North America

+ Norwegian club Vålerenga have been linked with Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.

+ Some Canadian Guys: Thoughts on the Canada squad released for the Jamaica friendly at the end of the month.

+ Red Nation: Canada’s search for depth begins.

+ The Galaxy traded their first pick of yesterday’s draft (15th overall) to Real Salt Lake along with a third round pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, in exchange for midfielder Clint Mathis and RSL’s first round pick (16th overall)

+ The New York Red Bulls have acquired former U.S. national team defender Chris Albright from the New England Revolution for two picks in the MLS draft.

+ Reports out of Mexico suggest that the out of contract Chivas USA midfielder Paul Naguamura’s move to Tigres is pretty much a formality, with some stories saying all that remains is for Nagamura to take a physical.

+ The Wizards have denied reports they were shopping around captain Jimmy Conrad.

+ Chicago has also taken a keen interest in ex-Fulham forward Collins John.

+ Video reaction from Toronto draft pick Zach Herold, GM Mo Johnston and coach Preki.

+ Is New York’s first round pick Tony Tchani the next Shalrie Joseph?

+ Every pick from the 2010 MLS Super Draft.

+ San Jose GM John Doyle says that the team has been searching for attacking players in Argentina and Brazil and hopes to announce the signing of at least one player in the near future.

+ Preki and Thomas Dooley have been inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.

+ Jozy Altidore placed call after call to Haiti, desperate to locate his relatives. But two days after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the U.S. national team striker has been unable to get through and is preparing to travel to the devastated country to look for himself.

England

+ Aston Villa have one foot in the ­Carling Cup final after comfortably beating Blackburn Rovers in the semi-final first leg.

+ Liverpool suffered injuries to three key stars in the FA Cup defeat to Reading. Fernando Torres faces six-week lay-off with torn cartilage,  Yossi Benayoun is sidelined for up to four weeks with a broken rib, and Steven Gerrard is out a fortnight with a hamstring injury.

+ Guus Hiddink’s stated desire to return and manage in England has heaped further pressure on Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez, despite his job being safe until the summer.

+ Inter Milan will move to sign Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard in the summer transfer window.

+ Liverpool forward Fernando Torres has called on the club’s owners to spend in the January transfer window to improve a squad that is in danger of missing out of Champions League qualification.

+ Liverpool’s early exit from the FA Cup will cost the club around £8m compared with the sum they would have received for winning the competition.

+ Stoke have ended their interest in Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, the club have confirmed.

+ Roberto Mancini is ready to rival Manchester United for the signature of £25 million-rated Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik.

+ Manchester United are weighing up an £18million move for Porto defender Rolando.

+ Edwin van der Sar could make his Manchester United comeback against Burnley on Saturday.

+ Sir Alex Ferguson is crossing his fingers record signing Dimitar Berbatov can make it to the end of the season without needing knee surgery.

+ David Gill, Manchester United’s chief executive, has promised potential investors in a £500m bond scheme that the club will continue to increase match-day revenues and reassured them that the manager Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to stay on in some capacity after he retires.

+ Chelsea must pay Manchester City an initial fee of £3.5million for Daniel Sturridge and the striker’s transfer could eventually cost the Londoners around £7million.

+ Birmingham will make Celtic an offer worth £14million to take Aiden McGeady into the Premier League

+ Birmingham midfielder Lee Carsley is set to be sidelined until the start of March with the ankle injury suffered during the FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

+ Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has hinted that he may be interested in signing Middlesbrough winger Gary O’Neil.

+ Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has been charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue

+ The Premier League are to divert Portsmouth’s £7million share of the latest television revenue payments to several other clubs owned money by the south coast outfit.

+ Gary Megson has been placed on a 12-month period of ‘gardening leave’ by Bolton Wanderers following the Premier League club’s failure to agree a lump sum compensation deal for their former manager.

+ Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has criticised the "stupid" transfer window system, saying it is little more than a money-maker for football agents.

+ Paul Hart has left QPR after just five games in charge, with Mick Harford waiting in the wings to take over.

+ Tony Cascarino’s mid-term Premier League report card.

African Cup of Nations

+ Hosts Angola atoned for throwing away a four-goal lead against Mali in their opening game by beating Malawi 2-0 on Thursday to move top of Group A in the African Nations Cup.

+ Algeria kept their hopes of progress in the African Nations Cup alive as they edged past Mali in Cidadela.

+ Ghana have been refused permission to switch the venue of their last African Nations Cup Group B game from Luanda to Cabinda

Spain

+ Real Madrid midfielder Guti seems closer to leaving the Bernabeu after admitting he would love to experience life in another country – with Italy top of his wishlist.

+ Real Madrid confirmed their interest in the much-coveted Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses.

+ Barcelona president Joan Laporta has stated that Pep Guardiola must not be rushed into signing a contract extension.

+ Getafe have confirmed the signing of Venezuela striker Miku, who was released from his contract with Valencia on Tuesday.

Italy

+ Juventus have been ordered to close a stand for next week’s home Serie A match against AS Roma after some of their fans sang a racist chant in Wednesday’s Italian Cup win over Napoli.

+ Juventus are ready to offer Rafa Benitez a route out of his mounting misery at Liverpool. The Spaniard is a close friend of new Juve vice-chairman Roberto Bettega, while ex-Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is angling for the Anfield job

+ Hernan Crespo’s agent has said that his client will consider a move to Juventus if the Bianconeri submit a concrete offer.

+ Il Corriere dello Sport understands there are just a few final creases to iron out before Fiorentina sign Porto’s highly rated midfielder Mario Bolatti.

France

+ Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier claims that if Mancini does not sign by Sunday the deal is off.

+ Sylvain Wiltord could be on the verge of returning to football with French third division outfit Creteil.

+ Boulogne have officially signed Chilean international striker Juan Gonzalo Lorca from Colo Colo on a three-and-a-half-year deal, while the club has also secured the services of Mali international forward Moustapha Yatabaré.

+ The agent of Jeremy Menez has rebuffed rumours that Marseille have contacted Roma about the availability of his client.

+ Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has indicated that he will not yet exclude the possibility of making further additions to his squad this January.

Germany

+ Raphael Honigstein: Laughter a mixed medicine as German clubs return from break.

Portugal

+ Despite speculation linking Nuno Gomes with a move away from Benfica this winter, Portuguese publication A Bola has indicated that the veteran forward will not be going anywhere.

Scotland

+ Jimmy Calderwood has been unveiled as the new manager of Kilmarnock.

+ Dunfermline were sensationally kicked out of the Active Nation Scottish Cup on Thursday for "a number of breaches of the cup competition rules" in last Saturday’s fourth-round win over Stenhousemuir.

+ Police are investigating allegations that Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor sexually assaulted a young woman.

+ John Kennedy, who was forced to retire from playing for Celtic last November at the age of just 26, has been given a prominent role as a first-team scout with the Glasgow club. (He had a loan move to TFC blocked due to the plastic pitch a couple of years ago)

Argentina

+ Diego Maradona is set to launch his own cable TV and Internet channel.

FIFA

+ Mohammed Bin Hammam’s ambitions for the Fifa presidency may have taken a hit after he challenged Sepp Blatter over the allocation of grassroots funds to Nigeria

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