Charleroi midfielder Tim Smolders will leave the Zebras in January to join Michel Preud D’Homme’s Gent. Smolders has signed a three and a half year contract with the Buffalos, and becomes their second winter signing after Westerlo’s Stef Wils.
Smolders previously played for Club Brugge and RBC Roosendaal before joining Charleroi.
According to reports, Gary Megson is set to make a six million pound bid for Standard Liege star Alex Witsel in the winter transfer window. The Belgian teenager, 19, can play both on the wings and in the centre, and rejected offers from Arsenal and Real Madrid when he was all of 15 years old. However Megson’s chances are limited, because Standard think £6m is too low, and that his valuation is somewhere between £12m- £15m.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Chelsea are also tracking the youngster’s progress.
The draw for the group stages of the 2008-09 UEFA Cup has been made, and we have some excellent fixtures within.
Portsmouth, in their debut season in Europe, will get a chance to play AC Milan at Fratton Park. Pompey are in Group E along with Herenveen, Braga and Wolfsburg.
There are eight groups in all, and 3 teams from each group qualify for the next round. They will be joined by the eight third placed teams in each Champions League group.
Group A :-
Schalke ( Germany)
Paris St.Germain ( France)
Manchester City ( England)
Racing Santander ( Spain)
FC Twente ( Netherlands)
Group B :-
Benfica ( Portugal)
Olympiakos ( Greece)
Galatasaray ( Turkey)
Hertha Berlin ( Germany)
Metalist Kharkiv ( Ukraine)