Village Idiot

Next big thing apparently. Does that mean coutinho is off? They play in very different positions. Coutinho is certainly not fitting in, though.

Apparently we're signing Frenkie De Jong for €90m. He better be good...

Unless he bites someone. Anyway, we had both Alcácer and Munir, which were good enough (Alcácer is having a fantastic season in Germany), but none wished to remain in the bench forever. I think Valverde could have managed this better. KPB is just a bargain bin body we can throw, and I suppose we'll sign a real backup striker/potential Suárez replacement in the summer.

I've got to say your taxman is good at getting money from people, unlike the UK's.... The Spanish authorities had historically been incredibly lenient with football regarding tax - clubs had been allowed to accrue stupid amounts of unclaimed tax debt too - since no public official wanted to be the guy that sent the local club to bankruptcy. The recession made it that these kind of stuff was no longer publicly acceptable, or even something we could afford. To their credit, they have been very diligent since then and besides taking footballers to court, tax debt from clubs has been reduced massively. Ronaldo was also in Madrid today to sign off on his plea deal.

Xabi Alonso's trial for tax fraud started today in Madrid. Unlike pretty much every other footballer taken to court by our taxman (Ronaldo, Messi, Modric, Mascherano, and a long etcetera...) he's so far refused a deal with the prosecution, so jail time is a possibility.

ManU hadn't had one in 6 years! That's a bit shocking.

He's there as understudy to Suárez, but honestly I can't see it. He a striker nowadays? I remember him as an AM.

Ok, seems it wasn't serious.

We are so fucked when Messi retires. We've spent bajilions and we still have a hard time of it when he's not on the pitch, even at home against not particularly strong opposition. Hope Dembele's injury isn't serious. But it looked serious.

Stats seem allright. Having a good season apparently. It also meets the prerequisite of *not* breaking your transfer record at €15m. This seems important for this board.

I'd really like Stuani tbf. He's been amazing in La Liga (I guess he can exploit his physicality much more easily over here) and would give us another option.

Looks like we're loaning Vela from the MLS to replace Munir as understudy for Suárez.

This comeback against Levante is going to be pretty pointless if we end up expelled from the Cup...

Totally agree with that. The obsession with "his nose was 1 cm offside!"-style controversies is missing the point of what the offside is supposed to achieve.

I heard on the radio yesterday that there was a room at the Nou Camp with like one way glass, that you could watch the opps training through? have you heard that? Huh, there's loads of one-way windows at the Camp Nou. Whether they have been used to spy on rivals no idea, although I always thought it's unavoidable being watched when you train in the opposition's pitch.

Bielsa took Athletic to two finals, lost them both, and then completely blew up the dressing room. He always gives quite the ride. Love him. As others said, he set a blueprint that other less obsessive managers can apply with more flexibility and success. Pep's first years at Barça were very influenced by Bielsa's ideas. Heck, we even set up a scouting team that watched opposition games obsessively, we set up cameras at the Camp Nou that followed certain players exclusively throughout the game to analyze their movements... At one point Pep said that he couldn't keep that level of commitment indefinitely, so he's "eased" on this kind of stuff, but Bielsa is El Loco for something, so he manages to keep going...

Kiko Casilla playing in a second division team... I guess Leeds can actually pay him more than probably half of La Liga clubs, though.

We've signed Todibo from Toulouse. Seems we're fishing in French football, can't complain given the results so far.

It used to be "Real Ronaldo" before Cristiano Ronaldo started piling up CL championships. I think we'll always miss what would have become of Ronaldo Nazario had his knees remained intact. He was such a force of nature before his injury at Inter, and it's not that he became a slouch after that... but he used to be so much more. He seems to be taking his role as football administrator very seriously btw. Wish him all the best at Valladolid.

Henry was poor in his first year, but then everybody was. Then he was instrumental in our first treble season. He then had a so-so followup year and left after that. But his second year was fantastic. Saviola did decent numbers in the poorest Barça side in our recent history, so he's largely forgotten. Fat Ronaldo was the most woved I have ever been by a Barça player until Messi came along. His single season with us is one of the best performances by a Barcelona striker ever. Oh, what could've been... I was utterly devastated when he left. Once he settled, Henrik Larsson was the best backup striker we ever had in recent times. Even now our press always goes about "finding our next Larsson" when the club searches for a cheap backup striker.

We are in talks with Arsenal regarding Denis Suárez. He is a talented lad, but he lacks the character to make it at a big club imho. His career is stagnating here so I hope he finds a good club that affords him playing time, though.

But then Wijnaldum was the last to do it in the PL, right? What a weird player he was. Blew cold most of the time, but when he blew hot, it was volcanic stuff.

We're going to miss him so much. Got to treasure every single season he has left for us. What's the last Newcastle player to score a hat trick, btw? Please don't take this as a "HAHAHA YOU SUCK!" question. Wijnaldum against Norwich? Maybe somebody else had one in the c'ship season.

One of the Atlético fans arrested in Belgium this week is the convicted murderer of a Real Sociedad fan 20 years ago. It looks like the dim cunt breached parole so he'll be back in the slammer.

49th Messi hat trick.