Village Idiot

Gotta say that both Chelsea and ManU were, in my opinion, rather poor challengers compared to other years and they might improve too.

Definitely he has much power as an English manager at Real Madrid, now. Although he still has to accept the presidential signings (Varane and probably Neymar).

Well, it's still early for him to start for a team like Chelsea, but he's a good prospect. Also, he's more a Busquets than a Tiote.

To be frank he was excellent for Racing this season... oh wait... http://www.elobservadormexico.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/deportes3-09-06-11.jpg http://www.elpais.com/recorte/20110423elpepudep_24/LCO340/Ies/Giovani_Santos.jpg It's the color green! That's what gives him footballing superpowers.

Don't mention that, he gets touchy.

The Bojan deal is getting weirder. Catalan radio (which are quite reliable on Barça issues, much more than the newspapers) claiming that no money will actually change hands, but that we will pay €1m to Roma in 2013. People speculating that it's an accounting trick to skirt the FFP.

Paper talk, absolutely nothing in it even if - as you say - would be an excellent signing. The rumor was that we would agree to condone the Zlatan fee with a Thiago Silva swap deal, but that money has always been earmarked to plug financial holes.

Nope. We already have 5m in the kitty from O'hara plus Gio looks like he'll be off to Udinese for 10m shortly. Then hopefully Hutton joins Villa and Bentley, Jenas and Keane can f*** off to whoever takes them. The problem is we've already accepted Udinese's bid of £10m but Gio is adamant he wants to go to Sevilla who have only offered €7m. Big difference even before the change of currency. I think VI would be able to confirm it, but Gio is saying he went to Spain when he was 11 and isn't going anywhere unless it's in Spain. Knowing Levy, this will probably run until deadline day. Dunno, the only thing I can confirm is that Sevilla's night life probably kicks Udine's out of the water.

Yes, golden shower.

Any chance of one these clocks getting reset soon? Haha, good one. Honestly though, are you linked with somebody? Apart from the "Tottenham, Everton and Newcastle" ones.

That's probably our money, even.

Any chance of one these clocks getting reset soon?

If I were Rossi I personally would stay put, we were in for him before we settled for Alexis and I'm sure another season like the one he's just had, with Villarreal playing in the CL, would land him a transfer to a top team.

Has just been named sports manager of football of Real Madrid. That makes him the absolute boss regarding sporting matters.

Can't honestly say I'm wild about him, he looks very good sometimes and very average others, a bit like Berbatov in many ways. All the talk is that there will be a major overhaul of the strikers if we can find new homes for the existing ones. All the popular talk is Vucinic, Adebayor, Rossi and Pav are the preferred striking options and are achievable, but what they want and what they get may turn out to be two completely different things. The bottom line is Levy is in control and he says he wants sales to happen first. There's certainly clubs that have been asking about Keane, Crouch and Defoe but Levy's selling prices and the players' wages might slow things up! Reports in our press say that he's very close to signing for Juve, so you might be late on this one.

Bojan saying he didn't have a good relationship with Pep in his goodbye press conference (while at the same time he says he's the best manager Barça can have). That's one of his managerial quirks/flaws, if Pep gives up on you, you're dead to him.

No, he is amidst contract talks with Villarreal.

Vucinic? I admittedly don't watch that much Serie A, but he has never impressed me hugely. Is he really going to be the striker that Spurs rely on to improve their goalscoring?

Aye, really liked that team. They really have to sell, they lose a lot of money every season. Anyway, they were "dismantled" once already (the seasons after they came in second in La Liga) and bounced back splendidly.

With this deal and the way the Alexis fee is structured (with €11m in addons that ITKs say should be easily triggered in the next seasons), it really looks like our board is stocking up our transfer budget this season at the expense of the next seasons' in order to afford both Cesc and Alexis. Both signings should leave us sorted in midfield and attack for the next few years so it should be fine.

I don't see this. In 2 years time, either Barca will pay effectively €1m for him back, or Roma pay €27m to keep him, it's essentially risk free but what happens if he plays pretty well but not €40m well? We'd just get back to the table and hammer out a deal for an intermediate figure. Can't see him being a success in Serie A with those deep defences, though, the PL would have been a much better fit.

The buyback is mandatory according to our press, so essentially Roma are lending us €12m with Bojan as collateral But this makes more likely that he'll be back in two years, which for essentially sentimental reasons is something I like.

Seems Atlético have got their De Gea replacement, Thibault Courtois has travelled to Madrid to sign on a 2-year loan from Chelsea. Is he good?

Villarreal have turned down €20m from Málaga for Cazorla. They seem, however, close to agree a deal with Juve to sell Rossi, according to "Marca".

Well, KD may love this, "Marca" is linking Agüero to Spurs (alongside City and Inter) in today's cover, and say that Atlético have given him until monday to decide (when the team is presented in front of the fans).