Fulham continued their summer spending spree and re-building programme when they announced the signing of Swedish international defender Fredrik Stoor from Norwegian side Rosenborg Trondheim yesterday.
The 24-year-old, who has signed a four-year deal, is the sixth new player to arrive at Craven Cottage since the end of last season.
Stoor has played eight times for Sweden including three appearances at this summer's Euro 2008 championship.
Fulham have also signed John Pantsil and Bobby Zamora from West Ham, Teymourian Andranik from Bolton, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from Middlesbrough and striker Zoltan Gera from West Brom.
Calderon still wants Ronaldo
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has reiterated his desire to sign Cristiano Ronaldo but has said that the club are merely interested spectators in a dispute between the player and Manchester United.
"Of course we want Cristiano given the quality he has," Calderon said in an interview with Spanish sports daily AS yesterday.
"But there is a contractual problem which the player and Manchester have to resolve and not us. The thing is the player has said publicly that his dream is to play for Madrid.
"I heard those words with pride and satisfaction, but Cristiano's departure does not depend only on him.
"It has not been us who have built up or knocked down this signing. Madrid are just spectators in this comedy."
Almiron too expensive for River
Juventus midfielder Sergio Almiron will not be joining River Plate as the Argentine club cannot afford to meet the player's wage demands.
Almiron joined Juventus last summer from Empoli but has failed to settle at the Turin club and was sent on loan to French Ligue 1 club Monaco in January.
It has been suggested that Almiron would return to his country to play for River Plate but that deal is unlikely to materialise due to his demands.
"I don't think that River Plate have enough money to pay his wages," agent Claudio Vagheggi said.
Cisse keen on Roma move
Djibril Cisse is interested in joining Serie A club Roma but negotiations have yet to start, the French player's agent told reporters yesterday.
Roma have intensified their efforts to sign a prolific goalscorer this summer after missing out on Adrian Mutu and Julio Baptista.
Now, they seem to be preparing an approach for the Marseille forward.
"There is a chance that Cisse could go to Roma, but there hasn't been any contact between the two clubs yet," agent Ranko Stojic said.
"Cisse would love to play for Roma who have several champions in their squad."
Toure's recovery going well
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday he was hopeful that centre-back Kolo Toure would be fit for the start of the new season in three weeks time after recovering from malaria.
The 27-year-old Ivory Coast international defender had a mild resurgence of the disease during Arsenal's pre-season training camp in Austria.
However he has returned to training and Wenger is optimistic he will be fit for Arsenal's first game of the season against West Brom Albion on August 16.
Wenger said: "Yes (he'll be ready).
"Kolo had a little resurgence of malaria. But he recovered quickly from it. In two days he was OK. He has started to practise now but it will take him two weeks to play for us."
Kaboul chooses Portsmouth
Younes Kaboul looks set to sign for Portsmouth after turning down the opportunity to join Sunderland.
The Tottenham defender was given a 24-hour deadline by the Black Cats in which to make a decision regarding a move to the Stadium of Light and he has decided against a switch to the North East.
Despite former Spurs team-mates Teemu Tainio and Pascal Chimbonda having already joined Roy Keane's side this summer, Kaboul's agent Rudy Raba confirmed that his client would prefer a transfer to the current FA Cup holders.
Inter facing defensive crisis
Inter may be forced back into the transfer market because of an injury crisis in their defence, president Massimo Moratti said yesterday.
The Italian champions lost Marco Materazzi to a knock during Tuesday's pre-season mini-tournament also involving Milan and Juventus in Turin.
Fellow centre-backs Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu and Ivan Cordoba are not yet fit for the Serie A kick-off on Aug. 31 after all underwent surgery in recent months.
"Materazzi's injury is definitely annoying as soon we will play an important match," Moratti said. "Anyway, we'll decide in the next few days if we must return to the transfer market, it all depends on the extent of the injury."
Jose Mourinho's Inter lost 1-0 to Juve and 4-3 on penalties to Milan after a 0-0 draw. Milan won the 45-minutes per game tournament thanks to a penalty win over Juve following a 2-2 draw where Clarence Seedorf scored twice.