Bart Simpson for Zenit

Apart from Javi Garcia, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg have done a deal with Twentieth Century Fox to sign up Bart Simpson as their mascot. The bad news for André Villas-Boas is that Zenit's prolific Brazilian striker, Hulk, will be out of the game for the next four to six weeks after sustaining a thigh injury at the weekend against Lokomotiv Moskva.

Hulk will miss the Champions League games against SL Benfica (Portugal) and AS Monaco FC (France). Traveling out of Zenit is Montenegro striker Luka Djordjevic (20), who joins Italian club Sampdoria on a permanent transfer deal.

Javi Garcia

Javi Garcia (27) has played for Real Madrid B team (86 appearances, 10 goals, from 2004 to 2007), Real Madrid (3 appearances, 0 goals in 2004), Osasuna (Pamplona) (25 appearances and 2 goals in 2007-2008), Real Madrid again (15 appearances, 0 goals) 2008-2009, Benfica (74 appearances and 6 goals, 2009-2012), Manchester City (48 appearances and 2 goals, 2012-2014) and now at Zenit he has scored once in three games. He has represented Spain at all levels, and has played twice for the national senior team.

Javi Garcia won the Second Division B with Real Madrid B in 2004-2005, the Spanish Supercopa in 2008 with Real Madrid, the Portuguese Primeira Liga in 2009-2010 and the Portuguese League Cup (Taça da Liga) three times in 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, all with Benfica; with Manchester City he won the Premier League title and the League Cup in 2013-2014. With Spain he won the UEFA Under-19 European Championship.

Other transfer news

Lokomotiv Moskva French midfield player Lassana Diarra (28) will not be moving this transfer window, after a deal with London Premier League side Queen's Park Rangers has fallen through. Elsewhere in the Premiership, the Summer transfer window was hot, Manchester United breaking the record with the signing of Argentine player Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a fee of around 60 million GBP (around 100 million USD). United also gained the services of Colombian striker Radamel Falcao from Monaco, while losing Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for 16 million GBP (26 million USD).

What next?

Next is the January transfer window and the moves are already under way to reinforce tired squads. One player appearing in the sights of Manchester United is Paul Pogba, thought to be worth around 60 million GBP (100m. USD). The 21-year-old midfield player is currently at Juventus, where his form has lighted the interest of Chelsea FC and Real Madrid.

Two London clubs are trailing Antonio Candreva, 27, an attacking midfield player now at Lazio. North London arch-rivals Arsenal and Tottenham are watching developments between the player and his Italian club. Another player in Serie A being followed by Manchester United is the Netherlands midfield player Kevin Strootman, 24, who is now at Roma.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravd.Ru

([email protected])