The powerful Ivory Coast international ended his sabbatical from English football this week, signing for North-London outfirt Tottenham Hotspur. Manager Chris Hanton let Jermain Defoe and Giovanni Van Bronkhorst leave in exchange as he seeks to build on Spurs impressive start to the season. Hanton will be hoping that an ageing Drogba can provide him with that extra kick to mount a serious title challenge.

The Italian Seria A team spent big to secure the services of highly rated Stead as they continued their drive to decrease the average age at Stadio Atleti. £6.5million is a hefty sum and pressure will be on Stead to start performing immediately and ease Atalantas relegation worries.

After 6 weeks of tracking the Sky Blues finally got their man this week, completing the signing of experienced centre back Mingo in a deal which sees Andrea Dossena and Ryan Lynch head out to Spain and join up with Andrew Fletcher at Gimnastic. Mingo moves into competition with Alessandro Nesta and Tomas Zapotocny for the central defensive roles and manager Mark Rollings is said to be delighted to finally complete the long running transfer.

Talented Left back Ryan Taylor completed his move to Vicaridge Road from Wigan this week to compete with Nils-Eric Johanssen for the full back berth. A talented passer of the ball Taylor seems ideally suited for Watfords possession football.

Talented right back Torres departed the Spanish capital this week in search of first team football at Italian Seria B outfit Sampdoria. In return Real Madrid will take on duo Mirko Pieri and Pietro Accardi who will look to establish themselves in a talented Real eleven.

Ageing Uruguayan striker Recoba added yet another club to his CV this week, joining Italian side Chievo from Newcastle for a fee in the region of £5million. The well travelled international will be hoping he can impress his new manager and stay long enough at the club to put down some roots after being shipped around from club to club over the past two seasons.

England International Parker completed a double departure from Newcastle this week as he completed his surprise £10million move to Seria B team Ascoli. Jonny Sinclair moved for the combative central midfielder after hearing Newcastle were willing to sell. Parker will add much needed bite to the Picchio midfield and it is hoped his arrival will catapult Ascoli up towards the summit of Serie B.

Juan Carlos Valeron is furious that his proposed deal to Celta Vigo has collapsed. The established Spanish midfielder described his manager as thoroughly negligent and demanded that the paperwork for the deal was sorted out immediately as he had completely lost confidence with the clubs hierarchy.

Fabrizio Quagliarella is poised to quite Seria B outfit Sampdoria after manager Ross Walker declared his was at a loss to persuade the talented striker to remain at Luigi Ferraris . Clubs throughout Spain and Italy are said to be interested in the Blucerchiati striker and are bracing themselves for contact.

Coventry Citys Dennis Rommedahl looks set for a surprise departure from the midlands club. Manager Mark Rollings is said to be keen to continue his recruitment drive and has lined up an exciting replacement for the Danish speedster.

Empoli have finally spoken out about their AWOL manager Thomas Barry. The controversial Welsh manager has been absent from the Seria A side from the start of the season, after guiding the Azzuri to play off success and promotion last term. General manager Guiseppe Vitale told Scudetto that they had made contact with Mr Barry and were hopeful of persuading the successful boss to return to his post. Barry is said to be disillusioned with his boards reluctance to invest in the club.

Nottingham Forest face a mass player exodus this week after falling into administration. Peter Crouch, David Prutton and Di Natale seem certain to leave as the club look to restructure debts of around £20million.

Real Betis and Tottenham Hotspur look set to battle it out in a shoot out for England international Crouch. However, it is understood that Betis are Crouchs most likely destination after Los Beticos had an offer of around £6million accepted.

Centre back Andrea Coda looks set to make a rapid exit from League One Preston North End. The Italian defender is attracting strong interest within England and abroad with Cagliari, Espanyol and Celta Vigo the most likely suitors.

Manchester City look destined to let talented central midfielder Mathieu Flamini exit over the next few weeks as Luke Coakley looks to strengthen his squad in his quest for a top six finish. The Frenchman has found himself in and out of the Citizens side this year and is said to be keen to end his stint in Manchester.

Real Valladolid are rumoured to be hot on the trail of Espanyol striker Marco Borrielo. The 28 year-old want away striker looks set to end his spell in Spains second city and swap La Liga for Serie A.

Andrew Whing may be set to lose his status as Coventry Citys longest serving player, and only member of the Coventry City squad to survive Mark Rollings overhaul as the right back is attracting interest from a plethora of clubs. The talented, attacking full back is thought to be available for around £7.5million pounds.

Manchester United chairman David Gill has rejected reports that the European giants are already talking to candidates to replace manager Iain Kochanowski next summer. Speculation had sprouted that the board were considering a change in management after the club suffered another disappointing result this week against West Ham.

Cardiff City fans are planning a protest ahead of the clubs next match against Blackburn at Ewood Park. The club have failed to perform so far this season and fans seem to be losing patience with JD Jaques regime.

Meanwhile the Cardiff City board have apparently snubbed an opportunity to give their under fire manager a vote of confidence. The South Wales Echo had hinted that chairman Peter Ridsdale had a short list of five candidates to replace the under-fire manager, thought to include Cardiff fans Luke Coakley (Manchester City), Craig Radford (Espanyol) and Mark Rollings (Coventry City). Ridsdale moved to dismiss those reports as premature but stopped short of ruling out a change of management at the relegation troubled club.