VILLAREAL TRANSFER DIEGO FORLAN TO ATLETICO DE MADRID

It is official. VILLAREAL has announced on its web site that they
have transferred their Uruguayian forward DIEGO FORLAN to
ATLETICO DE MADRID.

Atletico will pay 21M€ for Forlan & have him for the next 4
seasons. The player will be officially presented to fans & media

after his participation in the South American Championships were
he is with his national side.

This indirectly signals what everyone already knows, that Fernando
Torres will go to Liverpool which will be confirmed in the next few
days. Atletico has moved fast to find a worthy substitute.

Here is a VIDEO showing Forlan´s talent as a goalscorer. Lets not
forget that 2 years ago he was the European "Golden Boot" winner.
He is also reknown as being responsable for missing a goal against
Juventus that went down in history ( see end of video) - he is human!

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MOTO GP. JORGE LORENZO SHINES FOR SPANIARDS IN 250CC

Big day at the Dutch Moto Gp with our Spanish riders doing well,
specially JORGE LORENZO in 250cc who won & extends his lead
in the overall Championship points table.















Another Spaniard finished 3º, ALVARO BAUTISTA, who shared
poduim with DE ANGELIS & Lorenzo.

Overall 250 cc World Championship table stands:
1. J.Lorenzo 178pts; 2.Dovizioso 155; 3. De Angelis 155; 4.A.Bautista
116















In the Gp catagory, Spaniard DANI PEDROSA finished 4th in a
good race. However, the star was VALENTINO ROSSI ( pictured)
who came from 11th place to win his 3º consecutive Dutch GP
race, absolutely fantastic! Australian Casey Stoner was 2º & American
Nicky Hayden was finally back on podium with his 3ºplace.

Current GP World Championship table:
1. C.Stoner 165pts; 2. V.Rossi 139; 3. D.Perdrosa 106

In the 125cc catagory, Spaniard HECTOR FAUBEL finished 2º behind
Pasini & infront of teammate Talmacsi. Faubel currently leads the World
Championship points table ahead of Talmacsi & follow Spaniard
Gadea

Next race : Germany Tweet

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REAL MADRID HAVE AGREEMENT WITH ROBBEN

According to "as", REAL MADRID & CHELSEA´s 23 year old
Dutch International ARJAN ROBBEN have come to an agreement.
Now Real Madrid need to fight it out with Chelsea & negotiate the
transfer of the player.

Real & Robben have settled that the Dutchman will get paid more
than at Chelsea & for a contract of 6 years. The rumoured transfer
price tag is said to be around 20M€, a figure that Chelsea will push
hard to lift & maximize. Stay tuned on developments!

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER NEWS BRIEFS

SFS thought it put the cover of "marca" to give its readers an idea
of how FERNANDO TORRES will look dressed as a LIVERPOOL
player. It not official, but it real close & within the next days it will
be shut. Apparently, the deal just needs Torres OK who is on holidays
& returns next week.
























German Champions STUTTGART have ZARAZOGA forward
EWERTHON as objective & have offer 7.5M€. Zaragoza have
said no, but a better offer ( around 10M€) may soften them.




















BOSKO JANKOVIC the 22 year old MALLORCA midfielder has
been transfered for 6M€ to Italian club PALERMO














Lastly, SFS readers have asked for a photo of ERIC ABIDAL being
presented as new FC BARCELONA player. Here it is folks!

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LEAKED NEWS :ATLETICO DE MADRID & LIVERPOOL COME TO AN AGREEMENT. FERNANDO TORRES GOES TO ANFIELD

The news from "TeleMadrid" says that ATLETICO DE MADRID
& LIVERPOOL are close to an agreement regarding the transfer
of its star forward FERNANDO "The Kid" TORRES.
The price is 32-33M€ & the contract for 5 seasons, were Atletico have
the 1º option to recover the player if he were to leave Liverpool.
It is now up to Torres to say yes or no.

However, just a few minutes ago, radio programmes across the
counrty are "leaking" ( in SFS case heard on "Onda Cero") that
the deal is now shut!

SFS would like to remind its readers that it is NOT OFFICIAL.
SFS has counter-checked the news via other sources & club web
sites & has found nothing that would indicate that the "leaked"
news is 100% true.

It does, however, look like that it is a question of hours before it
is officially announced that FERNANDO TORRES will be a new
LIVERPOOL player as of next season. Stay tuned!

UPDATE - the deal & player agreement is very very close. It is

expected that the operation will be closed in the next few days.
Luis Garcia enters the operation & it seems almost certain that
Torres will be a Liverpool player.

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FC BARCELONA NEWS. DECO & LAMPARD IN A "SWAP" DEAL?

English daily "The Times" sent the news out, Spanish papers today
reinforced it & "El Mundo" further expands on it.
FC BARCELONA is willing to pay 22-23M€ for CHELSEA midfielder
FRANK LAMPARD, or "swap" its Portugues Internacional DECO
for the Englishman.









In fact, FC Barcelona´s original idea was to finance the Lampard
transfer price by the money they could receive from INTER MILAN
if they succeeded in luring over Deco. The "swap" option now gains in
strenght as Chelsea´s coach Mourinho had Deco with him at Oporto
& has always looked favourably in "regaining" his service.
SFS will keep you informed on developments. Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER BRIEFS

OLYMPIQUE DE LYON player ERIC ABIDAL is set to sign with
FC BARCELONA today after ungoing the routine medical check.
The picture below ( from "Sport") shows the player & his
representatives at the Barça offices.

















According to "Marca", ATLETICO DE MADRID has made a firm
offer to LIVERPOOL for its Spanish midfielder LUIS GARCIA.
It is said that the offer is 5M€, however it is more likely that Garcia
will enter the operation to get FERNANDO TORRES over to Anfield.
The price for Torres is 40M€ & Garcia will help lower that price for
Liverpool.
















Luis Garcia played 1º season for Atletico while on loan from FC
Barcelona




Staying with Barça, VALENCIA CF is
thinking about JULIANO BELLETI as
substituting its Portugues defender MIGUEL,
who has a "bad" relationship with Valencia
coach Quique Sanchez Flores. Stay tuned! Tweet

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REAL MADRID SACK FABIO CAPELLO

FABIO CAPELLO will no longer sit on this seat. REAL MADRID
"Football Director", Pedja Mijatovic, has announced a couple of
hours ago at a packed press conference, that Capello will no longer
be the teams coach.
The decison was made earlier today after a full board meeting was held
which was chaired by President Calderon.























Although Capello steered Real Madrid to its 30th League title, this
season, it was not enough to satisfy fans & media by the style of play
utilized. According to most, winning is not enough, it must include
class play, which was´nt observed all season. Even the fact that players
came out to defend Capello & publically adviced for the coach to continue
was not enough.

Mijatovic finished without announcing the new coach, although its
common knowledge that it will be ( if there are no surprises) GETAFE
coach & ex - Real Madrid player BERND SCHUSTER.
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ATLETICO DE MADRID NEWS. DIEGO FORLAN & RIQUELME CLOSE TO SIGNNING.

According to the mayor Spanish sports daily´s ( as & marca),
ATLETICO DE MADRID is on the verge of announcing the
signning of VILLAREAL forward DIEGO FORLAN.

















However, there is a new element. Atletico may have shut a 2 for the
price of 1 ( plus a player ) deal; SFS will explains in more detail.

Atletico will give Villareal 30M€ in which 20 is for Forlan & 10 will be
for RIQUELME. Villareal asks that Atletico add to the Riquelme
price its Colombian defender PEREA in the opeartion.

The negotiations are so advanced that both teams seem to have come to
an agreement & Forlan has apparently accepted. The only piece missing
is that Riquelme needs to give his official Ok which seems very likely.

The other news implicit here is that FERNANDO TORRES looks closer
to leaving Atletico as the money received from his transfer will finance the
opeartion.
Stay tuned! Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL. TRANSFER MARKET BRIEFS

ERIC ABIDAL is close to becoming the 3º major signning for FC
BARCELONA after negotiating with OLYMPIQUE DE LYON &
"pushing up" its offer to 15M€, according to "Mundo Deportivo".
Sources comment that its Barça last offer & that a decision is close
at hand.












Young star defender & ex-GETAFE player, ALEXIS, was officially
presented yesterday as a new player for VALENCIA CF. Real
Madrid were also very interested in the player, but Alexis finally
decided to join the team coached by Quique Sanchez Flores.




















VILLAREAL has asked R.C.D. ESPANYOL for the price of its
Captain & forward RAUL TAMUDO. Villareal is close to selling
its forward FORLAN to Atletico de Madrid & see in Tamudo the
possible perfect substitution, as reported by "AS".

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ATLETICO DE MADRID. MORE FERNANDO TORRES NEWS

The maximum authority at ATLETICO DE MADRID, Miguel
Angel Gil, has made some interesting comments to "Mirador" a
programme of "Punto Radio" that "Europa Press" has picked up,
that maybe interpreted as "opening the door" to FERNANDO
TORRES & hinting about his possible future.




















When asked about Torres´s the two replies SFS wishes to highlight
are ( translated to English ):
"...no player is that important as to determine the composition
of a team". Gil later added, "...I would love Fernando to continue,
but Fernando will decide by himself if he wishes to continue & no
one else"

SFS interprets this , as many others, as the beginning of a public
campaign at softening a possible local fans revolt & placing the decision
in the players hands & not on the club.
Stay tuned, as things its seems are beginning to take shape.
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SPANISH FOOTBALL. TRANSFER NEWS - DRENTHE, FORLAN , ...

Spanish Football is vibrant this week with new signnings, official
transfer presentations, plus plenty of rumours & gossip circulating
around the media.

REAL MADRID has put itself the objective to secure young Dutch
U/21 star & FEYENOORD player ROYSTON DRENTHE. The star
of the current U/21 European Championships has attracted the
attention of the Real scouts & specially its "Football Director", Pedja
Mijatovic, who is said ( according to "AS") to already be negotiating
with the young players club.















Real Madrid wishes to rejuvenate its team & add Roysten to
its list of young stars: Higuaín, Gago & Marcelo.
Here is a brief VIDEO of Drenthe with comments from the great
GULLIT:





















ATLETICO DE MADRID is pushing hard & is "ahead" of VALENCIA
in its bid to get VILLAREAL forward DIEGO FORLAN, according to
"AS". Atletico is putting on the table more cash & possibly its defender
PEREA. Added to this Atletico is offering the player 3M€ /season which
much more than Valencia. Stay tuned!

















FC BARCELONA´s Dutch International GIOVANNI VAN
BRONCKHORST has decided to return to his old club
FEYENOORD, according to "Radio Catalunya". The defender
was out of favour at the club & prefers to play in Holland & not
pass the rest of next season on the "bench".













Finishing with FC BARCELONA, its "Public Relations" department
has successfully "distracted" the attention away from its League title
loss with a "frenzy" of signnings & presentations. The excitement is
so big between the fans & media, that local paper "Sport" has done
this image of the Barça´s attacking strenght for next season. It is truely
impressive - "The 4 Magnificos"!
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SPANISH FOOTBALL. MORE TRANSFER NEWS BRIEFS

ATLETICO DE MADRID has secured the loan of AC MILAN
(currently on loan to Torino) goalkeeper CHRISTIAN ABBIATI
for next season.
The player flew to Madrid today & passed the regulatory medical
examinations.

Its now 100% official 24 year old midfielder YAYA TOURÉ was

presented today to fans & media as a new FC BARCELONA player

Staying with FC BARCELONA, Daniel Prade, "Football Director"
for Italian club ROMA is flying to Barcelona to negotiate the transfer
of its Rumanian defender CRISTIAN CHIVU.
If Roma & Barça come to an agreement ( Roma asks arounds 15M€)

tonight, we may wake up tomorrow ( or find during the day) to find
that Chivu is a new player for Barça.
INTER MILAN is fighting hard to sway the player, but is seeing him
slip before their eyes. SFS will keep you updated!

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER BRIEFS & GOSSIP

Today SFS has some news briefs after roaming the local sports
dailys.

The first interesting piece is the news that
REAL MADRID is following the young
Dutch U/21 star & FEYENOORD player
ROYSTEN DRENTHE (pictured).
The Holland U/21 side defeated Serbia in the
final & Drenthe played an important part in
his teams victory, & throughout the
whole tournament.

ATLETICO DE MADRID has asked FC BARCELONA the price of
its Mexican International defender RAFAEL MARQUEZ, according to
"Sport". Atletico coach Javier Aguirre likes the player & thinks he can
add class to the defence.

















Mazquez has fallen out of favour at "Camp
Barça" & the club could encourage the player to find a new club.




LUDOVIC GUILY flew to MONACO
to begin talks with the club & investigate
the possibilty of returning to his ex-club.

Guily is part of the "black list" of players
that Barça will not count on for next season.
The club has encouraged the player to begin
looking elsewhere because a place in next
seasons side will be difficult.






Staying with Barça, here is a humourous touch to end todays post.
"Sports" cartoon piece by "Futbolitis" focuses on THIERRY HENRY
official presentacion in front of 30,000 fans & media yesterday.










Here President Laporta comments on the many talents of Henry
(Goal, Dribbling, Assitence...etc.) & then adds "...we hope he is a good
psychologist as well, because in this dressing room you will need to
be".
Laporta makes reference to the difficulty in finding a "harmonious
equilibrium" with so many stars - Eto´o, Ronaldinho, Messi... Tweet

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MANCHESTER UNITED ENTERS THE FERNANDO TORRES TRANSFER "BATTLE"

According to "AS", MANCHESTER UNITED has entered the picture
along with ARSENAL & LIVERPOOL to try to secure the services
of ATLETICO DE MADRID young star striker FERNANDO TORRES

Liverpool started things with its offer early last week & now may put its
French forward DJIBRIL CISSÉ in a bargainning card. Atletico is
interested however in Villareal´s Forlan to substitute Torres if he leaves,
however Cissé is young & cheaper, & hope to convience Atletico.















In SFS opinion, it would be a grave mistake to accept Cissé in a
Torres operation, as the French is considered ( humble opinion)
to be an ordinary player. SFS doubts that he will adapt to Spanish
Football & as alraedy said, its almost an "insult" to place this type
of player in an operation with Torres.

Arsenal have an ace that may sway Atletico & that is José Antonio
Reyes, & Manchester Utd has the prestige & money.

Lastly, & most important, the player must wish to leave & that is´nt
at all clear as we have´nt as yet heard or seen the player announce his
intentions. Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFER BRIEFS

Three quick transfer news pieces for SFS readers.

Firstly, a picture says a thousand words, & THIERRY HENRY
arrived at BARCELONA yesterday to be welcomed by hundreds
of journos, photographers & curious fans.

















Another Barça signning Ivory Coast International & midfielder
TOURÉ also flew into Barcelona to do his medical check & sign
later for the club























ATLETICO DE MADRID & Greek club OLYMPIAKOS have a
verbal agreement to transfer Argentine International GALLETTI
for 2,5M€. The player is also happy & is anxious to shut the deal, were
the terms are for 3 seasons. SFS wishes him all the luck in his Greek
adventure

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ARSENAL IS A NEW PLAYER IN THE FERNANDO TORRES TRANSFER "BATTLE"

Just when the news was that LIVERPOOL may shut a deal with
ATLETICO DE MADRID to sign FERNANDO TORRES this week
with a 36M€ in hand & possibly with Luis Garcia included , news now
comes in that ARSENAL has stepped into the game to try a "snatch"
the Spaniard. SFS has seen this piece on local sport daily "AS" site this
afternoon.

















Arsenal wants Torres to be their new Henry & now that they have
"fresh" cash from Fc Barcelona (27M€) they wish to re-invest it with
"The Kid".
The other ace up their sleeve is that they may put JOSE ANTONIO
REYES in the operation, which is more attractive to Atletico than Luis
Garcia of Liverpool.

Stay tuned, as this promises to be a very interesting battle! Tweet

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BASKETBALL. REAL MADRID ACB SPANISH BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS

REAL MADRID has defeated BARECELONA 71 - 82 & win the
final play-offs 3-1 to take the SPANISH ACB BASKETBALL title
for 2006/07

REAL MADRID player ( pictured below) FELIPE REYES was
outsatnding during the play-offs & in this game scored 21 points.
Reyes was voted MVP of the final series, an award that everyone

agrees with & stamps him as one of Spain´s great players.

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SPANISH CUP FINAL: SEVILLE FC 1 - GETAFE 0 (SEE VIDEO)

Grand night & season for SEVILLE FC winning its 1º
ever SPANISH CUP with a 1 - 0 scoreline over GETAFE.
The 2 time & current Uefa Cup winners won thanks
to a goal by KANOUTE.

Here is the VIDEO highlight of the match

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LIVERPOOL LOOKS SET TO SIGN FERNANDO TORRES

According to most media sources in Spain & England, both
ATLETICO DE MADRID & FERNANDO TORRES have
agreed to accept the LIVERPOOL transfer offer as long as
the English team puts on the table 36M€
The deal could be shut as early as next week.

Atletico already have a plan on how to find a substitute
with the new cash. The Spanish team would pay the contract

clause of Villareal´s Uruguayian forward DIEGO FORLAN

& get him over for next season. Also on the cards are
Portugues young star QUARESMA & Arsenal player ( on
loan to Real Madrid) JOSE ANTONIO REYES.
SFS will keep you updated on how things finally turn out.

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THIERRY HENRY & FC BARCELONA SHUT THE DEAL

It´s "splashed" all our the Spanish papers, French forward
THIERRY HENRY has signned for FC BARCELONA for
4 seasons with a transfer price of 27M€. The player has
commented that the grand attraction of Barça was its style
of Football.

















The Frenchman will be payed 6M€ /season & is expected
to arrive at Barcelona early next week for the routine
medical check & presentation to media. Tweet

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REAL MADRID: SENSE OF HUMOUR FROM BARCELONA

Interesting piece of humour from Barcelona with daily
"Sport" reffering to the Real Madrid´s President Calderon
indecision on who will coach the team next year.
The truth is that BERND SCHUSTER seems to be the
chosen man as Capello has left for holidays "almost"
saying goodbye to everyone & accepting that he will
no longer return.








However, Catalan humour wishes to take millage out of
the situation,via Sports Futbolitis section, with Calderon
contemplating his indecision..." Capello yes, Bernardo yes,
Koeman yes, Laudrup yes, Capello yes....". Capello´s
response..." To get paid yes" ( he has 2 more years of
contract & to "sack" him will mean a a multi millionaire
payout!) Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL NEWS BRIEFS & SPANISH CUP FINAL TALK

The highlight of the weekend will be tomorrows SPANISH CUP
final between SEVILLE FC - GETAFE, but today we have some news
pieces picked up around various media sources that give us an update
on how the transfer market is moving.

Ivory Coast International & MONACO player, YAYA TOURÉ, is
very close to signning with FC BARCELONA according to "Sport".
Barça officials will tie the "fine details" with player rep. & Monaco
directives this weekend. Touré is ready to interrupt his holidays &
fly to Barcelona this Sunday for the routine & required medical check
on Monday.

The CHIVU story continues according to "Sport", with ROMA
& FC BARCELONA sharing "similiar ideas". Now Barça officials

need to talk with the player & convience him to "break" his word
with INTER MILAN. The signning of the Rumanian defender has

increased in importance, now that CARLES PUYOL has injuryed his knee

on holidays in South Africa & will be operated with 3 month rest period.

News from Portugues paper "Record" mentiones that English
Premier League club CHELSEA has made an offer to ATLETICO
DE MADRID for its young defender ZE CASTRO. Apparently, the

offer has been rejected, but Ze Castro adaptation to Spanish Football
has not been 100% ( yet!)

After ESPANYOL put a 30M€ price tag on its Spanish International,
LUIS GARCIA, VALENCIA CF has lifted its offer to 12M€. Not doubt,
that as negotiations continue both teams will find a middle ground that

maybe around the 15-20M€.
However, English club WEST HAM has entered the picture & SFS is sure
many more will appear before this story comes to a happy end.

Tomorrow SEVILLE FC plays GETAFE in the final of the 2007
SPANISH CUP in Madrid at the "Santiago Bernabeu" Stadium.

Latest news is the Seville will be without Adriano, but get back Alves

from Brazilian national side commitments & Jesus Navas.
Getafe are "seriously" undermanned, as they cannot count on Alexis
& Dorado (both with injury) & goalkeeper Abbondancieri who is
with national side (Argentina) duties.
Seville is hot favourite, but these types of finals & games have always
caused surprises. May the better team win!

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SPANISH FOOTBALL . VIDEO OF LA LIGA´S TOP GOALS OF 2006/07

SFS has "discovered" this interesting VIDEO of the TOP GOALS
for the 2006/07 season of "LA LIGA". Some excellent goals scored &
SFS thought its readers may enjoy it.
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LIVERPOOL & ATLETICO DE MADRID STUDY THE FERNANDO TORRES TRANSFER OPTION

Spanish paper "AS" has picked up the English daily news piece
from the "The Times", that LIVERPOOL has sent a delegation to
Madrid to meet & sit down with ATLETICO DE MADRID directives
to discuss FERNANDO TORRES.















Torres is the Nº1 objective in Liverpool´s coach Rafa Benitez team
planes for the 2007/08 season. The offer maybe LUIS GARCIA plus
26M€, but Benitez perhaps wishes to keep Garcia, even though he may
help lower the price tag. Atletico, if they decide to let Torres go will fight
hard & lift the price.

SFS will follow this & further developments. Tweet

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFERS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP

Many FC BARCELONA directives are voicing their disillusion with the
performance of Portugues International DECO. According to "Sport"
the player is no longer considered vital in the schemes of things &
the door may open to other clubs to make an offer for the midfielder.

SFS feels that perhaps the Barça environment is a bit "pissed off" with
losing the Spanish League & are just letting out steam. SFS thinks that
Deco is a grand player & has plenty of good football.

FC BARCELONA is still working in its aim to secure Rumanian
& ROMA defender CHIVU. They have asked the player & his
Italian club to wait before accepting a "huge" INTER MILAN
offer, which both have agreed.
Barça official will meet the players rep next week to "grind" an
adecuate deal in order to convience all parties.

VALENCIA CF has sent its eyes on R.C.D. ESPANYOL Spanish
International LUIS GARCIA. Espanyol has reacted by announcing
a 30M€ price tag & commenting that they will listen only for this

price.

SAVIO BORTOLINI has signned a 2 year

contract with LEVANTE & was presented

to media yesterday

The ex - Real Madrid & Zaragoza player,
who returned to Spanish Football this winter

to play for REAL SOCIEDAD, had an extraordinary

last part of the season.

Lastly, SANTOS powerful midfielder CLEBER SANTANA could be

presented next week as new player for ATLETICO DFE MADRID.

According to "AS" there is agreement with all parties for around 8M€
& the player may fly over to Madrid after playing the important local
derby on Sunday between Santos & Sao Paulo

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