Barton in hot water, Chelsea make raft of changes and Hodgson counting on fully fit squad

Queens Park Rangers' captain Joey Barton has been banned for 12 matches and fined £75,000 after being found guilty of two acts of violent conduct against Manchester City.

Barton, who scored 15 fantasy football points in 32 games last season, accepted the charges in the wake of clashes with Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany on the final day of the season.

Meanwhile, Barton's former club Newcastle United have signed French midfielder Romain Amalfitano.

The BBC reports that the 22-year old will arrive on July 1st after his contract with current club Stade de Reims expires.

The rising star scored three goals and set up a further five last season to help his team win promotion to France's top tier and is being tipped for big things in the North East.

He is the younger brother of French international Morgan Amalfitano.

The Press Association has stated that Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua are confident of securing a move for Didier Drogba, who confirmed he was leaving Champions League victors Chelsea on Tuesday.

Drogba scored 17 Fantasy League points in 15 appearances last season but showed his best form throughout his side's triumphant European campaign.

According to the Guardian, Chelsea have also decided to offload Jose Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou.

Signaling a dramatic change in personnel across the board at the West London Club, both players have been told that they will not be granted new deals now that their contracts are up.

Bosingwa and Kalou both performed quietly last season, scoring just 11 and seven fantasy football points respectively.

Sky Sports, the BBC and the Guardian are all reporting that Chelsea are looking into attacking options such as Porto's Hulk and Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao to replace Drogba and 19-year-old Brazil sensation Lucas Moura to fill the gaps in midfield.

Hulk scored 16 goals last season for Porto in just 26 games, while Falcao tallied 24 goals in 34 matches for Atletico.

Moura scored nine goals last year for Sao Paulo and is being touted as the next big superstar to emerge from Brazil.

Elsewhere, Sky Sports is reporting that even though Glen Johnson and Danny Welbeck sat out England's training session yesterday, they're both likely to be fit for Roy Hodgson's first game in charge of the national side.

England take on Norway on Saturday, in what should be a revealing insight into Hodgson's preferred starting eleven for Euro 2012.

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