Vieira vows to stay
Arsenal received a welcome boost yesterday when Patrick Vieira committed himself to the club for next season despite interest from Real Madrid.
The French international midfielder, who will be 27 in June, said despite Arsenal's failure to retain the Premiership and its well publicised financial problems - it is £40 million in debt - he was looking forward to playing for Arsenal next season.
Manager Arsene Wenger for his part admitted he has a battle on his hands to please his existing stars such as Vieira and Thierry Henry in paying them competitive wages while also seeking class players to strengthen a squad found lacking in the run-in to the Premiership campaign.
"We want to extend Patrick's contract, like we want to extend all of them, and I believe they will all stay," said Wenger, who has indicated he needs to rebuild his ageing defence and find a long-term replacement for former talismanic captain Tony Adams whose replacement Pascal Cygan was found wanting.
Wenger feels far greater changes are needed off the field to make Arsenal the genuine world power to which he aspires. Central to Wenger's dream is the new 60,000-seat stadium which has stalled. Without it he knows Arsenal cannot match Manchester United's spending power. When he extended his contract it was with the new ground in mind.
Arsenal, who play Southampton in Highbury tonight, remain committed to the project but various hurdles, including finance, must be overcome and it will not be ready as planned for August 2005.
Liverpool eye Cole
West Ham's Joe Cole has emerged as a summer transfer target for Liverpool. Their manager Gerard Houllier believes the young England midfielder will supply the side with much-need creativity and ensure they mount a more incisive title challenge next season.
Cole is one of a list of around 30 names, which includes the Blackburn Rovers midfielder Damien Duff and Harry Kewell of Leeds, submitted to the Liverpool board as potential targets.
Houllier is anxious to recruit established first-team quality rather than repeating his purchasing policy of last summer when he bought five squad players at a combined cost of £18 million. Cole typifies that pedigree and would be available should West Ham be relegated to the First Division this weekend.
The Londoners, who have dismissed interest in the 21-year-old while they remain a Premiership club, would be reluctant to lose their best player though, ultimately, the financial realities of relegation would force their hand on a bid of around £8 million.
Celtic need goals
Celtic can go top of the Scottish Premier Division if they beat Motherwell away by four goals tonight. It is the tightest championship race in Scotland for many a season and could even end up being decided by a play-off. That could happen if Celtic and Rangers end up locked not only on points but on goal difference and goals scored as well.
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has confirmed that he has not signed the new contract he agreed in January. The Hoops boss insisted it was "not a major issue" but the admission is likely to resurrect speculation that he could leave the club in the near future. But O'Neill insisted: "I don't think that is a major issue. We came to an agreement in January and I'm happy to go along with that."
Busy Sky on Sunday
The crucial final-day battles at the top and bottom of the Premiership table will be screened live on Sky Sports on Sunday. For the first time, Sky will show three games simultaneously, with West Ham's trip to Birmingham, relegation rivals Bolton's home game against Middlesbrough and Liverpool's Champions League decider at Chelsea all set for live coverage.
O'Flynn called up
Cork City striker John O'Flynn has been included by Don Givens in the Irish under-21 squad for the European 2004 Championship qualifying games against Albania and Georgia next month. Prolific goalscorer O'Flynn has been in brilliant scoring form for Cork City since the start of the new summer league season and gets his call-up on the strength of his seven goals in five League matches, including a hat-trick against UCD at Belfield.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-21 SQUAD: G Stack (KSK Beveren, Belgium), S Deeny (Notts County), D Connor (Waterford), S Brennan (Newcastle United), C Byrne (Sunderland), J Thompson (Notts Forest), P Tierney (Manchester United), S Gray (Drogheda United), P Kohlmann (Borussia Dortmund), T Butler (Sunderland), L Miller (Celtic), S Thornton (Sunderland), W Hoolahan (Shelbourne), A Reid (Notts Forest), J Daly (Stockport County), N Hunt (Dunfermline), G Dempsey (Dunfermline), G Barrett (Brighton), K O'Connor (Brentford), G Ward (Wolverhampton Wanderers), J O'Flynn (Cork City).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND WOMEN'S SQUAD (v Bosnia Herzegovenia on May 18th): S Boyle (Shamrock Rovers), E Byrne (Arsenal), M Curtin (Lifford), S Curtis (Bristol Rovers), R Gibbons (Fulham), C Grant (Arsenal), L Hislop (Predators FC, Belfast), S Hughes (Predators FC, Belfast), J Kett (Christian Brothers Univ, Memphis), G Kierans (Charlton Athletic), M O'Brien (Arsenal), E O'Connor (Hofstra Univ, New York), O O'Toole (Shamrock Roves), C Scanlan (Leeds United), D Thomas (Central Connecticut State Univ, USA), C Thorpe (Leeds United), Y Treacy (Arsenal). Manager: Noel King.
