Newly-promoted Birmingham City have signed former West Ham midfielder Lee Bowyer on a two-year contract, the club said yesterday.

Bowyer impressed at St Andrews during a loan spell last season, making 17 appearances as City were promoted back to the English Premiership.

The 32-year-old Bowyer started off his career at Charlton but moved to Leeds in 1996 for a then record fee for a British teenager of 2.8 million pounds.

He joined West Ham in 2003, moved on to Newcastle six months after, but then returned to Upton Park three years later.

Inter better than Juve - Cannavaro

New Juventus signing Fabio Cannavaro admitted that Serie A rivals Inter will still be the team to beat next season. The Italy captain recently rejoined the Turin giants, whom he left to sign for Real Madrid three years ago.

He had first signed for Juve from Inter in 2004 when it was the Old Lady who were the dominant force in Italian football. Last season they finished second in the scudetto but 10 points behind champions Inter.

Cannavaro believes that gap is closing thanks to Juve's new signings such as himself and Diego.

"With the signings we've made I think we can push Inter right to the wire. We want to improve on last season, even if Inter's squad is still the most competitive," he said.

Fowler dismisses return talk

Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler dismissed reports he would leave Australia to play for ex-team-mate John Barnes at Tranmere.

The 34-year-old signed a two-year contract with A-League debutants North Queensland Fury in February and said he had no intention of walking away from the deal.

"It looks like somebody's put two and two together and come up with six," Fowler said.

"I've got a two-year contract with North Queensland Fury and I'm a man of my word -I'll play it out."

Fowler said his family had recently arrived in Australia ahead of his A-League debut later this month. He scored 120 goals in 236 league appearances for Liverpool.

Ferrari moves as partner lands job

Former Italy defender Matteo Ferrari has signed for Turkish champions Besiktas on a four-year deal, his previous club Genoa said. The fee is believed to be between five and six million euros with Ferrari set to earn €2.5 million a season.

However, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, there was one other stipulation in the deal - Ferrari's girlfriend Aida Yespica, a model, has landed a TV job.

Gazzetta claimed that the deal had stalled until the provision for the former Miss Venezuela contestant was added.

Ferrari, who was born in Algeria and whose mother is Guinean, has been capped 11 times by Italy, although the last of those came in 2004.

Van Persie signs long-term deal

Dutch international striker Robin van Persie has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.

The 25-year-old joined the Gunners from Feyenoord in 2004 and was Arsenal's leading scorer last season with 20 goals from 44 appearances in all competitions.

The club have not made the length of the new deal public, but manager Arsene Wenger said: "It's fantastic news that Robin has committed his long-term future to Arsenal.

"At only 25, there is still much more to come from him. He has the potential to become a true Arsenal great."

In his five seasons with Arsenal, Van Persie has made 177 appearances and scored 63 goals in all competitions.

Fortune agrees terms with Celtic

Nancy striker Marc-Antoine Fortune has agreed personal terms and passed a medical with Scottish Premier League side Celtic.

The 28-year-old is expected to sign for the Glasgow club in preference to offers from English top-flight clubs Hull, Fulham and Portsmouth.

Nancy agreed a fee of about £3.8 million with Celtic and Hull for the player who was on loan to West Brom last season.

Fortune arrived in Glasgow on Monday and is likely to be Celtic manager Tony Mowbray's first signing at the club.

Fortune's Nancy team-mate, defensive midfielder Landry N'Guemo, is also poised for a season's loan at Celtic.

Midfielder Kerlon joins Inter

Inter wrapped up a permanent deal for Brazilian attacking midfielder Kerlon.

The 21-year-old spent last season at Chievo having arrived in Italy from Cruzeiro but has now signed a three-year deal with the Italian champions.

He is known for his dribbling ability but he is also injury prone and made only four appearances for Chievo.

He made his name at the 2005 South American U-20 championships in Venezuela where he finished top scorer.

Inter said this week they are not prepared to meet Chelsea's asking price for centre-back Ricardo Carvalho and Portuguese compatriot Deco.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.