Serie A giants Juventus are looking to spend big this summer and are weighing up a couple of options in the Premier League, according to TalkSport.

The President of the Italian giants, Andrea Agnelli, has spoken of his desire to buy big in the summer, so to restore the Old Lady to its former glories. One of his known targets is believed to be Arsenal’s top goal scorer Robin Van Persie who is still reluctant to sign a new contract with his club and is set to assess his options in the summer.

The Serie A giants are also said to be interested in Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who has experienced quite a mixed season on Merseyside and who maybe open to move to get away after growing frustrated with the media attention he has recieved in light of the Patrice Evra affair.

Juventus have been undergoing somewhat of a resurgence in Serie A this season and currently sit in second place, four points shy of leaders AC Milan and its clear they see strengthening their strikeforce will go some way towards cementing their place back among Serie A’s elite in the seasons to come.

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The FA have announced that Mario Balotelli will not face any further disciplinary action after a number of reckless challenges in Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.

The Italy international was sent off in the last minute after a rash challenge on Bacary Sagna, but escaped punishment for a high tackle on Alex Song in the first half.

The FA, despite calls from the media for Balotelli to be punished, have decided that no action will be taken against the City forward.

“Retrospective action in relation to the incident involving Mario Balotelli of Manchester City and Alex Song of Arsenal, which occurred in the 20th minute of Sunday’s game, will not be taken,” an FA statement confirmed.

“Where at least one of the officials has seen the coming together of players retrospective action is not taken, regardless of whether they have seen the full extent of the challenge.

“Retrospective action can only be taken in scenarios where none of the match officials saw the players coming together. The normal scenarios in which retrospective action is taken are for ‘off the ball’ incidents.

“Retrospective action was introduced for off the ball incidents where there was no contest for possession and could not be deemed to be re-refereeing an incident.

“In agreement with FIFA, this is how ‘not seen’ incidents are dealt with retrospectively in England. It is a policy that is agreed with all football stakeholders,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, Mirror Football have reported that AC Milan and Inter are ready to battle it out to bring Balotelli back to Italy in the summer.

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The troubled forward has been identified as the man to lead an Inter revival, whilst the current Serie A champions are eager to freshen up their attacking options due to Alexandre Pato’s drop in fitness and form; both are ready to splash £20 million on Balotelli.

By Gareth McKnight

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Everton’s Leighton Baines is believed to have the option to move to Manchester United or Bayern Munich in the summer, after admitting an interest in leaving Goodison Park, according to Metro.

The left-back has been a solid performer for the Toffees over the last number of seasons, and as such has broken into the England international fold, with inclusion in the Three Lions’ Euro 2012 squad likely.

However, it is believed that the defender is ready for a new challenge, and is drawing a raft of suitors with his combative defending and excellent delivery going forward.

United are in the market for a long-term successor to Patrice Evra, whilst left-back has been a position of difficulty for Bayern this season, who have had to play versatile midfielder David Alaba there to fill a gap.

It is thought that the cash-strapped Merseysiders would accept an offer in the region of £15 million for the defender, but are in no rush to sell as he has three years left on his contract at the club.

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By Gareth McKnight

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With just one game left of the regular season Oxford United are still within an outside bet of the playoffs, but look more than likely to spend another year in League Two.

To see United climb into the final playoff spot Crewe need to drop all three points when they welcome Aldershot to the Alexandra Stadium on Saturday and we need to win away at Port Vale.

Our promotion race was effectively ended when the U’s suffered a disappointing defeat to high flying Southend in a game which promised to be such a close encounter, but in reality was very one sided.

The Shrimpers, who had already secured a play-off place, dominated the first half scoring two decent goals and upstaging us in every department. It could have also been three if not for the goal line clearance from Michael Duberry. In the second period Oxford put up a bit more of a fight and started passing the ball around, having some more of the possession. Unfortunately they were unable to get anywhere close to scoring and the lack of striking options was clear to see with Scott Rendell the only fully fit attack-minded player.

However it was encouraging to see both Jon-Paul Pittman and Tommy Craddock play a part in the game as they continue their recovery from their respective injuries.

The trouble is that even if United were to find themselves in the playoffs come Saturday evening, they would be facing such an uphill task with such problems up front.

A brighter note from our last home game was the announcement of both the supporter’s player of the year and the player’s player of the year. It was very pleasing to see Andy Whing pick up the supporter’s award and shows just how much the Oxford faithful have changed their opinion of the inspirational midfielder since the start of the season. Ryan Clarke picked up the player’s accolade and you can see why having had another superb season between the sticks, which was unfortunately hampered by an injury in the Torquay game.

Deputy Wayne Brown came in and did really well but then in training also suffered an injury setback, meaning United had to get in an emergency loan. England under 19 ‘keeper Connor Ripley came in from Middlesbrough and did a decent job, even if the first goal was perhaps stoppable, and looks set to have a bright future in the game.

With just the away trip to Port Vale left in the normal season the rebuilding process can begin soon and it will be interesting to see how quickly manager Chris Wilder gets his business done this time round.

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You can follow on me Twitter for more Oxford United based discussion.

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Samir Nasri has stated that his goal celebrations after he scored against England on Monday night were aimed at the French media.

The Manchester City attacking midfielder scored from range to square things up at 1-1, and wheeled away with a finger over his mouth as a silence sign.

The playmaker has confirmed that he was hitting back at his homeland critics, who have been sceptical over Les Bleus’ performances of late.

“That was at you,” he reportedly stated to reporters after the game, reported by The Guardian.

Nasri went on to state that he felt that his side had a good chance of making the knockout stages and that he was happy with his goal in the game.

“It’s nothing serious. A win would have made things better still, but I was happy with the goal. Joe Hart knows me from City, and knows I usually open my body up, so this time I closed it and aimed at the near-post.

“I’m confident in our ability to go through after this point. Our goal is to reach the quarter-finals, and we didn’t lose this game. We can be happy.

“We’ve made a lot of progress since all the mistakes at the 2010 World Cup: we are more mature now and we want to do something with this generation of players,” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic will return to full training this week, The Sun reports.

The commanding Serb centre-half missed the majority of last season after picking up a cruciate ligament injury against Basel in the Champions League before the turn of the year.

United missed their leader at the centre of their defence, with the likes of Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones deputising.

After undergoing an operation the eastern European stopper has been in a strict rehabilitation program, and is said to have made excellent progress over the last couple of weeks.

Vidic can now run without any trouble or pain, and will start to get into more rigorous training this week.

A regime to increase the defender’s core strength has been drawn up, which will help Vidic to regain the ability of sharp movements and hopefully avoid another relapse of the injury.

United are set to start pre-season for 2012-13 on Monday, with the players who played in Euro 2012 to get a leave of absence after a packed summer of football.

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By Gareth McKnight

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After a rather unpleasant summer for United fans, seeing Chelsea and Arsenal make big moves in the transfer market, not to mention being told off by their equivalent of God, Fergie, whilst he was defending the Glazers – who of course have the best interests of the club at heart, clearly displayed by the plans to sell on the stock exchange and keep only half the money – such generosity knows no bounds, but things are looking up for fans, with the declaration that £50 million will be spent this summer to show the club still has intent and can compete with anyone in Europe.

Sadly for United however, in the modern game, like it or not, £50 million is not going to get you very much. It may buy you a leg of Messi, or perhaps a half of the duo that is Xavi and Iniesta – but at the absolute most, unless you are a wiz at bargaining or the club is in utter disarray like Malaga, you can get two world class players if you’re very lucky.

For a top, top player you are looking at going on £30 million – even the forgotten man Kaka and tug of love child Luka Modric are going for around that, and someone like Scholes in his prime would have exceeded that mark easily.

This is by no means a dig at United, in fact it is lamenting the price of players these days, and more than that the wage demands that come with them. It is not just the millions you are forking out for RVP, it is the couple of hundred thousand a week he demands on top of this.

Of course you can still get quality players who have the potential to become stars for just under big money – Kagawa is a little bit of an unknown quantity (obviously not to the people who claim to have watched the boy for years and know he is in no way a risk or unknown quantity – apparently he’s even better than Mata or Cazorla – there must be more Dortmund season ticket holders in England than we thought.)

For clubs who aren’t looking to challenge for the title, £50 million is a huge amount of money – just imagine what Moyes could do with that at Everton, or Valencia if they could buy a player instead of selling their star every summer, yet in reality for a world class player or to really overhaul a team, it is not that much.

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Everything is obviously relative to the club you are talking about, and for one as big and with as stellar a reputation and manager as United, and one that needs a few players at that, £50 million really isn’t too big a deal. Perhaps if the Glazers hadn’t crippled the club with interest payments, there would be a larger amount in the transfer kitty and a longer run in the Champions League.

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Arsenal forward Gervinho is “totally convinced” new signing Oliver Giroud will score enough goals to make Arsenal fans forget about Robin Van Persie, according to the Mirror.

Arsenal are yet to score a goal or record a victory this season, having being held to goalless draws by both Sunderland and Stoke since the sale of their captain to Manchester United.

It is clear Giroud – a £10 million signing from Montpellier – along with fellow new boy Lukas Podolski, have a massive task on their hands replacing the former Arsenal talisman. However, Gervinho is certain that with a little patience the goals will come.

The Ivory Coast international explained:  “I hope the fans show patience towards Giroud and also look at his overall contribution to the team.

“We must all support him, because there’s big pressure.

“But there’s no doubt in my mind that the goals will come. I am totally convinced.

“To substitute a player like van Persie who scored nearly 40 goals in a season is not easy.

“Giroud couldn’t score goals in the opening games but that’s to be expected because it will take him time to adapt in the system and style.”

Gervinho is speaking through experience, having taken a while to settle into English football since his move from Lille last summer. He continued:

“It took me a long time to adjust so I know what it is like.

“But Wenger will give Giroud confidence because he believes in his ability and quality.

“A squad like Arsenal’s needs quality players at this level and they must be allowed to succeed without pressure.

“I talk every day with Olivier and he’s not been worried by the absence of goals in his first matches. It’s just a matter of time.”

Arsenal’s quest for a first goal of the season does not get much easier, as they travel to Anfield on Sunday. Last season’s fixture saw the Gunners come away with a 2-1 win courtesy of two strikes from Robin Van Persie. Gervinho admits he wishes the Dutchman had not left the Emirates, but insists Arsenal are capable of moving on without him.

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He told French radio station RMC Sports:

“Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted for him to leave for Manchester United. But our world doesn’t end with Robin.

“We are players with a lot to develop and we can have a good season by which time van Persie will be forgotten. That is the truth.”

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Manchester United are close to finally offloading Dimitar Berbatov, after Fiorentina made a bid for the striker’s services, according to Mirror Football.

The Bulgarian forward has found opportunities at Old Trafford limited due to the attacking talent at Sir Alex Ferguson’s disposal and the summer signing of Robin van Persie has put a nail in Berbatov’s chances with the Red Devils.

A number of European clubs have made enquiries over the eastern European striker, with Fiorentina the latest to show interest.

The Viola have had a busy summer in the transfer market, but are fearful that they may lose skilful attacker Stevan Jovetic before the end of August.

As such Berbatov is on the verge of signing a two-year contract at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, after asking Sir Alex Ferguson personally to lower the club’s asking price for him.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is set to start his first competitive match for England at Wembley on Tuesday having being warned by manager Roy Hodgson not to let his performance levels slip, reports The Guardian.

Hodgson is planning to hold talks with the Arsenal attacker in an attempt to find out why he allowed an impressive 45 minute display against Moldova to fade in the second half.

The 19-year-old had been one of England’s stand out performer’s during the first half, causing havoc on the left hand side of midfield. However Hodgson was disappointed with the manner in which his performance fizzled out in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

“I thought he’d been very good through that first half,” Hodgson said. “He’d done what we wanted him to do, and what I’d selected him to do, extremely well. But we’d made it clear to him we intended to take him off after 60 minutes, so I think he forgot to play in those first 15 minutes of the second half. That will be an interesting lesson for him as well. Especially when I tell him.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain had admitted in the build up to the game he still has plenty to learn, having only started playing regular first team football with Arsenal at the start of the year. He also revealed he was the first player to receive a telling off from the England boss, for showboating in a training session during Euro 2012.

“I’m the least experienced player here, so just watching everyone in training is an education,” he said. “This is only the start of my career and I can only watch and learn, and keep working hard.

“I’ve always been a relaxed person, but when I get on the pitch I rely on my ability and trust in myself. I can just listen to everyone and any advice or constructive criticism they have I can just take it into account and try to make my game better. It’s nice Roy has put such faith in me so far, but I don’t consider myself an automatic regular starter yet.”

Whilst Chamberlain is set to start, one player who looks set to miss the visit of Ukraine is Chelsea defender John Terry, who picked up an ankle injury during Friday’s 5-0 victory in Moldova. Gary Cahill looks set to partner Joleon Lescott at centre back, whilst Leighton Baines is set to retain his place at left back after the FA confirmed Ashley Cole will not be rejoining the squad having failed to recover from an ankle injury.

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