He's going, no doubt about that. In some cases, players struggle to agree personal terms with a club after a fee is agreed but don't expect that to happen here. He's dying to go to Madrid and they're dying to have him, a match made in crude, over-exposed heaven.

So, in theory, we have £80M/€93M to play with.

Sir Alex Ferguson will reshape his humiliated Manchester United squad after their Champions League debacle against Barcelona. Shell-shocked Fergie has decided he will not take up the option to buy Carlos Tevez, while Nani and Ji-Sung Park could also be high-profile victims of the Rome drubbing. The United manager believes Lyon's Karim Benzema represents better value for [.

The party is still going on in Barcelona, and there might still yet be a few angry hangovers in Manchester right now, but the aftermath of the Champions League final means transfer gossip aplenty for the loser.

As you would expect, a few butts will be met by boots this summer at Manchester United, and a few new faces will take their place in an attempt to help erase the disappointment of the Rome defeat.

Here's the latest transfer news in European soccer with Benzema heading to Real Madrid from Lyon and the latest updates on Ribery, Eto'o and Tevez.

Benzema headed to Real Madrid - Lyon have announced that star strikerKarim Benzema is to become the latest player to join Real Madrid.

The initial impression from the transfer market gives us an impression fo a lack of direction from FC Barcelona mangement. Eto looks like is out of Guardiola's plans and now there is rumours that Yaya Toure has rejected a improved deal. Yaya Toure has been one of our best players from the last two season, but he still earns much less than his team mates.

Could this week be the most exciting week in Arsenal's transfer history?

With the Confederation's Cup over and Brazil crowned champions, it is time to see if Arsenal's pursuit of Felippe Melo is indeed a true pursuit or merely more newspaper talk. Arsenal are reported to have offered Phillipe Senderos as part of the deal, but Wenger will not accept Fiorentina's valuation of £21 million for the Brazilian international.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been told he can have prime target Karim Benzema – if he comes up with £30m. The 21-year-old Lyon striker is the hottest property in France and Manchester United have been trailing him for the past two years. Until now Lyon have insisted they are not willing to sell. But now they [.

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?

After covering the Barcelona versus Real Madrid topic, it is only logical if Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were discussed due to their pivotal role in both teams. The two wingers are currently playing for two of the best clubs in Spain and two of the most popular outfits in the world.

The trouble with making jokes about potential disasters is that when they come true, you're torn between the urge to shout 'I told you so' and, depending on your social stereotype, the urge to cry / pray / drink / blow yourself up.

At Manchester United, by no means are we near any financial disasters, but that will be the talk of the town after United backed out of the Adem Ljajic deal.

Karim Benzema has been linked with Man United for quite a while now but it finally seems that Fergie is ready to bid for the player. The Daily Mirror are reporting that Man United will make a €35.5...
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Real Madrid started their preseason tour of North America with a trip to BMO Field to play Toronto FC of Major League Soccer. The match is the first of two against MLS teams with the other on Sunday against DC United. All the stars of Real Madrid were available for Friday's match including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, and Alonso.

Manchester United and Real Madrid have been fighting it out to sign Lyon's Karim Benzema, and moments ago we found out that Real Madrid have won the race to sign the player. It is thought that Sir...
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#1: Barcelona

Lionel Messi & Company still have to be considered the favorites this season to take home the hardware. The treble winning club was shut out in one of their two group matches so far, but the squad has also allowed zero goals in those matches as well.

A couple links involving Americans this time:

• City makes a HUGE offer for Eto'o.
  
• Arsenal the latest linked to Benzema.
  
• Torres wants Reds to go Spanish.
  
• Italian teams eyeing Onyewu.
  
• Michael Owen to Greece?
  
• Rennes looking at Ricardo Clark?

As C. Ronaldo prepares to depart for dreamy Madrid, Manchester United will have around £80 million from the transfer - some of this money may be used to pay off debts, or for wages, but most of it, should be used on finding a player to replace Ronaldo.

Strong candidates are Antonio Valencia, Frank Ribery, David Silva, Sergio "Kun" Aguero but the one that sticks out with optimism is the prospect of Man Utd purchasing Lyon's forward Karim Benzema.

I don't know how's true are the press rumours surrounding former Liverpool striker, Michael Owen, 29-year-old, signing for Manchester United? Owen's contract at Newcastle expires on July 1 and are free to join any clubs.

The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was poised to make an astonishing move in the transfer market by bringing injury-prone striker Michael Owen to Old Trafford on a free transfer.

I'm having major computer problems this week, so I haven't been able to do much research into what will be going on today. (I will be here for the game, though, so please stop by and keep me company.)

What I've read is that pretty much the entire starting lineup has changed, with the exception of Benzema and Anelka.

Real Madrid's recent spending spree has thrown money all around Europe. Regardless of where you are, look up and you'll see Florentino Perez's millions rain down. This may leave Manchester United and AC Milan sitting on a wad of cash, but we all know who the eventual winners will be: Lyon and Bayern Munich.

Plenty of transfers are floating about this summer, but almost all of them revolve around familiar faces. Premiership Talk takes a look at this summer's hottest targets.

David Villa

Real Madrid have already clinched the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, and David Villa appears to be next on the list.

Four weeks ago, I was playing Football Manager. I was managing Manchester United and was faced with the dilemma of how to replace Tevez and Ronaldo. With 80 million quid in the bank, money wasn't an issue; however the question of bringing in the "right" player involves more than just money.

Browsing through my shortlist, the expected names appeared: Benzema, Ribery and Ibrahimovic.

Sir Alex Ferguson has a practical take on morality. Anything benefitting Manchester United is right. Anything hindering Manchester United is wrong. With Manchester City and Real Madrid suddenly able to outbid Manchester United for players. It should surprise no one that the grizzled Scot spoke out for the little man.

via Fotonoticias

Raul The Great has finally spoken out and insists that he's "not afraid" of the new Galacticos who've joined in recent weeks. Uh, what he really means is that he's already decided who'll be getting invites to Mamen's Christmas parties.

"Cristiano is a wonderful boy and has a very good relationship with the group.

Its no news that Liverpool is preforming quite horrid at the moment, sitting in 7th place, 11 points behind Chelsea. With the combination of poor form and the plague of injuries that seem to be following the lads over at Anfield, we can only ask come January who will help aid these wounds.

Hernanes:

This 24 year old Brazilian native is the perfect item to fill the whole left by the exit of Xabi Alonso.

Every year, once the season ends, the rumors really start buzzing around our heads like a dark swarm of thirsty mosquitoes. And where we should wisely swat the nasty beasts away, the depth of our summer football boredom makes us strip off our shirts, hold out our arms, and beg them to land.

Can Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema co-exist on the same football pitch?

The Peace Cup returns to the summer football schedule with the fourth edition of the event hosted by Spain. The first three Peace Cup's were played in South Korea, and the event is usually played every other year.

This year's marquee story will of course be the addition of Real Madrid to the Peace Cup.

With the arrival of the weekend, football fans across the world are returning to following their respective teams in another series of cracking fixtures. However, excitement is going to reach a whole different level next weekend, when the much awaited FIFA 10 releases in Australia (October 1) and Europe (October 2).

Build your own team for next season.
I thought we should do our version of goal.com's article- which I can't seem to find, maybe they've pulled-it. Anyway, although I thought that the author got a couple of things right in his article, he was, IMO, shooting too low.

I am a firm believer that Seinfeld was one of the greatest television programs of all time. As such, I try to work it into every possible situation, regardless of whether or not the reference is valid. However, in looking at the state of Manchester United, a Seinfeld analogy seems incredibly apt.

From Marca, the Madrid-based Spanish sports daily. It leads with the headline "the cure of humility"
Madrid's AS also puts it on the front page witht the headline, "so rare it is to lose"
For Barcelona's El Mundo Deportivo, the loss is far outweighed by Barca's chase after David Villa.

Arsene Wenger hopes the French influence at Arsenal will lure Karim Benzema to the Emirates Stadium but he will have to move soon after Real Madrid offered £27 million for the striker. Mega-rich Real have moved to add Lyon's Benzema to their other stellar summer signings, Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United and Kaka from AC Milan.

Karim Benzema looks to have had his next move decided. Real Madrid have reached an agreement with Olympique Lyonnais to sign Karim Benzema for €35 million and the deal will be made official in the next couple of days, according to reports in Spain. Both Marca and AS state that the highly-rated French striker will become Los [.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech believes that Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Manchester United more than we will miss him. For once, I agree with Cech. What some people are forgetting is that at Man...
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Subject to jeers from the locals, Cristiano Ronaldo made his Real Madrid debut last night following his transfer from Manchester United for a record £80m ($132m) against Irish part-timers Shamrock Rovers. The venue for the match was the half-built Tallaght Stadium on the outskirts of Dublin. Nevertheless, 10,000 fans each paid £50 to attend what was [.

It is mouth-watering just to imagine a match featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema taking on an opposing team which includes Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Xavi Hernandez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to name just a few.

The dream of many football fanatics has come true following a spending frenzy by Los Blancos which included the record signing of Portuguese Ronaldo from Manchester United.

Here's a look at the new look 2009/10 Real Madrid side posing for their official team photo earlier this season. On display in the middle of the pack are prized (and extremely expensive) Real Madrid summer 09 signings Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Kaka. Greatness beckons? Check out our Videos section for Real Madrid game highlights and [.

This week's main report looks at the World Cup play-off match between Ireland and France. Listen to our Irish football correspondent, Brendan, discussing whether Ireland can cause a huge upset and make it to South Africa 2010. The transcript can be found below, while vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

This summer get ready for Manchester United and Manchester City to go head to head for Lyon star Karim Benzema. The 21-year-old is known to want continued Champions League football but it isn't just... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Stade Camille Fournier d'Evian, Grenoble
Friday 8, May 2009
(17:00CET, 16:00GMT)

Today, Lyon are up in Evian to play an amicable match against one of our cross-town rivals, Grenoble. Judging by the group list and current state of crisis at OL, Puel is taking nothing lightly: not a single CFA player was called-up, and every first-team player except Santos- suspended for ten days, and probably never to set foot on OL premeses again- has made the trip.

Even though a number of big European clubs have been linked with a move for Karim Benzema, it seems that the excellent striker will stay at Lyon for another year. Lyon's president Jean Michelle Aulas is adamant that Benzema will not leave the club this summer after speaking with the player's agent.