Tottenham are on the verge of sealing a partnership deal with Ecuadorean club Independiente del Valle, as a result of which six of the South American side’s young stars will travel to White Hart Lane this week to begin trial periods at Spurs with a view to a permanent move. Among the triallists is Junior Sornoza, who starred for Ecuador at the South American Under-20 championships.

Although the link is yet to be made official, it represents a new approach to talent scouting by Spurs, who are not alone among Premier League clubs in turning their interests to South America in search of the next Lionel Messi or Ronaldinho. Manchester United have been in a partnership deal with Brazilian side Fluminense since 2007; Liverpool are believed to be pursuing a similar relationship with Uruguayan powerhouse Nacional.

Relationships of this nature are much more common between English and European clubs; a quick search on the internet will bring up countless such parterships. But the European football network is now so tightly interlinked it is becoming difficult for a club to spot a truly undiscovered prospect. Spurs have already established links in unusual places – they are currently affiliated with SuperSport United (South Africa) and South China (Hong Kong).

But the search for talent has, in recent years, been moving ever-closer to South American prospects. Although it is commonplace in Portugal, Spain and Italy (with many Brazilian-born players in the Portugal set-up, and numerous Argentines appearing for Italy),  the Premier League is relatively new to scouting in this region. The path has been laid, in large part, by Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic.

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Birmingham have introduced the likes of Jean Beausejour, Wilson Palacios and Cristian Benitez to the Premier League while Maynor Figueroa, Hugo Rodallega and Antolin Alcaraz are currently on the books at Wigan, who also gave Antonio Valencia his first big European break after two years in the Villareal reserves.

Now, though, there is an increasingly Latin feel to the Premier League; clubs are making conscious efforts to expand their scouting network to the continent. Recent seasons have seen Stoke City sign Diego Arismendi from Nacional and Blackburn pluck Mauro Formica from Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys.

The growing success of Central and South American sides in World Cup tournaments, signified by Uruguay reaching the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup, has provided an excellent shop-window for those nations’ key players, as well as the Copa Libertadores, which has marketed a constant stream of young stars being plucked from the continent into Spanish and Italian academies.

With the European game almost completely covered by vast scouting networks, English clubs must look to the next stage of talent identification. If they are to stay ahead of the opposition, it is vital for Premier League sides to start tapping into the previously unexplored depths of South American football talent.

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Swansea City’s approach has been a breath of fresh air to the Premier League and Brendan Rogers is finally chalking up the results their early season performances have deserved. The Swans boss is quick to point out that a lot of his success with the Welsh outfit is down to his predecessors who had already laid down an excellent platform for him to work from:

“Certainly Swansea is a club with a tradition of having teams that play good football, and obviously they changed their structure when Roberto Martinez changed from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3, and from that moment the club brought in coaches and managers who understood that way of working and playing. Certainly that enabled me to fast-track and implement my own ideas into the group. They’d had a very good year in the Championship where they had finished eighth. Paulo Sousa took over and did an excellent job and they reached seventh position, and then I had the big challenge to take the club forward on a very limited budget. So it was really about trying to implement my own ideas – but the core of the group knew and believed in that way of playing. It was then a case of developing and improving that way rather than having to create it right from the beginning.”

Brendan Rogers was fortunate to work under, and with, Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas during his time at Chelsea and both men certainly had an influence over him:

“I think you obviously have your own ambition, and you need people to give you a chance, who think you have the capacity to work at that level. But obviously when you get the chance to work with such managers it gives you a chance to learn from the best and develop, and Jose was a fantastic influence for me. When you move into management, you’re working alone – you can’t look to imitate or be anyone else, and you have to carry your own ideas with you. But the more experience you have the better, and I have been very fortunate to be able to work with lots of very good managers, world-class managers. I have then hopefully been intelligent enough to take on board the good and the bad, and work it into my own identity.”

Rogers is certainly making a good fist of his first time in the Premier League and having had the good fortune of working under a manager like Mourinho, he certainly has had a good grounding of how to grind out results in this division. Whether the Swans take a similar pragmatic approach that Chelsea adopt as the season goes on remains to be seen, but for the time being it is clear that Swansea are going to have a go their own way first.

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For more insight from Brendan Rodgers and other leading managers plus exclusive Barclays Premier League highlights go to www.yahoo.co.uk/sport

Chelsea, still smarting over their embarrassing defeat at home to Arsenal last week, travel to relegation threatened Blackburn with boss Steve Kean expected to bear the brunt of more fan protests.

Rovers were seconds away from beating Norwich at Carrow Road last week only to see a farcical penalty las awarded against Steven N’Zonzi at the death with Grant Holt scoring to send them home with one point instead of three. Their performance warranted more than what they eventually got but being pegged back after leading 3-1 and being on the end of poor refereeing decisions is part and parcel of life at the bottom. Kean must feel the whole world is against him at the moment with several thousand Blackburn fans continuing to remind him of their displeasure over his tenure as boss. Despite his critics being a touch on the harsh side their anger could be justified with the fact they’ve won just one Premier League game all season and just three in the 24 they’ve played since January. The fact is that they continue to leak goals at an alarming rate despite a defence possessing Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen and summer signing Scott Dann who could be in for a second relegation in successive seasons after he went down with Birmingham in the last campaign. Coming up a gainst a Chelsea side desperate to bounce back after two defeats on the trot isn’t ideal for Kean and another defeat will surely force the clubs Indian owners to bring his job under review despite stating they wouldn’t sack him for the duration of his two year contract. Their record against the Blues doesn’t provoke much confidence with only one win in 16 top-flight meetings.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side are unbeaten in their last 10 against Rovers but shouldn’t go into this game thinking it’s going to be a guaranteed three points. Their last two performances have been well under-par with their Portuguese coach coming under increasing pressure to turn things around at Stamford Bridge. They surrendered third place last week after they were overtaken by Newcastle and will be out to reclaim their spot and keep themselves in with a chance of challenging for the title. One thing Villas-Boas needs to addresses the defence after they were carved open again and again by Arsenal last Saturday. They have failed to keep a clean sheet in 10 games since the opening day of the season with 15 goals conceded in the process with the fragile performances of John Terry causing concern. The back line was unable to cope with the Gunners pace or creativity with Ashley Cole also experienced an afternoon to forget up against Theo Walcott.  It’s a far cry from the days of Jose Mourinho where Terry was virtually impenetrable and the game plan was to snuff out the opposition attack rather than score goals. I’d expect Chelsea to adopt a similar approach at Ewood Park and play for a 1-0 like they used to do under the Special One. That could mean a reshuffle up top with Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba all battling for a place in attack with Villas-Boas likely to chose one out for four to lead the line.

Key Players

Junior Hoilett – It’s easy to point out that the Canadian winger has been Rovers’ best player this season. His pace and tricker on the wing is vital to the way they attack and his stunning goal at Norwich last week and he’ll be looking to do a similar job to the one carried out by Walcott on Cole last week.

Frank Lampard – If theres one man that can get Chelsea out of their current rut it’s Lampard. His performance last week was top notch with his desire in midfield and passing guile giving the Blues something going forward in what was a lacklustre display. The goals have started to flow again so expect to see him hitting a few long range efforts this week.

Prediction: 1-2

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Blackburn covered 119,527 metres in that game, and a frantic second half that saw six goals scored saw Rovers cover more ground in the second half (60,151m) than in the first half (59,376m) While most teams show a depreciation in distance covered in the second half, Rovers have covered more ground in the latter 45 minutes in 6 of their 10 games this season Frank Lampard has contributed 4 assists, meaning he has had a hand in 43% of Chelsea’s goals this season Lampard is also the top passer in the Chelsea squad, having completed 209 passes (one every 3 minutes 57 seconds) and has covered mnore ground than any Chelsea player other than Ashley Cole and John Terry for the Chelsea cause

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Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has acknowledged that the games against Estonia could be his last in charge of the nation, and states that his side are ready.

The emerald isle take on Estonia in a back-to-back tie to decide which of the country’s will compete in Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

When asked if he was aware of the importance of the games in respect to his future with the nation, the Italian coach was unequivocal with his retort.

“Yes, yes,” he told Sky Sports.

“But I am not nervous about this because I know football. I was talking the other day about standing on the edge of the cliffs – that’s our life, it’s a manager’s life.

“Our life is dangerous. I have a habit of looking down on dangerous situations.

“But I think I will live, if not here, then maybe there is another. I don’t know where, but sure, I am not stopping here,” he stated.

Trapattoni has admitted that if his side do qualify for the European Championships it would be a source for great pride.

“In football every Sunday, or in England Saturday, you see little teams beat the great teams. That’s football. For me, it is no surprise.

“But we must think these 180 minutes is our life, players, manager, the Irish people.

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“I will be very proud if we achieve this result because it means up until now we have done our jobs well,” he finished.

By Gareth McKnight

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Over the last few days there have been rumours strongly linking Arsenal ’s Emmanuel Frimpong with a loan move to Wolves this January.

The young Ghanaian has impressed on a number of different occasions thus far this season, putting in a particularly eye-catching performance against Man City in the Carling Cup despite the Gunners losing the tie. However, it’s clear that he’s far from the complete package and it makes a lot of sense for him to be sent out on loan to pick up valuable experience.

Whilst he adds to Arsenal a much needed steel and competitive edge, his youthful over-exuberance often broils over into recklessness. Given a fair amount of time in the first team you could see him picking up a large number of yellow and potentially red cards that could cost the Gunners.

It will be of some benefit then, for him to move to a well disciplined Premier League team who are willing to give him the appropriate amount of game time and help him learn to curtail the more brash side of his game.

I’ve seen some suggest that a club like Wolves simply doesn’t share Arsenal’s mentality and thus won’t provide a decent training ground for this youngster. Now Wolves may not be renowned for their fine free-flowing attacking football, but on their day they are a solid, imposing side with a decent fighting spirit. All qualities that Arsenal fans would love to see blossom and bloom in Frimpong.

Besides, I don’t think that Bolton share too many similarities with Arsenal and yet Jack Wilshere got one of the best possible footballing educations during his year on loan at the club.

What’s important at the moment is that Frimpong gets a decent amount of game time at a Premier League club. If he’s got the natural abilities to make it at a club like Arsenal in the long run, they’ll soon become apparent when he’s playing regular football. It’s quite clear that he’s got the passion and competitive edge to succeed and from what we’ve seen recently he’s also effective with the ball at his feet.

Whilst I’d rather see him join a club like Swansea City or Norwich City who have shown some attacking flair thus far this season, I’m not against him joining Wolves. I’d be particularly happy if the deal stipulated that he had to play a certain amount of games during his time at the club.

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But what’s your take? Would a loan move to Wolves be the best move for Emmanuel Frimpong?

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Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has stated that striker Steven Fletcher is an important player at the club, and will not be sold n January.

The Scotland international has scored six Premier League goals this season, and has caught the eye of the British media due to excellent performances for the Molineux outfit.

Despite rumours linking Fletcher with a move to a bigger club, McCarthy insists he is going nowhere.

“No. If I say yes then I’ve suddenly put him up for sale haven’t I? So, categorically, no,” the Wolves boss told Mirror Football.

“He’s a Premier League player scoring goals so he’s going to get headlines. Players always do when they’re scoring goals.

“All Fletcher can do is play and score, for his career here and his Scotland career.

“He’s still only a young man, so all he can do is keep playing well and scoring. It’s a great feeling as a footballer to be playing well.

“He’s a very good player, he’s excellent. It’s his all-round game, but as with all strikers it’s his goals that top his performances off.

“And he wants to score. He loves scoring,” McCarthy concluded.

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Fletcher will look to continue his good run of personal form for Wolves as they take on Stoke at home on Saturday.

By Gareth McKnight

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From Tottenham’s all-time record goalscorer to Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer: Congratulations and well done, you lucky, lucky b*****d! And that is a message of genuine goodwill from me. Even with Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes both making sensational comebacks during the past couple of weeks, I think it’d be a bit far-fetched for me to get my old shooting boots out of the attic, at the age of 71. But I was full of envy when I watched Henry score the only goal of the match on his fairytale comeback against Leeds.

I quit professional football at the age of 31, a year after Spurs let me go to West Ham. Yet, in truth, all I really needed was a sabbatical – a year out of the game or perhaps even just six months. They always say that the timing of your own retirement is the most difficult decision any professional sportsman will ever make, and I’ll admit that I got my timing completely wrong. I don’t really even remember deciding I wanted to be a professional footballer. I just sort of became one. Then at 31, I suddenly decided I didn’t want to be one any longer.

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I wouldn’t be surprised if more managers didn’t look at the impact of an Henry or a Scholes and try to tempt a few more retired players back into the big time. Henry hadn’t retired, of course, but by quitting Barcelona to go and play in Major League Soccer 18 months ago, the Frenchman certainly went into semi-retirement, moving away from the intense pressure of international and European club football for a far gentler life. And yet, after a while out of the spotlight, Henry clearly could not resist the opportunity to come back on to centre stage.

Within a year of my own retirement, I was desperate to go back again – but it would not have been straightforward then, in the days before freedom of contract. How I’d have loved the opportunity to do what Henry has done and return to one of my old stomping grounds at Spurs or Chelsea. I now know that I wasted three or four years of prime playing time and I regret it. I started drinking too much when I retired and although I wouldn’t solely blame the end of my playing career for that, the adjustments needed to cope with retirement can be a tough time mentally for any sportsman or sportswoman.

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Making a top-flight comeback might only have delayed my problems by a few years, I couldn’t honestly say, but I sure as hell would have benefited from the sort of opportunity Henry and Scholes have been handed. As it happened, it was not for another four years that I started playing football again – in the non-league with Brentwood, then at Chelmsford City and Barnet. Crazy at it seems, I played some of my best football as a midfielder at Barnet in my late 30s.

I never did get the chance to add to my 266 Tottenham goals, though. 34-year-old Henry has moved on 227 for Arsenal, I see. He’s still got a long way to go before he catches my Spurs goal tally but you wouldn’t bet against him returning to the Emirates again after this brief loan spell. And I’m sure Henry realises, now more than ever, that you really are a long time retired.

Much has been written on the life of Mario Balotelli, indeed he has now transformed himself into one of football’s favourite characters. To honour the Italian, here is the ultimate A-Z of Balotellisms.

A – is for AC Milan. Appeared on TV whilst in the employment of bitter rivals Inter wearing an AC shirt.

B – is for Bibotelli. We’ve all seen the video of him failing to put on his bib during a pre-match warm up. Twice.

C – is for Christmas Eve. Went into the Tudor Pub in Manchester and put £1000 behind the bar for the locals to enjoy. He then turned up to midnight mass and stuck another £250 in the donations pot.

D – is for Darts. And especially throwing them at youth team players. It was his idea of a ‘prank.’

E – is for Exaggeration. There are so many rumours flying around about Balotelli that you could literally make up anything. It has been suggested the Italian employs an agent to spread such information to get good publicity. The latest to do the rounds was that Mario paid for 100 homeless people to stay at the Hilton over Christmas.

F – is for Fireworks. Has a fondness for the flashy sticks of explosive. Especially when they’re let off in his bathroom.

G – is for Grass. Suffered an apparent allergic reaction during a match against Dynamo Kiev.

H – is for Homeless. Won a shedload in a casino during a night out with Chris Samba, only to give a tramp outside a cool grand.

I – is for Impoundings. His Maserati has currently attracted 27 impoundings since his move to Manchester that has resulted in fines of £10,000. Also parked across City’s training ground entrance and blocked out the staff.

J – is for John Lewis. Needed to buy an iron, mop and hoover for his Mum. Came back with a giant trampoline, Scalextric, two Vespa scooters amongst other things.

K – is for Killing Time. When selected as a substitute for Italy’s game against the Faroe Islands, Balotelli decided to pass the time by playing his iPad on the bench. Italian boss Cesare Prandelli was reportedly not impressed.

L – is for Ladotelli. Apparently visits clubs with friends and gets said friends to say to the girls, ‘Balotelli will see you now.’

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M – is for Mafia. Was once given a tour of Naples by Mafia bosses. Questioned after by police for apparent links. Mario claims not to have known they were gangsters.

N – is for National Shirt. Mario turned out for Italy in a friendly against Uruguay but appeared for the second half wearing the old Italian shirt despite sporting the new kit in the first half. He doesn’t have much luck with tops.

O – is for Over Confidence. The one downside to Balotelli. He rather loves himself, something that comes across in a rather arrogant manner as displayed by his pre-season backheel against LA Galaxy.

P – is for Prison. Him and brother Enoch were stopped after trespassing in a Women’s Prison in Brescia. Mario said he was ‘curious.’

Q – is for Quad Bike. Designed his own racing track for his back garden.

R – is for Rooney. Spotted the prostitute Mr Rooney once had his way with in an Italian restaurant where he proceeded to chant ‘Rooney, Rooney’ at her.

S – is for Swearing. After City’s FA Cup victory, Balotelli said live on air to the BBC ‘I’ve been s**t this season. Can I say that?’ No Mario, no you can’t.

T – is for Truancy. When a young admirer asked for an autograph, Balotelli questioned why he wasn’t in school. Upon hearing the young lad was the victim of bullying, he promptly drive to the school and resolved the issue with the Head Teacher.

U – is for Unbelievably Rich. Balotelli was stopped by police in Manchester with £25,000 on his passenger seat. His reasoning? ‘Because I can.’

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V – is for Violence. Balotelli is often known as a hot head on the field, but clashes with teammates have been frequent since his move from Inter. Had a recent dust up with Micah Richards, not to mention previous scraps with Jerome Boateng, Vincent Kompany and Aleksandar Kolarov.

W – is for Why Always Me. The infamous T-Shirt celebration after scoring against rivals Man Utd.

X – is for X Rated Magazines. Mario was once rumbled flicking through the saucy stuff on the top shelf of a newsagents.

Y – is for Young Player. Mario was at his humblest when accepting the award for Best Young Player in Europe. When asked about runner up Jack Wilshere, he replied:“What’s his name? Wil … ? No, I don’t know him, but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him…Perhaps I can show him the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it.”

Z – is for Zealous. After City’s astonishing 6-1 win over rivals United in which Balotelli played a key part, the striker drove round Manchester high-fiving anyone he saw sporting a City shirt, being the excitable young character he is.

Read more of my articles at The CoinToss

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Reading boss Brian McDermott has signed a new contract with The Championship club, despite reported interest from Wolves.

The Molineux outfit are looking for a new boss after sacking Mick McCarthy, and reports in the press have stated that the Madejski chief was high in the Midlands’ club’s priorities.

Despite this, McDermott is glad to have extended his stay with The Royals, and denies any contact from Wolves.

“I didn’t speak to Wolves,” he told Sky Sports.

“Wolves are a fantastic club with real good people running that club.

“They’ve got a really good team. I know Kevin Doyle

and Stephen Hunt

really well.

“For me it’s about the club that I’ve got here. The fans that we’ve got, they’ve been really, really good for me.

“It’s a good day for me. I’m absolutely delighted everything’s been sorted out. This has been on-going for the past three or four weeks.

“I’ve had good discussions with Anton [Zingarevich], our new owner. It’s very pleasing.

“We had these conversations a while ago. The most important thing for me was to get it sorted. It’s been sorted, so we now can concentrate entirely on what we have to do against Middlesbrough

on Saturday.

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“It’s important Anton and I work really closely together because the relationship between the manager and the owner is vital.

“On Monday last week he said something to be me that was very, very important and once he’d said that there was only one place for me to be and that was here. That will be something that remains between me and him,” he admitted.

By Gareth McKnight

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One of football’s most tired clichés is that George Graham’s Arsenal was absolutely dire to watch and devoid of entertainment. Perhaps there was a case to suggest that in his later years; however the two Championship winning times were anything but and was full of goals and entertainment. This was down largely to the creative abilities of David Rocastle; an extremely talented football that didn’t get the credit outside of N5 that he fully deserved.

I read tributes upon tributes, watched countless YouTube compilations of the man in the run-up of the 11th anniversary of his death; however I don’t think I saw one that really captured the sheer essence of what an extraordinary talent he was, and in my view it was Graham’s decision to sell him to Leeds that saw the downturn in his reign, certainly in the team’s style and creativity. Rocastle provided the creative spark, something that would be missing from Highbury until the arrival of Bergkamp some years later. It made no sense to cash in on him when he did and I wonder if George Graham privately that rues the day that he did.

Rocastle was one of the most dynamic wingers of his time and if he was playing in the Premier League today he would be considered one of the country’s very best. That isn’t a throwaway comment but the very fact that there was very little that Rocastle couldn’t do with a football and his dribbling skills and famous step-over were ahead of their time. That famous lobbed goal at Old Trafford was an illustration of his great ability and we can only imagine what the media would be making of it now had it been scored by a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, especially against a goalkeeper of Peter Schmeichel’s ability. In many ways you could say that goal is the perfect parallel to his actual career in it was totally unsung and was only really appreciated some years later.

[youtube wWxuASpyDao]

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Unfortunately that is football for you and we only tend to appreciate things when they are retired or in David Rocastle’s case, sadly passed away. The term ‘great’ or ‘world class’ is embarrassingly overused in football and few deserve to be showered by such praise; however for four years from the late 80s and early 90s there weren’t many players, other than him and Paul Gascoigne, who were worthy of such an accolade. It is a shame that he didn’t get the appreciation within the game his ability deserved; or had to pass away to get the widespread recognition as to what a worldly talent he actually was. They say only the ‘good die young’ well David Rocastle was very, very good – not only as a footballer, but as a person as well.