Aston Villa Wiretap

Aston Villa Buys Adama Traore From Barcelona
Adama Traore is a 19-year-old right winger born in Barcelona to Malian parents.

ESPN

Liverpool Completes £32.5M Transfer For Christian Benteke
Christian Benteke is understood to have signed a five-year contract, with Liverpool paying £16 million up front and the remainder of the fee payable over the course of his contract.

Press Association

Fabian Delph Changes Mind, Decides To Join City From Villa
Fabian Delph signed a new Villa deal six months ago and will now join City.

Jamie Jackson/The Guardian

Liverpool To Meet Villa's £32.5M Release Clause For Christian Benteke
With QPR taking part of Raheem Sterling's transfer fee, Liverpool has essentially swapped him for Christian Benteke and £3.5 million.

Press Association

Everton Signs Tom Cleverley On Five-Year Deal
Tom Cleverley previously played for Roberto Martinez in 10-11 when they were both at Wigan.

PA Sport

Sherwood: Christian Benteke Should Aim Higher Than Liverpool
Christian Benteke could be sold this summer due to his £32.5 million buyout clause in his contract with Aston Villa.

Daniel Taylor/The Guardian

EPL Clubs Make 1st Profit In 16 Years As FFP Rules Kick In
The regulations led to players’ pay increasing by only around 5.5 percent, while overall income boomed by 22 percent.

David Conn/The Guardian

Bob Bradley Emerges As Candidate For Aston Villa Director Of Football
Villa are searching for a director of football to help manager Tim Sherwood in a new-look management set-up at Villa Park.

Peter O'Rourke/ESPN

Tim Sherwood Hired By Aston Villa
Tim Sherwood was most recently manager of Tottenham.

Stuart James/The Guardian

Jürgen Klinsmann Not Interested In Taking Aston Villa Job
Jürgen Klinsmann is settled into his spot with the United States national team and is looking forward to guiding them to the 2018 World Cup.

Peter O'Rourke/ESPN

Aston Villa Fire Paul Lambert
Aston Villa has fired Paul Lambert as manager following a 10-match winless run leaving them in the relegation zone.

Ed Aarons/The Guardian

Premier League Sells UK TV Rights For $7.84 Billion
The English Premier League television rights to the United Kingdom have been sold for £5.136 billion ($7.84 billion USD).

Charlie Eccleshare/Telegraph

Rickie Lambert Rejects Transfer To Aston Villa
Rickie Lambert has scored three goals in 24 appearances for Liverpool this season.

Andy Hunter/The Guardian

Aston Villa Gives Backing To Paul Lambert
Villa’s chief executive Tom Fox said sacking Paul Lambert mid-season would be like “flipping a coin.”

Reuters

EPL Clubs Charge Up To $940 For Kids To Be Mascots
11 Premier League teams, including Tottenham, ask a fee for being a mascot on matchday.

James Riach/The Guardian

Roy Keane Quits Job As Assistant Manager At Aston Villa
Roy Keane has quit his post as Aston Villa assistant manager to concentrate on his role as the No. 2 for Ireland.

The Guardian

Clint Dempsey Receiving Interest For Loan With Stoke, QPR, Aston Villa
Clint Dempsey joined Fulham on loan last season during the MLS offseason.

Joe Prince-Wright/ProSoccerTalk

United Agrees Upon Provisional Deal With Ron Vlaar
Aston Villa is holding out for a £12 million transfer from Manchester United for Ron Vlaar.

Miguel Delaney/ESPN

Premier League Considering Playing 38th Game Abroad
In an era when all are eyeing overseas commercial revenues as their number one engine of growth, the thought of a “real” league match abroad is very appealing.

Owen Gibson/The Guardian

Premier League Clubs Spend Over $1.3B In 2014 Summer Window
The 20 clubs in the Premier League have spent more than £800 million ($1.33 billion) during the 2014 summer transfer window.

Squawka

14-15 EPL Kit Revenues By Club
Manchester United has the EPL's richest deal at a combined annual amount of $108.9 million, followed by Arsenal at $100 million, Chelsea at $80 million, Liverpool at $75 million and Manchester City'

ESPN

Aston Villa Signs Aly Cissokho From Valencia
Aly Cissokho spent last season on loan at Liverpool and has agreed a four-year deal with Paul Lambert’s side.

Press Association

Premier League Releases 14-15 Fixtures Schedule
The English Premier League released their fixtures schedule on Wednesday with Manchester United opening up at Old Trafford on August 16 against Swansea.

Sky Sports

City Earns $161.8M In TV Money For Winning EPL
Manchester City earned $161.8 million in television rights money, a huge increase from $102 million Manchester United received last season as champions.

PA

Lerner Puts Aston Villa Up For Sale
"I have come to know well that fates are fickle in the business of English football," wrote Randy Lerner.

BBC

English Players In EPL Cut In Half Over Past 20 Seasons
The EPL was 71.1 percent English in 92-93 and is now down to just 31.8 percent.

Inside World Football

EPL Salaries Up 11 Percent To $3B In 12-13
The proportion of the income clubs spent on wages in 2012-13 was the same as in 2011-12, 67%, above the 50-60% threshold commonly recommended as sensible.

David Coon/The Guardian

Lambert: I Can't Afford Another Struggling Season At Aston Villa
Aston Villa has suffered 10 home defeats.

Stuart James/The Guardian

Roger Bennett: Soccer Is Perfect Sport For Internet Era
Roger Bennett moved to the United States in 1996 and had to follow big Everton matches by telephone with his father holding the receiver up to the radio.

Alex Williams/New York Times

United More Popular Than Bottom 14 EPL Teams Combined
United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool account for 70 percent of Google searches for EPL teams.

Nate Silver, Ritchie King/FiveThirtyEight