Robben set for Bayern as United sign Hargreaves
Arjen Robben will leave Chelsea and move to Bayern Munich as soon as the German club finalise the sale of Owen Hargreaves to Manchester United
The England midfielder will be sold for around £18million and Bayern will immediately invest in the Dutch winger, who is thought to have a difficult relationship with manager Jose Mourinho. Bayern have already signed Italy striker Luca Toni from Fiorentina and are keen on Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose, but their star newcomers will be playing in the Uefa Cup rather than the Champions league next season. Bayern finished fourth in the Bundesliga, which was won yesterday by Stuttgart, who beat Cottbus in the final game to finish two points clear of second-place Schalke.
Robben, 23, moved to Stamford Bridge in 2004 for £12m, but has started just 51 Premiership games due to continuous injury problems over three seasons.
Chelsea will reignite their interest in Bolton's Tal Ben Haim. The Israel defender would have moved to Chelsea in January had Bolton not demanded a fee of £3m. He becomes a free agent in the summer and, according to a Bolton source, is 'a very strong candidate to go to Chelsea'.
Frank Lampard, meanwhile, will attempt to agree new terms now that the FA Cup has been decided, according to his agent Steve Kutner. Lampard and John Terry 'still have problems over the money', a Chelsea source said. Both want parity with Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, who are paid around £130,000 a week each.
Portsmouth are set to sign Mark Viduka, who is out of contract at Middlesbrough and a free agent, but are unlikely to persuade Yossi Benayoun to join them. Benayoun's West Ham team-mate Matthew Etherington is a target for Wigan
Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez has released striker Tomasz Radzinski. Relegated Watford have handed Marlon King and Alhassan Bangura new contracts.
Thaksin Shinawatra has made a firm offer for Manchester City, according to the former Thai prime minister's lawyer. 'What I can say now is that we have tendered a bid,' said Noppadon Pattama. 'But the deal is not formally or legally concluded yet.' Shinawatra had been expected to appoint Claudio Ranieri the club's new manager, but reports in Germany claim the former Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath has held talks regarding the post.
Patrick Vieira is a major doubt for France's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Ukraine and Georgia next month after doctors assessed a knee injury picked up playing for Inter in Thursday's Italian Cup final. His club said Vieira had suffered ligament damage.
David Beckham has involuntarily started a row between Spain's top referees and the committee who sit in judgment on their performances. Two weeks ago the Comité de Competicion rescinded a yellow card shown to Beckham in Real Madrid's game against Athletic Bilbao for time wasting, categorised by match officials as 'unsporting behaviour'. It was Beckham's tenth card of the season and would have meant an automatic one-game ban. Beckham played against Seville the following week, and the furious referees retaliated by ensuring the next 100 cards shown in Spain's top two divisions were also rescinded.
The referees marked down every yellow card last weekend as 'unsporting behaviour' regardless of the offence, which meant the committee had to follow their example with Beckham and annul the lot. Fifteen players who would have been banned under totting-up procedures played on.
'It's easy to whistle from a sofa, in front of the telly,' one referee told newspaper El Pais. 'Every week we get on the field, make decisions, sanction players, but our decisions are overturned, undermining us and diminishing our work.'
Yesterday, Joaquin scored a last-minute winner for Valencia at Real Mallorca. The 1...#8209;0 win took Valencia third, a point behind leaders Real Madrid, who visit Recreativo Huelva today, and Barcelona, who travel to Atletico Madrid. Sevilla can return to third by getting at least a draw at Deportivo.
