Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini is desperate to sign Fiorentina midfielder Alessio Cerci.
The Italian is a firm believer in the 24-year-old's abilities, but was unsuccessful in bringing him to Eastlands during the summer transfer window.
Mancini admitted his disappointment at failing to sign the player, and according to reports in talkSPORT, sighed: "I have followed him since his days at Pisa in the 2007/08 season. He was just 20 but immediately did things that were extraordinary.
"He is one of the few players who are able to win a game on their own. If I could have I would have brought him to the Premier League a year ago.
"We have tried again this summer because I thought he might make an important contribution and mix well with the players here at City.
"But we could not complete the transaction and in all honesty I must say that I understand Fiorentina", the City manager groaned.
Marco Materazzi admitted he would have preferred to stay at Inter Milan for one more campaign, instead of terminating his contract.
The ex-Italy center-back admitted he had changed his mind after Inter revealed that he would not be in their UEFA Champions League squad, despite being contracted to the club till June 2012.
"I would have liked to stay with Inter for another season, because I really miss the footballing world," Materazzi was quoted as saying by Gq.
"However, when Inter told me that I would probably not be registered to play in the Champions League, I changed my mind.
"I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't tell me about it a bit earlier. I didn't want to argue with the club that has done so much for me though. That's why I agreed to terminating my contract."
The 38-year-old made over 300 appearances for Inter Milan for almost a decade.
Former Atletico Madrid player Diego Simeone believes that new signing Radamel Falcao will be well-received at the Vicente Calderon.
Simeone, currently coach of Argentinian side Racing Club, coached Falcao at River Plate back in 2008 and he believes that Falcao will be well-loved by the Faithfull’s in Madrid.
The 25-year-old will be hoping to endear himself to the home crowd by replicating his form at Porto last campaign, where he netted 39 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions.
Falcao joined the Spanish capital club for €40 million as a replacement for Sergio Aguero, who was signed by English big spenders Manchester City earlier in the summer.
However, Simeone feels that Falcao will be a fan favourite although he is a different type of player from the Argentine Striker.
He told Marca: "Atletico fans will fall in love with him because of his capabilities,
"Kun is a much more static and explosive player, whereas Falcao is much more generous. He will be very well accepted in Madrid, I have no doubt about that."
Atletico brought in €65.5million worth of new players to strengthen their squad this season, the most spent by a La Liga club.
Simeone also told Atletico fans that time must be given to this new-look squad to gel and not expect immediate success.
He added: "As in every new team, the new players will take time, the players who left had some time to demonstrate the stability they were carrying.
"You have to give time for the players to take in what [coach] Gregorio Manzano wants."
Falcao is expected to make his debut for Los Rojiblancos against Valencia this Saturday at the Mestalla Stadium.
After Arsenal's summer spending spree, their new boys will face the acid test against newly promoted Swansea in the Barclays Premier League.
Arsenal paly-maker Mikel Arteta cannot wait for his new side to face Swansea this Saturday as they look to put the 8-2 defeat suffered at the hands of Champions Manchester United behind them.
Since that defeat, boss Arsene Wenger has revitalized his squad by bringing in Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu-young .
Sitting 17th in the Barclays Premier League with only a point from their first three matches, Arsenal host Swansea City who remain the only team not to have scored a league goal this season.
Former Everton ace Arteta told www.arsenal.com: "I can't wait to play at the Emirates, I think it's an unbelievable stadium.
"I'm so excited. I have always been a big admirer of the Arsenal philosophy, the way they play, the way they do the job, and it's always exciting watching Arsenal play. In England there is no better team to watch than Arsenal."
The Spaniard has already made two Premier League appearances for his former club this campaign and is not expecting to find it hard to settle into his new surroundings.
He said: "Hopefully I will not take long to adapt but obviously you need to meet new characters, new personalities and new players with different abilities so you need to pick that up as soon as possible to get an understanding on the pitch."
Their Welsh opponents are fully aware of what to expect from the new-look Gunners team.
Full-back Angel Rangel told www.swanseacity.net: "They will be fired up and looking to make up for that defeat - we know that - and they have reacted to that by making some great signings."
Wolves welcome bottom-of-the-table Tottenham to Molineux as they look to extend their sparkling start to the season hoping the likes of Kevin Doyle and Wayne Hennessey show no signs of fatigue from their international exertions.
North London side will hope to kick-start their season having kept hold of play-maker Luka Modric and brought in Scott Parker and striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
Elsewhere, Manchester City have the chance to regain top position at least for a couple of hours if they win against Wigan Athletic.
Wigan are unbeaten this campaign but travel to the Etihad Stadium where they could face the current Premier League leading scorer Edin Dzeko, who bagged four last time out against Spurs.
In the other Saturday fixtures Everton host Aston Villa, Liverpool travel to Stoke City, Chelsea are at Sunderland and Bolton entertain champions Manchester United in the evening kick off.
Sunday afternoon sees Norwich City take on West Brom at Carrow Road while Fulham and Blackburn look for their first wins of the campaign when they clash.
The action is rounded off on Monday night as QPR host Newcastle in a game that is likely to see midfielder Joey Barton make his debut against his former club.
