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European Ticker: United injury woes worsen, Aguero interest heats up and more

Nemanja Vidic 1 (Getty Images) 

by FRANCO PANIZO

Just when you thought Manchester United's defensive injury woes could not get any worse, in comes news that Nemanja Vidic is set to miss the club's Champions League match against VfL Wolfsburg.

Having missed Saturday's 4-0 thrashing of West Ham United with the flu, Vidic has failed to recuperate, and has been ruled out of Tuesday's match.

The news of Vidic's absence comes on the same day that Manchester United learned it would be without injured defenders John O'Shea and Jonny Evans for the rest of 2009.

Manchester United is currently without goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar and defenders Rio Ferdinand, Rafael and Fabio da Silva, Wes Brown and Gary Neville. Left back Patrice Evra is the only first team defender available for United's clash in Wolfsburg.

Here are more stories from Monday to help you get through the day:

Top clubs eyeing Aguero

Argentine forward Sergio Aguero may soon be on the move.

With Atletico Madrid in financial trouble, Aguero is likely to be sold by the club during the winter transfer window, and Manchester United, Chelsea and Inter Milan are all hoping to be the club that lands his services.

Russia investigating party reports

It seems the Peruvian national team isn't the only one that like to party.

The Russian soccer federation (RFU) is set to investigate reports that certain players went partying before Russia's World Cup play-off with Slovenia. The reports claim that players were up the night before the second leg – which they utimately lost, costing them a spot in the 2010 World Cup - drinking and smoking, and the RFU has asked for an explanation out of the media outlets that reported the story before making an investigation of their own.

Head coach Guus Hiddink told reporters Monday that if the allegations held true, he would punish those responsible.

Palacios released from hospital

Tottenham midfielder Wilson Palacios has been released from the hospital after picking up a rib injury on Sunday.

Palacios was sent to the hospital after having collided with Everton's Tony Hibbert in the final moments of Sunday's 2-2 draw, but has been cleared to return to training. Palacios will be further evaluated by team doctors this week to determine whether he will be available to play against the Wolverhampton Wolves this weekend.

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Do you see Manchester United beating Wolfsburg? Where will Aguero wind up? Think the Russian party allegations hold truth?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Really tired of Chelsea and Man City inflating the transfer market to outrageous levels. Plus, it’s ridiculous that Chelsea gets a transfer ban and then it gets lifted. Why wouldn’t Chelsea go nuts this window knowing they can’t buy players until 2011? I know it’s supposedly because they’re losing players for African Cup of Nations, well too freaking bad. Maybe they shouldn’t have cheated.

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  2. The ban has been suspended until a final decision is made, so they are free to sign players in January as long as the final decision isnt made before then.

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  3. I think the price is set based on his age and skills. Is he currently a top 10 worldwide striker? No. But he is a top talent, and as you say only 21, so the buy is clearly with an eye on him still have loads of time. Now with all that said, he isn’t worth that much, but my guess is it’s all negotiating.

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  4. Ives or Franco:

    How good do you think Aguero really is? Top 5 striker in the world, top 10? Considering David Villa, Torres, Drogba, Rooney, Eto’o, Ibra, etc. I don’t see how he is worth what they are asking. It’s frustrating to see his price go up as his hype builds. I haven’t seen much of him aside from national team duty, but it seems like the buying teams are getting the lesser end of the deal. Yes, he’s 21, yes he has an incredible goal to game ratio for Atletico, but I don’t think he is worth 50 million pounds.

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  5. I’d like to see Chelsea play with injuries to Ashley Cole, Terry, Calvalho, Cech, Belletti, Bosingwa (who is actually injured I think) and Ivanovic and see if they continue to win games like United has. Chelsea has been incredibly lucky with no injuries this season, and I’m certain that is one of the reasons they are playing so well (usually). It’s unbelievable how many defensive players United have out, plus Berbatov has missed the last five games or so, which sucks because he was finally starting to score more consistently…

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  6. Amazing that a team as deep as ManUtd could have these kinds of problems with their defense. All those guys, and no one is healthy. Just amazing.

    If something like this happened in MLS you’d be in serious trouble. You’d have cotton candy guy how plays rec league and and U-18 academy player suiting up.

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  7. Yeah, if Arshavin was up smokin’ and slammin’ Stoli he really should have his arse shaven. I’d like to see Guus do that.

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