Soccer:Fulham have confirmed the signing of Rafik Halliche from Benfica for an undisclosed fee. The 23-year-old Algerian defender has signed a three-year deal that will keep him at Craven Cottage until 2013.
Halliche, who joined Benfica in 2008 but spent the last two seasons on loan to fellow Portuguese outfit Nacional, is Mark Hughes’ fourth signing of the summer after Philippe Senderos, Jonathan Greening and Moussa Dembele.
He has won 20 caps for Algeria since making his debut against Senegal in May 2008 and played every minute of their World Cup campaign in South Africa.
“I’m so happy that my transfer to Fulham has been finalised," said Halliche. "For me, the Premier League is the best league in the world and to be able to play alongside some wonderful players and to be given an opportunity to compete against some fantastic teams for a team like Fulham is something that I’ve always dreamed of doing.”
Elsewhere Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce has poured cold water over rumours linking David Beckham with a possible move to Ewood Park after prospective owner Ahsan Ali Syed identified the former England captain as a potential signing.
Allardyce admitted that he would welcome Beckham to Blackburn but said that a transfer is unlikely. “Mr Syed says that he would like to spend it on youth, and then that he would like to sign David Beckham. To me it is about whether David is still good enough to play in the Premier League at his age, and he probably is," said Allardyce.
“And the other factor is does he want to come to Blackburn and does he want to come back to England?
"In my experience the answer to that is no. He has never really wanted to play for anyone else other than Manchester United, that was the last time I spoke to him which was a number of years ago, and if he can't do that then he would sooner play somewhere else in the world of football."