Inland Waterways » Zaha on loan from Manchester United

LONDON -- Fulham brought in Germany midfielder Lewis Holtby and Greece striker Kostas Mitroglou, while Cardiff took winger Wilfried Zaha on loan from Manchester United as struggling English Premier League clubs reinforced their squads on Friday. The rush of contracts came as the January transfer window was closing late Friday. The 23-year-old Holtby arrived at Tottenham from Schalke 12 months ago in a 1.25 million pound ($2 million) deal but struggled to establish himself at Spurs. According to Holtbys agent, Marcus Noak, the player was keen on returning to the Bundesliga but his price tag was a dissuasive factor. "A return to the Bundesliga has been shattered due to circumstances we couldnt control," Noak said. "Fulham has put much effort into Lewis. It is a very well-run club with an excellent manager, Rene Meulensteen. The system and philosophy how Fulham plays fits well with Lewis." Holtby has joined Fulham on loan for the rest of the season. His signing follows the recent arrivals of Clint Dempsey -- on a two-month loan from the Seattle Sounders -- and William Kvist. "Ill do what I can to help us beat teams and keep us up and out of the bottom three and ensure that we have a good remainder of the season," Holtby said. Languishing in the relegation zone, Fulham achieved a real coup with the midfielders arrival as Adel Taarabt headed to AC Milan following a disappointing spell at Craven Cottage. Fulham also added to its attack with the signing of Mitroglou on a four-and-a-half-year deal from Olympiakos. The Greece forward is expected to replace Dimitar Berbatov, who has been linked with a move to Monaco and is expected in the principality on Friday for a medical. Also involved in the relegation fight, Cardiffs new manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer used his United connections to lure Zaha from Old Trafford, where the 21-year-old is judged surplus to requirements. Zaha helped Crystal Palace secure promotion through the playoffs last year but was relegated to the bench by United. Zaha is Cardiffs sixth January signing after Solksjaer, a former United player, reinforced his struggling squad with the addition of Fabio, Kenwyne Jones, Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Mats Moller Daehli and Jo Inge Berget. Cardiff is bottom of the Premier League and Solksjaer is hoping that Zahas skills will lead his side out of the drop zone. He said Zaha "will bring that little final bit to find pockets of space and produce a bit of magic." The big teams remained relatively quiet as United confirmed it would not make any more signings before the 2300 GMT deadline after it shattered the club record transfer by paying Chelsea 37.1 million pounds ($61 million) for Spain midfielder Juan Mata last week. "You can stand your cameras down," United manager David Moyes told a news conference. "I dont think they will be required. We have done our business." Chelsea announced the signing of Saint-Etienne defender Kurt Zouma on a five-and-a-half-year deal but the 19-year-old central defender will remain on loan at the French club until the end of the season. Chelseas north London rivals Arsenal looked for a replacement for the injured Aaron Ramsey and were expected to sign veteran midfielder Kim Kallstrom on loan for the remainder of the season. English topflight clubs had already spent 10 million pounds ($16.5 million) more than this time last year. According to football finance experts Deloitte, Premier League clubs had spent 95 million pounds ($156 million) on acquiring new players ahead of the deadline day, with gross spending at this point last season reaching 85 million pounds ($140 million). On the final day of the window in January 2013, they spent 35 million pounds ($57.5 million). Regardless of the amount of activity on Friday, Deloitte says Premier League clubs have already set a record for transfer spending this season, which broke the "700 million pounds ($1.15 billion) mark for the first time, with spending currently at 725 million pounds ($1.19 billion)." Cheap Titans Jerseys .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. Cheap Titans Jerseys China . - Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has nothing but good problems right now. http://www.cheaptitansjerseyselite.com/ . CBS Sports Jon Heyman is reporting that Santana will sign a one-year deal, likely in the next two days with one of a trio of suitors, with the Toronto Blue Jays believed to be heavily involved. Cheap Tennessee Titans Jerseys . Eller scored the midway through the third period after Dallas scored twice to tie it, leading Canadiens to a 6-4 win over the Stars on Thursday night.Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the departure of Donald Sterling, the scheduling of the Rogers Cup, the value of Commonwealth Games and the mastery of Clayton Kershaw. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star My thumb is up to the impending departure of Donald Sterling from the NBA, pending appeals. A California judge ruled this week that Sterlings wife Shelley could indeed sell the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, which means its almost time to say goodbye to Donald Sterling, only 33 years too late. Donald Sterling: ex-Clippers owner, denier of cancer treatment benefits, architect of a franchise that finished over .500 five times during his tenure, settler of the biggest federal housing discrimination suit in American history, and of course, racist. It will be sad that hes getting richer, yes. But the glory of the punishment is this: the Clippers are finally good. They could win a title, they really could. And if they do, Donald Sterling will finally be the one whos been evicted from the building. Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun My thumb is down to the Rogers Cups, yeah, both of them, the best tennis tournaments in Canada, for not having the ability or the opportunity to exist separately. For years they did, quite nicely. One week, the men played in Toronto or Montreal, the next week, the women played in the other city. It was perfect, in a tennis kind of way. Since then Canada has changed. There is a breakout star in Genie Bouchard, who set all kinds of national records, television and otherwise from Wimbledon. There is a hard serving, knocking on the door breakout star in Milos Raonic. Forgive me if I want to watch both of them separately. We deserve that, they deserve that. Its time somebody stood up to the tennis woorld and got this right.dddddddddddd Cathal Kelly, The Globe and Mail My thumb is up to all games in their proper place. Weve just come through two weeks of the Commonwealth variety, which gave us another chance to wring our hands about why no one cares. Odds are you tuned in for the delightfully kitschy opening ceremonies and then tuned right back out. A British paper reported that Usain Bolt declared the competition "a bit (crap)," though he apparently used another word. Hes right. Its a second-rate event. The Pan-Am games in Toronto next summer will also be minor league, and thats okay. There can only be one Olympics. Its past time we stopped thinking of sport as something that must be force-fed to the masses for their own good. People will watch what they want. There will always be an audience for something that features the spirit of the Olympics without the stars. Because without the warm-up act, we wouldnt be able to properly appreciate the uniqueness of the really big show. Dave Hodge, TSN Not that he needs me or anybody else to remind the baseball world how good he is, but "thumbs up" anyway to LA Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the left-handed ace who didnt get traded on Thursday. All the attention paid to Jon Lester and David Price was fully warranted, but later that night, Kershaw was running his record to 13-2 and lowering his MLB-best ERA to 1.71. The Dodgers are unbeaten in his last 11 starts, 10 of them wins for Kershaw personally and this latest victory, 2-1 over the Atlanta Braves, was his second straight complete game. It also saw him come within an out of a second straight shutout. The Dodgers being the Dodgers, they looked at Lester and Price, but they have prospects they werent willing to touch and they have Clayton Kershaw. ' ' '