press for a move by admitting he knew Chelsea had made a bid.

Asked about it at a Brazil press conference on Thursday afternoon, he replied: 'If I said there wasn't anything in it, I would be lying. But that is not for now. At the moment, I am 100 per cent focused on the Selecao (Portuguese for the Brazil team). Other matters will have to wait until afterwards.'

Though Zenit have rejected Chelsea's initial offer, it will remain on the table, in the belief that a lack of alternative bids will force the Russian club to relent and sanction Hulk's departure to Stamford Bridge.

The quest for such strikers will place further question marks over the future of Fernando Torres and Demba Ba plus the roles of Oscar and Juan Mata in Mourinho's plans.



David Moyes has been warned off bidding for Leighton Baines after Everton chairman Bill Kenwright announced he was opening contract talks with the England left-back.

Baines is widely expected to be one of Moyes' prime targets, now the former Everton boss has taken over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. But Kenwright has moved to head off any United approach by setting up talks to extend a deal that has another two years to run.



'Leighton is under contract, and it is absolutely the case that we want to put something to him sooner rather than later,' he said.



The Everton chief  is also under pressure to keep Marouane Fellaini, The Belgium international has a £24m buy-out clause and has long been linked with a move away, with Chelsea and Manchester United knocking at the door.

If a club meets Everton's asking price, Fellaini sale would represent a substantial profit on the £15m club record fee they paid Standard Liege in 2008.



Kenwright has promised new manager Roberto Martinez he will receive 100 per cent of any income from sales after the Spaniard signed a four-year deal to become Moyes' successor.

'He talked about a couple of new signings and he talked about the squad and asked 'Do they need to go?',' said Kenwright of his discussions with the 39-year-old.

'I said 'No, they absolutely do not have to go' (although) there is one (Fellaini) that has a get-out which everyone knows.'

He added, in The Times: 'I have to say he has given me every indication he (Fellaini) doesn't want to go.'



Norwich have made an enquiry for Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey. The England U21 international has shown glimpses of his potential at Anfield since joining from Charlton for £1.7m in 2010 but has failed to command a regular starting berth.

Shelvey only started 18 matches last season and just nine in the Premier League, making a further 15 substitute appearances as he scored five goals.

The club will expect any bidding to start around £5m rising to £8m for the 21-year-old.



Mark Schwarzer has announced he will leave Fulham after his club signed Holland international Maarten Stekelenburg from AS Roma.

The veteran Australian goalkeeper has called time on his five-year career at Craven Cottage and is now looking for a new club.



Stekelenburg has signed a four-year deal with the Cottagers to link-up once again with boss Martin Jol who he worked under at Ajax.



Schwarzer said: 'I've been hearing that for a while, so it's no great surprise and I'll be looking for another club.'

The 40-year-old played in the 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw against Japan on Tuesday and will play again for Australia in a qualifier against Jordan next week in Melbourne

He added: 'Nothing has been sorted at the moment, the Japan game was the most important thing on the agenda so I'm worried about the Australia games now.'



Cardiff City are considering a £2million move for former Everton defender Joseph Yobo.

The 32-year-old is unsettled at Fenerbahce following the exit of manager Aykut Kocaman and will be pushed down the pecking order by the signing of defender Bruno Alves from Zenit St Petersburg.

The Super Eagle made 220 appearances for Everton in the Premier League having signed from Marseille in 2003, scoring eight goals.



Cardiff remain keen on Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis and Bristol City’s Albert Adomah.

Gomis has scored 18 goals this season and has 42 goals in 90 starts for Lyon, as well as 10 caps for France.
Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool have all been linked with Gomis in the past year, meaning a deal at Cardiff would be a major coup.



Chief executive Ivan Gazidis said the Gunners could swoop for the England forward and perhaps even bigger names as they enjoy a jump in income from sponsorship deals.

"We could do that (Rooney), we could do more than that," he said.

"We have a certain amount which we've held in reserve and we also have new revenue streams coming on board.

"All of these things mean we can do some things which would excite you. We can think about all kinds of things.

"We are moving into a new phase where, if we make our decisions well, we can compete with any club in the world.

"We've seen two clubs this year in the Champions League final (Bayern and Borussia Dortmund), both of whom run responsible financial models and they're pretty fantastic teams, very exciting to watch. There's no reason why we can't do that."



The Arsenal Chief has also confirmed that he wants Arsene Wenger to extend his contract beyond the end of next season and lead the club to the top of European football.

Wenger’s deal expires next year and he has been in demand, not least in his native France where Paris Saint-Germain and his former club Monaco are rich from overseas investment.

The Premier League’s top three — Manchester United, City and Chelsea — have all changed their manager, but Arsenal retain faith in Wenger after eight years without a trophy.



‘We think we have a fantastic manager,’ said Gazidis. ‘We hope he wants to do what he is doing for the long term. I believe he does. I think he is still ambitious, still driven and sees the potential of the club. I think he is very excited by that.

‘We have a great relationship and he has a great relationship with the board. We have got a lot of confidence in Arsene that he is the right person to take the club forward and I think he will want to do that.'



Michael Laudrup could leave Swansea City as soon as next week over the transfer dispute that has pushed his relationship with chairman Huw Jenkins to breaking point.

The Dane is understood to have had only one conversation with his employer in the past fortnight and sources close to the 48-year-old have indicated that unless he quickly receives assurances of the significant financial backing he claims he was promised then he will make a decision on his future in the coming days.
Matters are expected to come to a head when Jenkins returns from his holiday in Portugal, though hopes are fading at Swansea of a resolution.