midfielder

Birmingham's Northern Ireland midfielder Damien Johnson will be out for up to a month because of a fresh hamstring injury.

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton believes Manchester City's form is partly due to his performances last season.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan will give midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura every opportunity to prove his fitness for the Champions League Group D clash with AC Milan at Parkhead tonight.

ROME, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Roma and Italy midfielder AlbertoAquilani has been ruled out of action for around two monthsafter pulling a thigh muscle in Tuesday's 1-0 Champions Leaguedefeat at Manchester United.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Mexico midfielder RamonMorales produced a superb strike to give Guadalajara a 1-0 winover D.C. United on Tuesday and a place in the CopaSudamericana quarter-finals.

It is not often that a fixture from the group stage of the Champions League could be justifiably described a grudge match, but for Celtic midfielder Massimo Donati it's just that.

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves will miss England's European Championship qualifiers against Estonia and Russia this month.

Leicester will allow goalkeeper Conrad Logan and midfielder Max Gradel to go out on loan.

Former Swindon midfielder Cutis Weston and Port Vale striker Leon Constantine join Leeds.

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack has dismissed media reports of a possible transfer to Real Madrid by underlining his desire to be a success at Stamford Bridge.