Other soccer stories in brief
Quinn lands Clarke
Sunderland manager Niall Quinn has signed West Ham defender Clive Clarke, with Northern Ireland defender George McCartney heading in the opposite direction.
The total deal is worth £1 million to Sunderland, with West Ham paying £600,000 plus Clarke, the 25-year-old twice capped Republic of Ireland left back.
Although McCartney will be out for another eight-to-10 weeks with a knee injury sustained in a pre-season friendly against Shelbourne in Dublin last month, he has passed an initial medical.
Meanwhile, the Black Cats are on the verge of signing Barcelona midfielder Arnau Riera following a successful two-week trial.
Campbell makes move
Sol Campbell yesterday completed his move to Fratton Park, signing a two-year contract with Portsmouth after recently being released by Arsenal, where he made 197 appearances following his controversial switch from Tottenham five years ago.
The 31-year-old England international centre back trained with his new team-mates earlier in the day before putting pen to paper, to the delight of manager Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp is eager to strengthen his squad further, with goalkeeper David James poised to follow Campbell from Manchester City within the next 24 hours.
Reinforcements for Dowie Charlton boss Iain Dowie yesterday completed a £4 million double swoop for Djimi Traore and Amdy Faye. Versatile defender Traore has joined from Liverpool and Faye arrives from Newcastle, each player costing Charlton £2million.
According to Charlton, Traore was also a target for Newcastle and Everton.
Charlton are finalising their preparations for the first season under Dowie, who replaced Alan Curbishley this summer.
Scholes not turning back
Paul Scholes has rejected talk of an international return with England. The 31-year-old midfielder stood down from England duty following Euro 2004, claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family.
However, it had been suggested new manager Steve McClaren was ready to attempt to talk Scholes round ahead of the forthcoming qualifying campaign to reach the 2008 European Championships.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are on the brink of completing the signing of goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak from West Brom.
United have had two bids for the Polish international turned down this summer but Kuszczak was left out of West Brom's trip to Cardiff last night and it is understood a deal will be concluded within the next 24 hours.
Lee out of England set-up
Steve McClaren has severed a connection with the Sven-Goran Eriksson era by axing Sammy Lee as an England assistant coach.
Lee has turned down McClaren's offer of alternative employment as the full-time England under-21 coach and will now focus on his job as Bolton assistant manager under Sam Allardyce, one of McClaren's rivals for the England job.
McClaren is to turn to his former number two at Middlesbrough, Steve Round, as the new England head coach reshapes his backroom staff.
Ljungberg steps up
Freddie Ljungberg has been named as Sweden's new captain, coach Lars Lagerback said yesterday.
The attacking Arsenal midfielder will replace Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg who stepped down as captain on Monday, saying it was time for someone else to take over.
Waterford appoint Cronin
Waterford United have appointed former Cork City defender Gareth Cronin to succeed Mike Kerley as the club's manager, writes Emmet Malone.
The 31-year-old, whose playing career was prematurely ended by a knee injury in 2003, is a former youth and under-21 international. He played more than 400 games for City and also had a spell at Shamrock Rovers. He had been Dermot Keely's assistant at Dublin City until that club's recent collapse.
Mixed news for Doolin
Drogheda United arrived in Norway yesterday ahead of tomorrow's Uefa Cup second qualifying round, first-leg clash with IK Start with Declan O'Brien the only absentee, reports Paul Buttner .
The Drogheda captain is recovering from a broken jaw but there was better news for manager Paul Doolin as defender Steven Gray and experienced midfielder James Keddy, who has played in Europe with three other clubs, have returned to the squad after injury.
In brief . . .
Despite ongoing interest from Tottenham, winger Stewart Downing (22) insists he wants to stay at Middlesbrough . . . Aston Villa are poised to make an £5-million bid to sign Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov . . . Celtic defender Adam Virgo has agreed to join Coventry (23) on a season- long loan . . . Everton are lining up a move for Manchester City midfielder Antoine Sibierski . . . Obafemi Martins is attracting interest from Tottenham, Newcastle and Portsmouth, according to the Inter Milan striker's agent.
