The transfer rumor mill is in full force once again, and almost all of the rumors revolve around some up and coming Spanish club that goes by the name of Real Madrid (surely a rip-off of the MLS side Real Salt Lake). This time the rumors concern Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has a rumored price tag of just £1.

Football is a funny game - this is the sport where anything, and I mean anything, can happen completely out of the blue. For example, no one ever imagined that Brazilian star Ronaldinho, who was literally unstoppable not too long ago, would suddenly become as anonymous as he is nowadays.

This weekend's headlines were stolen by Emmauel Adebayor even before a ball was kicked. Saturday morning, Adebayor finally lashed out at his former club Arsenal, moments before the Gunners kicked-off a challenging visit to the Eastlands.

While the summer months toil away and the transfer rumors get even more boring (or exciting if you're a Football Manager fan), football fans around the world start to get excited for their club's upcoming season. Will your club succeed? Will they fail? Will your star player remain healthy? Who will Joey Barton hit next?

One of the most talked about incidents towards the end of the controversial Chelsea-Barcelona semifinal in the midweek was the reaction of Chelsea's German midfielder Michael Ballack as he protested against one of the many refereeing blunders made that night. Ballack raced towards the official and came within inches of getting physical with the infamous Norwegian.

Manchester United may have hit the headlines for all the right reasons today, and Cristiano Ronaldo's freekick certainly impressed the United faithful. What was far less impressive was the manner in which Cristiano Ronaldo left the sacred Old Trafford pitch in the 60th minute.

With the game all wrapped up and a midweek fixture against Wigan forthcoming, Sir Alex Ferguson elected to rest his most prized asset.

Cinderella stories happen everyday, everywhere in this world. In particular, when it comes to the world of football, we have seen quite a few of them. After all, who would have thought that Senegal would knock France out of the World Cup in 2002? Or who would have picked Greece to win it all in the European Cup of 2004?

Are you a fan of Frank Lampard? Don't worry, if you choose not to answer in the affirmative, you surely have some company. While I have written several articles here at Premiership Talk to demonstrate my support for Frank Lampard, this article is not about my support.

We all know that the Premier League is coming down to the wire with two matches remaining, but here's what going on around the rest of the continent:

There are three matches remaining for clubs in La Liga, but like the Premiership, one team is stealing all of the headlines. Barcelona have just won the Copa del Rey, and are now just one point away from clinching the La Liga crown.

With this article, I realize that I risk angering some staunch Inter Milan supporters. But since I have waited three long years to express my views on this issue, I feel obliged to let them out. The truth is, I simply can't fathom why no one can stop Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A.

Perhaps it is the lackluster attitude of their guilty rivals ever since the notorious match-fixing scandals of 2006.

Ten things I noticed from this week's Champions League semifinals:

1. Much Ado About Nothing – Much to the woe of slobbering, over enthusiastic journalists everywhere, the Barcelona myth was partially debunked on Tuesday. It's not that they were awful by any stretch of the imagination, but when faced with an equally good team who didn't stand aside and let them play through them they looked more than a little stumped.

Football FanCast columnist Mike Harvey feels that technology in football is not the answer.

Officiating in football is headline news these days. The past few weeks left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans. FIFA is at a crossroads and how they choose to handle this problem will affect the game for years.

With the Premier League over for another season. Here are some of the things I noticed from the 08/09 campaign:

Hull City were everyone's favorite to go straight back down this season. They seemed like a sweet little feel good story, content to have their moment in the big leagues before quickly sinking back to lower level obscurity where they could be patronized by football and non-football people alike for sounding like a thoroughly dull and uninspiring place to live.

So it's finally come to an end. The most protracted and annoying transfer saga in Manchester United history has ended with Cristiano Ronaldo finally getting his wish to look absolutely fabulous in all white whilst topping up his tan in the Spanish Sun.

Some will inevitably see the deal, and his request for it, as inconclusive proof of their belief he is an evil, diabolical, ungrateful little grasping greasy foreign **** who should be strung up and paddled for the sheer gall of wanting to play for anyone but Manchester United.

Here's an analogy for you to mull over:

An entrepreneur comes up with a product. It can be any product: a website, a toaster, a killer mutant robot, you name it, but he designs and develops it. He makes it successful. It's him who brings this product to the attention of the world... and it's a truly great product.

There have been many occasions in recent years where the genius of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been brought into question. After all, the trophy cabinet has been empty for four years and everyone, from skipper Cesc Fabregas to that little child in the upper tier at the Emirates, is becoming increasingly restless with the club's underachievements.

Manchester United have again been linked with a move for Lyon striker Karim Benzema, after they were reportedly priced out of the market for the talented Frenchman last year. If the rumors are true it does put question marks over the future of some of United's strikers.

Carlos Tevez, who is one of United's most consistent players, looks to be heading for the exit door as his opportunities in the team have been limited since the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov.

I am not quite sure how much of an audience an article about the German Bundesliga can get, but I will still give it a shot. After all, if there is one league that has continued to offer an air-tight title race throughout the year, it has to be the German first division. With two games to go, as many as four teams have a realistic chance of being crowned champions.

While us Premier League fans - and particular us United fans - are feeling a bit blue about yesterday's Champions League final, as a football fan I can't help but feel as if the match settled things quite nicely. Barcelona, with all their ebb and flow, cruised to a 2-0 victory over the English champions, and after the match even the most staunch United supporters had to sing the praise of Pep Guardiola and his side.

Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Carlos Tevez, and Emmanuel Adebayor! Such is the caliber of each of these players that their involvement in this summer's transfer market has left no spotlight for the lesser-known talent. Such is the nature of the market right now that none of the European giants can be bothered with a move for the hidden gems.

Another week is past, and you know what that means: yet another A to Z breakdown of this week in Premier League action. Here we go...

A is for Abou Diaby. The underrated Arsenal midfielder grabbed a brace on Saturday as he led Arsenal to yet another early season romp.

Arsene Wenger's rapidly increasing dependence on youngsters within his squad reached new heights this midweek when he chose to start off the Champions League group stages with rookie Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone between the sticks.

Premier League fans in the United States will once again get the chance to see Burnley take on their new Premiership opposition. This week it comes in the form of Sunderland at Turf Moor.

When the schedule was initially released before the season started, I doubt that many people were circling this date on their calendars.

There is no denying that Liverpool F.C. is the form team in the Barclays Premier League at the moment. Rafa's Reds have defied all odds to overcome a frustrating start to the campaign and surprisingly, the Steven Gerrard - Fernando Torres pairing isn't exclusively responsible for leading the revival.

Edin Dzeko is back with a bang! The Bosnia international striker, who spent most of the summer pushing for a dream move to AC Milan, has finally underlined his commitment to Wolfsburg with an outstanding decisive brace away to Schalke 04.

With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

Lyon's 2-1 Champions League victory at Anfield on Tuesday night sparked mass hysteria amongst the Liverpool faithful. While almost everyone points the finger at the absence of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in recent weeks, even more people are blaming manager Rafa Benitez. There is no doubt about it: people are calling for Rafa Benitez's head.

Brazilians are a funny species. We've seen some outrageous stories about Brazilian footballers, ranging from Robinho this season to Fat Ronaldo in years past.

Just a month ago it was Adriano's turn to hit the headlines, as the former Inter Milan striker went AWOL from Italy. Found somewhere in Brazil, Adriano told the press that he was sick of Italy and needed to find himself.

Ten things I noticed from this week's Champions League semifinals:

1. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Results lie. Sometimes. If not, then in the last 5 years I've been privileged enough to watch the great Greek team of 2004 justly claim their prize as the greatest international team in Europe.

A very impressive Stoke City side continued to march up the table by handing Hull City a shock 2-1 defeat at the KC Stadium this afternoon. In all fairness, Phil Brown's Tigers were completely outplayed and had it not been for defender Andy Dawson's last minute consolation, the final score would have been a little too embarrassing for the hosts.

Manchester United took another step towards the title against Manchester City on Sunday, and Chelsea squared off against a wounded Arsenal side at the Emirates. Here are the winners and losers from today's action

Manchester United fans woke up this morning to the news that Carlos Tevez is bidding farewell to United, to Manchester, and to England.

Tuesday May 26th

11am – After failing in my quest to get a good night's rest the night before, I spent the morning zombified thanks mainly to the hypnotic waffling of Paddy Crerand on MUTV. After a wash and an egg (though maybe not in that order) I got in the cab and headed for Heathrow Terminal 5.

When I came across this morning's comments provided by the agent of Barcelona ace Samuel Eto'o, the first word that came to my mind was diplomatic. Mr. Mesalles, who has been instrumental in promoting Eto'o to interested parties ever since Barca's treble-winning season came to an end, stated that the Cameroon international preferred to see out the one year that is left on his Barcelona contract.

A capacity crowd of more than 78,000 was in attendance at the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on Sunday. At the full time whistle, Giants Stadium appeared to be a sight of gross injustice more than anything else. After resiliently fighting with their third-string side for the entire tournament, the Americans finally fell to their bitter regional rivals, Mexico, albeit very harshly.

With the season fast approaching and the meaningless friendlies winding down, football fans across the world are all gearing up for not only another great Premier League season, but a chance to beat their friends and fellow fans in fantasy football yet again!

Premiership Talk is again hosting a fantasy football league on Yahoo!

Some moments are never meant to be forgotten. The entire world of football witnessed one such shocking moment a little less than two years ago in London. On a rainy evening at Wembley, hosts England were expected to advance to the finals of Euro 2008 with just a draw needed against visiting Croatia.

PFA chief Gordon Taylor has urged football fans, pundits, and the FA to put a stop to the lynch mob mentality that is surrounding Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor. The targetman stirred up controversy over the weekend by first stamping on Robin van Persie's face before scoring a goal and sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the angry Gunners fans.

With the commencement of the UEFA Champions League group stages this midweek, an important piece of news was relegated to the back of most reporting outlets. Perhaps another reason behind the lack of coverage for the story in question was the refusal, on part of most football lovers, to recollect any part of the uninspiring internationals break.

Rewind back to 2003 and you'll see that Jonathan Woodgate had everything. From critical acclaim to a huge fan following, he had all the essentials required to go down in the Newcastle folklore as one of the very best defenders of all time. However, the only obstacle that could stop him injuries came into play very early into his career at St.

In what could be the most obvious Wednesday Wonder to date, Robbie Keane is this week's pick after his stunning performance on Saturday against Burnley. I'll admit that I've overlooked a hat-trick for the Wednesday Wonder before and picked somebody else, but there is something special about that fourth goal.