Arsene Wenger sure to give potential offer for Emirates captain short shrift.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

MANCHESTER CITY are preparing to break the British transfer record with a sensational bid for Cesc Fabregas.

The rumors, for once, came to fruition, as FC Barcelona will pay a transfer fee of €40 million to Valencia for Spanish international striker David Villa. This tango (or the sardana for a more local, Catalunyan flair) danced by the two clubs since the previous offseason will finally end as outgoing Barça president Joan Laporta landed the player he coveted for two years.

Thierry Henry's move to the New York Red Bulls this summer seems all but certain now, as another report has surfaced linking the French forward to a move to Major League Soccer following the World Cup. Mirror Football claims that Henry's representatives have already held talks with Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain in the interest of letting the 32-year-old out of his contract a year early so that he can follow in the footsteps of David Beckham.

After Arsenal's season was finished, I decided to wait until after the World Cup was over to begin posting again. This was mostly because there are 500 Arsenal blogs out there and 2 false transfer rumors making the rounds each day. So, now the World Cup is over and what is the big story in ArsenalLand?

La furia española o el club de los bajitos es la seleccion digna campeona del mundo, sus jugadores marcan diferencia, pero sucede algo curioso casi todos los futbolistas clave son del Barcelona y los anti Barca se tienen que comer sus palabras y reconocer la grandeza del equipo de Pep, solo vean esta caricatura.

Gerard Pique is truly making the most of his few weeks off! He has spent the last week in Ibiza partying it up with friends and some pretty scary looking carnival girls. Be careful Pique Barca needs you this season!!!!

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Did you know men now spend a longer amount of time than women getting ready to go out? Yoann needn't worry as his beauty secrets are safe with us.
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This video of great Cesc moments just reminded us to add him to our miss list.
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The Redknapps and their stellar cheese have boosted Thomas Cooke sales.

We may only be a week into the transfer window, but that hasn't stopped Manchester City from splashing over £60 million on new transfers already. One of those looks to me like the worst we will see this window...

The terrible paint mock ups have started once more folks.

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Did you know men now spend a longer amount of time than women getting ready to go out? Yoann needn't worry as his beauty secrets are safe with us.
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This video of great Cesc moments just reminded us to add him to our miss list.
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The Redknapps and their stellar cheese have boosted Thomas Cooke sales.

Fine, Barca are a very fine side, Messi is a fantastic player, but the way in which the eleven men of Barca have cheated in the first half has been beyond a joke. The Barca training routine probably involves a few forward rolls every time that one of their players feels the air of an opponent brush in their general direction.

So in the end, it was 3-1 to Inter and Julio Cesar's POSE totally says it! Anyway, after beating the tired Barca, both Julio and his esposa, Susana Werner, left the kids at home and went out for dinner and drinks.

Barca pair caught in a close embrace Barcelona duo Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerard Pique have caused quite a stir in the Spanish media after being photographed standing very close to each other and looking rather cosy. The tabloids went to town on the image, and one intrepid TV reporter decided to confront Ibra on the story as [.

By Ollie Irish

"It's okay Zlatan, they won't sell you to Man City now."

"Thank Christ... now kiss me, you fool."

FC Barcelona have taken out a €150million loan to ease their financial troubles.

The loan, signed and sealed today, will be lent jointly by several Spanish banks, including La Caixa and Banco Santander.

Bojan Krkic has recently indicated via media an urge to stay in Barca and fight for a spot in the Barcelona forward line-up. His decision is most probably made up on the fact that no concrete offers came in for his loan in the winter transfer window. But it is yet to be seen whether he intend to stay in Barcelona the next season.

When you begin your product shilling career as the prince of pastries, there's only so much higher one can go. For Gerard Pique, though, his celebrity trajectory has surprisingly climbed from grocery store royalty to book author. All at the good-looking age of 23.

Right.

'Viatge de anada i tornada" (In English: Round Trip) is actually not Pique's "official" coming out autobiography (that was most likely ghost-written by someone else), though.

Hace poco el futbolista argentino entro en polemica dentro de la cancha por su desempeño en la copa mundial Sudafrica 2010, antes había creado polemica porque varias modelos y vedettes se colgaban el titulo de novias del argentino.

Pero este martes corrio la noticia que el delantero del Barcelona de España se encuentra con Antonella Rocuzzo su verdadera novia pasando las vacaciones en la Riviera Maya mexicana, eso es vida.

Remember the young girl who was distraught when she didn't get to meet Xavi at the Spain World Cup victory parade? A clever Catalan TV station has come up with the brilliant idea of bringing here along to the studio and making her dream come true. Emotional? Xavi certainly seems to think so. The Barca [.

By Chris Wright

Reports emanating from Israel (namely the Ma'ariv newspaper) are claiming that Barcelona's historic shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation is in jeopardy as the Arab organisation have been accused of forging direct links with Islamic (and, for the record, Palestinian) terrorist group Hamas.

We are down to the 'elite 8' of football teams in Europe, and Gabriele Marcotti of the Times gives an in-depth look at the strengths, weaknesses and prospects of each team as they head into the quarterfinal stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona
Campaign thus far
A few wobbles in the group stage - gaining just one of six points from Rubin Kazan did not look good - cast doubt over whether they can repeat last year's perfect season.

Roma host Sampdoria on Sunday night on the back of six straight victories.

Inter host relegation-threatened Atalanta on Saturday with all eyes set on the Nerazzurri's controversial striker Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli threw his Inter jersey on the pitch after coming on as a second half substitute against Barca but is set to play this weekend.

Barcelona did not get the 2 0 victory needed (Inter beat Barca 3 1 on the first leg in Italy) and Inter Milan is facing Bayern Munich in the 2010's Champions League Final, on May 22nd at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. The match finished 1-0 Barca with a beautiful goal from Piqué.

Well deserved.

Sneaky Barca midfielder Barcelona's Sergio Busquets courted controversy in last night's Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter Milan. On the deck clutching his face after the incident which saw Inter's Thiago Motta red-carded, Busquets was caught be the camera having a sneaky peak to see if it was safe to come out yet.

I don't know about any of you Chelsea fans who sat and watched the game last night but when the final whistle went I was really happy to see Jose reach the Champions League final once again.
Some Chelsea fans are of the opinion that his time had come at Chelsea, that he didn't really do anything at Chelsea after 2 seasons or even one and a half and just never really took to him but I am one of the many that did.

Emirates boss considers making big French international bid.

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ARSENE WENGER has lined up a £21.8million deal for Bordeaux ace Yoann Gourcuff his No 1 choice to replace Cesc Fabregas.

Lionel Messi is hopping from country to country and charity match to charity match, today turning up in Brazil to participate in the goodwill game organized by none other than ex-Barca hottie, Deco. Lio played on Deco's side against a 'rest of the world' team, coming off ten minutes into the second half of the match that finally ended at 3-3.

Today is one hell of a news day for Barca, with the rumours and reports just coming and coming. The issue at hand right now: Lio Messi's supposed fashion line. Initially it was reported just by The Sun, which lets me be skeptical, by now it's on Sport as well so, I guess it's really happening. Lio Messi, of all people, is sarting a fashion line.

The good news for Gooners is a deal has been ratified by all parties concerned, as predicted by yours truly earlier this Summer, for Cesc to join his beloved Barcelona in June 2011.

Fabregras will complete his last season as a player and captain of Arsenal Football Club this forthcoming term.

In an effort to make La Liga look like a balanced league, which we all know is very far from the truth, Ronaldo had some choice words about the current La Liga campaign.

Cristiano Ronaldo believes this season`s title fight may not be limited to Real Madrid and Barcelona.

This has been the case several times in recent campaigns.

Barcelona v. Real Madrid Preview: Will Ronaldo and Real strike a decisive blow at the Camp Nou? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

On Saturday evening, Barcelona and Real Madrid will face off for the 11th time in the last two seasons, and the anticipation level as high as ever, even with the defeats that both sides suffered this week in the Champions League.

Arsenal's frozen assets are in the form of key players returning to fitness and form if everything goes our way, we may see the loss of yesterday's game as a bonus in that it gives us a little more time to get closer to full strength. The return of Cesc, Vermaelen, Ramsey and Diaby would make us a force to be reckoned with capable of fighting on many fronts and yes, beating Barcelona why not?

Lio Messi scored the last two goals of the game in Barca's 4-0 stomping of Sevilla.

Messi has now scored over 100 goals in his career so far with Barcelona.

New York Red Bulls sporting director Erik Soler has spoken out regarding his team's rumored pursuit of Barcelona striker Thierry Henry, saying the club would love to have a player of Henry's caliber, but has not entered into formal negotiations with the French international because he still has 18 months remaining on his contract with the Spanish giants.

FIFA World Player of the year Lionel Messi was rampant yesterday as he led FC Barcelona to a 4-2 win over Real Zaragoza in the Spanish La Liga. In a performance reminiscent of fellow Argentine Diego Maradona in his heyday, Messi opened the scoring with a well-placed header in the 5th minute. A solo effort that [.

photo credit: wonker

Cesc's attitude could win the day.

Cesc Fabregas seems to feel differently about playing Barca than Thierry Henry has about playing Cesc's side. In fact, he seems much more confident. Where Henry looked like he was wanted to lay and die Fabregas seems much more sure about his club's chances in the Champion's League.

I just watched the first half of Arsenal - Barca and I must say, if I can find the right words, that I've never seen such a fantastic first 15 minutes of the game, ever! Not AC Milan, not Real Madrid, Ajax, Man United, Spain or Oranje... What a sensational [read more]

To tell you the truth the last thing i wanted to do or think about after United's lackluster defeat to Bayern was watch another game of football, or even consider Champions League results for a few days. But in England, when Barca and Arsenal..the two purveyors of 'perfect football' meet, you're gonna get it rammed down your throat, unless you go hide under the bedsheets and take a large dose of nightnurse.

photo credit: Aitor Escauriaza

That is NOT a weakness.

Arsene Wenger seems to think that Barcelona has weaknesses he can exploit when his Gunners matchup with Barca in their second leg of the Champion's League.

Wenger knows that Barca will be missing Ibrahimovic and Puyol AND Pique.

Bacary Sagna touched upon a topic that could be described as Wenger's Achilles' Heel. Here is what the French full back said,

Sometimes I think we play too much, We just want to do that and do not think about what is good for us sometimes we just need to cut out the football, stop playing for a bit and just consider what will help us achieve what we want.

El clasico's tonight, and while you're busy dusting off your Messiah jersey or piling on the hair wax ala good ol' Greaseaño, it's time for another edition of "Tres Cosas" or the 3 things game! Last year, we had fun playing it with Barca and Real chicas Messa and Leo, so here we go again with Christina (from Madrid) and Emma (from the USA).

Advantage Inter

What a compelling game just finished in the San Siro. Inter were worthy 3-1 winners on the night and once again not only did Jose Mourinho get his tactics spot on, but his players gave their all in the pursuit of victory. The tie is a long way from being over, it's not hard to envisage Barca scoring twice in El Camp Nou after all, but tonight's win for the Nerazurri will leave their outstanding captain Javier Zanetti and his team mates dreaming of a date with destiny in Madrid on May 22nd.