For a very brief second I thought the Premier League expenditure was beginning to get back to some sort of sensible normality. I read a Deloitte report that said that the spending during the transfer window had fallen by some 10% on last year. That has to be good news I thought.

Record

However, when you look at the actual figures you see that Premier League clubs spent around £450 million this Summer as opposed to £500 million last year which remains a record.

You have to say that in the current economic climate, in fact in any economic climate, £450 million is hardly what you could call ‘sensible normality’.

Predicted

The level of purchases from other Premier League clubs remained the same b…

Their disappointing failure to qualify for Euro 2008 behind them, England exacted their revenge on Croatia in style on Wednesday with a 5-1 triumph at Wembley Stadium that saw Fabio Capello s men book a berth in the World Cup as winners of UEFA Group 6.

England went in front after just seven minutes when Frank Lampard converted from the spot after Aaron Lennon was hauled down by Josip Simunic, and Steven Gerrard made it 2-0 to the home side 10 minutes later when Lennon provided the service for the Liverpool skipper s header.

Lampard notched a second goal on the hour mark when he headed a wonder cross by Glen Johnson into the Croatia net to make it 3-0, and Gerrard completed his brace in the 67th minute with another header after Wayne Rooney s floated cross.

Edua…

Gonzalo Higuain s agent has revealed the striker has rejected the offer of a new contract from Napoli.

The Argentina international who signed for the Serie A club from Real Madrid in 2013 still has three years left to run on his current deal.

Nicolas Higuain, the player s brother and agent, confirmed that a one-year extension on similar terms had been turned down, with the player happy to continue with the current conditions .

We had a meeting with the president [Aurelio De Laurentiis] in Venice 10 days ago, he told Radio CRC.

We talked about everything. He offered a one-year contract extension, however, in my opinion and in our opinion we ll continue with the original contract, expiring in 2018.

I don t think we ll accept the president s offer…

Manchester City are favourites to reclaim the Premier League title this season, according to centre-back Martin Demichelis.

City celebrated Manuel Pellegrini s first season as manager with a double of the Premier League and League Cup in the 2013-14 campaign.

They failed to match the same standard last term and finished eight points adrift of Chelsea but, speaking ahead of their league opener at West Brom on Monday, Demichelis is confident of returning to the top of the pile.

There are tough teams every year involved in the fight and what we want to do is beat them so we know that teams such as Chelsea, United and Arsenal are going to be there, the Argentinian told Sky Sports.

We will fight against them and our intention is to win, yes, we are favouri…

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled the 2018-19 CAF Champions League final second leg will not be replayed, following a request by the CAF Executive Committee.

ES Tunis were crowned champions after beating Wydad Casablanca 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-0 win in the second leg.

But during that game an apparent VAR failure saw Wydad denied an equaliser that was wrongly ruled offside by the assistant referee.

Wydad appealed for the final to be replayed and the Confederation of African Football quickly announced the second leg would take place again, this time at a neutral venue.

But, after the case went to CAS, the organisation announced on Wednesday that CAF s Executive Committee should not have ordered the replay, meaning ES Tunis remain cha…

Market: Belgium win to nil

Odds: 

Roberto Martinez s Belgium can all but clinch their place in the last 16 of the World Cup when they take on Tunisia on Saturday.

For Belgium, with many claiming that their star-studded squad have finally reached their potential, Roberto Martinez will know that his side can put some serious pressure on Group G running mates England. Coming off the back of a 3-0 win over World Cup debutants Panama, Belgium have carried on a remarkable run that has seen them not lose a match since suffering a 1-0 defeat to Spain nearly two years ago. Scoring a brace in their 3-0 win, one man to watch will be striker Romelu Lukaku, the 25-year-old now has 16 in his last 13 when on international duty.

As for Nabil Maâloul s Tunisia side, d…

Walter Smith, the Rangers boss who had been regarded as one of the favourites to become Scotland s next manager, on Friday ruled himself out of a return to the helm of the national squad.

Smith was in charge of Scotland between 2004 and 2007 and was credited with engineering a turnaround in the fortunes of a squad that had fallen to its lowest ever point in the world rankings under his predecessor Berti Vogts.

Smith left during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign to return to Rangers on a three-year contract which is due to expire in January.

That has created uncertainty over his future but speculation that he might be tempted by a return to international football was quashed on Friday.

When I left Scotland, we were in the middle of a qualifying campaign,…

Fabio Capello s first reaction to England s World Cup draw spoke volumes about how he really regards the prospect of facing the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C next year.

It s not bad, he acknowledged with a smile after a first-round draw that could scarcely have been better for his squad.

It was not long, however, before the Italian was back in the steely, professional mode that has helped to transform England from Euro 2008 absentees to World Cup wannabees in a little less than two years.

Banishing complacency is an art in which Capello excels and he was applying himself to that task within hours of the draw being completed, reminding his players that World Cup history is littered with examples of highly-rated squads coming unstuck at the first…

South Africa have won their second game at the 2009 Confederations Cup, beating New Zealand 2-0. The All-whites no longer have a chance of qualifying for the semi finals.

The hosts got their first goal of the tournament after 21 minutes, as Bernard Parker s strike left keeper Moss stranded.

And seven minutes after the break, Parker went on to add a second following a precise cross from Masilela. New Zealand couldn t compete with the South African dominance and had to accept the defeat.

With Spain awaiting in the last group game, South Africa are currently in third place. Only if Iraq beat New Zealand and South Africa lose their match, the Bafana Bafana may still miss out on the semi finals.

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