Village Idiot

Busquets is vulnerable when closed down, which not many teams chose to do (usual target is Xavi). Have to say that he's looked immense at the WC, I was surprised of how assured he looked.

I remember in the 80s when clubs published their honor lists they included stuff like the Teresa Herrera and the Ramón de Carranza. Summer trophies were special back then.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/07/16/sergio-busquets-world-cup-final/

Most summer trophies nowadays lose money unless they take in a sponsor. Deportivo cut it down from a 4-team tournament to a 2-team one like most Spanish teams have done. It's the most famous summer trophy in Spain, and the oldest that has been played continuously.

What's he on and how many years left?

I honestly can't think of a La Liga club that would pay a fee for Xisco. You probably can get another loan out to pad a squad, but he's just not worth money at this point.

Lorik Cana joined Sunderland from OM too. Biggest stepdown to me (you still have a decent brand in the continent). So it's not that strange.

I know that list is dross for the most part (although Chicharito looks pretty handy), but still can't see the Rossi link unless they make some space and get rid of a few.

Nah, we never allow buybacks on the players we buy. Don't ManU have half a million strikers? Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Chicharito, Macheda, Wellbeck, Diouf. Even if you take the youngsters out looks like a full house to me (unless they sell Berbatov).

Cigarini from Naples to Sevilla on a loan deal with a €7m buyout clause. "Almost done", according to Marca. They need a creative midfielder, have heard decent things about Cigarini but haven't seen him play much. Any of you Calcio fans can fill me in?

It's a squad game, but after buying Khedira they have four midfield destroyers (Gago, Diarra I, Diarra II and the German), and someone has to go.

"As" linking Lassana Diarra to Manchester United on a €24m deal.

As you know I watch Bolton somewhat often and Klasnic was very good when played. Great finishing and movement. Doesn't add much else to the team though, but he nails them in.

Ok, for some non-Barça and Madrid related news, we have a big scandal brewing up. Hércules president, Enrique Ortiz, is being investigated because of some real estate corruption (not terribly uncommon in that part of the country). However, after his phone was tapped by the authorities he was - unexpectedly - recorded bragging about how he fixed matches to guarantee Hércules' promotion. Today one of our newspapers is publishing an extract where he talks about buying out Córdoba's goalkeeper for 100,000€ (Hércules played Córdoba in the last day of the season, and won 5-1 to clinch promotion). Apparently he's also suspected to have fixed matches against Salamanca, Girona and Recreativo. Italy-tastic.

Another Spaniard, stick around so I don't feel so lonely. Think Florentino will sit this one out and let Mou do his thing (as seen by the no-name signings so far). If somehow Mou fails to win something I can see things getting fun though. What I'm 100% certain is that Valdano (Madrid's DoF and Florentino's main stooge) and Mourinho won't last together beyond a season.

As said they are loophole. Nominally is what clubs pay to players in order to sell merchandise and use the player's name and likeness in publicity and promotional materials. However it's subject to a better fiscality than regular wages (as it's not a salary but a sale), and lots of clubs use it as a device to pay a part of the wages to players. There was a time when more than half of the salary of a player would be paid as image rights, but they have curbed it down after the taxman started going after it, but it's still used.

Ok, I had heard in the radio that they hadn't. Bad sources I guess. Yeah they are safe with the image rights since they aren't considered part of a players' wages by La Liga (they are a loophole commonly used to avoid tax and other regulations) and can't be relegated on those grounds.

They rescinded his contract and have to pay him in full after failing to reach to an agreement. He was out of contract, it wasn't rescinded. He had a clause in his contract which automatically renewed him for 2009/2010 if he played so many games, which he did. His contract was renegotiated and he took a drop in wages but wanted a 1.5 million payout as some kind of penalisation payout in the earlier contract. He was also owed about 500k in wages and the rest is supposed to be image rights, which Depor always seem to be slow at paying. The automatic renewal finished earlier this year and he signed with Levante but Depor have acknowledged the debt. The biggest stumbling block seems to be the length of time in paying the debt. Depor want to pay the debt over a 3 year period but Sergio wants the money sooner. Sergio had to sue them before they acknowledged it, though. But Spanish courts usually side with players. It's been said that apart from arguing the length of the installments, Sergio wants the debt to be guaranteed by a third party (a bank, something usual in Spanish business code), and Lendoiro just wants the player to "take his word for it". Deportivo are pretty f***ed financially so I can see why Sergio would ask that, if they enter administration he would be screwed otherwise. The deadline just passed and still no word on the debt being fulfilled. It wouldn't surprise me at all that Lendoiro will call La Liga's bluff (last time they tried to relegate a first division team on financial grounds they farcically balked).

It was 9 years ago. Has absolutely no importance now whatsoever. Can't see what you're getting upset about tbh. I guess he believes Gaspart is acting on behalf of the club when saying this now in the middle of the Cesc saga. Gaspart is his own man, though, and one of the most unpopular people in Barcelona (unless you're an Espanyol fan). Rosell would rather take transfer advice from a dead toad than from him. Really, would be like whoever ends up owning Portsmouth ringing Mandaric and asking him a favor in a transfer.

The Freddie Adu hype didn't make him any favours. From what I have read on bigsoccer his discipline and work ethic are pretty abysmal. The stories on his time at Benfica don't look good.

There's only one team in the entire division who they need to play "Mourinho football" against in order to win. Yeah, parking the bus in the Bernabéu will raise a few eyebrows from the Real Madrid faithful but I don't really think it's going to be a common ocurrence.

ahh i'm off for 6 days in a couple of months to BCN, you could help us on where to go etc Getting reacquainted with the city myself after five years in the exile, most of the places i used to go to are closed But sure, remind me in time.

They rescinded his contract and have to pay him in full after failing to reach to an agreement.

The Camp Nou game is going to be fucking great, now that I'm back in BCN I hope I can get tickets (impossible) What I meant with my post is that these past two seasons losing both Clásicos has been the key to losing the title so they signed a manager which is seen to have a good record against us. But otherwise Real's performance last year was simply flawless.

I don't think Mou can improve much Real's domestic performance of last year. It's a matter of winning the Clásicos nowadays (and keeping form), and they have lost both these past two seasons which is what they are aiming to improve. If we repeat last year's record league performance we should win it, imho. But it's no small ask. Barring injury Villa should have a field day, though. Incidentally no team has won La Liga more than twice on the trot since Cruyff did it in the early 90s.