Aston Villa's manager John Gregory appears finally to have won the race to sign the Brazilian midfielder Juninho. Gregory will fly to Spain after Saturday's match at Newcastle to finalise personal terms with Juninho, after Villa and Atletico Madrid agreed £10 million transfer fee.

Juninho, 25, was also being sought by his former Premiership club Middlesbrough but their manager Bryan Robson said: "It would be wrong to encourage our fans into thinking Juninho will be coming back to us."

The player is set to sign a four-year contract with Villa, worth £30,000 a week in wages as well as a £2 million signing-on fee. "I want to return to England and I want to join Aston Villa," he said.

It is believed the deal would have already been completed if Gregory had not been involved for the past 72 hours trying to sort out the problems of the club's current record signing, Stan Collymore, who is likely to be pushed even further down the pecking order when the Brazilian arrives. Juninho has been out of favour at Atletico and did not start Sunday's Spanish League game against Celta Vigo.

Robbie Fowler signed a new four-and-half year contract with Liverpool last night. The 23-year-old Liverpool striker, who still has 18 months of his current deal to go, has now effectively signed a three-year extension to that contract and is rumoured to be on wages of £35,000 a week.

Manager Gerard Houllier, who described yesterday as the best day he'd had at the club when he also unveiled £2.7 million Cameroon defender Rigobert Song as another new signing, said: "Two days ago I was very downhearted, but these two signings have brought a smile back to my face, they could not have come at a better time. Getting Robbie to sign is exactly what I wanted."

Coventry manager Gordon Strachan and five other players and backroom staff have been charged with misconduct by the English FA following the Coventry's recent controversial clash with Chelsea.

UEFA'S executive committee has rejected proposals for a biennial World Cup, saying it believed holding the tournament more regularly would devalue it.

Celtic youngster Mark Burchill has ended months of speculation surrounding his future by signing a new four-and-a-half year deal with the club.