Thursday’s News Round Up

Man United manager Alex Ferguson has ruled out Gabriel Heinze moving to Anfield, after Liverpool had a £6m bid rejected by the Old Trafford club. It’s over 40 years since a played transferred directly between the two clubs and that doesn’t look like changing, despite the Argentinian defenders apparent wish for the move to happen.

“I can assure you Liverpool will not be getting Gabriel Heinze,” said Ferguson. “We have had a couple of offers for him and we have turned them down.”

The talk of a new left back being purchased seems to have had an effect on current first choice John Arne Riise though. The Norweigan has been at Liverpool for six years and admits this summer he has been working extra hard to impress the manager.

“There have been a lot of rumours lately about new people coming to the club so you know you need to step up a level,” Riise told the Liverpool Echo. “I’ve been working out during the summer because I wanted to show the manager (Rafael Benitez) I was fit and raring to go. The only response I can make is to stay focused on my game and hope the manager has enough faith in me to keep me playing. It’s up to me, really.

Speedy departure for winger Gonzalez

speedy departureOne season after Liverpool finally got their Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez, nicknamed Speedy and touted by Benitez as the best Chilean footballer and to bring flair to the team, he’s gone already. Real Betis had agreed to purchase the winger and new manager Hector Cuper agreed to move and unveiled Gonzalez on Thursday in a deal worth a reported £4.2 million.

He made 37 appearances – although only 20 were starts – and scored three times, but failed to make an impact and struggled to adapt to the English game.

Dudek enjoys warming the bench

dudekAnother departure has been concluded with Jerzy Dudek set to be unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Friday afternoon. The 34 year old was unhappy at being understudy to Pepe Reina at Anfield so instead has left on a free transfer to do the same job for Iker Casillas at the Bernabeu.

The hero of Istanbul in 2005 made 186 appearances in his six years at the club.