All the Latest Transfer Gossip across Europe

With the climax of the 2012 European Championships upon us, clubs will have been studying with interest the performance of many of the players who have participated in the tournament.

In addition there has been a lot of media talk regarding the buying and selling of players since the close of last season. Now with player contracts expiring in just 48 hours a frenetic six weeks lies ahead, before the new English football season kicks-off, as players and their agents will officially be allowed to approach or be approached by clubs regarding their availability.

It is pretty safe to say that if a player’s contract expires on the 30th June, and they have not been offered or negotiated a new deal with their current club, then they will be officially ‘on the market’ and looking for pastures new to pursue their careers.

Here is a round up of all of today’s latest transfer gossip:

Is your club involved?

Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Arsenal, AC Milan, Porto, Chelsea, Tottenham, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, Bologna, Ajax, Wigan, Napoli, Real Madrid, Anzhi Makhachkala, Benfica, Deportivo La Coruña, West Ham, Sochaux, Newsastle, Lille, FC Twente, Borussia Monchengladbach, Aston Villa, Feyenoord, Fulham, Norwich, West Brom, Aalborg, Everton, Valencia, Servilla, Huddersfield, Reading, QPR, Sunderland, Southampton, Vitesse Arnhem, Middlesbrough Bordeaux and Celtic........are all caught up in the latest transfer rumours across Europe, as we speak.

Paris Saint-Germain join Manchester City in the race for Arsenal's 28-year-old striker Robin van Persie – Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and caughtoffside.com

Porto’s Portuguese international midfielder Joao Moutinho (right), already tracked by Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter, has been targeted by Tottenham as well. Andre Villas-Boas wants to make the £32m Portugal midfielder Joao Moutinho his first signing at Tottenham – Daily Star and transfermarketweb.com

Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan’s main excecutives have met again to discuss Brazilian international centre-back Thiago Silva's transfer to the French club. The fee is believed to be in the region of €47million – transfermarketweb.com

Long time Tottenham target Diego Forlan has been made available for transfer by Inter Milan. Inter are inviting offers for the former Manchester United and Athletico Madrid striker, who starred for Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but has failed to reach such peaks in Italy – Corriere dello Sport

Liverpool have fallen behind Juventus in the race to sign 21-year-old Uruguayan sensation Gaston Ramirez from Bologna. The fee is thought to be in the region of £20million – TalkSPORT

Liverpool will move for Wigan forward Victor Moses, 21, if top target Gylfi Sigurdsson chooses Tottenham – The Sun and skysports.com

Ajax boss Frank de Boer has told Tottenham not to give up on signing 25-year-old defender Jan Vertonghen (right), despite their dispute with the Dutch club – The Metro

Napoli striker Ezequiel Lavezzi is set to complete a move to Paris St Germain early next week, according to his agent – skysports.com

Brazilian international right backwing Maicon (30), who's is expected to leave Inter, is the latest target of Napoli. He is already being tracked by Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Anzhi Makhachkala and Paris Saint-Germain - transfermarketweb.com

Currently on a deal with Benfica until June 2015, Brazilian striker Alan Kardec (23) is likely to be released after having played on loan for Santos during last season, and Deportivo La Coruña have targeted him - transfermarketweb.com

West Ham are trying to sign Tottenham's experienced French centre-half William Gallas, 34, on a free transfer - The Sun

Sam Allardyce is keen to strengthen the West Ham attack with a £5m move foe Sochaux's 24-year-old striker Modibo Maiga – Daily Mail

Newcastle will go back to Lille with an improved bid of around £6m for France international right-back Mathieu Debuchy. Inter Milan are also said to be keen on the 26-year-old – Daily Mirror and skysports.com

A delegation from Newcastle United have arrived in Holland to open talks with FC Twente over striker Luuk de Jong (right). Newcastle have already seen one bid of €10million (£8million) for de Jong rejected by Twente and they have now reported to upped that to €12million (£10milion). Newcastle are pushing hard for 21-year-old de Jong with German side Borussia Monchengladbach also reportedly very keen – skysports.com

Aston Villa are on the brink of signing Feyenoord's Morocan midfielder Karim El Ahmadi for £3million – Daily Express

Fulham, Norwich and West Brom are in a three-way battle for Danish striker Nicklas Helenius, 21, who caught the eye with Aalborg last season - footylatest.com

Fulham want Tottenham's midfield misfit David Bentley, 27, either on loan or at a bargain fee – Daily Mirror

Huddersfield Town have opened talks with Oliver Norwood and now appear in pole position to land the Manchester United youngster. The midfielder has never played a first-team game at Old Trafford and is now ready to leave the club after his contract expired. United will be due compensation for Norwood as he is under 23 - skysports.com

Reading boss Brian McDermott must beat off West Ham and QPR to sign Sunderland contract rebel Kieran Richardson – The Sun

Sunderland are weighing up a move for 30-year-old defender Carlos Cuellar, who is out of contract at Aston Villa – TalkSPORT

Tomas Sivok's agent claims Premier League duo Everton and Fulham have expressed an interest in the Czech Republic international centre-back. Valencia are also said to be keen on the 28-year-old defender (right), along with their Primera Liga rivals Sevilla – skysports.com and transfermarketweb.com

Southampton have joined Fulham and QPR in the chase for Vitesse Arnhem's £2m-rated midfielder Alexander Buttner – The Sun

Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has confirmed that he is close to sealing a deal for Argentine midfielder Emmanuel Ledesma. Ledesma, who began his career with Genoa has previously been with QPR and finished last season with Walsall – skysports.com

Bordeaux’s 28-year-old centre-back Michael Ciani would be open to a move to Celtic according to the Ligue 1 club's president Jean-Louis Triaud. The France international, who has also been linked to Newcastle, Wigan and Primera Liga side Servilla

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Sporting Rich List and Why Women 'Pay' Second Fiddle in the Earnings Ladder

Being a top sportsperson is a sure fire way to get rich!

This week Forbes magazine published a list of the 100 highest paid athletes of 2012, which pretty much confirmed that theory. Let’s now analyse the results, focusing on which athletes and what sports are represented in this inventory of sportspeople with money to burn!

What struck me first was not the obscene amount of money that these professionals earn, rightly or wrongly, for basically doing a ‘job’ they love, but that of the top 100 highest paid athletes, only two of them were women.

Let’s not massage the facts and figures, but without a doubt there is still an irrefutable disparity in remuneration, both in wages and sponsorship, for successful women.

In a nutshell what I am saying is that in the last twelve months, of the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world, only two women had the earning power that has allowed them to dip their toes into the elite pool of sports highest grossing incomes.

Both these female athletes are tennis players.
Maria Sharapova (below right) was 26th overall ($27.9m) and China’s Li Na (right) was 81st ($18.4m). Sharapova, the current French Open champion has long had a coveted portfolio of sponsors that now includes Nike, Head, Samsung, Tag Heuer and Evian. Sales for the Maria Sharapova Collection, her line of products at Nike subsidiary Cole Haan, doubled last year.

Despite the increase in television coverage of women’s sports such as football, rugby and cricket, the gulf in earnings is huge. In the day-to-day workplace it is mainly men who occupy the boardrooms, salaries are disproportionate worldwide and sportswomen are likely to earn less than sportsmen for the foreseeable future, because the market rewards what it considers to be the ‘entertainers’ – men!

It’s the way of the world, but it really hits home when you view the Forbes list and see it for yourself, in black and white.

Turning to the list and identifying criteria among the top earners is actually not as blindingly obvious as one might have at first anticipated.

Athletes from 11 different sports qualified for the top 100. The world's highest-paid athlete is in jail. The guy in second place just lost a world title fight, and the man who held the distinction for a decade is now third.

Tiger Woods has lost his top position, which he had held since 2001, dropping to third place behind boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao (pictured right). Mayweather fought only two fights in the last year. He spent less than one hour in the ring to dispatch his two foes. His combined payday for the bouts: $85 million. Mayweather maximizes his earnings by acting as his own fight promoter through his company Mayweather Promotions. He collects all of the revenue from tickets, pay-per-view and sponsorships and covers the costs, including the purse for his opponent.
Mayweather is currently serving a three-month jail sentence in Las Vegas for domestic battery.

Pacquiao ranks second with earnings of $62 million. Over the past 12 months he fought Juan Manuel Marquez and Tim Bradley. The bouts netted him $56 million, despite Pacquiao losing his WBO welterweight title to Bradley just a few weeks ago. Pacquiao’s earnings also include money he gets from their broadcast in the Philippines. He also made an estimated $6 million over the past year outside the ring through endorsements. Pacquiao was only ranked 24th last year with $25 million, as he only had one fight during that period and Mayweather was even lower on the list.

Woods’ total earnings dropped $16 million from last year to $59.4 million and have been sliced in half since their peak in 2009. Woods last won a Major in 2008, but despite an increase of $2m in prize money won on the golf course in the last twelve months by Woods, it does not offset the loss of sponsors like Tag Heuer and Gillette. Woods career may be a bit rocky right now, but he was still the highest-paid golfer last year.

Despite a football-obsessed Europe, Americans earn far more than Europeans. European football clubs are developing a culture of selling off their clubs (and in some cases their history) to affluent businessmen from the former Eastern European block and Arab nations, perhaps indicating that those who make a living from kicking a circular leather ball were some of the world’s top earners. This is a fallacy.....because of the top 50 earners on the Forbes list, only four play football (soccer).

They are: David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney. David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy was 8th overall and the highest ranked soccer player at $46 million. Then followed Portugal and Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo 9th ($42.5m), Argentina and Barcelona magician Messi 11th ($39m) and England and Manchester United talisman Wayne Rooney 37th ($24.3m).

You are far more likely to strike gold if you play American football, basketball, golf or tennis.

Miami Heat star LeBron James (right) ranks 4th overall at $53 million, the highest of thirteen basketball players on the list.

Thirty American football players rank among the highest-paid athletes, which is more than any other single sport. Peyton Manning tops them at 10th overall. The Denver Broncos' new quarterback made $42.4 million during his last season with the Indianapolis Colts, even though he sat out the entire season while recovering from a neck injury.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was top amongst baseball players and 18th overall with $33 million.

The figures for some sports can appear distorted and this is why? Using tennis as an example, Roger Federer 5th on the list overall ($52.7m), earned 50% more than Rafael Nadal 16th ($13.1m), and twice what Novak Djokovic 61st ($20.6m) made, despite having not won a Grand Slam tournament since early 2010.

Ultimately while the pecking order of success can change rapidly, earning power lags somewhat behind!

Here is a selection of other athletes not already mentioned, and how they have faired over the last twelve months:

#7 Phil Mickelson - Total earnings: $47.8 million

#20 Valentino Rossi - Total earnings: $30 million

#20 Michael Schumacher - Total earnings: $30 million

#24 Wladimir Klitschko - Total earnings: $28 million

#24 Lewis Hamilton - Total earnings: $28 million

#28 Tom Brady - Total earnings: $27.1 million

#48 Luke Donald - Total earnings: $22.2 million

#59 Kaká - Total earnings: $20.8 million

#63 Usain Bolt - Total earnings: $20.3 million

#65 Sergio Aguero - Total earnings: $20.1 million

#68 Fernando Torres - Total earnings: $19.6 million

#78 Sachin Tendulkar -  Total earnings: $18.6 million

#88 John Terry - Total earnings: $17.5 million

#91 Rory McIlroy - Total earnings: $17.4 million

The earnings totals (in US dollars) are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months from 1st May 2011 to 1st May 2012. Taxes or agents' fees are not factored into the figures.

View The Full Forbes 100 Highest Paid Athletes Complete List 2012:

Data source: Forbes
My twitter: @BeerFootyBirds

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Awesome Axe, Mr. President

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Not A Review.
Abraham Lincoln? VAMPIRE HUNTER?
SERIOUSLY? What next?
George Washington: Werewolf Hunter?
Richard Nixon: Water Gatekeeper?
Barack Obama: Bush Whacker?



Come one, it's ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
One of the most iconic of US Presidents.
And he has an AWESOME AXE.
And KILLS VAMPIRES.
How cool is that?
A bit silly, sure, but DAMN COOL OK.



Oooh, it's directed by that Timur Berbawhatever guy
Who did Night Watch and Wanted.
Heck, this reminded me of Night Watch,
But with Abraham Lincoln instead of Russians.
It's a bit silly and over the top, sure,
But man does he make it look cool



Yes, that's an awesone axe, Mr. President.
And it's pretty damn cool how you use it.
Guns? HAH! Swords? So last century.
Nothing like an awesome AXE to make vampire hunting cool



I also like how they threw in the actual historical stuff,
I'm a sucker for that sorta thing.
Gettsyburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation, all there.
(Lots of "artistic license" though, but hey, that's Hollywood).
BTW, Abe is not a US president who happens to be a vampire hunter.
He is a vampire hunter who just happens to be a president.
There's a difference, ok?



I really like this Timur guy.
His action shit is damn awesome.
He makes vampire hunting look so damn cool,
THAT'S how you use slow-mo in action.
Eat your heart out, Paul W.S. Anderson!

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