Morning all, welcome to a brand new week and one that will kick off with another high profile
departure.
Alex Song will become a Barcelona player today and Arsenal will receive somewhere in the region
of £15m + add-ons for him. For some it's a sign that we're content time and time again to sell our
best players, for others it's a good deal for a player whose reputation outweighs his talent.
Joe Cole hopes that he can use the 2012-13 campaign to help Liverpool reach their potential and
prove that he belongs at the "great" Merseyside club.
Former West Ham and Chelsea star Cole arrived at Anfield in a high-profile move two years ago
but after a disappointing first campaign, he was sent out on loan at French side Lille.
Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has denied reported interest in reuniting with Blues skipper
John Terry at Paris St. Germain, insisting that the French giants will pursue a different
center-back.
The high-spending Ligue 1 outfit recently signed Argentine star Ezequiel Lavezzi to bolster
their attack but remain in the market to strengthen their defense.
French giants Paris St. Germain have completed the signing of Argentine winger Ezequiel Lavezzi
from Napoli for a fee reported to be in the region of €30 million.
Lavezzi made a total of 188 appearances for Napoli but his break-through form shone brightly in
the last two seasons, where he racked up 20 goals and 26 assists across all competitions.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has played down suggestions that his partnership with Lukas
Podolski and Robin van Persie can be impacted due to all three players being left-footed.
Giroud joined Podolski as Arsenal's second high-profile summer signing earlier this week and
speculation quickly became rife that his arrival could spell the departure of skipper van
Persie.
Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs is looking forward to the club's Chinese tour, citing the
nation's rapidly growing passion for football, as well as a high-profile friendly against the
Shanghai Shenhua, as the primary reasons behind his excitement.
Giggs performed at a decent level last year despite ending the season without winning a trophy
with United.
New Arsenal signing Olivier Giroud just had a brilliant domestic season to guide Montpellier to
an unlikely Ligue 1 triumph and the France international is determined to do the same with the
Gunners next season.
The last time Arsene Wenger brought a renowned Ligue 1 forward to his squad, it was Bordeaux's
Marouane Chamakh, who infamously went from a promising starter to a squad player with very little
playing time in a matter of months.
Robert Green, England's back-up goalkeeper at Euro 2012, has decided to sign with QPR and will
become a Rangers player on July 1st when his West Ham deal expires.
Green leaves the Hammers after arriving at Upton Park in 2006 and racking up over 200
appearances for the club.
During his time at West Ham, Green established himself as the number one choice as well as
earning himself regular England call-ups.
Juventus has pulled out of a high-profile preseason tour of the Canada and the U.S. this summer
citing scheduling issues as the reason for the cancellation.
Juventus had agreed to three games in North America, the biggest would have been a clash of
Spanish and Italian champions on August 5th in Las Vegas where they were supposed to play Real
Madrid.
You may think that I'm having a rant about footballers wages. However it's the opposite, I'm
defending footballers wages. I believe their wages are justified for what they do and how hard they
have worked throughout their life to get to where they are.
We'll start today with the news that Arsenal have announced the release of 7 players, the most
high profile of which is Manuel Almunia whose contract expires this summer.
The others are Gavin Hoyte, who follows his brother Justin out of the club, and youngsters
George Brislen-Hall, Sean McDermott, Rhys Murphy, James Campbell and Jeffrey Monakana.
The answer to that question appears to be yes, as high-profile signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic is
expected to make his Paris Saint-Germain debut against D.C. United on Saturday night.
"He will start to train this afternoon," said PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti of Ibrahimovic in a
media conference call on Tuesday.
New York is getting another big summer game, and this one will have a bit of South American
flavor to it.
Conmebol World Cup qualifying leaders Chile and Ecuador are set to square off in an
international friendly on August 15 at Citi Field in Flushing, SUM announced on Tuesday. The match
falls on a FIFA fixture date, so top players like Chile's Alexis Sanchez and Ecuadorian winger
Antonio Valencia can be called in.
With players using Xbox Kinect able to interact with characters within their device, creators of
FIFA 13 have decided to add a feature within the game whereby you can call the referee a w****r.
That all seems wuite funny and twee until you remember that we have had a fairly high-profile court
case recently in [.
With players using Xbox Kinect able to interact with characters within their device, creators of
FIFA 13 have decided to add a feature within the game whereby you can call the referee a w****r.
That all seems wuite funny and twee until you remember that we have had a fairly high-profile court
case recently in [.
For those of you who theorized that many of the high profile offloads this summer without any
notable additions may have been motivated by money (or a lack thereof), here's more wood for your
fire.
Under the deal that brought Major League Soccer to Chester, the Philadelphia Union agreed to pay
the impoverished city $500,000 a year in lieu of property taxes.
Tuesday was the date for the annual meeting between Major League Soccer's defending champions
and the President of the United States. The meeting always generates publicity for the league,
but the 2012 version was even more high profile than usual. This visit included such big names as
David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
Spain have had a rather oddball experience in the last few days bus drivers who come out of
nowhere to hug them (specifically Fernando Torres), impromptu bowling excursions,
family visits to the beach (well, that's a must it's summer after all) and more
importantly, their players being linked to high-profile moves next season.
This article titled "Euro 2012 live blog: 7 June" was written by Barry Glendenning (morning) and
Paul Doyle (afternoon), for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 7th June 2012 08.18 UTC
9.05am:Good morning everybody, Glendenning here. Let's get the ball rolling with David Pleat's
six players to watch during the tournament.
This article titled "Euro 2012: David Pleat's six players to watch in Poland and Ukraine" was
written by David Pleat, for The Guardian on Wednesday 6th June 2012 15.11 UTC
Alan Dzagoev (Russia)
The CSKA Moscow talent has won a major battle to get fit for inclusion in the squad. Born in
1990, he will be one of the youngest players in the tournament but Dick Advocaat knows the
importance of his linking skills behind either Pavel Pogrebnyak or Roman Pavlyuchenko.
FEMEN's remaining high profile with their protests, but the mainstream coverage indicates they
might be getting a bit more creative with said protests. Which can only benefit everybody, if it
might detract from the statement slightly.
A couple of young ladies found the landscaped mascots in Kiev this morning.
In League One this weekend a goalkeeping stalwart kicked a ball directly to an opponent – an
error which resulted in a goal, faced the first public criticism of his long standing spell between
the sticks and was dispatched to the bench. I am, of course, talking about Carlisle United's Adam
Collin, whose unbroken run in the Cumbrians goal ended at 149 appearances in this week's JPT clash
with Preston North End.
Mix Diskerud is the latest hero for Rosenborg, pushing the club into the Europa League group stage.
With games against fellow American Terrence Boyd's Rapid Vienna, Germany's Bayer Leverkusen, and
Ukraine's FC Metalist looming, let's learn a little more about Norway's biggest club. Why Are We
Here? After making 81 appearances for Stabaek, Mix Diskerud went on loan to Belgium's Gent in 2012.
I appreciate that to many Arsenal fans of a younger vintage, or perhaps converted to the cause
by the success and high profile brought to the club by Arsène Wenger, might not remember or even
know that once upon a time we had a forward called Nic Anelka.
FC Dallas has followed a path similar to the Portland Timbers this season. They started out the
season by adding some high profile South American talent to their roster, had a couple of good
results early on, but since then they have been just about the biggest disappointment in MLS, now
tied for the league's worst record.
No, no, please don't thank me. I know you've all been grateful for the fact that I heroically
resisted the urge to post every day in order to tactfully avoid you saturating, dear readers of
this blog.
To be honest there wasn't much to be said anyway, as apart from a few high profile transfers the
French transfer market was as flat as ever.
Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph was happy to sign a designated player deal with the club in
December. (Photo: revolutionsoccer.net)
When the Revolution signed Shalrie Joseph to a designated player deal in December, the first
question that came to mind was the most obvious one: For how much?
There's only one way this can end: let him go. Just let him walk away. After scoring late to
send the game to extra times, Drogba conceded a penalty in extra time, only to then score the
winning penalty. Let the man ride off into his sunset. It's a cinema ending.
But most importantly: Big Boss (Roman) finally gets his coveted Champions League, but only after
canning his uber-expensive, high profile manager and replacing him in the midst of what appeared to
be a losing knockout round tie with an assistant on an interim basis.
Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre says he has spoken to the key members of the squad
following the departure of Kenny Dalglish and has now dismissed any talk of high-profile exits.
I spoke to all our senior players yesterday and I don't think that will happen," said Ayre.
"Of course Kenny is an important part of the fabric of the club and always will be.
Thinking about what to write for tonight it occurred to me that 2012 has lacked some of the big
business stories that have been an MLS trademark over the last few seasons. Obviously, the entry
of Montreal into the league was a big business story as was the start of the NBC/MLS relationship.Â
Over the next few weeks, two new soccer venues will open, one in Montreal and the other in
Houston.
*Los Angeles Times reporter Kevin Baxter broke the story here today. The Galaxy's starting
goalkeeper missed last weekend's game against Dallas for "personal" reasons and it's unclear when
he will return to the team. Josh Saunders joins several other high-profile MLS players to battle
substance abuse including former Galaxy midfielder
