The papers have swung into overdrive today with some saying that Athletico Madrid will bid £40 million for Liverpool's controversial goal-machine Luis Suarez.
Despite LFC and the player himself publicly stating that Suarez is happy at Anfield, this hasn't stopped the speculation continuing as a replacement for Chelsea-bound Edison Cavani is urgently required by the Madrid club.
Liverpool are being linked with a £20m summer transfer swoop for Athletico Madrid winger Arda Turan. The Reds have struggled this season, and manager Brendan Rodgers will now be given the money he requires to strengthen his squad. Last October, the club sent a scout to watch the player in a World Cup qualifier against Romania, and as recently as December the winger's agent told Turkish television: "Arda wants to play for another club, to live a different experience.
With Financial Fair Play moving closer to full implementation, the managing directors of both Liverpool and Ajax have renewed calls for tough sanctions against offenders—including the possibility of banning clubs from Europe. With prize money from European competition being withheld by UEFA—at least until further investigations can be completed—from 23 clubs as the first step towards full implementation of Financial Fair Play in 2014, the governing body's attempt to reign in unsustainable spending is finally beginning to move from talk to implementation.
Maxi Rodriguez has left Liverpool. The former Athletico Madrid midfielder arrived at Anfield in
January 2010 and he scored a very healthy 17 goals in 73 appearances for the Reds. He is rejoining
Newell's Old Boys of Argentina.
He wrote an open letter to all Liverpool fans: Dear Reds, I am leaving Liverpool FC today.
Uruguyan veteran, Diego Forlán is available as a free-transfer as he has been released by his club
Inter Milan after a year.
Forlán, now 33, has had an impressive career, especially with Athletico Madrid where he scored 74
goals including two against Liverpool in the Europa League semi-final of 2009/10.
The uncle and advisor of Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal has revealed that the prospect is currently
being tracked by Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, who currently has Lucas Leiva and Steven Gerrard
out as long-term injury concerns.
Dalglish is likely to once again spend big money either in the January transfer window, or the
following summer, and Kayal is now reported to be one of the players he and his scouting team are
currently monitoring.
The now almost certain signing of 20 year old Athletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea leaves me
with a distinctly uncomfortable feeling. For all the faith I have in Sir Alex Fergusons decisions,
the...
Fernando Torres of Chelsea-Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images
All soccer players face highs and lows during their careers, but only a select few have as big of a gap between those highs and lows as Chelsea's Fernando Torres.
In the beginning, Torres's career was nothing short of spectacular.
Where do I start with Fernando Torres? Worshipped at Liverpool, now continuously looking bereft of confidence at Chelsea. "El Nino" set the Premier League alight for Liverpool following his £20M move from Athletico Madrid, and in his time he became the best striker in the Premier League, amassing an impressive 81 goals in 142 games in all competitions.
NICOLAS Anelka's departure from Chelsea to Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua
got me thinking: how far the game has evolved in the world's most populous Country?
Ever since the formation of China's top flight division in 1994 and its subsequent re-branding
10 years later (From the Jia-A League to the Chinese Super League), the
far-east nation has pumped vast sums of money into its Football Association and the results of this
are now beginning to show.
There are two Spanish front men who Arsenal are actively trying to sign at the minute, apparently, and if reports are true then the Gunners have tabled offers for both of them. The strange thing, to me, is that Arsenal have only put in the bid for David Villa from Barcelona because their initial bid for Adrian Lopez was turned down by Athletico Madrid.
There have been reports and rumours coming from Spain and Turkey about the Athletico Madrid player Arda Turan agreeing terms with Arsenal about his transfer in January. They mat have been premature, however, as Chelsea have entered the race, apparently, and are willing to pay the full value of the release clause in the Turkish international's contract, according to the Spanish newspaper AS.
Arsene Wenger has been considering new strikers to add to the Arsenal squad, and it was reported this week that David Villa from Barcelona had found his way to the top of the transfer target list. The 31-year old Barcelona front man certainly has a fantastic reputation and recored, but there are one or two issues that have given Le Prof second thoughts, and so he is now leaning towards the 24-year old Adrian Lopez from Athletico Madrid.
Any team in the world, including Arsenal, would love to have the Colombian hit man Radamel Falcao in the team. He single handedly kept Athletico Madrid level on points with Barcelona at the top of the Spanish La Liga table last night.
Madrid were away at Real Sociedad and had hardly a sniff at goal until they won a free kick right at the end of the game.
If you believe what the papers say then Arsenal are going to hand Arsene Wenger anything from £35 million up to over £50 million to spend on players in the January transfer window. Latest reports suggest that Le Prof is carefully considering whether to spend it or not.
Arsenal fans the world over could provide a quick and easy answer to that question, of course you spend it Arsene.
Arsenal and Tottenham have been linked with a January swoop for the Spain and Athletico Madrid front man Adrian Lopez Alvarez, commonly known as Adrian. The club and manager, Diego Simeone, managed to hold on to their prize asset Radamel Falcao in the summer, despite interest from a host of top European clubs.
It is being reported this morning that the Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud is the subject of
three concrete bids so far, with the teams being named as Queens Park Rangers, Athletico Madrid and
Malaga, but RMCsport in France also says that Arsenal are waiting in the wings to make a bid if
Robin Van Persie [.
Well, we're halfway through the summer, and everything is just as uncertain as it was when the
season ended just over a month ago. I keep checking the transfer news and rumors every day, but
nothing is official just endless speculation.
We've repeatedly been told from various sources that July 1 is the official start to the
transfer season, or at least it's the start in some countries.
Cristiano Ronaldo stars in Madrid Derby and eases Mourinho's pressure
The Special One faced one of his toughest challenges during his era at Madrid with The Madrid Derby. It had been long since Atletico Madrid won at The Bernabeu, but Real Madrid's recent struggles put the players and fans in confidence crisis.
It was Inevitable - Kim Jong Il thought so soo - hahahah.
. In a way, even after Adrian scored the opening goal in last night's El Derbi Madrileno,
Madridistas the world over (and perhaps even Rojoblanco supporters) didn't feel too rattled (or
euphoric in the case for Atleti supporters).
Einige Spieler von uns sind jetzt angeschlagen, zum Glück haben die Schienbeinschoner gehalten.
Die sind extra aus Karbon, schweineteuer und waren anscheinend wie für dieses Spiel gemacht.
Jose Mourinho, Trainer von Real Madrid, schimpft in der Pressekonferenz nach dem Derby-Sieg
gegen Athletico Madrid über die seiner Meinung nach unnötige Härte des Gegners.
As I write this Messi has glided past three defenders to add his name to the score-sheet against
Athletico Madrid. It's the 26th minute and Athletico are already 3-0 down at the Camp Nou.
It's a little embarrassing and not in the sense that Barcelona are romping home to another
victory.
Irgendwie ist diese Aktion schon wieder geil. Der FC Getafe, ein Vorortklub von Madrid, hat es
nicht gerade leicht, sich gegen die übermächtigen Stadtkonkurrenten Real Madrid und Athletico
Madrid zu behaupten und doch gelingen ihnen immer wieder Achtungserfolge. Das aber bringt dem
spanischen Klub einfach keine neuen Fans und daher haben sie jetzt eine ungewöhnliche [.
Sergio Aguero: Striker, surely. Argentine, indubitably. Statement of intent? Quite possibly. After
putting himself on the transfer market, via Twitter of all places, the Atletico Madrid striker has
become one of the hottest strikers available, albeit with an immensely high price tag. If Juventus
can somehow scrape the money together however, the move may pay off immensely.
It was a disappointing display last night. While losing to Shakhtar is nothing to be ashamed of, the performance was. The difference between the two teams in enthusiasm reminded me a little of the Athletico Madrid match. Now we need to pick ourselves up and prepare for domestic football once more.
There's been little interest in David Bentley this summer other than a couple of fleeting
rumours involving Fulham and Athletico Madrid. Martin Jol however was quick to reject the stories
concerning his own club and the feeling amongst Fulham fans was that his off field behaviour at
Birmingham was the prime reason for Jol's lack of interest.
After watching his home-town club win their second Europa League Trophy in two years, former
Liverpool striker, Fernando Torres must be regretting his decision to ever leave Spain.
The player, disillusioned by years of failure at Athletico Madrid, where he was made Captain in his
teens, moved to Liverpool, England in 2007 for £26 million.
Just four games into the new season isn't really time to judge the season end trophy winners,
but any season that starts with players considering strike action is bound to affect initial
preparations. Who would have thought that by the beginning of October we'd see Inter Milan down in
16th position with Roma and Milan mid table?
Athletico Madrid star striker Diego Forlan took a break from the transfer speculation surrounding
him to take part in a round of football-golf for a TV advert promoting the new Adidas AdiPower
Predator football boots
There has been a fair bit of speculation in the newspapers this week about a possible Spurs move
for Athletico Madrid's 24 year old centre forward Adrian. However, on further scrutiny and given
the players' overall record, many Spurs fans might be hoping it's a non-starter.
Adrian's overall career is patchy and he is some way down the pecking order when it comes to
international honours.
For some time Sevilla President, Jose del Nido has been the fiercest critique of the La Liga TV
deal which results in the big two, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid taking home 50% of the share. He
has uped the ante by recently calling upon other Club Presidents to go for a French revolution
style revolt and force the big two accept an equal sharing deal.
Week 2 of the Premiership has arrived, although it is no less exciting. This weekend Manchester
City travel to the Reebok, in our first (of many) Northwest derbies of the season. This has been
billed as a top of the table clash, which is technically true as City were the only other club to
win by more than a 1 goal margin, and they also smashed 4 unanswered goals past new promoted
opponents.
BBC Sport Aston Villa sign Shay Given from Manchester City on five-year deal.
In probably the most cost effective transfer in the close season to date, Aston Villa
today signed Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Shay Given to a 5 year deal.
Given is widely regarded as one of the top goalies in the Premier League despite having spent
most of last season on the bench as backup to Manchester City's England goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Kenny Dalglish and Co. face off against a Manchester side for the seventh time this season when
United and Liverpool clash in a match full of significance. Manchester United are trying to survive
a brutal run of fixtures and keep pace with their cross-town rivals.
The transfer rumours don't stop when the window closes – they merely slow down. This morning
there have been a number of stories appearing, but the most interesting of these concerns Valencia
midfielder Ever Banega.
As the Modric rumours continue, so will the suggestions of possible replacements, but Banega
looks to be one of the better players to be linked with a move to Spurs.
With Juventus earning a single point on Saturday afternoon, Inter Milan now has the opportunity to pull within two points of the top spot in the Serie A standings. Cagliari stands in their way on Sunday, a group that has won three of their last five matches. After failing to come out on top in their first five matches at home, Inter Milan will be looking for their sixth consecutive home win at San Siro.
We all knew this was coming after his performance in the Olympics in London, but now rumors are
starting to slowly come out about clubs that are interested in acquiring the services of Sporting
KC midfielder, Roger Espinoza. Today during half time of the Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy game on
ESPN2, Alexi Lalas said that he'd spoken with Espinoza's agent and that the Honduran has offers
from 2 EPL side and some La Liga sides as well.
Adrian Lopez scores his 11th Europa League goal of the season with a suberb half-volley which
puts Athletico Madrid 5-2 ahead on aggregate against Valencia in their Europa League semi-final
second leg at the Mestalla stadium.
