Liverpool Close On Victor

Speculation is rife in Spain that Deportivo La Coruna winger Victor could be due to arrive on Merseyside for talks with Liverpool over the weekend.

Rafael Benitez has seen moves for Seville winger Daniel Alves, Atletico Madrid's Luciano Galletti and Benfica's Simao Sabrosa fail to materialise, prompting the Spaniard to switch to Sanchez del Amo Victor.

The player has been pulled out of the trip to Madrid for the weekend clash with Atletico and the former Real Madrid player, who has recently returned to fitness following a thigh injury, is expected on Sunday to discuss terms and undergo a medical.

A three-and-a-half-year deal is likely and Benitez will hope to wrap up the deal before the transfer window shuts on Tuesday.

Neville is a Dickhead

Gary Neville has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association.

The ManScum skipper attracted widespread attention with his stupid celebrations after Rio Ferdinand's undeservered last-gasp winner against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Neville ran fully 60 yards to launch a fist-pumping, badge-kissing reaction in front of the Liverpool fans.

The 30-year-old has until February 10 to respond, although as the case is not on the FA's new fast-track disciplinary process, it appears the worst he can expect is a heavy fine.

After failing to spot the incident during the game, referee Mike Riley has now viewed video footage and confirmed he would have booked the United man if he had seen what happened.

The FA have also been swayed by the concerns of Greater Manchester Police, which have been expressed both to United and officials at Soho Square.

Neville has received the support of the Professional Footballers' Association, while the full-back himself insisted he could not see what the problem was all about in his regular column in The Times. "You are caught up in the moment and, for a few seconds, yes, you do go bananas," he said.

The guy is such a dickhead, it has nothing to do with passion, if it was he would have run up to his own fans and gone mental, the fact that ran half the length of the field just to do it in from of the LFC fans, was inciting the crowd. If you ask me he should get a mandatory 1-match ban. He supposed to be the captain, what an example he is!

Liverpool defender Carragher thinks England squad member Neville went too far, telling the Liverpool Echo: "I think there's a line and Neville crossed it.

"I've heard people say it's justified because he gets a lot of stick from the Liverpool fans, but the truth is he gets the stick because he's been doing that for years. That's why it all started.

"I feel the same way about Liverpool as Neville does about Manchester United and from that point of view we're similar, but I don't act like that when we score against United.

"If I did, I'd expect United fans to give me the same amount of abuse."

The Greater Manchester Police have written to the Football Association to complain about the United skipper's antics.

WHAT A PRICK !

LFC Strengthen Defense

Denmark defender Daniel Agger is on the brink of joining Liverpool from Brondby.

It is understood a deal has been agreed in principle between the two clubs, subject to the 21-year-old passing a medical.

Agger was believed to be having that medical on Wednesday before completing his move to the European champions for an undisclosed fee.

The centre-half, who played in Denmark's 4-1 defeat of England in August, will become the second defender to join the Reds in January after the capture of Jan Kromkamp from Villarreal.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez tried to sign the centre-back last summer as cover for Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia.

Agger is fit again after recovering from damaging knee ligaments during a training session at Brondby in September.

That halted his rapid progress with club and country, where he made an immediate impression during the World Cup qualifiers.

"Daniel has been a good solution in the centre of our defence," Denmark assistant coach Keld Bordinggaard said recently.

Denmark head coach Morten Olsen hailed Agger's imminent move to Anfield and said he believed the player was good enough to make a big impact.

Olsen said: "He is confident about what he can do at the moment - he still has something to learn and he has a good mentality and if he goes to Liverpool I can only say they will have a top-class player.

"He certainly has to play 25 games because only in that way will he become a better player, and he is only 21 so he is not a player for the bench.

"Of course he has got to accept he maybe cannot play in the first team in every game but I am sure he will show that he is a top-class player.

"(This is a good move) for Daniel Agger and for the Danish national team because the Premier League is a top-class league," Olsen told Sky Sports News.

Gunners Aid LFC

A scoreless draw at Highbury tonight has allowed LFC to stay within 4 points of ManScum, with two games in hand. It was a blow when LFC drew with Bolton yesterday as this seemed to delay LFC in taking over the #2 spot. It also ends a strong run for ManScum since failing in Europe. Let's hope that ManSum continue to slip back into their November/early December playing ways, and Chel$ki lose a few (although 11 pts may be too tall an order to overcome now.)

Reds Aces Absolved In Bolton Storm

Steven Gerrard and Mohamed Sissoko are in the clear after the Football Association confirmed they will take no action against the Liverpool duo despite controversial clashes during their Barclays Premiership clash at Bolton.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was unhappy that Gerrard and Sissoko were not punished with even yellow cards after alleging the pair had stamped on his players in two separate incidents during the 2-2 draw at the Reebok yesterday.

However, referee Mark Clattenburg has confirmed in his match report that he saw both Gerrard's clash with Kevin Nolan and Sissoko's tackle on El-Hadji Diouf.

Under FIFA rules, the FA cannot take retrospective action against players using video evidence if the match official witnessed the incident at the time,

An FA spokesman said: "Referee Mark Clattenburg has confirmed to us that he saw both incidents during the game."

After the match, Bolton's El-Hadji Diouf taunted Jamie Carragher.

The former Anfield misfit accused Carragher of trying to wind him up and said his goal was the perfect response.

Diouf was also unhappy at the way Liverpool went about the game, especially in Carragher's case.

"Sometimes people don't like me on the pitch but I am a bad loser and I want to win every time," the Bolton striker told the Trotters' official website.

"The Liverpool match was a big game because we needed to react after Sunderland and Manchester United.

"I have a big character and I don't like it when someone is talking at me.

"I told Carragher to wait because I'm going to score and that's what I did."

Nolan was quick to support Gerrard and would not back any action taken against him for his challenge.

"I just think Steven's accidentally stamped on me," said Nolan.

"His full weight was on his leg so it hurt but it's just one of those things.

"I thought it might have been deliberate at the time because he hurt me.

"I wanted to have a look at it and I have now and I don't think there was anything in it.

"I don't think anything should happen to him now because it would not be deserved."

Gerrard was stunned by Allardyce's outburst.

"I'm very surprised he is trying to make an issue of it," he said.

"It was a complete accident - he fell into me. I am mates with Kevin Nolan. He's a good Scouser so why would I ever try to deliberately hurt him?

"We spoke at the end of the match. I wished him all the best for the rest of the season and the tackle wasn't even mentioned."