The Centre Circle

West Ham United have made a move to sign Lyon striker Frederic Piquionne. The French striker who was originally born in Noumea, New Caledonia was on loan at relegated Portsmouth last season and impressed with his work-rate and desire in very difficult circumstances. With the former Portsmouth manager Avram Grant hotly tipped to take over the reigns at Upton Park in the near future, it seems not so surprising that Piquionne could be the first of many new arrivals in East London before the start of next season. West Ham has just had reported bid of £5 million for Yakubu at Everton rejected by David Moyes, so it seems the Hammers have turned their attention to the 31 year old.

In a related note, West Ham have  released Mexican striker Guillermo Franco whose contact expired in June. 

Wolfsburg's giant Bosnian striker is in talks with officials from Manchester City I understand. Speculation about the future of Dzeko had included potential moves to Man Utd Liverpool, AC Milan and Tottenham amongst others who need to offer a set fee of £34 million (40 million Euros) to secure a transfer, due to a time clause in his Wolfsburg contract which expires on Monday. It now appears than Manchester City are now favourites to sign the front man who scored 29 goals in all competitions last season. Steve McLaren the new Wolfsburg coach will be loathed to lose his star player, but as people know, when Man City come knocking with their unlimited store of cash, it is time to bargain hard and to start to look for an alternative.

If he signs with City, then it will throw fresh doubt onto the future of Emmanuel Adebayor (for whom Dzeko would be seen as a direct replacement), as it seems he has fallen out of favour at the Manchester club. Mancini was apparently not impressed with his effort in the closing weeks of last season, as they failed to secure a Champions League qualifying spot and had to settle for the Europa League.

It has been confirmed by Ghana and Chelsea officials that Michael Essien has failed to recover from his long standing knee injury, which prevented him from playing for his club during the last 4 months of the Premiership season. He sustained the injury in training for the African Nation’s cup back in January and now it has ruled him of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. This is a huge blow for the chances of Ghana who face Serbia in their first game on June 13th.