In the end of the year when all is summed up, Kaka will be the biggest loser. When we wrote that Real will realize the sad truth that ‘galacticos 2' will be even a bigger farce than the first version of Perez's team, many thought we were wrong.

As soon as Real came across few serious rivals, things fell into place as making the team by spending €100 million because of someone's ego is simply not how things are done.

It is thought that Sir Alex Ferguson has £100 million to spend in the transfer market, that means we will be linked with loads of players, the latest being Valencia's David Villa. Fergie is ready to...
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Football Italia reported this morning that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has flatly rejected Chelsea as a possible suitor.Ibrahimovic's criteria is simple, he feels Inter can no longer elevate his game. I've always been of the thought its the player who lifts the club and thus his career.But its obvious Zlatan feels Inter's surrounding cast can no longer make him better.

Background: Toyota Park, located in Bridgeview, Illinois, is - for lack of a better word - gorgeous. Combining new American innovations with European classical style, the home field for the Chicago Fire has established itself as one of the finest fields in all of MLS despite its short history.

If you've got £100 million and a Hotmail account, Magpies could be yours Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has proved once and for all that he has less class than the knee-high white Donnay socks he flogs at Sports Direct by putting the club up for sale by email. A statement on Newcastle's official website (talk about [.

The new Premier League season is not too far away now, so we have set up our own Fantasy Premier League which you are free to join. To join our private league, just follow these very easy steps:

1. Register your team or login to the Fantasy Premier League site http://fantasy.

The News of The World reported on Sunday that brewing giants Carlsberg have shown interest in the naming-rights for the mythical new Liverpool Stadium.The paper claims that the Beer Company has offered £100 million in a ten-year deal which would be another small step in raising the £500 million needed to build the new ground.

UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness told the newspaper Bild,

"If I hear that there was an offer for 125 million euros for Kaka, then Ribery has a market value of at least 100 million .

Arsene has for the first time broken his self imposed purdah on Arsenal's transfer budget or money available for transfers.

"I am fed-up with people who think I have £100million in the bank yet don't want to spend it. How can people think that? The pride of the club is in having moved to a new stadium while maintaining the club at the top level.

We know, we know... it is only July but hey - you weren't doing anything else during the Summer break were you?
Yes, it's the wonderful return of the official Fantasy Premier League competition for 2009/10 and more specifically SPAOTP's very own mini-league, custom-made just for you.
This'll be the third year SPAOTP has had a Fantasy Premier League running and we're hoping to attract even more competitors than the 67 we had in 2007/08 and the 121 we had in 2008/09.

Real Madrid may have signed Cristiano Ronaldo for a staggering £80 million to set a new world record, but Inter Milan manager is hailing his sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a "£100 million deal." In case you missed it, Barcelona acquired Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a deal that saw Samuel Eto'o and a fat wad of cash head the other way.

Big Story

Danny Dichio's retirement last Wednesday meant emotions ran high during the 24th minute of the first half during Toronto FC's 3-2 win against the Colorado Rapids yesterday at BMO Field. It was the 24th minute when Dichio scored Toronto FC's first ever club goal against the Chicago Fire on May 13th 2007, and fans in the south stand have chanted his name at the same minute of play at every home game ever since.

If Kaka joins City, he could start the revolution.

Well the deal is done. After a lot of speculation and rumours, Kaka' has signed for Real Madrid with a record transfer fee of about 58 million pounds. The new world record eclipses the previous one, also held by Real Madrid for when they purchased Zidane from Juve back in 2001. It could've been much higher if he'd joined Man City in the middle of the season (around the 100 million pound mark!

UPDATE: According to Robin Hackett at Setanta Sports, Bayern Munich will sell Franck Ribery if they receive a large, crazy offer. General manager Uli Hoeness said,

"We have said that we will only negotiate under certain conditions .

El Pais writes " Florentino Perez lives in another galaxy."

The worst economic times in 70 years, with Spain's unemployment rate projected to reach almost 19%, and no real recovery till 2011. Real's purchase of Ronaldo exceeds the total budget of 16 teams in the Liga. When the summer is done, Real is expected to have paid 300 million euros in transfers.

If you were your country's top scorer with a healthy 35 goals in 73 appearances, chances are you'd be an established top league player in most countries in Europe. Add to that record a career that has seen you start out at Manchester United and take in spells at Leeds United, Sunderland and Fulham, you'd expect a pretty good record.

In absence of a stadium rendering this picture of Earthquakes owner Leo Wolff will have to do.
From the San Jose Mercury News:

Hoping to speed along a San Jose Earthquakes soccer stadium threatened by the cratering economy, city officials have agreed to shave more than $40 million off a land deal signed last year with team owner Lew Wolff and his partners.

There were some tricky contract negotiations to be done for Barca this summer. Luckily they have concluded the most important one of all. Yaya Toure has signed a new deal which will keep him at the club till 2012. This one deal extension wwas shrudded in mystery for sometime. Especially with reports emerging about Guardiola's new found likeness for Mascherano.

I know there are some purists out there who detest fantasy sports. That's great, but I don't want to hear it. To me, the invention and explosion of fantasy sports is the third best thing to happen in sports in the last 30 years (dozens of sports channels on television is No. 1 and the Internet is No.

When the £80m transfer deal for Cristiano Ronaldo was confirmed United fans were writing out their shopping list of players they wanted Sir Alex Ferguson sign. We could do with another winger, another central midfielder, another striker, maybe a right-back, but our transfer kitty meant we could buy as many players as we wanted.

"....buhahahahahahhahahha...wohooohahahahah"

Carlton Palmer after tasting the Real wankfest

"4-0!

Most Valencia fans are focused on this weekend's match against Espanyol in Montjuïc.

But grant me a moment to focus on next season.

I know, I know. I just finished telling everyone transfer rumors do my head in.

And they do. They really do.

Most of them are baseless, pure speculation for the National Enquirer/Sun lover in us all.

Manchester United's reserves could decide the relegation battle. That's because if United win the title on Saturday against Arsenal at Old Trafford, their last game of the season against Hull City is pointless... for United. But could be worth £100 million for Hull City.

United's final premier league match against Hull is three days before the Champions League Final in Rome.

What a turbulent week, Wenger throws away a line about Real Madrid and suddenly we felt like the roof hade caved in on our little world. Everyone came out in support of Wenger.

Hill-Wood came out like the proud rooster, strutting his stuff about how disgraceful those shareholders were and how dare they question a man like Wenger.

The summer transfer window does not open for another four weeks, but the amount of money being branded about by as being available this summer is astounding. Newspaper reports say that both Manchester City and Real Madrid have transfer budgets of between £250 and £260 million. Yes you read that right.

Well, that didn't take long. I've been concerned about United's lack of presence in the transfer market, but that problem has finally been addressed this afternoon. Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has confirmed that Manchester United have made a bid for Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia.

No concrete figures to be had, but the best estimates indicate that Valencia could be a United player for around £15 million.

The midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo is keen to prove that he is worth the massive fee paid for him. Even though he cost Real Madrid nearly €100 million, Cristiano Ronaldo believes his price tag is "fair" and says he is "happy" to be the most expensive player in the world. The Portuguese winger joined the Spanish club in [.

Manchester City's attempts to dominate the summer transfer window with huge investments are doomed to failure. It is not just about Eto'o turning them down, but also the fact that success can not be built overnight, by simply buying the stars.

Real Madrid will face similar destiny and if they don't stand much chance, what can City expect?

Yes, I am not that good at Photoshop but you get the idea! New shirt sponsor deal about to be signed and this is what it could well look like!

Liverpool look set to end their 17-year partnership with Danish brewers Carlsberg at the end of the 2009/10 season, according to reports.

If you're like me, you are entirely too productive at work, and often find yourself wishing that you could find new ways to waste time with football on the Internet.

Well, worry no more. I fully acknowledge that I shamefully ripped this idea off from Toby at the Wolves Offside, but I saw it and thought it might be fun to have a little fantasy league for us and our readers.

LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images

Tonight the transfer deadline passed with FC Barcelona making three moves, all of which were no surprise.

Since the end of last season there had been talk that Eidur Gudjohnsen would be leaving the club because he was unhappy with the amount of playing time he was receiving under Pep Guardiola.

Hands up who was surprised to hear Christian Purslow announce that there'll be no work done on out new stadium until the end of the Credit Crunch. Anybody with their hands up should put them down now. Not just because you were wrong to be surprised but mainly because you're a fool sat at a computer with their hand in the air.

Signs of potential exit are good!

Arctic Monkeys Tickets Still Available Click Here

Financiers acting on behalf of Tom Hicks, the Liverpool co-owner, have offered a minority stake in the club to potential investors in the Middle East.

Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, has been instructed by Hicks, who is recovering from a hip operation, to open and conduct negotiations with interested parties with a view to selling a 25 per cent share in the club at a price of £100 million as Liverpool continue attempts to reduce their levels of debt.

Merrill Lynch has been instructed by Tom Hicks, co-owner of English soccer club Liverpool, to find a minority investor prepared to pay UK£100 million for a 25 per cent share of the Premier League team.
'It is understood the firm is now targeting businesses or wealthy individuals in the Middle East who would be prepared to buy a minority stake, allowing the Americans Hicks and (co-owner George) Gillett to retain majority control,' reports The Guardian newspaper.

That man Hicks is at it again.
Wheeling and dealing without a penny in his pocket using Liverpool as the bargaining chip.
His latest stunt is to instruct bankers, Merrill Lynch to find a minority investor to pay £100 million for 25% of our club.
In return they will get sweet F.A.
It appears he wants to trawl the rich Middle East to get his money, don't think DIC will go for this, or maybe they will and then try to leverage him out for once and for all.

Both the Daily Mirror and the Times are reporting that Barry Moat has launched a formal takeover bid for Newcastle United. Moat is said to have significant financial muscle from American investors and has received guarantees from Barclays that he will be given working capital to run the club.

MESSAGE TO RAFA:
SPEND IT WISELY!
Latest rumours suggest that fresh capital is finally about to be injected into the club by the hated Hicks and Gillette selling up to 30% of their joint holding to new investors in a hope to raise £100 million for the club.
Some of that money is supposedly for the new stadium, although I doubt that, much of it will go on repaying the debt.

According to ESPN Soccernet, Bild is reporting that Chelsea made a huge offer for Bayern Munich superstar Franck Ribery during the summer. Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness said,

"We never received an offer over 100 million .

Don't worry Inter fans it hasn't happened, yet.However, Inter club director Marco Tronchetti Provera said that a 100 million euro offer for Zlatan Ibrahimovic would most certainly be accepted. Serie A fans know that such an offer was recently rejected by AC Milan when Manchester City tried to lure Kaka away.