Spanish League

More Spanish league transfers news

2006-06-19T15:03:00.001-07:00

Real Madrid presidential candidate Villar Mir told the News of the World: "We have opened negotiations with two managers, Wenger and Capello." (BBC)

Seville have rejected Liverpool's £10 million bid for Alves (various)

Older news but worth mentioning:

Barcelona have completed the signing of Iceland captain Eidur Gudjohnsen on a four-year, 12 million euro ($15.10 million) deal from Chelsea, the European and Primera Liga champions said on Wednesday (Reuters)

Barcelona are lining up a £30m deal bid - involving cash plus Portuguese midfielder Deco - for Chelsea and England star Frank Lampard (BBC)

Saviola told he can quit Barcelona (CNN)

Dida won't sign a new contract with AC Milan. Villarreal, Deportivo and Manchester United are interested in the Brazilian keeper (Tribalfootball)

World Cup Predictions

2006-06-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

I was planning to post this before the World Cup started but I got busy with other stuff. Here's who I guess will be playing in the first knock-out stage:

Germany vs. Sweden; England vs. Ecuador; Argentina vs. Portugal; Mexico vs. Netherlands; USA vs. Croatia; Brazil vs. Italy; France vs. Ukraine; Spain vs. Switzerland

The quarter-finals: Germany vs. Argentina; England vs. Netherlands; USA vs. France; Brazil vs. Spain

Semi-finals: Germany vs. France; Brazil vs. England

And for the final: Host Germany vs. Champions Brazil

However, I don't think the score will be a repetition of the last world-cup final. Germany will benefit from playing on their own soil, so my bet is they will win this year.

That doesn't mean I'm supporting Germany. I'm on Brazil's side any day, but there's a difference between who you think will win, and who you want to win.

The opening match was very good. Man, what a goal by Frings! Would remind you of a younger Roberto Carlos. See the goal here if you've missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoY6NUG8HNE

I was expecting a poor match between Poland and Ecuador, but it was even better than the first. Polish players hit the post at least 2 or 3 times, so they were very unlucky. But an awesome match overall.

Joaquin, Reyes and Eriksson for Real Madrid? Vote for Baldasano

2006-06-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

Real presidential candidate, Baldasano, has promised Joaquin, Reyes and Eriksson as coach. He claims all of them have made commitments in case he wins the elections.

Although Chelsea have to wait until after Real's July elections to talk about Roberto Carlos, everything is pointing towards Carlos leaving for the Blues. The latest news is that Roberto Carlos has been taking English lessons.

As expected, Gabri has joined Ajax Amsterdam.

AC Milan want Cassano as Shevchenko's replacement. I hope they want him very badly so Real can ask for Kaka in return :-P

Newcastle would like to bring Woodgate back to the Premier League.

Bayern's Roy Makaay and Roma's Chivu denied the possiblity of moving to Barcelona.

New Atletico Madrid striker, Aguero, was officially presented on Moday. Bought from Independiente for around $28 million, the teenager has been brought to Madrid with high expectations. If he can get along with Torres, that would certainly be show to look forward to.

Valencia say they are interested in Benfica's Sabrosa.

Villarreal to Barcelona: Forlan not for sale

2006-06-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Not much news today.

Villarreal were very straight-forward about not wanting to sell Diego Forlan, so leave them alone Barcelona.

After the recent announcement that Valencia are selling Pablo Aimar this summer with an estimated price tag of only £5m, Liverpool is the first team to show interest in the Argentine.

Enjoy your weekend!

Real Madrid set to hold election

2006-06-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

Real Madrid will hold an election for a new president on 2 July - with all of the candidates promising to restructure the playing squad if they win.

England captain David Beckham and the Brazil duo Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo have all been tipped to leave the club, depending on who becomes president.

read more

Raul Gonzalez Offered to Roma

2006-06-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know what team would want a player in such bad form but Real Madrid have offered THE Raul Gonzalez to Roma.

Lopez Caro leaves Real Madrid to coach Racing Santander.

Chelsea are offering Barcelona target Eidur Gudjohnsen to Real Madrid. This move is probably to tempt Real to sell Roberto Carlos to Chelsea.

Real Madrid would buy the whole Brazilian National team squad if they could give them Spanish citizenship. AC Milan's Kaka and Juventus' Emerson have welcomed Real Madrid's interest. Now it's Real's turn to prepare serious bids if they want any of the players.

Luque has turned down Barcelona.

Shevchenko joins the blues

2006-05-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

Real Madrid interested in Juventus pair Ibrahimovic and Zambrotta; also in talks with Inter Milan about Adriano.

Valencia coach Flores has extended his contract to 2008; Carboni hints that Aimar is for sale.

Alex Ferguson will interrupt his summer holiday to watch Riquelme at the World Cup.

After Celtic showed interest in Gravesen, the player says he'd be keen on a transfer if Real Madrid let him go.

Deportivo want Manchester United's Fortune.

Atletico Madrid have closed a deal for Dynamo Moscow pair Greek Seitaridis and Portuguese Costinha.

Finally, not Spanish League related: Shevchenko's move to Chelsea is almost a done deal at £34m. The player has to pass the medical test, but other than that there doesn't seem to be any obstacle to stop the transfer.

Calderon bringing Kaka to Madrid, Saviola leaves Seville

2006-05-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

Each of the Real Madrid presidential candidates is trying to boost the chances of winning by promising to bring big names to the club; yesterday, Sainz talked about getting coach Arsene Wenger. Today, Ramon Calderon announced that signing Brazilian star Kaka from AC Milan, is his top priority.

"Argentina striker Javier Saviola is not staying at Sevilla after the end of his one-year loan from Barcelona." (Reuters)

This is becoming a little confusing. Yesterday we heard that Eto'o was no longer interested in AC Milan. New reports say that he has held a meeting with AC Milan chiefs.

Ronaldo has turned down a whopping £60 million offer from Red Bull New York because his time at Madrid isn't over yet.

Celtic is targetting Real Madrid's Gravesen.

"Laboring under poor form and an increased threat from younger strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa, the Spanish captain [Raul Gonzalez] is no longer assured of a place in the starting lineup." (AP)

Arsene Wenger for Real Madrid?

2006-05-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

"Sainz is hoping to lure Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to Real Madrid, if he wins the club's presidential election on 2 July." (source: BBC)

Atletico Madrid and Seville are after Luque.

Gabri will leave Barcelona and the most likely destination at this time seems to be Ajax.

Chinese clubs Changchun Yatai and Beijing Guo'an have sent agents to convince Zidane to play for them.

Villarreal's Senna, wanted by Real Madrid and Arsenal, will announce his decision after the World Cup.

Eto'o who showed interest in AC Milan only a few days ago, has now changed his mind. Messi doesn't want to leave Barcelona either.

Real Madrid Dream Squad

2006-05-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I'll do this just for fun. Which players does Real Madrid need to regain their position in Europe and win titles?

Let's get rid of Raul and Cassano and replace them with some real strikers who can score goals, like Forlan and Baptista :-D Full South American fire-power.

The mid-field needs a lot of work. Get Gravesen back; he didn't play much this year, but in the 04/05 season he was amazing. Riquelme to replace Zidane. Kaka and Robinho will be attacking midfielders. C. Ronaldo is very quick and can be a winger on both sides.

And for the defence, Real Madrid need players with more experience. Roberto Ayala and Ashley Cole would be perfect for that. Cicinho and Ramos aren't experienced but they're good enough.

Goalkeeper... Well Real have the best, so that doesn't need much work ;-)

Goalkeeper: Casillas
Defence: Cicinho, Ramos, Roberto Ayala, Ashley Cole
Midfilders: Gravesen, Riquelme, Kaka, C. Ronaldo
Strikers: Baptista, Forlan

What do you think?

Big Update

2006-05-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

The past few days, I've been really busy and I couldn't submit any updates, so this is a long post to make up for it.

Fresh news

It's official now: Villarreal agree two-year deal with Pires.

Morientes agrees terms with Valencia.

Real Madrid to play MLS side Real Salt Lake on Aug. 12

Real Madrid are after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

If Capello agrees, Real Madrid will try to bring half of the Juventus squad with him! Ibrahimovic, Trezeguet, Zambrotta, Emerson, Vieira and Cannavaro are on the list.

Rafael Benitez signed a 4-year deal to stay with Liverpool, so we won't see him in Spain next season.

Chelsea's Lampard dreaming of Barcelona.

Woodgate says he's staying at Real Madrid.

Manchester still interested in Riquelme.

Ronaldo's recovering well from his thigh injury.

Older news

Barcelona won the Champions League final 2-1 in a controversial match. Most of Arsenal's players and the manager justified their defeat by the referee's mistakes.

Barcelona also won the last match against Bilbao where Eto'o scored making him the top scorer of the league.

Henry tells Barcelona and Real Madrid to look elsewhere as he signs a 4-year contract with Arsenal. Adriano is also happy at Inter Milan.

It will be interesting to see who Barcelona will go after now... They had said that Forlan would be second option if Henry talks failed.

Atletico Madrid believe Osasuna coach Aguirre could be their saviour; a one-year contract has been signed.

Arsenal made an £80000 per week offer for Ashley Cole to stay after being linked with Real Madrid.

Inter Milan made a £10 million bid for Nistelrooy who, rumours say, might be swapped for Atletico's Torres.

Amedeo Carboni, 41, has ended a long playing career to become Valencia's sports director.

Deportivo La Coruna are interested in Alaves attacker Nene according to the player.

Sevilla haven't talked with Barcelona over a permanent deal for Saviola.

Barcelona assistant coach left the club to become Ajax head coach.

Plenty of rumours around Real Madrid

2006-05-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

Reports claim Real Madrid want to bring Xabi Alonso from Liverpool.

They're also trying to sign young talent Freddy Adu of Chicago Fire, US. Chelsea are interested too.

Rumours say that Ronaldo is going back to former club Inter Milan. If this is true, I hope an Adriano exchange is involved or that Real Madrid make a serious move for Henry. They can't rely on Raul or Cassano.

Arsenal's Fabregas has announced that he's open for a Real Madrid move.

Chelsea are really serious about signing Roberto Carlos, and swapping del Horno for the Brazilian veteran is an option. Del Horno said he was pleasantly surprised to find out that Real are interested while Carlos said it would be sad if he left Madrid after all those years.

Not sure why he would say something like that, but Barcelona's Silvinho has recommended Real Madrid to Ashley Cole.

Meanwhile, Giuly said he's in talks with Lyon although he'd like to stay at Barcelona till 2008.

Zidane leaves Real in defeat

2006-05-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

Seville beat Real Madrid 4-3 but that didn't affect any of the rankings because Valencia lost 1-2 to Osasuna.

I watched the Seville vs. Real Madrid match and I've got to say it was a weird one. Goals are fun to watch, but in this match they came too easily. The ones scored by Beckham were nothing special, particularly the first, which most probably wasn't even targeted at the goal. All the other goals of the match (except for the powerful shot by Jesus Navas) were also due to poor defending and goalkeeping. And don't ask me what Lopez Caro was thinking when he played Cicinho on the left side. That wasn't the only strange thing; he also substituted Beckham, who had been having a good day, with a B-team player. Very disappointing match for me, especially that Zidane left defeated.

Being a Real Madrid fan myself, I should probably thank Osasuna for helping Madrid end in second place. Hope for a better season next year.

Quality players being left out of World Cup

2006-05-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

It was all over the internet that Baraja and Morientes won't be in the Spanish team for the World Cup. But what I found even more surprising is that Baptista wasn't mentioned on Brazil's squad! I realize Brazil is full of great players and it's difficult to make it into the team, but Baptista has got more experience than some other players and he's now in good form.

Brazil Squad
Goalkeepers: Dida (A.C. Milan), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)
Defenders: Cafu (A.C. Milan), Cicinho (Real Madrid), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Juan (Bayern Leverkusen), Chris (Lyon), Luisao (Benfica), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin)
Midfielders: Edmilson (Barcelona), Ronaldinho Gaucho (Barcelona), Emerson (AS Roma), Ricardinho (Corinthians), Kaka (A.C. Milan), Juninho Pernambucano (Lyon), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal)
Forwards: Adriano (Inter Milan), Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robinho (Real Madrid), Fred (Lyon)

Spain Squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Santiago Canizares (Valencia), Jose Manuel Reina (Liverpool)
Defenders: Michel Salgado (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Juanito Gutierrez (Real Betis), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Asier Del Horno (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Joaquin Sanchez (Real Betis), David Albelda (Valencia), Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona), Antonio Lopez (Atletico Madrid), Marcos Senna (Villareal), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)
Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), Raul Gonzalez (Real Madrid), Luis Garcia (Liverpool)

Confirmed transfers and more rumours (05.16.2006)

2006-05-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Nihat has joined Villarreal and they're very confident that so will Robert Pires. They're also thinking about selling Senna with Arsenal and Real interested.

Real Madrid are considering Riquelme and Ashley Cole to close the gaps left by departures of Zidane and possibly Roberto Carlos.
Chelsea have sent an official to Madrid to talk about Roberto Carlos, making a swap involving Robben also possible. Salgado and Carvalho could swap too.
Despite all these rumours about possible swaps and transfers, Beckham is insisting he will end his career at Real Madrid probably disappointing Premiership fans.
Gravesen has been linked with several teams including Manchester United but he's likely to stay at Madrid.

Larsson will go home at the end of the season to Helsingborg. Newcastle's Luque could be the replacement.

Real Madrid reject and currently Getafe striker, Riki, has been getting a lot of attention from Manchester United and Liverpool and now from Deportivo La Coruna.

Argentinian Pernía moving to Valencia after a good season with Getafe.

Rijkaard leaving Barcelona for AC Milan (?)

Chelsea push for Eto'o

2006-05-15T03:36:00.000-07:00

Chelsea have offered Barcelona £35 million for Eto'o as they hail signing Michael Ballack.

First it was Ronaldinho, now it's Gio and the Barcelona chiefs also trying to convince Henry to choose Barcelona. Nothing personal but it's starting to get pathetic on Barcelona's side. Thierry is a great player and signing him would scare the hell out of Real Madrid, but come on... you don't need to start worshipping him. Anyway, Henry has promised to let us know what he decides before the World Cup.

Diego Forlan and Harry Kewell have been linked with Valencia but both players have denied the rumours.

Zidane: Player divisions were cause of Real failure

2006-05-15T03:22:00.000-07:00

MADRID, May 14 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane says Florentino Perez's division
of the Real Madrid squad into separate classes depending on the importance of
the players had devastating consequences for morale at club.

The
former Real Madrid president famously claimed that his recruitment policy at the
club was based on 'Zidanes or Pavons', supplementing big-name players like the
Frenchman with products from the youth team such as centre-back Francisco
Pavon.

But Zidane said that such talk and the labelling of some players such
as himself, Ronaldo and David Beckham as 'Galacticos' had created severe
divisions in the dressing room.

'I think it was a shame that people talked about Zidanes and Pavons
because it's clear that it divided the team,' the midfielder told Spanish
television station Antena 3.

You can read the full article at ESPN.

More transfer rumours

2006-05-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

These are some quick headlines about the latest transfer rumours and denials:

As Seville get closer to Champions League qualification, the chances of Brazilian fullback Daniel Alves leaving the team, are becoming less according to their sports chief.

British tabloids claim that Arsenal midfielder Píres has signed a two-year deal with Spanish club Villarreal. No confirmation has been made yet.

Real Madrid's Brazilian stars Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos are being chased by Qatar and UAE's clubs. Chelsea and Turkish Fenerbahçe are also interested in Carlos although they can't match the offers made by the wealthy Arab clubs.

Spanish player Jose Antonio Reyes says he's now adapted to Arsenal, so a move back to the Spanish League is now unlikely.

Seville on fire

2006-05-14T03:23:00.000-07:00

UEFA Cup champs Seville are on fire after a 3-2 win against Barcelona and they are determined to secure a spot in the Champions League. Here are the rest of the results:

Villarreal : Racing Santander (2-0)
A. Madrid : Real Betis (1-1)
Alaves : Deportivo La Coruna (1-0)
Cadiz : Malaga (5-0)
Celta Vigo : Getafe (1-0)
Espanyol : Real Sociedad (1-0)
Mallorca : Real Zaragoza (3-1)

We can expect some real entertainment this Tuesday as each of these four teams has something to fight for:

Seville (65) vs. Real Madrid (70)
Osasuna (65) vs. Valencia (69)

Adiós!

First Post

2006-05-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone. This is Mohammad and I'll be posting news and personal commentary on the Spanish football league.

I realize this year's league is (almost) over, but I'll still keep you updated about transfer news. And the World Cup should keep us busy until next season kicks off.

Week number 38 will have two very important matches which will decide who qualifies to the Champion's League:

Seville (62) vs. Real Madrid (70)
Osasuna (65) vs. Valencia (69)

Looking at the number of points of each team, we can expect two very strong matches. The rest of the matches:

Bilbao vs. Barcelona
A. Madrid vs. Betis
Celta Vigo vs. Getafe
Espanol vs. R. Sociedad
Alaves vs. La Coruna
Mallorca vs. Zaragoza
Villarreal vs. Santander
Cadiz vs. Malaga

Valencia's David Villa is just one goal behind top scorer Eto'o, so we'll wait and see if he can repeat what Forlan did last year.

As for transfers, no major signings have been confirmed yet. Ronaldinho is still trying to convince Thierry Henry to move to Barcelona while Valencia are supposedly going to make a move for Villarreal's Sorin. Plus Chelsea winger Robben, who dismissed transfer rumours a few days ago, has now shown interest Real Madrid. Fernando Torres is closer than ever to travel to the Premier League according to his agent and although that would be a great loss for the Spanish League, Torres deserves to be in a better team.

That's all for today. It's 2:25AM and I've got to go to sleep. Adiós!