AFCON stars

Wilfried Zaha and Man Utd's defence

Wilfried Zaha terrorised Man Utd's defence yesterday

Frank Lampard is ready for the January sales! Who will be Chelsea's first purchase?

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Switching clubs

Wingers Juan Cuadrado, Mohamed Salah, Wilfried Zaha and Aaron Lennon all switched clubs to bring brief excitement to a dull Deadline Day.

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England Under-21s exit European Championships under a cloud

 

Stuart Pearce had high hopes for his England Under-21 side heading into the European Championships in Israel.

But after defeat in the opener against Italy, Norway dumped the Young Lions out of the tournament, beating them 3-1 on Saturday.

Prior to the game, Pearce had suggested the heat in Israel may prove to be an advantage for England.

"That's good for us," he said. "The Norwegians haven't seen the sun for eight months!" 
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Zaha set to take the plunge with Manchester United

 

Wilfried Zaha has made quite the name for himself in the Championship with Crystal Palace and is subsequently being coveted by the cream of the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger registered his interest in the prodigal 20-year-old back in November but as the January transfer window draws nearer to its conclusion, it appears Manchester United are on the verge of clinching the transfer of Zaha.

Indeed, Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to offer the south London club £17 million to take the wonderkid to Old Trafford. Zaha has scored five goals from 32 games this season playing the majority of his matches from wide positions and was rewarded by Roy Hodgson with his first England cap in a friendly against Sweden.

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Window pain for Wenger as David Villa slips out of Arsenal's grasp

 

It could have been another long-running transfer saga involving Barcelona and Arsenal, but now the Catalans have declared that striker David Villa is not for sale at any price.

The Gunners had made a formal approach, but after Barca manager Tito Vilanova said the Spaniard was not for sale, Goal.com exclusively revealed that the Londoners were relenting in their pursuit.

However, Arsene Wenger has now reportedly turned his attention to Atletico Madrid's Adrian Lopez, so it's clear that the Gunners will keep trying for a new striker until they finally get one in the transfer window.
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Holloway desperate to block Wenger in pursuit of Zaha

 

Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has come out fighting after Arsene Wenger confirmed that Arsenal are mulling over a move for starlet Wilfried Zaha.

Following the Frenchman's comments, the former Blackpool boss lashed out at the north London outfit's manager for talking about his players in public, telling The Sun he would be ringing the Gunners' manager to complain about his "totally bad etiquette".

However, as exclusively revealed by Goal.com, the Gunners are now in talks with the Championship outfit about a proposed £12 million January move for the 20-year-old.

But this is unlikely to stop Holloway from doing all he can to keep hold of the attacker, who recently won his first senior England call-up, even if it means getting in Wenger's way.
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Magic Ibrahimovic bamboozles England hopefuls

 

There are few doubts about who was the star of the show in England's 4-2 defeat to Sweden on Wednesday night - the inimitable Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

England had six debutants on show in Leon Osman, Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha, Ryan Shawcross, Steven Caulker and Carl Jenkinson.

But there was little any of them - or indeed Roy Hodgson's more senior players - could do about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had already scored twice before completing a hat-trick with a powerful long-range free-kick.

And for his next trick, the Swedish magician rounded off the scoring with a mystifying, looping overhead kick from over 20 yards out which almost defied logic, leaving Hodgson and his charges thoroughly dumbfounded.
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