With the headlines currently being dominated by Mark Hughes' resignation from Fulham and the inevitable linkage to the Villa Park vacancy (I'm not convinced by the way), it's easy to miss other news going on today.

Actually, this one is barely more than a footnote on German website RP Online, but it's being reported that we will exercise our option to purchase Michael Bradley permanently from Borussia Mönchengladbach for a fee of €5m which includes the loan period.

I've neglected my little space on the Intertubes here, largely because of Twitter. The instant gratification and dialogue is a lot more satisfying than having to seed this sucker on other blogs. I love writing here, but my Twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/starting_eleven is a lot more fun. Sorry peeps.

So the world is now a place in which LeBron James can own a stake in Liverpool. On Twitter yesterday, the news was greeted first breathlessly and then, by People Who Know Things, with derision. Ives Galarcep pointed out that athletes buy small stakes in teams all the time. Jen Chang declared that this was no different than if David Beckham bought 0.

While we're getting close to the start of the 2011 MLS season -- official First Kick for the League is tomorrow night with the Galaxy at Seattle on ESPN -- our focus today should remain in Japan. If you haven't already, please, donate whatever you can however you can. As we mentioned yesterday, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross efforts in Japan.

Clint Hughes - Getty Images

Roy Hodgson in the happy, early days at Anfield.

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The December slows in domestic soccer afforded me a dandy chance to catch up on other sports.