Village Idiot

Athletic have just denied the transfer of Beñat. Weird, everybody over here was giving it as a done deal.

You definitely shouldn't be allowed to loan between PL clubs, it's absolutely crazy and just allows top clubs to stockpile players. Sale w/ buyback clauses will easily go around any kind of loan limitation likely to be implemented. Real Madrid do all their "loans" like that already (more because of a policy of monetizing their youth setup that the need of circumventing loan rules, but it's a really smooth operation).

I'm not sure Málaga will be able to afford him, and they most probably won't be in Europe next season due to their ban.

Name's been thrown into the hat several times throughout the years, but always as a last resort. Don't think it will happen. He's not shiny/cool enough for Pérez. Personally think Bernabéu fans would not take to him, either.

Puyol was so smashed during the open-top bus parade it was ridiculous http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GNODEzC3u_M

Personally I think that after winning a trophy he can probably wait out a year to see if there's an opening in a top 6. Pretty sure he'll do that.

And according to Spanish Radio Station Cadena Ser, Villa would have agreed terms with Spurs, pending talks with Barça.

Beñat to Athletic for €8m+4 in addons. Great signing.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Barcelona_SC_logo.png One of my neighbours is from Guayaquil, actually, came over the neighbourhood supermarket and bought a beer to everybody who was present when they won the league last year. They aren't doing too great this season though.

That's true, but it doesn't help us decide. I dare not putting myself in the skin of a NUFC supporter, I'm afraid I might get hurt.

To be frank, Wigan were always going to get relegated sooner or later, getting a FA Cup out of their PL years will be momentous for them.

Does the infamous Guttmann Benfica curse apply to the EL or just the European cup?

Looking forward the EL final tonight, even though I absolutely loathe the fact that we'll get yet another CL dropout as the eventual winner. Hope Benfica don't make it too easy for Chelsea, they look in dreadful spirits after the last two weeks in Portugal. Quite funny how Chelsea get the "big club" treatment even though Benfica have a truckload more trophies/finals

The entire Real Sociedad forward line (Vela/Griezmann/Agirretxe) have been immense this season. Amazing interplay between them, one of my favorite sides to watch right now, although they are choking a bit lately and might miss on the top prize. I'd say that they are the team with highest potential right now, since their squad is young and talented, and so far their stars haven't been linked with moves away. They should be able to keep most of all of them if they secure CL football. It will be interesting to see how Atlético cope without Falcao next season. To be frank they have some decent footballers all around but their peaks and valleys of form have coincided so much with Falcao's goalscoring that it's scary. Koke, Diego Costa (think Brazil could use him, to be frank, even though you have an absolute shit ton of talented strikers) , Filipe Luis... have been great. And that Óliver kid has a lot of hype around him. Isco has been a star for Málaga, but he's hardly a discovery. Joaquín is enjoying a second youth too. He's probably at the best he's been to be frank. From Valladolid, Ebert has been an amazing signing, but also woefully injury-prone. Rumor that Atlético have already agreed to sign him. Manucho has look weirdly useful, an absolute shit footballer, but unbeatable in the air. Baptistao from Rayo might interest you since he's Brazilian; had a great start to the season although he's waned a bit. But he's just 19. Riki has been their best performer overall. I thought they would sink without a trace after selling Michu, but they have done magnificently. Betis has been on a great run with Beñat and Rubén Castro having great seasons. Castro in particular has been amazing the past two years, seems to have peaked at 30. Sevilla have been weird. A lot of their players have had great seasons individually, like Rakitic or Kondogbia in particular. Negredo might have his most prolific season too, yet they are struggling to secure an EL spot. Definitely a case where the whole has been less than the sum of its parts. Valencia are on fire since Valverde took over, I'm really looking forward a full season for them under him, although if they failed to secure CL they would be in huge trouble. Laugh or not, Levante have regressed massively after they lost Martins. They are so dependant on a pacy striker. Still, another season where they'll finish comfortably, but with such an aging squad and the need to unheart a gem of a striker every season will get them at some point. Off the top of my head those would be my standout teams/players. By no means an extensive list.

No answers, I suspect they don't even understand English.

Will run it on an Atlético board and see what they say.

What reddit shit?

The new Valencia board has just lowered the ST prices despite their precarious financial situation, by the way

And I fail to see how buying somebody for €60m from a Spanish is going to benefit Ligue 1 as a whole. All of PSG's big ticket purchases are from abroad too; no trickle down effect here.

Atlético will be playing in the CL next year, Monaco won't. And remains to be seen if they can snatch one of the two available CL spots in Ligue 1 (PSG owns the third), in just a single season, no matter what they spend.

Great game it was. Very end to end; Real Sociedad had loads of chances and could have been out of sight, yet Granada never lost the will to fight back and it was all them in the last 15 minutes or so, fair result imho.

Falcao Surely he could have got a huge contract at a team that's actually a step-up from Atlético?

Sandro Rossell is inept in a lot of areas, but knows the Brazilian market down to a p. He used to work for Nike there and ran a representation agency before running for president.

Uh, what?

Dunno, everybody assumes that he'll leave/get the sack. I don't think he would work at NUFC, he's just well... el Loco. He's pretty much a football savant, and seems just downright awful at man-management. If everything clicks and the players are onboard - and he's extremely demanding tactically -, you get Athletic last season; if not you have Athletic this season. His pressers are immense though, he talks football like an absent-minded nuclear scientist would talk about an atomic reaction. He just lives for it.