Smith completes move to Newcastle

Newcastle, England -- Newcastle United signed England striker Alan Smith from Manchester United for a reported £6 million ($12.2 million) on Friday.

Smith, 26, agreed a five-year contract with the Premiership club and is expected to make his debut in Sunday's friendly against Sampdoria at St James' Park.

The former Leeds forward, is new manager Sam Allardyce's fifth close-season signing.

With Kieron Dyer on his way to West Ham, Allardyce was keen to strengthen his squad. Smith is likely to be the first of several arrivals, with Brazil defender Cacapa also in talks with Newcastle.

Although Smith has played mostly in attack, Allardyce could use him in midfield because, with Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka in his squad, he already has wealth of attacking options.

Sven Goran Eriksson's transfer market spree continued Friday when Bulgaria striker Valeri Bojinov signed for Manchester City from Fiorentina.

Bojinov signed a four-year deal and became Eriksson's fourth signing in 24 hours following Thursday's captures of Javi Garrido, Vedran Corluka and Brazil midfielder Elano. He is Eriksson's eighth signing since taking over as City boss just over a month ago.

The youngest foreign player ever to appear in Serie A, Bojinov's career has stalled over the past two seasons.

After an unhappy spell at Fiorentina, the 21-year-old spent last season on loan at Juventus but failed to make enough of an impression to persuade new manager Claudio Ranieri to offer him a fresh contract.

Arsenal's Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor is likely to miss their Premier League season opener against Fulham on August 12 after suffering a groin injury during pre-season training.

"At best he will be back next week," manager Arsene Wenger told the Gunners' Web site. We hope he can come back in to normal training on Tuesday and Wednesday. But I think he will miss the start of the Premiership."

French defender Franck Queudrue has joined promoted Birmingham City from Premier League rivals Fulham in a $4.07 million deal.

The 28-year-old has signed a three-year contract and becomes manager Steve Bruce's ninth signing as the Blues prepare for their return to the top-flight.

Spain winger Luis Garcia returned to action after seven months out with a knee ligament injury in Atletico Madrid's 2-0 defeat to Ajax in a pre-season tournament on Thursday.

"I felt good. I received one or two knocks but my knee held up well," he told the club's Web site after coming on as a second-half substitute. Garcia moved from Liverpool to Atletico last month.

South Korea have named Park Sung-Hwa, coach of Busan I'Park, to take charge of their Olympic squad.

He takes over after the resignation of Pim Verbeek, who oversaw both the Olympic and national squads and stepped down after the third-place finish at the Asian Cup.

Park, 52, will head the Olympic squad for a year, the South Korean association said, adding the national team coach would be selected later this year.

"I feel a grave sense of responsibility in taking the team in times of trouble," Park told reporters. E-mail to a friend