Premiership transfers: Chelsea and Liverpool shop around, sign

Chelsea finally snatch Nicolas Anelka from Bolton, Liverpool gets new defender from Zenit St Petersburg.

Premiership transfers: Chelsea and Liverpool shop around, sign Chelsea has finally managed to sign Nicolas Anelka from Bolton, became known today. The Blues signed the 28-year-old French striker with a price tag of £15 million with a four-and-a-half year contract and rumours is that Anelka could even play in the Saturday's game with Spurs (Chelsea is 3/4 favorite to win at U.K. bookie Bet 365). It was not the first time Chelsea bid for Anelka, but their previous number of £12 million was coldly rejected by Bolton. What has changed since? "We wanted to keep Nic but once it became obvious that he saw his future away from the club the idea was then to get as much money as we could for him," was the clear explanation by Bolton manager Gary Megson. He also vowed to add to the squad in order to improve its position after the departure of the French striker. Meanwhile Chelsea is desperate for good strikers, with Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou out with their Internationals and Andriy Shevchenko nursing injury, likely Anelka will play against Tottenham.

Meanwhile Liverpool FC is also gearing up, the Reds bought defender Martin Skrtel from Zenit St Petersburg, some reports putting the price of the four-and-a-half-year contract with the Slovakian international at around £6 million. If true, Skrtel will become the most expensive defender in Liverpool's history. The 23-year-old defender has 15 caps for Slovakia and Rafael Benitez believes Skrtel is a player who will settle quickly into life at Anfield. Liverpool will travel to Middlesbrough on Saturday as favorite with 4/6 odds to win at Bet 365.

Published on 01/11/2008