Village Idiot

Borja Iglesias to Betis for €28m. If I'm not wrong this is the largest transfer fee ever paid for a Spanish player outside Barça/Madrid/Atlético or a foreign team. He should do very well for them.

Looks like Betis, flush with cash with the Junior sale to us, are going to trigger Iglesias' release clause at Espanyol. He's the best "gettable" Spanish striker for a team aiming at the upper midtable/EL spots, but €30m is a hell of a lot of money. It's going to be one of the biggest transfers for a Spanish player not involving a foreign team or Barça/Madrid.

https://www.balls.ie/football/steve-bruce-novel-293169 So much gold in it. The English Stieg Larsson innit?

Jetro will give us plenty of Thick as a Brick puns though!

They are hated by fans. The FA is fighting the good fight here (although I'm sure there's a cynical reason they are taking this up).

In the next chapter of the battle between the Spanish FA and La Liga, the Spanish FA has banned Friday and Monday league games. Thing will probably go to court since La Liga says they are moving forward with the current format (that has la liga play Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon). The FA already scuppered La Liga's plans to play games abroad last season.

FC Andorra (owned by Piqué's sport investment company Kosmos) has bought Reus CF's spot in Spanish Segunda B. That's https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49157454 Kosmos is also in talks to buy CE Manresa in the Spanish 5th tier to become Andorra's feeder team...

Steve fucking Bruce. Guy was past it 10 years ago, probably. Going to him from Rafa is like wanking oneself with a spiky gauntlet after being dumped by a supermodel. It's like a bad joke. Surely this is some kind of Truman-like reality show where the last fan standing wins something.

Ben Arfa linked with Espanyol.

I know it's just dummies being spat, but reports from Fox Sports in Argentina that AFA might try to join UEFA

Ajax has inserted this in our press: There's also a bus making the rounds in the city with the same ad.

seems because messi told them to. Not sure how the hell Barca can afford to mind Well, apparently we'll only buy if we move Coutinho on for a decent figure. PSG will rip us off, anyway, I don't think this will happen (luckily) but will probably distract us from other, better, targets. I'm really afraid they might sell Dembelé to get Neymar. Dembelé has a lots of work to do yet, and jury's out whether he has the right mentality to make the most of his talent, but his raw talent is immense.

Why o why are we pursuing Neymar?

The wage is absolutely sickening and it's caused a lot of problems in the squad and shattered any sort of wage structure. Once Sanchez goes the top earner will be Pogba on £250k which is about right for elite performers at the bigger clubs. The fact there's a £140k gap between the #1 and #2 earners is wild. That money for Alexis is ridiculous, that would make him second highest paid player at Barça... only behind Messi. Might be highest paid player at Real Madrid with Ronaldo gone, too (although I guess they're paying Hazard more now).

Looks like the rumours tying us back with Neymar are real

We're swapping Ciljessen with Neto from Valencia. Odd deal. Anyway, good for Ciljessen. He's class, and deserves to start at a good club instead of warming our bench.

That's my take on it. I wish at least their deaths serve as cautionary tale. What Reyes did was stupid.

Apparently he was driving at twice the speed limit. Why are people so daft? Sorry for him and the family.

SUITCASES? Proof of funds :frantic:

Apparently one of the matches under investigation is the Valladolid-Valencia that ended 0-2 and clinched Valencia a CL spot. For what it is known Valencia wasn't involved in the fixing - it was some Valladolid players involved in betting - so I guess they should be safe.

That's a bit OTT. We do have squad issues, but nonetheless we have quite a bit of talent beyond Messi - they can't compare to him but then again nobody can. Valverde hasn't used it effectively due to his very conservative style. De Jong coming in will help a lot with our midfield, who's frankly in need of talent and young blood.

I'm all for sacking Valverde. He's made us boring and yes we've won the league but our two CL exits have been embarassing. But fucking hell, Roberto Martínez? That's just to appease the fans since he's Catalan and we have an election in two seasons.

Oh fuck please not Roberto Martínez. Anyway, looks like Valverde is getting the sack today.

Why's he 'a dodgy sheikh'? I'm mostly going off the reports of his failed Liverpool bid.