Village Idiot

It lacked the "but he's at Newcastle now, and I wouldn't want to unsettle him while he's there" bit to make it look real.

I may be missing something, but what is the point of a loan with an automatic buyout (I'm guessing that's different to a optional future fee...)? where theres no choice but to buy him in the summer, City want to see the back of him for good not loan him now and we may buy him next summer But why not just buy now? KS may be right club might not have the cash ready to go, they are trying to get within financial fair play as far as I know We did the same deal for Zlatan to Milan. Loan and then mandatory buyout. At the time it was said it was for tax reasons on Milan's side, but I suppose they just needed time to scrape the money together or just defer the payment to balance the season's budget.

I like Phil Jones a lot, 16m looks a bit steep a price for a rough player but I'm sure they'll be laughing at ManU in a few years. Same with De Gea. He will be Spain's #1 for years to come, I have little doubt. The entire "average British midfielders" brigade at Liverpool are a flop to me, although I think most people thought they weren't just good enough for a team aiming to challenge for Top 4. Anybody can remind me the price tag of the Downing/Adam/Henderson threesome?

That business trip couldn't come at a better time, would have hated to show up in town yesterday morning. What a sucky game that was (for us). Still got plenty of parakeet abuse in Facebook, mind. Watch them lose their cup tie tomorrow against a Liga Adelante team after playing the game of their lives against us.

Reyes to Sevilla has been finalised.

Congratulations on the win, didn't see the result until this morning but must have been a great night at SJP

I haven't watched Sunderland much this season (god forbid) but isn't he more of a winger/midfielder?

Why???

FWIW Málaga are currently the third highest budget in La Liga (although certainly I wouldn't class them as the 3rd best team yet). That score means no Cronaldo or Mou at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, they play the second leg the day after and that's too tight a result.

I just never liked Ancelotti's teams, just talking as a neutral here. He's probably going to be effective.

Ancelotti appointed PSG boss. Boring.

Heh, completely blanked him out due to the fact he plays so much in DM nowadays. So yeah, there's Coentrao. Still, RB is their weakest position so the link makes sense.

Carvalho has been a perma-crock this season, and to be frank when fit he hasn't done well. Age has finally caught up. Mou doesn't fancy Arbeloa, and they have no cover for the left if he starts on the right anyway. So they really need a fullback.

There was talk that it "could" happen if the Swiss FA refused to apply the deduction, as UEFA would have banned them from their competitions. So now that they have complied, there's no chance.

Madrid have been linked to a Brazilian RB, Mario Fernandes. It's true that they have a bit of a hole there with Ramos becoming a starter at CB, so it makes sense. There won't be business from our part bar really major surprise. Elsewhere, Simeone tried to stop the Reyes sale to Sevilla but apparently the player is dead-set on going so it should happen soon.

at Málaga's accounts: €30m turnover, €150m expenses. All covered by their sheik. How will they able to squirt FFP if they qualify for Europe?

Yeah, and I don't really think that Messi (and a host of other big players) cheat more than your average football player. They just get more exposure because they are big, but people like - dunno - Ballesteros, Navarro in La Liga are much bigger cheats but nobody cares about them.

Nah, you won't see my ugly mug in a telly (fortunately). I write for a living, most of it for TV. Have also worked as ENG for the Spanish telly.

No, your point is that ultracompetitive players cheat more. I don't think that's true.

Mandated by FIFA after violating a transfer ban. The reason they were thrown out of the LC in favor of Celtic. So I see the Swiss FA has balked.

Heh, that happened in a meaningless game years ago (okay, not so meaningless ). Anyway, I'm not denying Messi cheats occasionally, I can remember two dives of his this season. Just that he actually does it quite less than most other big players. Heck, just watch the CWC game, 90% of players in the globe would have gone for the pen in the third goal, but he stood on his feet.

How about scoring with a blatant handball?

Not really a good example, Messi dives far less than other big players. Regarding Henry, during his times at Barça he behaved quite well on that regard (although the hand incident against Ireland happened during that), but I guess not being the top dog in the team relieved a lot of pressure.

For what is worth, I work in TV and the BBC is indeed considered the best TV broadcaster in the world around the profession. Heck, every time I work with a public TV channel sooner or later they trot out the "we want to be like the BBC" line. A lot of BBC shows are exported overseas too, they make tons of money out of stuff like Dr Who, Sherlock, The Office, and all those costume dramas. Surprised they can't find a few coin to help lower league football gain exposure, are Football League highlights that expensive? (I don't think the cost of producing the program itself is the show-stopper here)

Well, the positive is that they save a couple months' wages of their most expensive players (in a league that's not swimming in cash). Regarding Henry, he's way past it to play at his level. But who knows, he may nick a goal in a late sub appearance. I don't really think it will affect his reputation, his last season at Arsenal was quite poor and nobody takes that into account.