If Andy Carroll is going to get on the scoresheet for Newcastle any time soon, he could do with some extra assistance. The towering centre-forward was prolific in the Championship last year after the club signed Wayne Routledge, the winger, to supply the ammunition. Now, he could be set to get more help from the other flank. Newcastle are reportedly trying to set up a loan move for Vladimir Weiss, the Slovakian World Cup winger. Despite being highly regarded at Eastlands, Manchester City are likely to be willing to let Weiss go on another season-long deal. Stuttgart and Glasgow Ranges are also interested in him.
It was another sign of Stoke's new upward mobility that they came close to signing Craig Bellamy from Manchester City this week. Having already lured Kenwyne Jones from Sunderland, Tony Pulis, the manager, was in talks with his fellow Welshman, before Bellamy ended up at Cardiff City. Pulis did manage one acquisition, however, bringing in someone who should fit in immediately to the occasionally tempestuous Stoke dressing room. Jon Walters, the former Ipswich Town captain who had a dramatic falling out with his former manager Roy Keane en route to the Britannia Stadium, arrived in a £3m deal.
Lee Cattermole's red card against Birmingham last week was the latest in a litany of misdemeanors for the 24-year-old at Sunderland. The club finished bottom of the disciplinary charts last season as they accrued nine red cards and 82 yellows. However, Steed Malbranque, the Black Cats' French midfielder, moved to dismiss claims earlier this week that Stve Bruce's squad are a dirty side. "We need to be a bit more intelligent," he said. "We need to learn that if we get a yellow card, you can't risk a bad challenge five minutes later." His captain, Cattermole, would be wise to heed his teammate's advice.
Jermain Defoe, the striker, does not anticipate being sidelined for long by the groin injury that curtailed his involvement in the Champions League first-leg qualifier against Young Boys of Berne. Defoe said after Tuesday night's game in Switzerland that he had suffered a recurrence of an injury he first felt at the World Cup. After feeling pain in the second half of the 3-2 loss, he was wary of continuing because of the six month lay-off Aaron Lennon, his teammate, endured because of a torn groin muscle last year. Harry Redknapp, his manager, has been given a £30m kitty to strengthen the squad before the transfer window shuts.