Gooch to Marseille; Smertin to Fulham

Well, it looks as though Gooch will be bring The Stare back to France, this time for Marseille, where he'll play alongside the likes of Ribery and Cisse. As sad as I am not to see him suit up for Fulham, Marseille should be an excellent environment: G-14 club, Champions League possibilities, southern French coast... could be worse. Of course, it may get worse if those Sven Goran Eriksson rumors are true. *shudder*

Fulham put a nice cap on their decent transfer window showing by getting the signature of Russian veteran Alexey Smertin. It's been a while since I've seen Smertin... in fact, it was either in that dreaded Chelsea kit, or shortly before he was unceremoniously dropped from the Russian nats due to a spat with the coach. Well, regardless, I always have a soft spot for non-billionaire-oil-tycoon Russians in the Prem, even more so when they play for Chelsea's rivals. Davai, Alyosha!

UPDATE: Go to bed with one story, wake up to another. Gooch might still be going to yet ANOTHER club, this time up north at Newcastle. Three more days, Gooch, make up your mind!