This past week Manchester United announced the signing of Zoran Tosic, the Serbian winger from Partizan Belgrade. The signing signals more competition amongst Manchester United’s wingers, and potentially could see the exit of someone like Ji-Sung Park. Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that it also means a lot to the future of Wayne Rooney.

It’s no secret: Wayne Rooney has lost that spark that he had as a teenager. Long gone are the powerful runs through the center of defenses, and instead we are left watching a watered down Wayne Rooney try to work some magic on the flanks. Now, with another natural winger in the side, Manchester United has ensured that Wayne Rooney will never be resigned to playing on the wing again. Zoran Tosic’s arrival signals the return of Wayne Rooney to the pinnacle of the Manchester United attack.

“There is no harm in having three or four wide players given the pace of our game,” said Ferguson.

“We don’t consider Ryan (Giggs) a wide player now, which leaves us with Park Ji-sung, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“We have tried Wayne Rooney there and we played Darren Fletcher wide right. But in terms of natural width Zoran is a natural.”

Other Partizan signing Adem Ljajic will remain with Partizan Belgrade until the end of the season, but Tosic is expected to make an instant impact at Old Trafford.

Following their FA Cup exit at the hands of Nottingham Forest, Manchester City have moved quickly to improve the squad. Mark Hughes is on the verge of wrapping up yet another two January transfer deals, this time bringing Scott Parker and Roque Santa Cruz to the City of Manchester Stadium.

The deal between Blackburn and Manchester City would send Roque Santa Cruz to City with Tal Ben-Haim and £18 million heading towards Ewood Park. Hughes has been a long time admirer of the Paraguayan striker and was responsible for bringing him to Blackburn. This deal has been in the pipeline for a while now, and City have finally come to an agreement to sign the striker.

The £12 million deal for West Ham’s Scott Parker is all but wrapped up, and Manchester City will unveil the industrial midfielder within 48 hours. Parker previously played for Chelsea, and will be hoping to link up with Robinho and company immediately.

City’s spending shouldn’t be done just yet, with the club also having wrapped up a deal for Wayne Bridge, who signed a £100,000 per week contract that makes him the highest paid fullback in the world. City are also interested in Craig Bellamy of West Ham, Jermain Defoe of Portsmouth, Kolo Toure of Arsenal, and many other targets.

With Manchester United and Aston Villa joining most of the other Premier League clubs in the fourth round, the FA Cup draw has cooked up some interesting draws.

The pick of the bunch is perhaps the Merseyside derby. Everton will be making the short trip to Anfield in the fourth round to take on cross-town rivals Liverpool. The other big draw of the round will take place when Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United play host to Harry Redknapp and his determined Tottenham side.

The potential for a Sunderland v Blackburn tie is likely, with Blackburn only needing a win against Blyth to secure that fixture. Middlesbrough have the most difficult match against lower league opposition as they will be going up against the winner of the Birmingham v Wolves tie.

Full FA Cup 4th Round Draw:

Liverpool v Everton
Manchester United v Tottenham
Hull or Newcastle v Millwall or Crewe
Sunderland v Blyth or Blackburn
Hartlepool v West Ham
Leyton Orient or Sheffield United v Charlton or Norwich
Cardiff v Arsenal
Portsmouth or Bristol City v Histon or Swansea
Chelsea or Southend v Ipswich
Cheltenham or Doncaster v Aston Villa
West Brom or Peterborough v QPR or Burnley
Torquay v Coventry
Kettering v Fulham
Watford v Leicester or Crystal Palace
Derby v Nottingham Forest
Birmingham or Wolves v Middlesbrough

Once viewed as one of the greatest young strikers in the world, Lukas Podolski is now struggling to get games at Bayern Munich. The German striker has confirmed that a move to the Premier League could be on the cards, as Manchester City and Tottenham are both chasing him.

In the 2006 World Cup, Podolski led Germany to the finals with three goals, leaving him the runner-up for the Golden Boot award. After the tournament he was also named the World Cup’s Best Young Player. Following that, Bayern Munich snapped him up, but it hasn’t been an easy transition. No longer getting regular games in the Bundesliga, Podolski is ready to move on.

“I need to play, I cannot continue to sit on the bench. I’m just not happy in Munich anymore,” Podolski confirmed.

“I think it is time for me to leave Bayern so that I can do my job, which is playing football. I feel ready for an experience overseas and that of course includes Italy.

“I know Roma are interested, but so are several other sides. In Germany the likes of Hamburg, Cologne, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund. In England I’m of interest to Manchester City and Tottenham.”

Discuss this potential move and much more in the forums!

The FA Cup is always good for a few surprise results, and this year has already proved to be no different. Both Chelsea and Manchester City faced lower league opposition at home in the third round, and neither side came out with the result they wanted.

The more surprising of the two is perhaps Manchester City’s 3-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest. Mark Hughes’ side has been trying to turn the corner in recent weeks, and this loss will have set them back a few steps. The match wasn’t even close, as Forest attacked City from the opening whistle and never looked back.

City’s result came on the same day that the club wrapped up a deal that welcomes Wayne Bridge to the City of Manchester Stadium. Bridge looked on as his new teammates could not muster up a win against Championship opposition.

Down in London, Chelsea squared off against League One outfit Southend United. Salomon Kalou put the heavily favored Blues up 1-0 in the first half, and Chelsea looked like they’d stroll to an easy third round victory. If there’s one thing the FA Cup has taught us, though, there are no such things as easy victories. In the 90th minute Southend completed the dream as Peter Clarke notched an equalizer. The replay will be held at Roots Hall, to the delight of Southend fans.

Other shock results involving Premier League clubs involve Stoke losing 2-0 at Hartlepool and West Brom only salvaging a 1-1 result against Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough side.

Stay tuned with all of the FA Cup’s latest scores with Premiership Talk’s Live Scores!

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate today reiterated his desire to keep winger Stewart Downing at the Riverside. Despite not having the best season ever, Southgate believes it is not in the club’s or the player’s best interest to move just yet. Downing has clearly been affected by transfer speculation in recent weeks, and Boro fans are hoping the issue can be resolved as soon as possible.

“Spurs have expressed an interest in Stewart but we’re not interested in selling him,” Southgate said. “We think we need to keep hold of our best players.

“If Tottenham are really interested then they have not shown that in the way they have approached it, so there’s nothing doing there.

“We feel that keeping the squad we have together is the most important thing we can do.”

If I were Stewart Downing, I’d jump ship at the first opportunity. Tottenham, unlike Middlesbrough, is a club that looks like it is moving upward, while Middlesbrough have remained stagnant for a while now. Harry Redknapp is an excellent manager who could surely get the best out of Downing.

Downing and Bentley on the wings? You tell us! Voice your thoughts in the forums, and be sure to tune in to Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:00pm EST, 6:00pm GMT.

The worldwide credit crunch is taking its toll on football clubs around the world, and it has prompted Spanish side Valencia to admit that they may have to part ways with David Villa.

“Whatever offer comes in we will have to study it although the idea is not to have to sell David Villa or David Silva,” said Valencia’s sporting vice-president Fernando Gomez Colomer.

“It would have to be an exorbitant offer.”

Last season Valencia found themselves in an extremely difficult financial struggle, even teetering on the edge of relegation for much of the season. Selling Villa and/or Silva this season would help get rid of some debts, so clubs around Europe have been alerted to the situation.

“We will fight to give the club the economic stability that it needs,” said the club’s president Vicente Soriano.

“Right now that is the most important thing - more than any kind of sporting success.”

Manchester City and Liverpool are the two most linked English clubs with David Villa, while Manchester United were close to signing a deal for David Silva over the summer. United’s signings of Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic might have scuppered this potential deal, but City remain very interested in David Villa.

Have your say on these transfers in the forums, and be sure to tune in to this Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:00pm EST, 6:00pm GMT.

We’ve all been waiting for Manchester City to start splashing the cash in January, and it appears their first deal is on the verge of happening. The Citizens have agreed a fee with Chelsea for Wayne Bridge.

City’s left side of the defense has been a question mark all season, with neither Michael Ball or Javier Garrido asserting themselves as the clear cut choice. Manager Mark Hughes believes Bridge is the one to fix City’s left-sided problems. Hughes said: “He is a player I knew when I was at Southampton and he was coming through the ranks.

“He was outstanding [then] and has progressed year on year. I would be delighted to welcome him here. Wayne is already a successful player — he is an England international who plays for one of the top four clubs in the country.”

Hughes confirmed the agreement today and revealed that Bridge could be a City player by tomorrow (Saturday).

“My understanding is the clubs have agreed a fee. We need to speak to the boy and try to agree personal terms. If we can do that hopefully Wayne will be a Manchester City player, that’s the aim. Wayne will probably travel to Manchester this evening [Friday] and hopefully negotiations will go well and he can have a medical tomorrow.”

City certainly look to be moving in the right direction with this deal. Instead of getting over excited over big names, it looks like Mark Hughes is instead looking for genuine quality. Bridge could easily hold down a starting spot at almost all of the clubs in the league, and if it weren’t for Ashley Cole standing in his way then he would’ve already had a great career. City can give him that, and I’m sure Wayne will flourish there.

Have your say in the forums, and be sure to tune in to this Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:00pm EST, 6:00pm GMT.

Back in November Premiership Talk announced that Manchester United had signed Partizan Belgrade winger Zoran Tosic. The news never caught the major media as the terms were unclear. Today, Manchester United officially unveiled the signing of Zoran Tosic for an undisclosed fee.

In addition, United have wrapped up a deal for Tosic’s club and national teammate Adem Ljajic. Ljajic is only 17 years old, and Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that United have been targetting him for over a year.

The pair were taken out to dinner by fellow Serbian Nemanja Vidic before they signed the dotted line, but Vidic revealed he didn’t need to do any work to convince them. “”I did not need to convince them to come to Manchester United,” he said. “This is the best team in the world. Everyone wants to be part of this squad. They are having a dream. I know how they feel. I found it very difficult when I first came here but I am here to help.”

After the announcement, Sir Alex Ferguson said that “That is the end of the transfer business. There will definitely not be anything else this January.” It remains to be seen whether or not this means there will be a deal for Carlos Tevez.

In my opinion, these two signings are exactly what United need. Ryan Giggs is 35 years old, Ji-Sung Park is a hard worker but doesn’t have the final product required, Nani is still an unfinished product, so another winger was necessary. Tosic is still young - just 21 - so he has plenty of time to improve and partner Ronaldo on the flanks.

Don’t expect either of these new signings to be making any appearances any time soon - the pair haven’t played since early December, so Sir Alex Ferguson will give them time to settle in to Manchester.

What do you think of these signings? Have your say in the forums, and tune in to this Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:00pm EST, 6:00pm GMT.

Over the summer Arsenal were hot on the heels of Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given. Long revered as one of the most talented keepers in the Premier League, Shay Given has remained loyal to Newcastle for many seasons. He refused all interest over the summer and confirmed his plans to stay at St. James’ Park.

In typical January fashion, Given’s stance on the issue has changed dramatically, at least according to his agent. Michael Kennedy said the following:

Shay is very despondent following the very poor performance of the team against Liverpool last weekend. It was the lowest point of his football career and a performance that he would not wish to be repeated. When he signed a new five-year contract in 2006 it was on the basis that the club would challenge for major honours, but on the present evidence all that he can see ahead with the turmoil on and off the pitch is a battle for survival. Having served the club loyally for over 11 years, Shay feels compelled to consider his position in the light of the interest being expressed in him by Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham.

It remains to be seen whether or not Shay Given will be leaving Newcastle, but Manchester City and Arsenal have been put on red alert.

Would you sign Shay Given? Have your say in the forums, and be sure to tune in to Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:00pm EST, 6:00pm GMT.