Swansea signs Routledge on a permanent deal

Swansea City have completed their second signing of the week after winger Wayne Routledge completed his move from Newcastle.

The Premier League new boys sealed a move for striker Leroy Lita on Wednesday and Routledge has followed suit for an undisclosed fee after completing his medical.

The 26-year-old former England Under-21 international has penned a three-year contract and will compete with Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer for a wing spot at the Liberty Stadium.

Routledge told the club website: "I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"It's taken a couple of days to get everything agreed, but I'm excited about getting started."

Routledge has plenty of top-flight experience having spent time at Tottenham, Portsmouth, Fulham, Aston Villa and Newcastle.

He impressed during his loan spell at QPR last season, and was a main figure in helping the London club to the Championship title.

And Routledge says he is keen to work with Swans' manager Brendan Rodgers having admired the south Wales' club's smart style of play.

"I've had a good chat with the manager and he really impressed me," he said.

"I had heard a lot of good things about him and the chat only reinforced my belief that moving to Swansea was the right thing to do.

"Having watched Swansea last season, I think everyone would agree they were the best footballing side in the Championship.

"It's going to be a difficult first season in the Premier League; it's going to be tough. But everyone is confident and looking forward to it. After all, playing in the Premier League is what you dream of.

"I'm excited about it."

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Injury woe for Bolton new boy Mears

Former Burnley defender Tyrone Mears has broken his leg in training, less than a week after joining Bolton.

The defender completed his signing from Burnley alongwith Clarets team-mate Chris Eagles on Friday, will now miss several months of the new campaign.

Manager Owen Coyle told the club's official website: "Ty went in for a challenge and unfortunately suffered the injury.

"It was desperately unlucky for him and we will make sure that he is fully supported in his rehabilitation.

"He will go for a check and an assessment in a month and that will indicate more accurately the timescale for his recovery."

Mears was fitted in to take the right-back slot for Wanderers this season, has instead become the club's third long-term absentee and second player to break his leg in pre-season after midfielder Lee Chung-yong .

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Gunner defender joins Rangers on loan

Arsenal defender Kyle Bartley is on his way back to Rangers on a season-long loan deal.

The 20 year-old played for the Gers last season after joining in January and made nine appearances before an injury against PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League ended his campaign.

He has been with the Gunners' first-team squad in pre-season but manager Arsene Wenger has decided to send him back to Ibrox for the duration of the 2011/12 campaign.

Bartley has captained Arsenal's reserve side and made his debut for the first team in a Champions League clash with Olympiakos in 2009.

Competition at the Emirates Stadium has disallowed him making his first-team breakthrough and he spent two loan spells in the Championship side with Sheffield United.

The defender impressed during his time with Rangers, scoring the only goal in a tight match at St Mirren and taking the man-of-the match award.

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Liverpool eye Lucas Biglia for Lucas Leiva

Liverpool are reportedly monitoring the development of Anderlecht midfielder Lucas Biglia as a future replacement for Brazilian Lucas Leiva.

Leiva was voted player of the year last season by Liverpool fans, signed a new contract at the club in March although he may find his starting position in central midfield under threat next season following the summer arrivals of Blackpool’s Charlie Adam and Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson.

The Daily Mirror claims that boss Kenny Dalglish may loan out the 24-year-old Brazilian in order to keep him playing and content while he experiments with a new look side, but the Scot has already lined up a future replacement in case the player decides to leave permanently.

The newspaper identified Biglia as a cut-price replacement to deputise and shield the back four. It also claimed that Biglia is eager on a move to Merseyside after glowing reviews about the club from countryman and former Reds midfielder Javier Mascherano.

Biglia joined Belgian side Anderlecht from Argentina's Independiente in 2006.

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Rooney cannot wait for Manchester City clash

Manchester United star Wayne Rooney is eagerly awaiting Sunday's Community Shield clash with city rivals Manchester City at Wembley.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men won the Premier league last season and will face off against FA Cup winners Manchester City, who beat United 1-0 in the semi-final of the competition en route to ending their 35-year trophy drought.

Looking ahead to yet another thrilling Manchester derby, Rooney admitted there is no better way to kick-off the season.

"Playing City in the Community Shield is the best way to start," he told Four Four Two.

"I hadn't even thought about it until I turned on the telly the other night and someone was talking about potentially the best Community Shield ever.

"It's a great way to start pre-season training, knowing that at the end of the hard work, before the games begin, there's a Manchester derby.

"You couldn't get better motivation to start the season with a bang."

Roberto Mancini's men are widely tipped to challenge for the Premier League title after once again spending on new players such as Sergio Aguero this summer.

And Rooney has accepted City are among United's title contenders but remains confident of retaining the title.

He added: "The names are obvious, but we can't concentrate on them.

"We've got to concentrate on our job.

"But saying that, you know City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and maybe Spurs will go into it with winning the title in mind.

"All we can do is keep improving and try to retain it."

The England international also insisted that the Red Devils will be out to win every single competition they are in.

"When you're at a club like Man United you pretty much know what the goals are. We want to win the league, the Champions League and both the cups.

"It's pretty simple. Obviously, sometimes you fall short of that, but at Man United you've got to keep striving for it."

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