He tried to break his leg

Benfica midfielder Augistin Binya deserves an 8 match ban for his horrific tackle on Celtic midfielder Scott Brown that could have ended his career.

I am amazed Brown got up from the challenge. When I saw it, I thought, whoa, that is a broken leg. I can't understand what Binya was thinking. He had a decent game, although Benfica were tiring quickly as the game wore on but that challenge, that was strait out of the book of horrors.

Judge for yourself, it was 110% intentional for my money:

See the entire worst moments in football series

Rat trying to leave sinking ship

Times are not too good for Bolton Wanderers. Early on in the Permiership season they are bottom of the table, haven’t scored a point, and now, their serial spitter wants to leave. Celtic, Tottenham and Lyon have all been linked by Senegal international El-Hadji Diouf, to their own detriment at that.

Diouf has revealed he wants to leave Bolton for a club with Champions League ambitions and thinks that the club is intentionally overvaluing him so he can’t leave.

Diouf claims that Tottenham, Celtic and Lyon have all made bids, as have two other mystery clubs.

"Bolton want a lot of money for me. They are asking for 10m pounds. I want to play in the Champions League or with a club that wants to be there next season." – Diouf

“Wants to be there next season”, that must sting if you are a Bolton supporter. And judging by the teams performances, you can see that attitude on the pitch as well. But you have to stay together to climb from a hole and clearly Diouf can’t be bothered. When a player starts this kind of talk, get rid of him. He’s a bad influence on the team and generally has a nasty disposition. I would never have signed him in the first place, regardless of what he has achieved.

U-21 Standout signs for Blackburn, Celtic pipped

Celtic have been beaten out to the signature of Maceo Rigters, the top scorer in June’s U-21 Championship. Blackburn Rovers have signed the talented striker from NAC Breda for an undisclosed fee.

The young Dutchman has signed a four-year deal at Ewood Park. Rigters had been linked with a host of British clubs, including Newcastle, Celtic, Rangers, Aston Villa and Norwich.

“The Dutch lad is someone that Mark Hughes likes. I know that he admires him a lot” - Blackburn chairman John Williams

Rigters agent was so close to linking up with Celtic that he was planning to fly into Glasgow today to tie up a move. Rigters himself was due to travel to Glasgow to finalize the deal with Celtic on Tuesday. It was virtually a done deal until Blackburn moved in with a late offer which bested all comers. Rigters had a 400,000 pound buyout clause in his contract which was activated by Blackburn, it’s thought that they paid significantly over that price though, probably in the range of 600k.

U-21 Championship top scorer to Celtic

Celtic have just about wrapped up a great deal for European Under-21 Championships Golden Boot winner Maceo Rigters from NAC Breda for only 400,000 pounds nudging out arch rivals Rangers.

It’s a steal; the fee triggers a buyout clause in Rigters contract. Breda director of football Earnie Stewart has confirmed that Celtic had expressed an interest in the player.

The 23-year-old Dutch striker was very impressive during the tournament. In fact, next to Royston Drenthe he was Holland’s best player. Rigters has two years left to run on his Breda contract but the club announced that they were prepared to listen to offers from interested clubs.

And did they get interest. No less than 5 clubs lodged bids for the player in recent days. One is Newcastle United, the others are Rangers and Celtic, the other two are a mystery. The low buyout clause seems to have spread chum in the water.

Rigters scored four goals for Holland during the finals as they secured their second consecutive U-21 crown. While he was on fire at the tournament, he scored just three times in 32 league appearances for Breda last season. Paired with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink up front next season, the explosive striker should prove more potent.

"We are just waiting for NAC to tell us which clubs we can talk to and that is likely to happen on Monday." –Celtic

Here he is with a bicycle kick to save the game against England:

Shunsuke Nakamura

Celtic are all over the map looking for players. So far this season they have purchased 4 players and could likely add more.

Apart from pissing off Harry Redknapp there are some interesting possibilities being considered by the team but the most interesting by far to me is Shunsuke Nakamura.

The Japanese international plays in Italy for Reggina. The playmaker was really impressive in the Confederations Cup last month in Germany.

The asking feel is about 3 million euros. That’s a steal. Nakamura has made the deal more complex though, with image rights and his handlers have insisted the club play exhibitions in Tokyo.

Spanish clubs such as Atletico Madrid have expressed interest in the player but Celtic look set. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan is very high on the player. With good reason, he’s good enough to force Hidetoshi Nakata from the playmakers role on the Japanese national team.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

Among PSV Eindhoven’s best players last season was Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. He extended his contract today with the Dutch outfit for another 2 seasons.

His last name is interesting. When translated, it means “Venegoor or Hesselink” –as in, you can call me either one.

We know the new Barcelona man Mark van Bommel and Manchester United starlet JS Park by name but the tall Dutch striker at age 26 is a relative unknown outside of Holland. He’s a goalscorer though, and intimidating in size.

At about 6’ 5” he’s only a couple of thumbs under Peter Crouch of Southampton, but more muscular. He was the Dutch Eredivisie top scorer with 19 goals in 28 matches last season.

His new contract will stretch until 2008.