• Lyon sell forward in deal which could be worth over £35m
• Cristiano Ronaldo has inauspicious first day at the club

Real Madrid's extraordinary and relentless summer spending spree continued to send reverberations through the football world last night when the club agreed a £30m deal to sign the France striker Karim Benzema, a transfer that takes their spending beyond £180m since Florentino Pérez was reappointed as their galáctico-obsessed president a month ago.

Pérez has now signed Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m, Kaka for £59m, Raúl Albiol for £13m and brought in the man regarded as the most exciting young player in France, in a deal that could rise to £35.2m depending on his success at the Bernabéu.

Benzema, the scorer of 23 goals in Ligue 1 last season, has been heavily linked with Arsenal and, particularly, Manchester United but Sir Alex Ferguson's long-standing admiration for the 21-year-old Lyon player never manifested itself in the form of a concerted attempt to bring him to Old Trafford as a replacement for Carlos Tevez.

Instead, United have left Madrid unchallenged to add yet another striker to their already bloated squad. "We know his importance and his efficiency in our squad," Claude Puel, the Lyon coach, said. "He's an exceptional player but we also know the financial figures of the club."

Lyon said in a statement: "The player wishes to take the opportunity offered to him by Real Madrid to become one of the key players in an ambitious new policy involving several of the world's biggest players. Lyon has accepted Karim Benzema's decision and negotiated the terms of a transfer which satisfies all sides."

Benzema, who has helped Lyon win four Ligue 1 titles and has already accumulated 24 caps for France, scoring six goals in the process, was finalising the deal in Madrid tonight while, back in England, Ferguson's options now appear to have receded even further as he contemplates starting the season with only two senior strikers, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

Ronaldo's transfer was officially formalised today, with United receiving the money in one lump sum, and the indications from Old Trafford are that Ferguson is happy to sit on the money for the time being, despite having already spent £16m on signing Luis Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic.

"Cristiano has been a marvellous player for Manchester United," Ferguson said in a statement. "His six years at Old Trafford have seen him develop into the best footballer in the world.

"His contribution has been a major factor in the club's success in that time and his talent, his ability to entertain and his infectious personality have enthralled fans the world over. Everyone here wishes him well in his future career."

Ronaldo's new career as a Madrid player had an inauspicious start, however, when he allegedly smashed a car window after being followed by photographers in Lisbon. A 17-year-old woman was reportedly hurt by flying glass and has filed a complaint to the police.

"He [the photographer] chased me by car from the Ritz Hotel with my mother in the car with me and they filmed all our actions," Ronaldo said on the website of Gestifute, the agency that represents him. "The chase so perturbed my mother that I had to stop and convince them to leave us." Reports suggested Ronaldo smashed the window with a single kick. A spokesperson for Lisbon police declined to comment.

• Ivan Gazidis calls for wage restraint in Premier League
• Former MLS deputy commissioner hails 'profitable' Bundesliga

Arsenal's chief executive Ivan Gazidis has said the Premier League should consider introducing a salary cap for its clubs as a way of encouraging financial stability and more even competition throughout the league.

In an interview with the Guardian, Gazidis repeatedly emphasised the virtues of Arsenal's "self-sustaining finances", comparing that policy favourably with other clubs which rely on billionaires' munificence. Pointing out that Premier League clubs do not make profits in general, despite record income, he said players' wages are set to grow even more, which would further threaten clubs' profitability.

With Manchester City, owned by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, reportedly prepared to pay Samuel Eto'o £180,000 a week, Gazidis also argued for restraint. "I think it is worth our while to investigate whether there are elements of the salary cap system, which they have in US NFL and baseball, which would benefit football," he said.

"Clubs have a duty to provide more stability in our business models and some form of wage restraint is one element worth looking at. There are many different ways in which it could work."

The idea of a salary cap has never gained support with Premier League owners, who have always preferred the free and unregulated system in which they can pour in money to buy the players they want, and then pay them what they want.

Gazidis has been schooled in the traditions of US sport, having been the deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer, a highly regulated league with a strict salary cap, for 14 years before joining Arsenal in January. He pointed out that clubs which rely on rich backers need to find new owners quickly when the funding runs out, and he believes that creates too much instability into football.

Gazidis is part of a European clubs' association working group considering improvements to the financial running of football, and he referred admiringly to Germany's Bundesliga – "the only profitable league," he said– which has tight restrictions on the debts clubs can carry, and insists they live within their means.

Today the Arsenal board will consider a proposal from Alisher Usmanov, the Russian with 25% of the club, for a rights issue of shares which would raise new money for the club. Gazidis would not disclose details of the suggestion, but his response to it was guarded. "I am open-minded and we have commissioned Rothschild [the merchant bank] to advise the board," he said. "We have to be sure it can make a real and lasting contribution to the club."

• Manager hopes little patience will bring big reward
• Manchester City still hoping to sign Carlos Tevez

Mark Hughes has reluctantly accepted that Manchester City may have to show patience rather than simply flexing their financial muscle if they are to salvage a deal to make Samuel Eto'o the showpiece signing of their summer recruitment programme.

Hughes was speaking for the first time about the £25.5m offer that City have lodged with Barcelona after several days in which Eto'o has sent conflicting messages about whether he would be willing to move to Manchester – initially indicating that he would, then declaring that he would rather stay with the European Cup winners but leaving the door open for a transfer if he does not feel wanted at Camp Nou.

His prevaricating has frustrated City amid strong suspicions the player's real motive is to get a significant slice of the transfer as a signing-on fee, on the basis that he could leave on a Bosman free transfer next summer. Nonetheless, Hughes indicated that he felt it was worth pursuing, even if there are limitations to how long he is willing to wait.

"There is an interest from us and we've lodged a bid for Samuel Eto'o," Hughes said. "Basically we've targeted players we think will help us and certainly he's one I've a lot of respect for and who I feel can help us.

"There's always an element of frustration when you can't conclude deals quickly but we will give every deal and every situation the patience we feel it deserves. If we get to a point where we feel things aren't going to happen and we feel the process is stalling and we can't move it forward then that's the time we will walk away – and we've done that in the past.

"We made an offer to Barcelona, but now there seems to be a situation between the player and his club. We're not really involved in that. That has to be resolved by the player and his club. That's our position. We have to stand back and see whether it develops. Patience has been mentioned and we'll have to be patient."

Hughes is hoping a £25.5m deal for Carlos Tevez, now out of contract after his two-year loan arrangement with Manchester United expired yesterday, will be less problematic, but there are still enough issues surrounding the transfer for it not to be considered imminent.

"Carlos Tevez is another player I have huge admiration for and everybody is aware of his situation – that he is available," Hughes said. "We are interested in good players and we will see what happens."

City have already signed Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers for £17m,as well as Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for £12m, but Hughes is aware that signing two players with the quality and reputation of Tevez and Eto'o would show the strength of the club's ambitions.

"What we're trying to do is build a squad that can be competitive and challenge at the top table," Hughes added. "That's what we've stated from the off. The only way we can do that is by bringing top-quality players to the club."

City have confirmed four senior stars have left the club. Danny Mills, Darius Vassell, Dietmar Hamann and Michael Ball were not offered new contracts and are now free to take up other offers.

• Blackburn manager put off by striker's injury record
• Forward now a free agent after Newcastle contract expires

Blackburn's manager Sam Allardyce has ruled out a move for Michael Owen. The former England, Liverpool and Real Madrid striker is now a free agent after his £110,00-a-week contract at Newcastle expired on Monday and Allardyce, who managed Owen at St James' Park, is short of forwards after selling Roque Santa Cruz to Manchester City and Matt Derbyshire to Olympiakos.

But asked if 29-year-old Owen was an option, he said: "Not for me. I don't think we could afford him and the problem with Michael, from the injury aspect, is we can ill afford to sign a player who is going to be out of the team and can't guarantee me 36-plus games a season. It's unfortunate for Michael but if you look at the last three years I cannot take a gamble on that."

Allardyce will now look elsewhere for a new striker. He added: "We're not going to sign any more players in any other position just yet until we've secured a player up front. If all the money I had available has to go on my striker then that's it."

• 'I may be overzealous but I am passionate'
• 'I wanted to motivate the team'

Stuart Pearce has hit back at his critics following accusations that his touchline antics may have damaged England's chances of hosting the World Cup in 2018. The England Under-21 manager came under fire for his behaviour during Monday's 4–0 European Championship final defeat by Germany, when his emotions seemed to spill over.

Pearce's manner did not go unnoticed by the Uefa president Michel Platini, who was reportedly unimpressed by the 47-year-old's snarling on the sidelines in Gothenburg.

Yet Pearce, who has signed a new two-year deal as Under-21 manager, remains unrepentant and says he will not bow to pressure from the same people who criticised the former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson for a lack of passion.

"You can't win," said Pearce. "If you don't show any emotion then you get criticised, which we saw when Sven was in charge. When it suited, Sven was so calm and relaxed on the touchline, which at the time was fantastic, and then two years later the same people would say he lacked passion. It's quite comical really when you're involved in football, to see the same stories suiting whichever angle.

"Possibly, on the day, I could have been criticised for being a bit overzealous on the touchline, but I'll learn from that. And if some people say I need to calm down then the only thing I would say is that I was very passionate about England winning.

"It's a big drive for me to be successful with my country. To make sure we win I'll do everything I possibly can and if people think I was out of order, then I apologise to anyone who has taken offence."

Although the former Manchester City manager was left seething at Germany's premature celebrations on Monday, Pearce says he will tone down his behaviour should the FA crack down.

Pearce, who was speaking at an event organised by England team sponsors Nationwide Building Society, said: "Anyone is up for criticism. The German team were celebrating by having a water fight five minutes before the end of the match. If I had done that with my coaches then I would have been criticised for that. I'm in the glare of the media the whole time and if people say that I have to calm down on the touchline I will do, and if they don't say anything, I won't.

"The one thing that underlines everything is that I am desperate for the team to win and I want to motivate them."

Pearce now has two years to qualify and prepare for the 2011 finals in Denmark. He said: "While you can have a long-term for yourself, I don't think it pays to look too far down the line. Your stock in football can rise and fall because of a result.

"But I have signed a new two-year contract, I really enjoy working here and the back-up staff are sensational. I am still in the job but also educating myself."

• Donovan labels Beckham a bad leader and team-mate
• England midfielder's Milan loan causes ill feeling

David Beckham has been fiercely criticised by his LA Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan, who has called into question the former England captain's commitment to the American club.

Donovan, the Galaxy's leading scorer last season, feels Beckham should be left out of the side when he returns this month after a loan spell at Milan. Beckham took the armband at the Major League Soccer club from Donovan when he signed amid much fanfare in 2007 but missed the start of this season to stay in Serie A.

"All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us," Donovan said. "As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways – on the field, off the field.

"Does the fact that he earns that much money come into it? Yeah. If someone's paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you're suspended or not.

"Show up and train hard. Show up and play hard. Maybe he's not a leader, maybe he's not a captain. Fair enough. But at a minimum you should bust your ass every day. That hasn't happened. And I don't think that's too much for us to expect. Especially when he's brought all this on us.

"I can't even say he's a good team-mate any more. He's not shown that. I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good team-mate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care.

"But with Beckham, I'd say no, he wasn't committed. Let's say he does stay here three more years. I'm not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way ... I don't want to have soccer be this way. I've got to confront it somehow. If that's the way he's going to be, fine, then hold him accountable. Bench him. Just say, 'We're not going to play you, we don't think you're committed'."

Donovan's comments come as Beckham received a warning from the president of the United States Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati, to expect a hostile reception from fans when he returns to Galaxy.

Donovan added: "When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing. But somewhere along the way – and in my mind it coincides with Ruud Gullit being let go as coach last season – he just flipped a switch and said 'Uh-uh, I'm not doing it any more'. My sense is that David thinks it's a joke."

• ESPN, Sky and BBC vie for right to show Norway tie
• World Cup game to be broadcast despite Setanta's demise

Setanta's demise means ESPN will go head to head with Sky and the BBC in a bid to screen Scotland's vital World Cup qualifier against Norway live next month.

ESPN's interest in the match in Oslo on 12 August could be linked to its move to try to step in as broadcaster for the Scottish Premier League, although again it faces stiff competition from Sky.

Setanta purchased rights for all of Scotland's away qualifiers in the current campaign, with Sky screening the home games. That prompted politicians and many fans to bemoan the lack of terrestrial interest in the national team; the BBC has sought to redress that balance by bidding for the Norway encounter. Ironically, it had agreed a six-figure deal in March to sub-license highlights of the match from Setanta.

Rights have now reverted back to Kentaro, a Swiss agency, which hopes to finalise a broadcast deal within the week. What is certain is that the game will be shown live, despite Setanta's collapse.

• Cross-border cash flows attract money laundering
• Criminals use clubs to forge legitimate ties

Criminals are increasingly using football for money laundering and tax evasion, helped by the globalisation of the sport and financial needs of clubs, an anti-corruption body said today.

The world's most popular sport is attracting criminals with its huge cross-border money transfers and often obscure accounting methods, a unit of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

"Football clubs are indeed seen by criminals as the perfect vehicles for money laundering," the OECD's Financial Action Task Force said.

While other sports such as cricket, rugby, horse racing or motor racing were also under threat, football was "an obvious candidate to examine money laundering through sport" because it dwarfed all the others in its global scale.

In one case, the report said, investigators thwarted an attempt to launder money through the purchase of a famous Italian club with funds supplied by a criminal association operating in central Italy.

"Proceedings for money laundering, insider trading, extortion, unfair competition and other offences are ongoing," it said, without naming the club.

Based on 20 cases of money laundering in football, the report concluded that the structure, financing and culture of the sport are all conducive to financial crimes. It cited two examples of tax evasion involving players in Britain, one linked to image rights and the other to a signing-on fee that was hidden from tax authorities.

Boosted by lucrative television rights, the amount of money in the game has exploded, turning venerable clubs into massive business enterprises. The heady sums paid for top players reached new heights last month when Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo completed a record £80m transfer to Real Madrid.

Despite the sport's scale, with 38 million registered players and five million referees and officials, many clubs are managed by amateurs and can easily be acquired by dubious investors, the report said.

Massive money flows that move in and out of tax havens, huge and irrational transfer payments, inflated agent fees and betting networks can all help criminals trying to pass off their illicit gains as legal.

The sport's image also plays a role. Clubs are less likely to report money laundering for fear of losing sponsors, while criminals may use ownership of a club to forge legal business ties and win lucrative construction contracts.

The report cites several examples of clubs in financial difficulties whose deficits were funded by suspected criminals.

Investors may get their "laundered" funds back by selling the club's equipment and services at inflated prices, or via sales of media rights, tickets, players and merchandise.

Global transfers of young football players can also attract human traffickers, the report said. The task force recommends building better awareness and improving governance and financial transparency.

• Croatia's playmaker will return on 9 July
• Davis, Pamarot and Lauren released by Pompey

Despite the upheaval at Portsmouth Niko Kranjcar has confirmed he expects to begin the new season at Fratton Park.

Asked whether he would consider a move because of the club's ongoing predicament, which includes their undergoing due diligence for a possible buyout as well as players being moved on to trim the overheads, Kranjcar said: "I'm coming back for pre-season and that's it."

So, as far as he is concerned, his future is with Portsmouth? "Yes."

Portsmouth have an estimated £60m debt and the Croatian playmaker is, alongside Peter Crouch, the club's most valuable playing asset. Last week Glen Johnson was transferred for around £18m to Liverpool, heading a list of departing players which so far numbers 11.

Those include the midfielder Sean Davis, who left on a free for Bolton today, while the defenders Noé Pamarot, Lauren, Djimi Traoré and the midfielders Glen Little and Jerome Thomas have also been released.

Kranjcar, who is 24 and an established international, would be expected to raise a minimum fee of around £12m and Crouch has recently voiced his disquiet at the direction Portsmouth seem to be taking. "There are 15 players out of contract at the end of the season – no one knows who the manager is, we don't even know who the owner is to be honest." That suggests the England striker is considering his future.

Portsmouth are in limbo as the club wait for a proposed buyout by Fahim Asia Associates, the investment vehicle owned by Sulaimin al-Fahim, before the status of last season's temporary manager, Paul Hart, can be resolved, let alone any player recruitment can be contemplated for next season.

Fahim has yet to complete the fit-and-proper-persons test which any prospective owner has to pass before assuming control of a football club, although the 32-year-old businessman is in possession of the forms as they were sent to him a fortnight ago. Due diligence is thought to be continuing smoothly.

Kranjcar, along with the rest of the 20-man Portsmouth squad – the smallest in the Premier League – returns for pre-season fitness tests next Thursday, by which time Fahim's buyout may be a little closer to resolution.

Among the announced ambitions of the businessman is for Portsmouth to be perceived in the Middle East as a bigger club than Manchester City as Sheikh Mansour, the owner at Eastlands, is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.