Village Idiot

Player of the year in the Netherlands. Of course winners of this award include both Luís Suárez and Alfonso Alves.

I wouldn't hope too much.

He'd surely get a fair amount of playing time there when the likes of Willian, Cuadrado and Oscar are his competition down the right? Not quite as steep as that Argentinian lad ye have. That's 3 players of quality, hardly little competition. Even if Mou will probably like Pedro's workrate, he doesn't have Cuadrado or Willian's athleticism. Nor Oscar's technique - if he's allowed to use that again.

I'm not too interested in Spanish football but why didn't Atletico include him in the Turan deal, seems like a player that would do well under Simeone? They just spent a load of money propping up their front line with Vietto and Jackson Martínez. They are better off using their resources elsewhere at this point.

Pedro to Chelsea in one of our local rags. Makes no sense if he wants to leave in search of playing time.

Real Madrid will pay a part of his wages. That's been the main holdup in the talks and they finally relented.

My guess is that Lopetegui wants him. Both keepers and Real Madrid fans, already worked with him when Lopetegui was Spain's goalkeeping coach...

Anyway. Five years. http://img.irtve.es/imagenes/iniesta-heroe-final/1278897539052.jpg

Ertoic? Not the word that immediately sprung to mind tbh. Simpsons quote, but I appear to have misquoted it (in the Spanish version they say "eróticos resultados").

I still don't know why advertisers insist on making footballers act, with erotic consequences. They should only ask them to look intense on a pitch and that's it.

Seems that after lots of haggling, Casillas to Porto is finally agreed. A bit sad (well, not really) that such a club legend has ended up becoming such a divisive figure at the club.

Sissoko has had the body language of somebody who doesn't want to be there for a while. I understand that Carver will have that effect on people, but if his attitude doesn't improve under a new management team, I wouldn't be too sorry if they got rid.

Surely ManU will try to get a longer term replacement.

Antalyaspor are in talks with Valdés. They already have signed Eto'o and are linked with Ronaldinho. Blatantly trying to rebuild our Rijkaard era squad

Okay, I can't say I have watched Aston Villa much this season (was there any reason?). Is Delph that good? I know he was hyped quite a bit as a youngster.

You're right, I mixed him up with Clichy.

Hart Sagna Clichy Wright That's it for their HG brigade right? Not counting token youth players.

Celta Vigo have signed Guidetti on a free.

Apparently when Pedro signed a new contract (he only had one year remaining), we lowered his release clause to €30m. It makes sense, since rumor was that he wanted to leave and it was a bit surprising when he suddenly extended his contract. Liverpool and Arsenal linked. He's a great player to have in any squad in the world, I hope he stays this season at least.

A Spanish court has given back control of Betis to Manuel Ruíz de Lopera. This is as good a chance as any to post a photo of the press room he built http://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pUVzHGJtOsqYpsAul7mxaOzlJDPEL-PMbhjr-2HO5O85yOJZxHuHjUXdX6cIyEWHM2b45kjrRWB-0sA1Vu1fIAQ/esperpento.jpg Not good news for Betis fans, anyhow.

I have recently started telling close acquaintances that I follow you.

Yes, please, as a Spaniard I fully endorse Alan Pardew to become England's next manager.

And that's why we pair him with Mascherano. Masch gets such a bad rap as CB, but he's been integral to our success since Puyol's legs fell off. That said, Piqué is actually deceptively pacy. He just has a bad acceleration, so his burst response is bad.

Jack Grealish looks like he could play The Joker.

La Liga has closed its first domestic collective TV deal with Telefónica for €600m. Given that La Liga expects to get €400 for international rights, that would be around €1000 million, which is about 25% higher than before. The deal will only run for the 2015-2016 season.