As Martinez resigned at Wigan anyone know why Everton have to pay a compensation fee? If he's resigned then he's surely not under contract at Wigan so why is there a fee?

He didn't technically resign. He just had a gentleman's agreement with Whelan that he could leave when he wanted to. Rather than resigning, he gave Whelan the nod that he wanted out, so Whelan gave him permission to talk to Everton, but the remainder of his contract stood and therefore compensation was payable.

It would have got quite complicated if Everton hadn't employed him straight away, as Whelan said he wasn't able to interview any candidates for the Wigan job before Martinez had left, as technically he was still in the role and could have sued for constructive dismissal if they had. I don't think personally there has ever been anyone else in the running for the Everton job. I think all the smoke blowing has been purely so Martinez had less bargaining power in the contract negotiations.

Fernandinho to City, £34m. According to sources in our office.

Those Liverpool shirts look like horrible Christmas jumpers.

Where is the new kit thread anyway?

What's his story then? Moved very early in his career to Shaktar, never been a big star on the football games and only made 5 appearances for Brazil, all in friendlies according to tinterweb. Yet he's suddenly worth £34m? Late developer?

Fulham sign Stekelenburg. They have quite a history of having quality keepers.

Following in the footsteps of VDS, in terms of being a Dutch international, anyway. Where's Schwarzer off to?

Retiring maybe? He must be past 40 by now?

28 years old now. He's not even the best of Shakhtar's Brazilian contingent.
Fees are pretty meaningless when it comes to City, though. They want, they will have.

Didn't he have a pretty hefty lay off not long ago?

From all accounts I've read he's an excellent player. You only have to look at Willian as an example of how very strange the Brazilian national side is. He's barely had a look in but he's a class player. Hulk didn't get much of a look in despite showing excellent form since signing for Porto. The fee does seem a lot, but I'm pretty sure Shakhtar are in a luxury position of never needing to sell, so they can demand what they want.

They did sell (I think) Willian to Anzhi for a huge mark-up, so they probably don't need to sell right now, but their model is largely based on picking up South Americans on the cheap, giving them a route into Europe and selling on for profit.