CLARKE WILL WAIT

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West Bromwich Albion’s coach Steve Clarke is enjoying the last season of his 2 year deal contract with the club and according to the Sporting and technical director of the English club, they will only discuss and talk about having a contract extension in new year.

Richard Garlick, sporting and technical director at the Baggies, said:

“Steve’s contract situation was discussed at last month’s board meeting. We decided we would open talks with him in the New Year which, historically, we feel is the appropriate time to address such matters. Steve is aware of our plans and has told us he is comfortable with the situation.”

Sreve Clarke later went on and talked about the club’s current situation and his future.

“It’s the part of the season where we have to pick up some points,” said Clarke, who became the latest in a series of Baggies bosses to experience a mid-season struggle last term.It’s been levelled at the club over the last three or four years that they haven’t picked up enough points’’.

“It will be interesting to see what happens this year because at the moment we still need plenty of points.”

It seems that West Bromwich Albion will wait for the outcome of the last remaining matches of this year before making a decision concerning their head coach Steve Clarke who is still undecided about whether or not he will remain with the club for another year.

West Bromwich finished in the 16th place last season which a disappointing outcome is taking into consideration their previous 5th spot during the season of 2011-12. Now they are currently sitting in the middle section of the Premier League standings with 14 points secured so far.

SPENDING BIG

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The Premier league has been spending a lot of money on high-profile talent in this transfer window. They have spent in excess of £ 600 million, which is a record. This has primarily been spent on foreign talent rather than buying players from the local league. This has been criticised by Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp, who has been praised for his managerial abilities in recent years. He has managed to work with an unlimited budget at Dortmund, yet he has been hugely successful. Two high-profile transfers that have been criticised by Klopp are Mesut Ozil’s move to Arsenal and Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid.

Ozil was signed by Arsenal for £ 42 million in the final day of the transfer window, while Bale made his move to the Santiago Bernabeu a few days earlier for £ 85 million, which is a new world record. Even though Dortmund have also spent money in this transfer window, it has largely been because of the revenue generated from the sale of Mario Gotze. The sale of the 21-year-old to Bayern Munich fetched the club £ 35 million and all of it has been reinvested in new signings. Apart from that, Dortmund have spent very little money on new players.

“It’s insane what happens in England. 80% of the players, for whom the clubs spent €700m (£600m), I don’t even know. It doesn’t matter how much a player costs. The question is if you really want him and finally if you can pay. The amounts are crazy. The transfer of Ozil is incredible. That doesn’t happen often, €50m (£42.5m) on the last day. The story of this summer transfer window is of new records: a new record for Premier League spending as well as a new world transfer record fee,” said Klopp.

PLAYERS LINKED OUT

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After the relegation of QPR into the Championship, a number of their players have been linked with moves elsewhere. The club also has to sell some of its stars in order to reduce the wage bill, which could put the club in a turmoil. QPR were one of the big spenders in the Premier league last season. Julio Cesar was one of the big name arrivals from Inter Milan. The Brazilian shot stopper had suffered a huge dip in confidence in the last few years, which led to his departure from the San Siro.

However, he seems to have found his form once again as he has been named in the past few Brazilian national team squads. Cesar, though, is thought to be of the opinion that his chances of making it into the squad for the 2014 World Cup will be severely depleted if he continues playing in the Championship. Hence, he is likely to demand a transfer as manager Harry Redknapp admitted after the club was relegated at the end of last season. Redknapp said that it would extremely difficult for QPR to keep hold of Cesar given his stature in the game.

Now, Napoli are interested in signing him. Napoli are managed by former Inter Milan manager Rafa Benitez.

“It’s absolutely pointless. What’s the point loaning a player and then he comes back to you the following year on massive wages. He’s in his prime at the moment and wanted by many clubs around the world so now is the time really. We need to move on. If he wants to leave then he goes and we sell him. Napoli are not short of money. They’ve just sold a player for £54million so if they want him then they’ve got to do a deal,” said Redknapp regarding a loan move for Cesar to Napoli.