F.A. Premiership 2009/2010

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Liverpool will retain their famous Kop end when they move into a new 60,000-seater stadium in the city's Stanley Park in 2010.

Computer-generated images of the new stadium were revealed by the Premier League club on Wednesday with a steeply banked, 18,000 capacity Kop end an integral part of a design which veers away from the bowl-like appearance of many new grounds.

An official planning application has been submitted to Liverpool City Council for the 300 million pounds ($617.9 million) development in the north of the city.

Moving from the club's spiritual Anfield home is an emotive subject for fans of the five-times European champions, but chief executive Rick Parry said the new Kop end would become the "heartbeat" of the four-sided stadium.

"We've always recognised the central importance of the Kop," Parry said in a statement. "It will have a significantly increased capacity of 18,000 seats in a single tier structure that will be the heartbeat of the new stadium.

"The rake of the stand will be steeper and the seats tighter together, with the acoustics of the roof designed to accentuate the atmosphere during games."

RED BANNERS

European nights at Anfield are one of the most colourful sights in British football. The current Kop end becomes a sea of red banners while thousands bellow out the club's anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Many Premier League clubs have abandoned their historic roots for new stadiums with Arsenal being the latest example, leaving their Victorian Highbury stadium in 2006 for the bowl-like Emirates complex just down the road.

Liverpool's current Anfield capacity of 45,000 is deemed insufficient to compete with the likes of Manchester United (76,000) and Arsenal (60,000) while the likes of Newcastle United also have much bigger stadiums.

Club captain Steven Gerrard said keeping the Kop was vital.

"The fact that a massive Kop end in incorporated in the the new stadium is great," he said. "I was completely blown away by the plans. I've played in some great stadiums but this is something special."

Stadium designers, American-based architects HKS, have been involved in many sports arenas including the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and the new venue for Super Bowl champions the Indianapolis Colts.

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China striker Dong Fangzhou insists he has not given up hope of becoming a Manchester United star.

Dong, 22, has endured a difficult time since joining the Premiership champions in 2003, but he believes his prospects are finally improving.

He has made just one competitive appearance for United and spent three years on loan with Belgian club Royal Antwerp as he waited for a work permit to play in England.

But that wait finally ended in January when he was given the green light to move to Old Trafford and was immediately handed a new three-year contract.

Although the likes of Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Anderson are all ahead of Dong in the queue for a place in Sir Alex Ferguson's forward line, the Chinese player refuses to be downhearted.

"I am trying to prove I am good enough to play for this team," he told The Times. "I need to train hard and work hard, but that is no problem for me.

"For any Chinese player, it is tough when you move to a new country because of the language and the fact it is a different culture.

"But while those three years at Antwerp were hard, in a way they may help me because I am used to playing in Europe now."

Despite suggestions Dong was signed mainly to boost United's popularity in Asia, Ferguson is convinced he has the attributes to make an impact at Old Trafford.

"He has tremendous pace and power," Ferguson said. "He's a very athletic boy. I think this season we will see a better player."

Dong linked up with his United team-mates for their pre-season tour of Asia earlier this month and is in line to feature against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical on Friday.

"It would be fantastic to play for Manchester United in my own country," he said.

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England defender Luke Young is on the verge of completing his move to Middlesbrough after passing a medical with the Premiership club.

Young, 28, made it clear he wanted to leave Charlton after they were relegated last season and Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has moved quickly to bring him to the Riverside Stadium.

The right-back watched Middlesbrough's friendly victory at Darlington on Tuesday and Southgate hopes the formalities of the deal, which is expected to be worth around 2.5 million pounds, will be completed soon.

"Luke has been through all the medicals, that was fine, it's really just a case of getting all the forms through from Charlton and we are pretty much there," Southgate told Middlesbrough's website.

"We're delighted with that one, but until it's signed I don't want to say anything else."

Southgate also insisted that Nigeria striker Yakubu is happy to stay at the club despite interest from Manchester City and Portsmouth.

"I've had a chat with him and he's very happy," Southgate said. "We've had no contact from any other club and nor would we welcome any.

"As far as we are concerned he is our player, he's in training with us and he seems very settled."

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Sir Alex Ferguson has accused agents of causing Gabriel Heinze to consider quitting Manchester United for a move to Liverpool.

Heinze's proposed transfer has turned ugly because Ferguson refuses to sell the Argentina left-back to United's bitter rivals.

The Anfield club have matched the 6.8 million pounds figure that United reportedly told Heinze in a letter they would accept for him.


Kop boss Rafa Benitez, who hinted lawyers are looking into the matter, claims the player is keen to make the switch. But Ferguson believes Heinze has been unsettled by his agents.

"I think that if we could take away the agent's role in this I don't think an awful lot is wrong with Gabi's position at the club," Ferguson told Sky Sports News.

"We've looked after Gabi very well. He had his cruciate knee operation and we looked after him.

"We let him do his rehabilitation in Spain, which he wanted and I think he's delighted at how we've treated him. We've conducted ourselves in a way that suited Gabi perfectly."

United's protracted move for Carlos Tevez is even more likely to be settled in court after the Argentine's representatives served a High Court writ on West Ham on Tuesday.

Ferguson is confident the move will still go through however and admitted Heinze may have played a role in his international colleague's desire to join the champions.

He said: "They have been away with the Argentina team. I'm sure Gabi's told him what a good club it is. There's nothing else he can say about Manchester United from his own experiences."

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Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said he would wait for as long as it takes to sign Argentine forward Carlos Tevez.

The player's proposed move from West Ham United has been held up by a dispute between West Ham and Tevez's agent Kia Joorabchian over who owns him.

The matter will be resolved in the High Court after Joorabchian issued a writ against West Ham who he says must release Tevez's registration.

"I imagine it will be done before the (August 31) deadline, but we would wait for him anyway if we had to," Ferguson was quoted as saying in British newspapers. "We've gone so far, there's no point in stepping back.

"There are few strikers of that quality in the world market."

British newspaper reports suggest Tevez will cost 30 million pounds and Ferguson believes the fact that Joorabchian has gone to the High Court rather than wait for a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is significant.

"I feel more confident now because his agent is confident enough to take it to the High Court," Ferguson said. "You can be embarrassed there if it's not right and you can lose everything.

"So (Joorabchian) must be confident regarding the situation with West Ham."

Ferguson also said Argentine full back Gabriel Heinze would be welcomed back to Old Trafford for next season despite the furore over his reported wish to join arch-rivals Liverpool.

"He's our player that's the important thing," he said. "People want to see players who are committed, that's what Gaby is. He's a bit of a warrior. He will not change once he comes back into the fold and plays a game."

Ferguson said this week that as far as he was concerned Heinze would not be going to Liverpool.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez had confirmed that the club's lawyers were working on the deal after they had a bid for the 29-year-old rejected.

No player has been transferred directly between the two northwest clubs since Phil Chisnall left Old Trafford for Anfield in 1964.

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Bolton have agreed to sign Sweden winger Christian Wilhelmsson on loan from Nantes.

The 27-year-old is set to move to the Premiership club on a 12-month loan deal with a view to a permanent switch and will link up with his new team-mates as soon as he is given international clearance.

Wilhelmsson, who spent last season on loan with Italian club AS Roma, could make his Bolton debut in Saturday's friendly at Tranmere.

Wanderers boss Sammy Lee was delighted to get his man after a lengthy chase and said: "We've been working on this deal for some time and our patience has paid off.

"He has the potential to light up the Premiership with his pace and skill."

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Hong Kong tycoon Carson Yeung said he wanted to complete his takeover of English Premier League club Birmingham City as soon as possible and bring some Chinese players to St Andrews.

Yeung became the club's biggest shareholder when he acquired a 30 percent stake in Birmingham through investment firm Grandtop for 15 millions pounds ($30.79 million) earlier this month.

"I want to complete the takeover as soon as possible," the 47-year-old told reporters on Thursday.

"We have a tacit agreement with the co-owners, I won't disappoint you."

Yeung said the club would definitely buy Chinese players but although he admired national team captain Zheng Zhi any purchases would depend on club manager Steve Bruce's requirements.

"I want to help the club become stronger," he said. "So far we haven't contacted Zheng Zhi but I hope to have one or two Chinese players at the club.

"It is not me but Steve Bruce who will choose the players. I just have the opportunity to introduce the Chinese players to him. I'll respect our coach ... I think Zheng Zhi is excellent, he's good enough."

Midfielder Zheng played well during a six-month loan spell at Charlton Athletic earlier this year but returned to Shandong Luneng after the London club were relegated.

The 26-year-old has said he would like to continue playing in England's top flight and has been linked with a move to Newcastle United.

POOR ATTITUDE

Despite his wish to buy Chinese players, Yeung said many of them had a poor attitude and became complacent when they reached the professional ranks.

"I'm familiar with Chinese players," he said. "To be honest, I feel they don't put their hearts into their football ... China has some good players but they don't have the right attitude.

"They stop progressing. They think too highly of themselves ... I hope they improve so that I could form a team of 11 Chinese players in the Premier League."

Yeung said he had bought his share in Birmingham purely because of his love of football, a passion he has nurtured since he grew up in poverty as the son of Chinese migrants to Hong Kong.

"I went to London when I was 17 and worked hard but I didn't have much money so I couldn't afford to go and watch football matches," he said. "Now I'm going to be watching them as a club owner."

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Liverpool will be at full strength for the Asia Trophy final after record signing Fernando Torres was given permission to play and Steven Gerrard recovered from injury, their coach said on Thursday.

Rafael Benitez said Torres and Dutch forward Ryan Babel had international clearance for Friday's match against Portsmouth after a bureaucratic bungle ruled them out of the semi-final.

"Torres and Babel have been cleared and have permission to play," Benitez said, adding that England star Gerrard had recovered from a stomach problem.

"I think he's OK. He will be all right."

Torres and Babel were left out of Tuesday's game because they did not have the international clearance needed to appear in a Premier League-endorsed competition.

The triple absences disappointed thousands of fans at Hong Kong Stadium and forced Benitez to field a makeshift line-up which toiled to a 3-1 win against local minnows South China.

"We had some problems without Torres and Babel," Benitez admitted. "Now we have new options and fresh legs, and maybe we can manage the final in a different way.

"Portsmouth will be very difficult to play against but at least we will have more options."

Benitez will be anxious to bed in his new players with Liverpool just weeks away from a hotly anticipated Premier League clash with arch-rivals Chelsea.

The big-spending coach side-stepped the latest barbs from Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who raised the stakes by saying Liverpool were under pressure to deliver this season.

But he admitted he wanted more bite from the 18-time English champions who have not won the domestic league since 1990.

"I would like to see more goals. We were attacking a lot (last season) but I feel we can improve now," he said.

"We will have more options up front. Depending on the game we can play more crosses with Crouch or down the line with Voronin.

"If we want to change the game I can use another style of striker so I think it will be good for the team."

Goalkeeper Pepe Reina said he expected the highly-rated Torres to make an instant impact on the Premiership after moving from Spain's Atletico Madrid, where he was top scorer for the past five seasons.

"It won't be a problem for him -- I expect him to score as soon as he comes," Reina said.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp, whose side beat Fulham 1-0 to reach the final, tipped Liverpool finally to challenge for the Premier League title.

"They're looking very strong," said Redknapp. "The backbone of their team is still (Jamie) Carragher and Gerrard but they've added some talent this year and they will get a lot closer to Chelsea and Manchester United, I'm sure."

Redknapp said he would unveil forward John Utaka, Portsmouth's seventh signing this summer as they push for a European spot.

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England defender Luke Young completed his 2.5 million pounds move to Middlesbrough on Thursday.

Young, 28, had made it clear he wanted to leave Charlton after they were relegated from the Premiership and Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has snapped him up on a four-year contract.

The right-back, who made over 200 appearances for Charlton and captained the London club, will be officially unveiled at a press conference on Friday.

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Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson vowed to carry on spending after signing Bulgarian international winger Martin Petrov for 4.7 million pounds from Atletico Madrid.

The 28-year-old passed a medical on Thursday and will become Eriksson's fourth signing since he took charge at Eastlands once he is granted a work permit.

Eriksson is certain Petrov won't be the last new arrival. He has been given substantial transfer funds by City's new Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra as he overhauls a squad that struggled in the Premiership last season.

The Swede has already brought in Rolando Bianchi, Geovanni and Gelson Fernandes and is lining up moves for Bayern Munich's Roque Santa Cruz and Racing Santander's Nikola Zigic.

Eriksson has no problem concentrating on non-English talent and said: "I don't think we are finished signing, there will be more new faces coming in different positions, whether they are English or not I can't say.

"I think that the new owner has shown that he means serious business when he says that he wants to build a strong team, which is not fighting at the bottom of the table but at the other end.

"This is one way in which he has shown that, and I'm very happy about it."

Petrov was also wanted by Tottenham and Eriksson praised City's directors for their efforts to land the star and his new team-mate Geovanni.

"I'm sure that a lot of clubs wanted both of them and I'm very happy that the board were able to get them. They will do very well for us, I'm sure about that."

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Sunderland boss Roy Keane on Thursday completed his sixth signing of the summer when he lured defender Paul McShane from West Brom.

The Midlands club will receive an initial 1.5 million pounds which could could ultimately rise to 2.5 million for the 21-year-old Republic of Ireland defender who joined the Baggies from Manchester United last summer and made 42 appearances, scoring three times.

McShane joins fellow new recuits Greg Halford, Russell Anderson, Michael Chopra, Kieran Richardson and Dickson Etuhu at the Stadium of Light.

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Arsene Wenger has hinted France defender William Gallas could captain Arsenal this season despite publicly criticising the club.

Gallas, 29, launched a stinging attack on Arsenal's failure to sign enough top quality players but Wenger still gave him the skipper's armband for Wednesday's 1-0 friendly defeat against Salzburg in Austria.

The former Chelsea star had claimed several of Arsenal's leading players were considering their futures after previous captain Thierry Henry's depature to Barcelona and said he did not want to "play for third place".

But Wenger insists there is no rift with Gallas, who along with Gilberto Silva and Kolo Toure, is a strong contender to lead the Gunners.

"William has all the ingredients to be captain - it is him or players like Gilberto or Kolo Toure," Wenger told Arsenal's website.

"He has got a lot of experience. At the back is the best position to captain the team because you are in a position where you see all the problems on the pitch - that is a better position than for a centre-forward or wide player."

Wenger's team face Paris Saint Germain on Saturday in the opening day of pre-season tournament at their Emirates Stadium and then play Inter Milan on Sunday.

Brazil midfielder Gilberto, who was often captain in Henry's absence last season, will be missing as he rests after helping his country to Copa America success.

Wenger will keep his options open until the first Premiership game of the season against Fulham and said: "We go game by game. We are in a preparation period at the moment and at this time, the captain problem is not the most important problem for us - it is to be fit.

"You have to give us some time, show patience and continue to play with the spirit we have shown in Austria. We created some chances and things we had worked on went well.

"Of course, we are not sharp at the moment, but overall what we wanted to see, we have done - the intensity of the workout was there."

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A human rights organisation has slammed the Premier League for allowing former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to buy Manchester City.

Human Rights Watch insist Thaksin is a "human rights abuser of the worst kind" and are angry the Premier League did not use their fit and proper person test to stop him taking over at Eastlands.

Thaksin, 58, has had almost one billion pounds in assets frozen by the military government which ousted him from his homeland last October. He also faces a succession of corruption charges relating to his five years in power.

"Under any definition, I don't see how Thaksin can be fit and proper," HRW's Brad Adams told BBC Sport on Tuesday.

"I've written a letter to the Premier League asking what this test means."

The Premier League stood by their decision, claiming their vetting process is one of most stringent in England.

"It is important to realise that the Premier League takes its responsibilities surrounding the governance of its clubs very seriously," a Premier League statement said.

"We have very clear rules on the ownership of our clubs, which include the 'Fit and Proper Persons Test (FAPPT)', which go beyond any requirement by UK company law and are, to our knowledge, some of the sternest in place in any UK industry.

"But what needs to be made clear is that in the first place we accept the primacy of UK and European law. This determines who may, and who may not, legally reside in the UK, own and acquire assets, and engage in commercial and other activities."

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The English Premier League has defended its decision to let former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra take control at Manchester City.

The controversial Shinawatra has almost $2 billion in assets frozen by the military government, which ousted him from his homeland last October, and is facing corruption charges relating to his five years in power.

Living in exile in London, Shinawatra has vowed to clear his name, but is adamant he will not return to Thailand until free and democratic elections are held at the end of the year.

The 58-year-old continues to enjoy support in Thailand, but his record as Prime Minister has been questioned by respected human rights campaigners Amnesty International.

A BBC investigation, due to be broadcast Tuesday night, has claimed another organization, Human Rights Watch, has written to the Premier League questioning whether Thaksin is a 'fit and proper person' to own a top club.

The Premier League has confirmed receipt of the letter, which details a number of alleged human rights violations. "It is important to realize that the Premier League takes its responsibilities surrounding the governance of its clubs very seriously," read a Premier League statement.

"We have very clear rules on the ownership of our clubs, which include the 'Fit and Proper Persons Test (FAPPT)', which go beyond any requirement by UK company law and are, to our knowledge, some of the sternest in place in any UK industry."

The statement goes on: "The FAPPT means anyone convicted of a range of offenses would not be permitted to become a director, or a shadow director, at a club. But what needs to be made clear is that in the first place we accept the primacy of UK and European law. This determines who may, and who may not, legally reside in the UK, own and acquire assets, and engage in commercial and other activities.

"We have responded to Human Rights Watch to assure them of the above facts, and to underline that we will always operate within the law and will take into account any evidence as verified by the appropriate legal process."

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Aston Villa has signed defender Eric Lichaj, a member of the U.S. Under-20 team.

The 18-year-old former University of North Carolina player is expected to initially train with the Premier League club's academy squad.

Aston Villa, which was bought at the start of last season by Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, played two exhibition games against MLS teams to prepare for the new season. It beat the Columbus Crew 3-1 Saturday and defeated Toronto FC 4-2 last Wednesday.

Villa plays Liverpool in its first league game on Aug. 11.