Ian Holloway continues to deny rumours he is set to leave the Seasiders and instead is working quickly to strengthen his side ahead of their Premier League debut tomorrow. They travel to Wigan Athletic, but will be buoyed by the arrival of Marlon Harewood, the striker, on a free transfer from Aston Villa. The forward is the fifth new arrival in a matter of days following the captures of Manchester United's young defender Craig Cathcart, Ludovic Sylvestre, the former Barcelona trainee, and the midfield duo of the combative Malaury Martin of Monaco and Elliot Grandin, the tricky dribbler formerly of CSKA Sofia.
Owen Coyle, the Bolton manager, is confident Gary Cahill will remain at the club, despite Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, showing a keen interest in the highly-rated English centre-half. Bolton welcome Fulham to the Reebok Stadium tomorrow afternoon, but the transfer of Tom Eaves, the Oldham Athletic forward who hit a stunning hat-trick against the Trotters in a pre-season game and now looks to have effectively earned himself a place in the Premier League, will most likely not be completed in time for the visit of the Londoners. Bolton will travel to Southampton in the Carling Cup second round.
With the transfer of Roberto Carvalho, the Portuguese defender, to Real Madrid confirmed by the club earlier this week coach Carlo Ancelotti is now expected to move for David Luiz, the big-haired Benfica defender, as an expensive replacement. Ramirez, the Brazilian midfielder who was a former teammate of Luiz at Estadio da Luz before moving to Stamford Bridge for £18.2m last week, may also be aided as he settles in southwest London by the arrival of compatriot Neymar. The prolific 18-year-old Santos striker scored for his national team in their 1-0 midweek victory against the United States and is valued at £29m.
David Moyes, the Everton manager, is delighted to have been able to retain the services of his star players Steven Pienaar, Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill, proclaiming his squad ahead of tomorrow's clash with Blackburn as "the strongest squad I've ever had". Pienaar, the South African midfielder, shone for Bafana Bafana against Ghana on Wednesday evening, but worryingly Cahill withdrew from Australia's match against Slovenia with a knee injury. Meanwhile, any hopes Scotsman Moyes had of attaining £8m from West Ham United for Yakubu, the Nigerian forward, have been scoffed at by the east London club. * Compiled by Paul Radley and Gary Meenaghan
