Village Idiot

People are even selling shirts of him already. He's the guy in charge of the dressing room tunnel.

Forlán to Inter seems on, by the way, as Diego was left out of the EL squad yesterday to avoid getting him cup-tied. Rumor that Atlético will go for Gio Dos Santos if he offloads him.

So far first week is definitely off. The strike is supposed to hit the second week too, but talks are ongoing. It's going to be almost impossible to cram the missed games throughout the season, since with the EC there's little space left.

Pity about the after-match shenanigans. That Clásico was a great football game. Madrid look more daring this time around, but I'm excited about our progress too. It's so great to look at the bench and see some players you're excited about coming in, instead of Keita/Adriano/Jeffren... In just 10 minutes Cesc already could have notched an assist if Messi had finished that through ball. Hope everyone involved cools the fuck down.

Sadly it looks like they won't. Was really looking forward to that game.

That Falcao fee is ridiculous, blowing all the Agüero money on a single (and inferior) player. They should have spread the wealth around and plug some holes on their squad instead of betting the house on Radamel. He is good but not as influential as Kun. Osvaldo has gone AWOL since Espanyol ultimately refused Atlético's offer for him.

Ok, a meeting between the Spanish players association and La Liga ended without an agreement, there's another meeting scheduled for Friday but so far the strike is still on.

Aye, I think he'll be great value for money (not that €17m is cheap but better than throwing the house at Falcao imho). Espanyol will lose their first decent striker since Tamudo started regressing but that money should erase all their financial problems.

Just watching the repeat of the BATE - Sturm game. A shame one of Udinese or Arsenal will miss on the CL and get one of this rubbish instead.

Espanyol and Atlético de Madrid have agreed a €17m fee for Osvaldo.

Honestly though, I remember when I went to London on 2004 and watched them dispose of Liverpool with a Henry hattrick, and thinking "shit, we'll never be this good". How the world turns...

THE INCREDIBLES Like it! Invincibles mate I was just watching the movie as I was typing this, sorry

Robin Van Persie is a great forward, shame of his fitness record.

Albacete's new shirt: http://www.elpais.com/recorte/20110802elpepudep_22/XXLCO/Ies/camisetas_Albacete_publicidad_Bodegas_Iniesta.jpg Really need to get my hands on one of those.

Okay, okay, I will shut up. See you in a few years for Bellerín.

And I don't really mean to disrespect Arsenal, I have said many times that of all the sides fighting it out for the PL title I'd rather them win it, but you have been on a slide and the Wenger project after the Incredibles era just hasn't worked out.

It all comes and goes, as I said in my previous message, when Cesc signed for you Arsenal were a much better team than we.

Pretty satisfied with the Supercopa result yesterday, Madrid were all over us but we will get much better than that, and still managed to get a good result from the game. I liked a lot of what I saw from Alexis, given that he's been with us for a week.

Oh, most people over here don't buy it, Cesc even admitted he knows a lot of the Barça fans haven't forgiven him leaving. He's just coming because we are top of the food chain now, in the same way he left because back then we were s***, and he's leaving Arsenal because they're s***. But he's a great player, so I'll take him just for that. ... We're not s***... No, you aren't in a general sense, but in the "big club" sense.

Oh, most people over here don't buy it, Cesc even admitted he knows a lot of the Barça fans haven't forgiven him leaving. He's just coming because we are top of the food chain now, in the same way he left because back then we were s***, and he's leaving Arsenal because they're shit. But he's a great player, so I'll take him just for that.

Ok, Fàbregas transfer is over. FINALLY. Numbers, according to us we are paying €29m in two installments + €6m addons (2*€2m for winning La Liga, €1m for winning the CL in the next 5 years) + €5m in yearly €1m installments deducted from Cesc's wages.

Incidentally Nelson Valdez looks set to be his replacement at Espanyol. Looks like they can't cope with forwards that actually score. EDIT: Hope Luís Enrique does well for Roma, one of my favorite Barça players too.

Don't see where he'd fit in at Roma assuming LE will use the 4-3-3. Surely Totti would be the focal point. I didn't watch Roma yesterday against Valencia, did they go 443? LE used it at Barça B but that's because it's system we use throughout the club, he might favor something else when on his own.

Incidentally, Osvaldo put in a "transfer request" a couple days ago, and wants to be sold to Roma.

No she sold it to the current owners. They don't seem to have the muscle to save them though. Apparently they asked the manager and 4 players to take a 70% wage cut. To be frank, it's a bit of a disgrace that we promoted a team that can't pay the squad they achieved promotion with. Financial rules in La Liga are going to tighten up, though.