Village Idiot

Heh, I hope you're right about La Liga. I certainly aren't. Neymar (who we've just bought) will be a big boost but Xavi is on decline and Thiago is leaving for Munich (sorry). And we still haven't bought a CB. Munich have a new manager, no matter how brilliant he is, he's going to upset the applecart of a winning formula (he was talking about playing Martínez at CB yesterday). And BVB are having a great window despite the loss of Götze. For starters, I believe it'll be much closer than last season (not that it's hard) Possibly too son for Monaco, I'll give you that, but they are assembling a good enough team if they gel. I don't follow Serie A enough anymore to pass judgement, dunno how close other teams are to Juve nowadays. Most entertaining game I saw from us last year was a 4-5 away win against Depor. They had a go at us, they lost, they ultimately got relegated, all the time playing attacking football. And what a game of football that 4-5 was. I too get "excitement" watching us try to break down some team that parks the bus, since there's always something at stake for me, but I doubt neutrals do.

I should have fleshed out my post a bit more to be honest, but I agree with what you said earlier. All the top leagues in Europe are foregone conclusions next year IMO, except England and I honestly think it plays the more exciting brand of football. It's got the perfect mix of technique and brawn. Personally cannot wait for the new season. So hum, the Spanish league have 2 challengers, the French one 2, the German 2, and the English 3. Yeah, massive improvement. Exciting brand of football is a taste thing, I love the PL (heck, what I'm doing here otherwise?) but what I love about La Liga is that even the smaller sides go about trying to play a decent brand of football instead of going the Stoke or Norwich way to ensure survival.

I feel an urge to check out if there's been a winner of 3 different top tier continental cups. Given that we just signed Neymar.

Pretty impressive given you just signed Neymar. Sorry, I slipped. Won't happen again, we have just signed Neymar afterall.

Ronaldinho winning the Libertadores, what a legend

RSC to Málaga on a free, after spending this year on loan.

Does this make sense though? Surely making signings is either good or bad 100% dependent on who the player is? I'm jealous of their manager obviously... but there's nothing about their transfer strategy that suggests it's any better than ours at the moment. Exception being Michu if he keeps it up. He had to threaten to walk out to get that money as well, club were put over a barrel in public by Laudrup and caved in to his demand for more cash. Anyone think Pardew could get away with that? You'd either get more transfer funds or Pardew would be sacked, win-win

12m lands you at least two Villas.

Meh, I suppose I can take Thiago going to Bayern better than going to ManU, Pep's there afterall, which is a strong reason for him. Of course, there'll be all the hair pulling about "Pep's betrayed us!!!" for weeks, but I don't care much about that. Bayern Munich's manager should look after Bayern Munich's interest, not Barça's. Redcafe is in meltdown, so at least I'm entertained.

Chelsea loaned Oriol Romeu to Valencia.

Granero is a fairweather player. If spirits are high and the team is clicking, he's great. If not, he won't do anything to change it.

On the Thiago issue, if Pep can convince Robben and Ribery to play as wingbacks... Neuer Martínez Gustavo Robben Ribery Schweinsteiger Kross Shaquiri Thiago Götze Müller All midfielder/AM team

Pretty sure the remaining €40m didn't go to his father, alone. Personally I don't give a fuck where the money went once it's paid, but I certainly don't believe only €17m was paid in transfer, there's bound to be more stuff under the table that's not on that document. For example we signed a "collaboration agreement" with Santos giving us first choice to some of their talents, which smacks of a way to pay Santos extra without them having to share it with the third parties.

You never had a chance as soon as Bayern got involved, with Guardiola there.

Pretty sure Götze is going to be tried as a false 9 a la Messi. Muller is also a sure thing on the right and Ribery on the left. I think Thiago will be fighting for a place with Kroos (who for me is a better player) I think Müller fits the bill better. Götze screams so much "Iniesta role" that I can't get past him for that. Wouldn't surprise me they are waiting on Lewandowski though, he would fit perfectly as deep #9. Are BVB really going to make him stay for the year?

Friend of mine, as we were talking about Deulofeu: "Where in England is Everton?" http://s01.s3c.es/imag/_v0/580x300/d/d/b/deulofeu-firma-everton.jpg He looks so preppy in the Everton shirt.

Neuer Some defenders that will get bored Martínez Schweinsteiger Kroos Thiago Götze Müller Something to that effect.

No idea where he'll fit in around Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Gustavo, Kroos, Muller, Robben, Ribery, Gotze and Shaqiri Especially when he's leaving to get gametime! None of those is a playmaker the way Guardiola sees it. Can see Pep giving him the baton.

It's pretty rare that a teenager plays regularly for their first team in Spain, since they can get competitive football playing for the B-team and not rush their development (or hamstring it if they can't get a game).

It must be a Barca fan thing, i saw on twitter the other day a Barca fan complaining that Madrid has signed Isco while Barca do "nothing" What an idiot then, we just bought Neymar.

I know but that's over the course of 10 years. Not many top-class Premier League teenagers compared to years gone by? Also it's easy to give top class examples from the past because they've already done it. Only way to judge this lot coming through is in ten years time. And he still had to resort to Jeffers and Cadamartieri. Personally I don't think there's such a lack of "teenager superstars". I don't think there were that many to begin with.

You listed more examples of "current" teenagers than old ones.

Really looking forward Copa América 2016 on that regard. Should be a blast.

Good club for him. I hope that with the EC and cup games he'll get enough playing time for him. A couple of rough PL tackles will teach him one thing or two too. Who will he be competing in Everton's left wing with? I admit I haven't watched them this season. Will probably have to start doing so. He plays on the RW doesn't he? in any case Everton had Pienaar and Mirallas on the wings last year but with Martinez coming in i wouldn't be surprised if he changes things a bit. Deulofeu's natural position is LW, he's played RW too, but he isn't as effective there. He'll probably have more chances as RW at Barça though, given we just bought Neymar. Oh right Can't say i know much about him outside the Youtube video's here and there and what i'm told about him. Really interested to see him though, i liked what i saw at the U20 WC even if his overall game is still a little raw. That's the thing, he has all the ability in the world, but he's still very very raw. We'll see if he can make the next step and mature as a player, Everton is certainly a great platform for that, given we just bought Neymar.