News

Sunderland make biggest move

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 02/09/2009
Football betting

Sunderland have made the biggest move in the final stages of the summer transfer window so far after snapping up defender Michael Turner from Hull City for a fee in the region of £8million.

The 25-year-old, who had also been linked with Liverpool, has joined the Black Cats on four-year contract.

Meanwhile, sportsbook relegation favourites Portsmouth have been busy after adding two new players to their small squad.

Israeli defender Tal Ben Haim has joined on a four-year contract from Manchester City, while French-born Algerian midfielder Hassan Yebda has arrived on a season-long loan from Benfica.

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Elsewhere, Stoke City have completed the signing of Uruguay midfielder Diego Arismendi.

The 21-year-old has joined the Potters from Club Nacional for an initial fee of £2.6million.

West Ham United have signed Fiorentina defender Manuel Da Costa, with striker Savio Nsereko moving in the opposite direction.

Twenty-three-year-old Da Costa has penned a three-year contract at Upton Park, with Nsereko leaving the Irons only a matter of months after arriving from Brescia.

Wolves have boosted their strikeforce with the signing of Austria striker Stefan Maierhofer from Rapid Vienna for an undisclosed fee.

Paul Collingwood is looking to hold on to the England Twenty20 cricket captaincy until after year's World Cup.

The 33-year-old all-rounder has seen his place in the Test side called into question on the back of a below-par Ashes summer against Australia.

But despite struggling in the longer form of the game, Collingwood wants to lead England at the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next April.

In rugby union, Italy coach Nick Mallett will be at the helm of the Barbarians for their December meeting with New Zealand.

Mallett, who has also previously coached South Africa, has been confirmed in the hot-seat for the high-profile encounter at Twickenham on December 5.

The Baa-Baas have already been boosted by the news that two Springbok stars will be turning out for them in the game.

Lock Victor Matfield and winger Bryan Habana have already confirmed their intention to play.

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock and Argentina's Juan Martin Hernandez will also be part of a star-studded line-up.

Bernie Ecclestone fears Renault could quit Formula One over a probe into Fernando Alonso's victory at the Singapore Grand Prix last season.

The FIA has confirmed it is to look into Alonso's victory earlier in the year amid suggestions that his then Renault team-mate Nelson Piquet deliberately crashed on lap 14 in order to help the Spaniard, who profited from the arrival of the safety car.

"This is not the sort of thing we need at the moment," F1 supremo Ecclestone told The Times.

"Them leaving the sport is a danger, obviously. I mean, I hope that it isn't like that, but it's the sort of thing that might happen."

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