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Milan And Galaxy Might Share Beckham

Serie A heavyweights Milan and Los Angeles Galaxy could be about to reach an unprecedented and unique agreement involving the iconic English midfielder David Beckham.

Beckham's future has to be decided by Monday, and negotiations are continuing in an attempt to tie him to Milan past the March 10 deadline.

British media outlet Sky Sports have stated that, due to Beckham's desire to remain in Milan, together with the calcio club's interest in securing a permanent move for the player - who has taken the Italian league by storm - a "unique agreement" will be discussed this week that will see Milanese and Los Angeles outfits effectively "share" the 33-year-old.

Sky Sports indicate that the unique agreement will see Beckham stay with Milan for the rest of the Serie A season. He will then return to the Galaxy to compete for the remainder of the MLS season before moving back to Italy for what could be the final transfer of his long and illustrious career.

The move will be a new deal in world football and is already being dubbed a "time share" agreement.

One further option for Milan is to buy Beckham outright. However, some sources believe that the Rossoneri will have trouble financing the deal as LA Galaxy are unlikely to settle for anything less than €11.2 million (£10m).

The Galaxy's stance on the matter remains the same as it has done since day one. They are still adamant that if Milan will not meet the asking price then Beckham will return to Los Angeles March 10.

Alan Dawson, Goal.com

Michael Essien Back For Chelsea Today

New Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink has been watching the Ghanaian ace in training since taking over at Stanford Bridge and is confident he can blood the 26-year old when Chelsea meet Aston Villa in a reserve game today.

“We plan to play him on Monday with the reserves at Aston Villa,” Hiddink said. “If you see him now with the group he is doing well, his presence his good to see. I am rather positive on that.”

If he gets a run in that game, it will be the first time he has played since he ruptured his anterior cruciate in a World Cup qualifier for Ghana on September 5 against Libya.

News of a return will be a massive boost for Ghana’s World Cup qualifying hopes with Benin due in Kumasi on March 29 and many key players already missing for Milovan Rajevac.

Chelsea are also hoping to reap the full benefit of the return to full fitness of the player who has in the past offered them quality options both in midfield and defence.

“He is developing very well, working very hard and has a good attitude, a very open guy,” Hiddink said.

Source:
Goal.com

Lionel Messi Available For Upcoming Argentina Matches

Lionel Messi has confirmed today that he will be available to play for Argentina in their upcoming World Cup Qualifiers.

There have been rumours that the youngster would not be allowed to play some of the matches this year because of his commitments to his club side Barcelona.

However, he revealed that he should be able to play against Venezuela on March 28, after some talks between Diego Maradona and Pep Guardiola.

"It has been sorted with the club and I will be able to play the next games with the national team," he told Radio 10.

"When Diego [Maradona] came to speak with Barcelona and with Guardiola, things changed. Then I was able to play against France and I will be able to play in the games that are coming up."

The news will be pleasing to Argentina fans, who must have feared losing Messi for some crucial games over the next few months.

Indeed, the Argentines are only third in qualifying for the World Cup and trail leaders Paraguay by a massive seven points.

They have three winnable games coming up though, firstly against Venezuela, and then against Bolivia and Columbia.

James Walker-Roberts, Goal.com

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LG KS500

Network	2G 3G	GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 900 / 2100
Size	Dimensions Weight Display	102.8 x 49.2 x 14.9 mm (4.05 x 1.94 x 0.59 in) 106 gram TFT, 256K colors 240 x 320 pixels, 2.0 inches (~200 ppi pixel density)
Memory	Phonebook Call records Internal Card slot	1000 entries, Photocall 40 dialed, 40 received, 40 missed calls 100 MB microSD, up to 8 GB
Data	GPRS EDGE 3G WLAN Bluetooth Infrared port USB	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps Class 11 HSPA 3.6/0.384 Mbps v2.0 with A2DP v2.0
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Battery	Stand-by Talk time	Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh Up to 300 h Up to 4 h

Image: http://www.welectronics.co

Ducati Marlboro team makes official debut at Madonna di Campiglio

The Wrooom - MotoGP Press Ski Meeting 2009 got underway in the best manner possible on Monday 12th January with a welcome cocktail party for the world’s media at the Hotel Spinale, before the focus turned to both work and play in the opening Wrooom press conference at Madonna di Campiglio this morning. Both Casey Stoner and his new team-mate Nicky Hayden, making his official debut in Ducati Marlboro Team colours, were under the spotlight before spending a relaxing afternoon on the stunning slopes of the Italian Dolomites.

There were plenty of talking points for the media, who have flocked from all corners of the globe, not least in seeing an American rider in the Italian factory’s Grand Prix uniform for the very first time.

Nicky Hayden:
On Sunday I tried on my Ducati leathers for the first time in an official photo session and I felt very proud. I know what a huge opportunity I’ve been given and I’m very grateful to Ducati, Marlboro and everybody who has shown faith in me in this new chapter of my career. I was immediately struck by the dedication and passion that the team is famous for and by how hard everybody is trying to make me feel comfortable in these new surroundings, as they have done helping me adapt to the bike and get the most out of it. So far everything has gone really well. Obviously I need to get faster in order to be truly competitive but I already love the bike. I can’t say it’s easy to ride, it gets pretty loose on corner exit sometimes but the engine is powerful and that is important, especially in a race situation. The chassis is nice and stiff so you get plenty of feedback and I like the feeling with the front, which is really stable in the fast corners. So far we have only had two test sessions at Valencia and Jerez, which are tight and twisty tracks, and I think that at places like Malaysia and Qatar it will be even better. I’m happy to be working with Casey – we’ve known each other for a few years now, you could say we’ve got similar backgrounds having not come up through European competition and having started out racing in dirt-track. We’re both competitive and we’re going to want to beat one another but we’ll also work together to make a strong team. As far as my expectations for the season are concerned, I still have a lot of faith in myself and in what I’m capable of. The first objective is to get back to the same level I was at in 2006, challenging consistently for the podium and trying to start winning races again.

Answering about the recovery of his left wrist, which was operated on late last year, Casey Stoner responded:
I’m reasonably happy. I would like to have a little more movement but the check-up went well yesterday, the bone graft has healed well and that is very positive. It means I can start to work my hand and arm a little harder now and start to recover some muscle mass and get in the best possible shape for the next test. So far I’ve only ridden the GP9 twice, at Barcelona during the season and for a day at Valencia in November. It wasn’t much but it was enough to understand that we’re not a long way off and that the new chassis is an improvement. We need to work on improving the set-up and refining a couple of areas on the bike. Last year we were perhaps a little too confident and overlooked some of the work we needed to do, leading to a few highs and lows at the start of the season that end up costing us dear. In any case, despite a breakdown and two crashes we still won six races and finished second in the championship, which means we can look forward to next year really positively. I’m really happy with the addition of Nicky to the team. He has always been kind to me, even when I was racing in the smaller classes, and I think we can work well together. The communication between us is great and I think we can work together on fixing certain situations and getting the most out of the GP9 so that we can both be competitive. From my side I also plan to be a little more aggressive this season and maybe be a bit more decisive in races where nobody seems to want to take the initiative.

The event programme continues tomorrow with a press conference with Claudio Domenicali and the official unveiling of the new Desmosedici GP9.

Source:
http://www.highrevs.net

Stoner edges Rossi in final day of Sepang test

Casey Stoner finished Sepang test in top spot, edging Valentino Rossi for just 0.094 seconds, showing once again the duo will once again fight for championship top spot in 2009. Strong third place on last day and top performance during the test was shown by Loris Capirossi, who once again demonstrated that improved machinery was everything he needs to show speed that he has. Hopefully, returning Gibernau who was not so impressive in 12th place, this time will not be the one to end Capirossi's resurrection.

Colin Edwards was also quick during the test, as we used from him, ending day three in 4th place. Honda returnee Toni Elias was constantly around 5th place in Sepang, obviously more suited to Honda than Ducati. Chris Vermeulen ended test in front of Jorge Lorenzo, while Andrea Dovizioso was the last rider inside lap record in Sepang. Mika Kallio was 9th, while Nicky Hayden continued adaptation to Ducati Desmosedici which proved to be quite demanding.

Day 3 Sepang test times:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 2:01.043
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 2:01.137
3. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2:01.262
4. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 2:01.413
5. Toni Elias (SPA) Team San Carlo 2:01.560
6. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2:01.666
7. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 2:01.907
8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 2:01.955
9. Mika Kallio (FIN) Alice Team 2:02.386
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 2:02.497
11. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Team San Carlo 2:02.523
12. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando 2:02.727
13. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 2:03.418
14. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 2:03.474
15. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Alice Team 2:03.901
16. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 2:03.953
17. Yamaha Test Rider 1 (JPN) Yamaha Factory Racing 2:04.328
18. Yamaha Test Rider 2 (JPN) Yamaha Factory Racing 2:04.614

Sepang: Record Lap
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 2:02.108

Sepang: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2:00.605

Source:
http://www.highrevs.net

ten Kate 'strongly believes in Toseland'

James Toseland's World Superbike team manager, Ronald ten Kate, 'strongly believes' in the Englishman and expects to see a big step from him in MotoGP this year.

Despite winning the 2004 World Superbike Championship, Toseland was dropped by Ducati after finishing fifth in 2005 and looked short of options - before being picked up by Ten Kate Honda to replace MotoGP-bound Chris Vermeulen.

The new partnership brought instant results and Toseland rebuilt his reputation by taking second to Troy Bayliss in the 2006 WSBK championship - then became Ten Kate's first, and so far only, premier-class champion the following season.

Toseland began a new stage in his career with a move to MotoGP with Tech 3 Yamaha for 2008, where he claimed six sixth-place finishes and eleventh in the world championship - although the highlight of his year was arguably qualifying a superb second on his Qatar debut.

ten Kate now expects to see substantial improvement from Toseland during his second season.

“Well for sure from James we can expect quite a big step up this year. I truly and strongly believe in him as a racer,” said the Dutchman, speaking exclusively to Crash.net. “Also the new single tyre rule will definitely be a step forward for James. It was unfortunate to see him crash out so hard in testing at Sepang the other week, but I strongly believe that he will make a step.”

It was current Suzuki MotoGP rider Vermeulen who launched Ten Kate's first World Superbike attack when, having won the World Supersport title, the Australian moved with the team to the premier class in 2005. Vermeulen finished runner-up to Troy Corser before accepting the offer of a GSV-R ride.

The highlight of Vermeulen's three seasons in MotoGP is a debut victory in the wet French Grand Prix at Le Mans in 2007, plus six further podiums and three pole positions. Vermeulen's best championship ranking is sixth in 2007, although his machinery has rarely been a match for the best in MotoGP.

“With Chris Vermeulen we are going to have to see,” said ten Kate. “He has already been in MotoGP for a couple of years now, so as a rider I can't see him making a big step. It probably depends more on if Suzuki will make a big step forward. Looking at the latest test results at Sepang, Capirossi was right up there, so we might also see a step forward for Chris.”

Source:
http://www.crash.net