I just saw (via the ol' twitter) that Barca are upping their bid to £31m for Cesc. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it raises that annoyingly seasonal question:

How much is Cesc worth to the club?

I was considering writing a bigger background for this bit, including all the special goals he's scored, the leadership qualities, the world-class skill, etc, that he has brought to this club.

The Blizzard You might know Jonathan Wilson as a football journalist (Guardian, World Soccer magazine, Sports Illustrated etcetera) and author of four books (including Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe, Inverting the Pyramid), a tactics genius and historian, an expert on Slavic and Eastern European football, a Guardian Football Weekly regular, and a giant brain sitting in a tub of

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has played in many tough games over the last 12 years, but there's one particular game right at the start of his senior career that he classifies as one of the 'hardest' times he's ever had on a football pitch.
The game in question was Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Spurs at White Hart Lane in December 2008.

Liverpool legend Ian Rush has backed Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez to forge a successful strike partnership and bring success to the club.
The duo joined the Reds in the January transfer window but Carroll's injury problems meant Suarez was often partnered by Dirk Kuyt or deployed as a lone striker.

Diego Fagundez grabbed all the headlines, but he wasn't the only one making his MLS debut for the New England Revolution on Saturday. Fellow striker Milton Caraglio – upon whom huge expectations have been placed after the 22-year-old signed a contract making him the Revs' first Designated Player last week – also made his first appearance for the club in the team's 3-2 loss to Chivas USA.

- Jason Davis A little bonus American Soccer Show action for you. After getting together with Jared to chat with Brian Straus of The Sporting News, we decided it was a good idea to put out a bonus episode rather than hold on to it over the weekend. In here is a lot of great stuff from Brian on Klinsmann's debut, the new feeling around the team , Freddy to Philly, and more.

A friendly reminder to all Fantasy Premier League players to make all the necessary squad changes they need for free tonight and tomorrow morning before the Gameweek 2 deadline. As we mentioned the other day in Butt's Brain, the FPL ... Continue reading →

By Chris Wright

Adidas first teased us about their new 'intelligent' boots when Lionel Messi took to the field against Nigeria in a pair a few weeks back, but the big day has finally rolled around with the official launch of the new adiZero F50 miCoach boots an eye-catching (that's putting politely) piece of footballing footwear design which incorporates a nifty little microchip in the sole, thus giving the 165 gram boot a 'brain'.

The new adidas adiZero F50 miCoach - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Is it a football boot? Is it a football boot with a brain? Or is it just adidas finally putting a microchip in their adiZero F50s?

Yes, no and of course. The new adidas adiZero F50 miCoach (165g, retails price starts at £200, out in November), thanks to a built-in microchip and tracking software available for your smartphone as well as an online portal, promises to enable both professional and amateur footballers to analyse their personal speed, distance and work rate.

Darren Bent is what I call a stupid English footballer. It's not a reflection on his intelligence per se, though I'm pretty sure he's no educated sophisticate.

Here is a decent player, not exceptional but decent. But he has a small football brain. He hangs on the shoulder of the defender and hopes to get a run in on goal.

Hi. My name is Will. And I'm addicted to Arsenal.

It started the first time I saw an Arsenal game, when Thierry Henry pulled off the goal of the season against Manchester United on September 20th 2000. At that time, it was hard to get your hands on Arsenal because in the States it was still a new thing.

Can you imagine how many American heads would explode if the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers trotted out onto the field at JerryWorld on Sunday rocking these soccer-inspired kits? Shedloads, that's how many; you'd be picking bits of brain out of your blue cheese dip for days (and yet you would probably still eat your hot wings).

BOSTON, Mass Young athletes often dream of becoming professionals. In some cases, they even forgo college to take their chances on the big time. Leominster's Diego Fagundez is an even rarer exception. Fagundez is not only going to skip college, he will be bypassing much of high school as well to pursue a pro [.

A surprise result for Major League Soccer on Sunday night, with Justin Braun scoring a hat trick to lead Chivas USA to a 2-1 win at Red Bull Arena. Braun opened the scoring in the 5th minute, with Thierry Henry equalizing for New York in the 20th. The two teams traded goals again with Brain scoring his second in the 31st and Dwyane De Rsario equalizing from the penalty spot.

Tiki-taka vs ???

There are factors beyond the individuality of players that shouldn't go unrecognized. And this Champion's League final offers a good backdrop for illustrating the point.

Barca has the support of an entire philosophy behind them. A very clear and precise way of playing that has been engrained and rehearsed over years into oblivion.

3four3 gives you a thumbs up too man

Let's get something straight right off the bat: Dempsey is a quality player. He is one of the few worthy of representing our country. He has a good touch, a good brain, and is highly valuable to his club. But World Class?

I know we want one of these badly, but people are reaching and trying to rationalize someway to place that label on one of our guys.

As Premier League teams have begun their summer training camps this week, we have quite a few links and bits and pieces of news to report from around the footie world. Here's what's going on in Butt's Brain: Samir Nasri ... Continue reading →

It's my view that it really has become as simple as that now for AVB. There is all this talk of the homegrown ruling, of being able to live within your means and for most Chelsea fans, giving the youngsters a chance.
Luka Modric has done well at Tottenham so don't get me wrong. Do I think he would have more of an influence at Spurs than he would at Chelsea?

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain as we stay focused on the footie world and try to avoid the more depressing global news surrounding rioting youth or downgraded economies... FoxSoccer.TV is offering a 7-day free trial [EPL ... Continue reading →

By Chris Wright

Paraguay staged a friendly against Mexican side America in Mexico City yesterday to honour Salvador Cabanas, the striker who was shot in the head at close range in a Mexico City bar back in late January 2010 and miraculously lived to tell the tale with the bullet still lodged in his brain.

By Chris Wright

In which a street magician by the name of 'Dynamo' takes worthless cash-machine receipts and turns them into Premier League (and Birmingham City) match tickets all with the flick of a wrist, then goes on to bamboozle Nemanja Vidic's brain with some card-based jiggery-pokey.

As the game wound to a close, I was toying with an opening line for a reaction post, something along the lines of: "These two teams could play for 90 days instead of 90 minutes and never find the damn net."
So imagine my surprise when a late whistle finally answered a United attacker flinging himself to the ground in the box.

When Arsenal brought Chelsea down 5-3 at Stamford Bridge, it was with a rather maniacal chuckle that Alan Hansen talked about van Persie. The same man who spoke of Walcott's lack of a "footballing brain" was finally going to get on Arsenal's back. "Arsenal almost looking like a one-man team!" he commented rather casually.

VANCOUVER, BC The Vancouver Whitecaps surprised many by selecting 17-year-old forward Omar Salgado of El Paso, Texas, with the first overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday morning. Salgado is a 6-foot-3 member of the U.S. under-20 national team with great touch, but he's considered more of a project than the other [.

Even if I didn't expect anything from this game a bit of disappointment still lingers in my brain in this late hour. Wolves lost it with 4-3 fair and square but we lost the game with style. And to make a crude and short match analysis this early on what differed between [...]

I gotta admit I'm starting to shit myself a little bit here. I'm getting a tincey wincey bit nervous.
Watching Manchester United grind out a goal-less draw with Spurs today had me thinking, it had me thinking something bad. What I was thinking of was horrendous, more horrendous than the jumper my Nan lovingly knitted me for Christmas.

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain today most of it surrounding the transfer window... A list of the most expensive Premier League players in history, judged by combined transfer fees [The Telegraph] Darren Bent is on ... Continue reading →

By Ollie Irish

Jacob Steinberg is a pulsating football brain for The Guardian (and others), occasional Pies writer, and a top chap to boot. Follow him on the Twitters.

George Watsky is an American hip-hop poet/spoken-word artist (call it what you want).

Ever get stuck listening to an anecdote by a family member, friend or co-worker, which they find earth-shatteringly amazing, while your brain has tumbleweeds running through it? Of course you have.I've always found a polite, albeit dick-ish, thing to say is, "Nice story, it had a beginning, a middle and an end.

By Ollie Irish

After the heart-smashing defeat against Man Utd last night, Blackpool gaffer Ian Holloway announced he is taking a mini-break, to get as far away from football as possible. Where to, Ian? Dubai perhaps? Not a bit of it...

"I am going away with my wife – to Chorley," Ollie said.

MANCHESTER, England Veteran Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has confirmed will retire from football at the end of the season. The 40-year-old former Holland international moved to Old Trafford from Fulham in 2005 and helped the Red Devils to three Premier League titles and Champions League glory in 2008.

Here we are with the 11th edition of Calcio Thoughts! Not as many questions as usual this time around, but still high quality questions that really allowed me to rattle my brain! If you have a calcio question, comment, thought, or anything you'd like to see in Calcio Thoughts 12, feel free to ask it in the comments section of this post, the comments section of the upcoming Weekend that Was post, ask it on twitter, or simply email it to calciothoughts@gmail.

A bit of Butt's Brain analyzing some midweek fixtures... Victor Obinna our Former Funny Feeling Friday has scored 5 goals in his last 2 games! [Fanhouse] Luis Suarez scored on his debut and Liverpool have kept 3 clean ... Continue reading →

The look on his face should sum up the country's media nicely nicely.

And if any questions linger, whatever is protruding out both sides of his brain through his ears should take care of the remainder.

[Alex Livesy/Getty]

By Chris Wright

Remember the desperate plight of Salvador Cabanas, the former Club America striker that was shot in the head from close range in a Mexico City bar back in January of last year?

Almost an exact calendar year after the near-fatal shooting took place, Cabanas has miraculously taken to the field again training with Paraguayan club Libertad with the bullet still lodged deep in the back of his brain.

Just received a press release from the FCD front office that we have officially signed Brazilian international midfielder Ricardo Villar. Villar has been quite the traveler over his career, enjoying stints in Brazil, U.S.A., Austria, Asia, Germany, and Greece. I'm interested to see how the pick up works out.

Dumb & Dumber!

Greetings my friends who have recovered from the radioactive mutant of a match we played at the weekend. Shake your head clear, brush off any blood, tears and other assorted bodily fluids from your body and gather round me as we dissect (figuratively) the performance and (literally) the villains responsible for it.

The other day we had an interesting discussion about why it is that teams find it so hard to identify and bring through young talent.

Ken Arneson has another take, and it's very persuasive.

I've often thought that half the key to successful sport is the ability to not think.

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain today: Is this the future of the England National team? [Football Manager Stories] West Ham's best player in pre-season, Thomas Hitzlsperger finally made his debut last night after 6 months out, ... Continue reading →

Claudio Ranieri has spent time this week at Cobham as a guest of Carlo Ancelotti to look around the training ground and to watch training as a whole. Ranieri took time to speak to the Official Chelsea Website and has talked about Frank Lampard and has a startling revelation.
He said:

I noticed that for Frank it was very easy for him to arrive in the box and score a goal.