England V France: Time for the talking to stop

We are now a little over two days away from what is being billed as the crunch encounter of this years Six Nations campaign.

By the time England and France have finished doing battle at Twickenham on Saturday, the victorious team will be fully expected to go on and claim a grand slam.

In the build up it seems France are a little on edge ahead of the game.

We have seen Marc Lievremont shouting off, with his 'everyone hates England' jibe, attempting to wind up the hosts and provoke a response.

Instead we have seen Martin Johnson remain tight lipped, and Toby Flood openly mock the comments.

In addition the visitors to HQ have made several changes to their starting XV for the game.

Sebastien Chabal, Vincent Clerc, Dimitri Yachvili and Yannick Jauzion have all been recalled, while Maxime Medard is shifted to full back.

There's no doubt they will attempt to be more physical than Italy, and get in the faces of the English front row.

But in addition they will not concede sloppy ball like the Italians did, and will definitely not stand off and allow England to attack in flowing fashion.

England on the other hand have made just one change, as Andrew Sheridan comes back in after injury with Alex Corbisiero moving out of the side.

This seems a more settled side, and it is no secret that they have been scoring freely while France haven't exactly had a tight defence.

And despite French claims that they have a plan to contain Chris Ashton, the Northampton wing will no doubt be a threat.

On home soil, and form considered, England should run out the victors but it certainly won't be easy.

However after their next game at home to Scotland, a potential grand slam finale will rest on a tricky trip to Ireland.

How nice it is to be able to dream of a first English grand slam since 2003.

Future Stars - Douglas Costa

As a youngster in his native Brazil, Douglas Costa was surrounded by constant hype and talk of a big money move to Europe.

The attacking midfielder has been a long time target for Real Madrid and Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson's side still heavily linked.

After coming through the youth ranks at Gremio, he made the step up into the first team.

And with only a handful of appearances under his belt, the rumours already started to circle.

However he stuck it out for two years, making 28 appearances and scoring two goals in the process.

When the time did come to make the big move to Europe, it wasn't one of the typical giants of the European game that snapped up the youngster.

Instead it was big spending Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk who signed the promising star.

His scoring rate has improved dramatically during his time in Europe, and the big names continue to be linked.

With Costa himself often fanning the flames of a potential move to Manchester United.

For now though he remains at Shakhtar as well as being an integral part of the Brazil under-20s side.

But watch this space, before too long Costa will be gracing the world stage at one the worlds best sides.

Whatever happened to: Freddy Adu

Remember him? The young American prodigy who was going to take the world by storm and put the United States on the footballing map.

A striker who broke an unbelievable amount of records and had the words top clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea and the like, clammering for his signature.

Promising huge sums of money in the process.

Well his lastest loan move to Rizespor in the Turkish Bank Asya 1 League highlights a dramatic fall from grace.

At the age of 14 he signed with DC United, and became the youngest player to appear in a Major League Soccer game.

Two weeks later Adu became the youngsest scorer in MLS history, and began to put his name on the world map.

2002 saw his United States under-17s debut, followed a year later by his first appearance for the under-20s.

This fast tracking added to the pressure on such young shoulders.

After four year at DC United, Adu shunned Europe for a move to Real Salt Lake.

However after less than a year, and two goals in 11 games, the big move finally came about.

But instead of joining one of Europe's elite, he rocked up in Portugal at Benfica.

In his first season he failed to set the side alite, matching his record for Real Salt Lake.

Following this came about a number of unsuccessful loans.

Firstly Monaco, who declined the offer of purchasing the forward at the end of the deal, Belenenses followed although he was released after a change of manager.

Greek side Aris Thessaloniki were next, were an 18 month deal ended early as Adu was phased out of the side.

Trails with several clubs followed, before his latest move to Rizespor.

This history does bring with it one question, how does such a young talent fade away so quickly?

My best guess would be all the pressure heaped on such a young boy, plus the celebrity status, became too much or he became too relaxed with it.

A youngster who was supposed to finally bring football, or soccer if you will, into the public domain amongst the other top sports in the USA.

But alas it was just not meant to be!

Transfer flops: Bosko Balaban

Yugoslavian striker Bosko Balaban arrived in England in 2001 amid a wave of expectation, with Aston Villa paying near £6m to bring him to Villa Park.

After five year with local side HNK Rijeka, Dinamo Zagreb had been persuaded enough to bring him to Croatia.

After ending as top scorer in the league, and finishing with 38 goals in 55 games, Balaban made the big move to the Premier League in 2001.

With a fee of £5,8m and £20,000 a week wages, you would be forgiven for thinking his two and a half years in England were quite fruitful.

However in that extended period of time he made only nine appearances, seven as a substitute, and failed to find the back of the net.

A loan back to Dinamo Zagreb ensued in the 2002/03 season where he once again found his goal scoring boots, but upon returning still failed.

He ended his unhappy English experience in 2004, moving to Club Brugge.

After 47 goals in 83 games in Belgium, during which he endeared himself to the fans, he returned to Croatia for his third spell at Dinamo Zagreb.

Two seasons and more goals flowed, before another switch came about.

This time to Greek side Panionios, where he is still playing at the moment.

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Manchester City's mistake in demanding Tevez stay!

Over the last few days and weeks more and more has been written about the feud between Carlos Tevez and his manager Roberto Mancini.

From offers and a bumper new contract and a multi million pound one off incentive payment if he signs, money is clearly no issue, as it never has been during Sheikh Mansour's rein at Manchester City.

But the Argentine international is adamant that he is not interested in cash, and that he moving for family reasons, which have always been an issue.

This added to the fact relations with executives have broken beyond repair, executives believed to be Garry Cook and Brian Marwood.

Tevez insists he wanted to leave in the summer, but was dissuaded by former agent and owner Kia Joorabchian.

The blues have made the decision not to sell following meetings with the owner, with the City captain also having three and a half years still to run on his contract.

If he is forced to stay though, the 26-year-old has made it clear he will simply retire.

An outcome that could force City to take action against Joorabchian.

It is no doubt a very complicated situation, but one which could have a very simple outcome.

In modern football it is next to impossible to keep a player who wants to leave, we have seen this numerous times over the last few seasons alone, think Cristiano Ronaldo and Javier Mascherano.
Deep down City no they have to sell after their last ditch attempt at throwing bags of money at the striker failed.

An offer they must have thought no one would ever be able to refuse.

Although this is the first sign of a crack in the Eastlands hierarchy. there are still many top class players who would join the club.

Despite Tevez's importance to the club, losing him wouldn't be the worst possible outcome.

Not with the money they have and a month in which to do business.

Keeping the player would only have consequences behind the scenes, but squad morale would begin to dwindle if players bore witness to the constant feuding on a daily basis.

If Manchester City want success this season, it could be in their best interest to cut their losses and splash out on a new superstar.

Future Stars - Ioannis Fetfatzidis

After easing in to this new feature with Liverpool defender Martin Kelly, we have now spread our wings further afield to Greece.

Olympiacos' attacking midfielder, who can also operate on the wing, is causing a lot of people to sit up and take note in his native country.

Fetfatzidis joined the Olympiacos academy at 12, rejecting overtures from other Greek giants AEK Athens and Panathinaikos.

He made his debut against Atromitos a little over a year ago, and went on to make his Champions League bow a few days later as a substitute at Standard Liege.

The Greece national team was the next calling, making his under-21 and senior debut's both this year.

This season has seen the youngster feature more for his club, with Olympiacos finally realising his huge potential and rewarding him with a new contract.

Europe's top team swill now have to pay in excess of £10m, Fetfatzidis also seen his wages rise significantly in a contract which now runs until 2015.

His main attributes is his dribbling ability, along with a great technique for someone so young.

If he can continue to improve in this way, Fetfatzidis could be a huge name for Greek football for many a year.