ATLETICO DE MADRID TRANSFER RUMOUR QUICKIES 2008

According to news from Portugues paper "O Jogo", Portugues
International & JUVENTUS midfielder THIAGO is back on
the ATLETICO DE MADRID agenda. The paper cites that only
1M€ seperates both Clubs from shutting the deal ( Juventus
asks for 12M€ & Atletico wishes to pay 11M€). Stay tuned!














News from local Sports daily "AS" says that VALENCIA CF maybe
about to make an offer to ATLETICO DE MADRID for its Argentine
goalkeeper LEO FRANCO. The player was earlier linked to River
Plate, as the keeper has only 1ºyear left of contract & renewal has not
jumped out in discussions between Atletico & Franco. Added to this,
Franco faces stiff competition from newly signned French International
keeper Coupet.

SFS hopes that Leo Franco stays, SFS thinks he is a great keeper if
injuries stay away.

CARTOON HUMOUR: REAL MADRID & ROBINHO

Nothing like some "sarcastic" humour from Barcelona to stick the
finger into the old arch rival REAL MADRID. From the Catalan
Sports daily "Sport" & its cartoon section, "Futbolitis" come this piece
dedicated to Madrid player ROBINHO & his daily flirts with Chelsea
FC & his "loyalty" to Madrid.









Translated literally:

1º image : " I wish to leave Madrid"
2º image : " I expect to stay at Madrid for a long time"
...& repeated again...etc

REAL MADRID: CANNAVARO WILL LEAVE AT THE END OF THE 2008/2009 SEASON

According to an interview given by Gaetano Fedele, representative
of Italian International & REAL MADRID defender FABIO
CANNAVARO, to Italian radio "Kiss Kiss", this will be the last
season that his player will play for Madrid.






















Cannavaro will finish his 3 year contract with Real Madrid this
season & his dream is to return & end his Football carreer at the
Club where he started it all, NAPOLES.

Real Madrid already has his substitute in young Argentine Ezequiel
Garay who will be on loan this season to Racing of Santander,
before returning next year for the 2009/2010 season to take the place
of the Italian defender. There is no doubt that all this will stimulate
Cannavaro to put in his best season in order to go out on a high
note.

SEVILLA FC 2008: FERNANDO NAVARRO PRESENTED AS NEW PLAYER

SEVILLA FC has finally presented its new defender & substitute
for the departed Dani Alves, FERNANDO NAVARRO that comes
from REAL MALLORCA.

The Spanish International defender signs for the next 5 years &
promises to fill the gap left open by the departure of the Brazilian
to FC Barcelona. Fernando Navarro costs the club 5M€ which is
considered economical , by SFS standards at least, as he is considered
one of Spains most brilliant young defenders with a fabulous future
ahead of him. Good signning for Sevilla Fc , fans should be happy.

SPANISH FOOTBALL NEWS 2008: ROBINHO & LUIS FABIANO RENEW CONTRACTS

Spanish daily "Marca" advance that REAL MADRID Brazilian
forward ROBINHO will renew his contract with the Club another
5 years which will double his salary to 3M€/season. This is a reaction
from Madrid to the calls of English Club Chelsea FC & their offers
to sign the player.

However, there is a catch as said here at SFS, Robinho´s future is
tied directly with Cristiano Ronaldo. If Real Madrid manage to sign
the Portugues star, Robinho will be sold to Chelsea to finance the
operation. If it is impossible to get Ronaldo to Madrid, the Spanish
Club would have secured the Brazilian with this renovation.






















Brazilian International forward & SEVILLA FC player LUIS
FABIANO has renewed his contract with his Club until 2011.

The 27 year old scored 23 goals last season & has become a vital
part of the Sevilla team. This should also halt rumours of his
departure to another Club.

ATLETICO DE MADRID MEXICAN TOUR 2008: FIRST GOALS AGAINST TIGRES (SEE VIDEOS)

ATLETICO DE MADRID continue with their Mexican Tour &
played their third game against the TIGERS. A game that brought
the Spaniards their first goals via JOHN HEITINGA with a header
in the 58th min & via DIEGO FORLAN in the 62th min to put them
0-2 ahead.

However, the tiredness & the constant changes in the team lineup gave
the Mexicans the opportunities to get back & draw the match thanks to
PEREZ in the75th min & VINIEGRA in the 79th min.

Disappointing for the Spaniards to let their opponents fight back & draw,
but good signs of improvements as the team are playing much better.


















Match summary:

Tigres 2: Óscar Pérez; Diego Martínez, Hugo Sánchez (m.46, Cerda),
Erik Martínez (m.52, Jiménez), Jonathán de León (m.69, Viniegra);
Guillermo Marino, Lucas Ayala, José Rivas, Julio Aguilar (m.46, Benítez),
Francisco Fonseca & Blás Pérez.

Atlético de Madrid 2: Gregory Coupet; Mariano Pernía,
Luis Amaranto Perea, Juan Valera (m.60, Seiteridis), John Heitinga;
Paulo Assuncao, Maxi Rodríguez (m.55, De las Cuevas),
Simao (m.55, Reyes), Cléber Santana (m.66, Raúl García);
Sinama Pongolle (m.64, Ramos) & Diego Forlán.

Goals: 0-1, m.58: John Heitinga; 0-2, m.62: Diego Forlán; 1-2,
m.75: Blás Pérez; 2-2, m.79: Manuel Viniegra.


















Video highlights:

REAL MADRID TRANSFER NEWS 2008: CRISTIANO RONALDO & JULIO BAPTISTA

Last Monday in the Portugues city of Sintra (close to Lisbon)
MANCHESTER UNITED Coach Ferguson met his Portugues
star CRISTIANO RONALDO to convience him to stay &
forget about the REAL MADRID sirens.

According to "AS" & other similiar sources, Ronaldo made it

clear that his desire was to leave the Club & play for Real
Madrid. The response from the Scotsman was that he would

accept a transfer to any other club, except Real Madrid. This
obviously did´nt help calm the players nerves as he insists that he

will not return to Manchester.

Lastest news from Spanish TV -"TVE News" - was that there may

have been a compromise thrown at Ronaldo: leave in December.
This is not a solution that Ronaldo is comfortable with as neither is

Real Madrid. The Cristiano story continues...

Barcelona based Sports paper "Mundo Deportivo" publish that
the days of REAL MADRID Brazilian International JULIO BAPTISTA
in Madrid maybe counted. So much so, that the daily goes as far to say

that a transfer deal maybe shut in hours or even days with AC ROMA.

Real Madrid wishes to generate liquidity & the transfer of Baptista to
AC Roma for about 10M€ with be well greeted.

FC BARCELONA RETURN TO TALKS WITH DIDIER DROGBA

Another on-off summer story that has CHELSEA FC 30 year old
forward DIDIER DROGBA at numerous clubs at the sametime.
The Ivory Coast player wishes to breathe new air & play elsewhere,
his name has be associated with Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan
& FC Barcelona & it´s with that latter that Drogba comes back to the
forefront of the news & transfer rumours.

According to Spanish sports paper "Mundo Deportivo", FC
BARCELONA is back talking with Drogba. The Spanish Club offers
a 2 year contract with 1 more year optional, however the Chelsea
player wishes a straight 3 year contract, & here are the difficulties.
























FC Barcelona knows they will eventually sell Samuel Eto´o & are
covering all the options: Drogba, Berbatov, Adelbayor, Robinho...
It´s common practice & we all will have to wait & see how things
turnout. Stay tuned!

TRANSFERS 2008: FC BARCELONA ASKS FOR ROBINHO

Wagner Ribeiro, representaive of REAL MADRID Brazilian
International ROBINHO, has let known to the media that Real
Madrid has a "big" offer from Chelsea FC & that a FC
BARCELONA Directive has called him to ask for the situation of
his player.

This has exploded in the local sports papers (marca, as, mundo
deportivo...) as it concerns the "old enemy" & transfers to the
eternal rival are controversial & not well seen.
















FC Barcelona is looking for a forward to replace Samuel Eto´o when
he finally leaves & Robinho wishes to know immediately his future:
will he stay or be transferred. Real Madrid has said publically that
they wish the player to stay & Coach Schuster believes he is an
important piece of the future team.

SFS still thinks that the future of Robinho is linked on how the
Cristiano Ronaldo operation finishes. If Ronaldo goes to Madrid,
Robinho will go, if not the Brazilian will stay. Stay tuned!

U/19 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008: SPAIN ELIMINATED

Two time consecutive European U/19 Champions SPAIN have
been eliminated from this years tournament after losing 0-1 to
HUNGARY. Spain needed to win their Group A match today after
losing after Germany 1-0 in the group opener.

Hungary took it´s chances after the Spanish defence made a series of
mistakes that allowed NAGY to score in the 70th min. Spain had a
chance to draw via Emilio, but he failed infront of the goalkeeper.

End of the road for Spain, they were not up to the standard of
previous Spanish squads & the needed playing level

Match details/summary:

SPAIN 0: De Gea, Azpilicueta, Castellano, Domínguez Soto,
Antón (Luque, min. 72), Camacho, Parejo, Emilio, Mérida
(Aquino, min. 65), Aarón & Bolado (Alba, min. 46).

HUNGARY 1: Gulácsi, Nagy, Korcsmár, Debreceni, Présinger,
Busai, Iszlai, Gosztonyi (András Simon, min. 88), Koman,
Nikházi (Szabó, min. 57) & Németh (Bajner, min. 90).

GOAL: 0 - 1. Min.70, Nagy

SEVILLA FC NEWS 2008: SEBASTIAN SQUILLACI SIGNS FOR 4 YEARS

Spanish Club SEVILLA FC have tthemselves a formable new
defender, it´s LYON & French International SEBASTIAN
SQUILLACI after signning for 4 years. The Frenchmen was
presented to the Spanish media today alongside Sevilla directives.

















The 28 year old of Italian origin comes to strenghen the defence after
Alves went to Barça & injuries last year left the backline without a
reliable substitute to fill the gaps.

SAMUEL ETO´O & INTER MILAN TALKING?

Spanish sports daily "Mundo Deportivo" inform that FC
BARCELONA forward SAMUEL ETO´O & INTER MILAN are
in "silent" negotiations & hint that both maybe getting close to
a transfer agreement.


















Inter Milan Coach Mourinho has never hidden his admiration for
the Barça forward & FC Barcelona has already said on many
occasions that they do not count with Eto´o. Saty tuned!

ATLETICO DE MADRID MEXICAN TOUR 2008 - SECOND DEFEAT

ATLETICO DE MADRID experienced their second defeat yesterday
in their Mexican pre-season Tour. The Spanish team went down 1-0
to Mexican Club CRUZ AZUL in the 7th min when new Atletico
keeper COUPET made a mistake & allowed Edgar Andrade to score.

Atletico gave a run to all its stars & new signnings, & were unlucky to
not score. It´s early days & the team continues to get to know each
other (specially the new players), get into shape & find the rhythm
of competive games. They will continue in Mexico with more games in
the coming days.
























Match details:

Cruz Azul - 1: Yosgart Gutiérrez, Joaquín Beltrán (m.79, Castro),
Julio César Domínguez, Rogelio Chávez (m.65, Lozano), Carlos
Bonet (m.62, Lugo), Gerardo Torrado, Edgar Andrade (m.62, Vela),
Christian Riveros (m.78, Velasco), Nicolás Vigneri (m.46, Ceballos),
César Villaluz & Miguel Sabah. Coach: Benjamín Galindo.

Atlético de Madrid - 0: Gregory Coupet, Antonio López (m.60, Pernía),
Pablo Ibañez (m.87, Perea), Tomas Ujfalusi,
Giorgios Seitaridis (m.60, Valera), Paulo Assuncao (m.46, Heitinga),
Raúl García (m.70, Rubén Ramos), Maxi Rodríguez (m.46, Miguel),
Simao (m.46, Luis García), Sinama Pongolle (m.60, Costa)
& Diego Forlán (m.46, Cléber). Coach: Javier Aguirre.

Goal: 1-0, m.7: Edgar Andrade.

FC BARCELONA TRANSFER NEWS 2008: ALEXANDER HLEB NEW PLAYER

Brazilian Ronaldinho goes to AC Milan & ALEXANDER HLEB comes

from ARSENAL, that´s how quick FC BARCELONA has operated as
it gets its new squad & proyect ready to begin pre-season & set their
sights to conquer all for 2008/2009.

Alexander Hleb (see above) flew into Barcelona today to pass the

compulsary medical checks & was presented as the new signning
of FC BARCELONA. The deal cost the Club 15M€ + 3M€ variable
= 18M€ & Hleb signs contract for the next 4 seasons.

Here is a video clip of his arrival today from "Barça TV":

*Thanks to "Mundo Deportivo" for Club header

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LA LIGA - THE 2008/2009 SEASON FIXTURE/CALENDAR

Today was the day that the draw was held to set the 2008/2009
season fixture for "La Liga". The results are the following:

Start - 30th of August 2008; here is the 1ºRound fixture:

Athletic - Almería
Osasuna - Villarreal
Deportivo - Real Madrid
Numancia - Barcelona
Racing - Sevilla
Sporting - Getafe
Betis - Recreativo
Espanyol - Valladolid
Atlético - Málaga
Valencia - Mallorca

Full details of all 38 Rounds - click on link:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/futbol/2008-2009/liga/
calendario.html

End - 31st of May 2009





















Notable match dates to keep in mind are:

Real Betis - Sevilla Fc ( Derby) - 21st of September 2008
Atletico de Madrid - Real Madrid (Derby) - 19th of October 2008
FC Barcelona - Real Madrid (Derby) - 14th of December 2008

REAL ZARAGOZA TRANSFER AIMAR TO BENFICA

Ex - Valencia Cf & now Portugues Club BENFICA Spanish coach
QUIQUE SANCHEZ FLORES has managed to get the midfielder
desired over to his new team, Argentine PABLO AIMAR.

Sanchez Flores had Aimar under his orders in their Valencia days
& now reunite after REAL ZARAGOZA came to an agreement to
transfer Aimar to Benfica for a total of 7,5M€ & a 4 year contract.
























Real Zaragoza has to let go some of its stars because they cannot
satisfy the high salaries of the players after being relegated to
2º Division. Other stars as Milito, Ayala, Oliveira ...etc are on the
transfer rumour mill & are expected to head elsewhere soon.

FC BARCELONA: RONALDINHO GOES TO AC MILAN

It´s over & it´s official, FC BARCELONA & AC MILAN have
come to an agreement to transfer RONALDINHO to Italy. The
Italian Club rose its offer, as expected, from 15M€ to 21M€ +
4M€ in variable terms, that is, 25M€.

In the end the Brazilians pressure on Barça & AC Milan willingness
to go further put an end to this long saga that shuts one door &
opens another. Now Ronaldinho will be an AC Milan player for the
next 3º years.
























The losers in this story was Manchester City whom put up a
32M€ offer that interested FC Barcelona but not Ronaldinho.
Tomorrow the Brazilian flys to Milan for the medical exam & if
everything is Ok, will sign his new contract.

Goodbye Ronaldinho,thanks for all the magic moments & brilliant
Football. SFS will miss you as will the Barcelona nightlife.

SPANISH FOOTBALL: VICENTE DEL BOSQUE NEW SPANISH NATIONAL SIDE SELECTOR.

Known for his tranquil manners, his excellent team building &
dressing room ego management, & his love for flowing & ball
control Football, VICENTE DEL BOSQUE, ex Real Madrid player
& Coach of the "Dream Team (Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Beckham,
Raul, Hierro...)" that won Liga´s, European, Super & Intercontinental
Cups, has been announced as the new Spanish National Team
Selector. The 58 year old takes over from triumphant European
Nations Cup Winner 2008 selector Luis Aragones.
























There will not be any drastic change to the Spanish Squad as
Del Bosque follows the same philosophy of Football as Aragones.
However, Del Bosque will be under pressure as the shadow of
Luis Aragones will hoover as he attempts to qualify the
European Champions to the 2010 South African World Cup
finals.

Del Bosque´s first official game will be against Denmark in an
International friendly on the 20th of August, were he has already
said that he will call up the same team the beat Germany in the
Euro 2008 final.

SFS wishes Del Bosque lots of luck in his new position & is sure will
continue with the good work that Aragones started years back.

REAL MADRID HAS A 60M€ OFFER FOR ROBINHO FROM CHELSEA FC

It´s common knowledge that REAL MADRID Brazilian International
ROBINHO, via his representative, has met with CHELSEA FC three
times already. It´s also known that Chelsea coach Scolari insists that
his Club sign the 24 year old forward. Add to this that Robinho is
unhappy to know that he may enter into a hypothetical "Cristiano
Ronaldo Operation", plus that Robinho has asked for a doubling of his
salary at Madrid ( 2 to 4M€) & we have all the ingredients for
another Football (Soccer) story.
























Latest news is that Chelsea FC has lifted its offer & yesterday placed
it on Real Madrid´s table, a cool 60M€! Very tempting for any Club,
& perfect to finance the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid.

However, Madrid has´nt shut the transfer of Ronaldo as yet & needs
to keep Robinho in case it never happens. Chelsea knows this & is
awaiting to see how things develope with the Manchester United player.
They know that Real Madrid will have to sell in order to get their "dream
player" over to Spain. The only unknown is if the Ronaldo operation
fails & never eventuates , Robinho will then stay at Madrid & the
Spanish Club will have to eventually double his salary. Stay tuned!

FC BARCELONA NEWS 2008: THE RONALDINHO DILEMA - AC MILAN OR MANCHESTER CITY

The future of FC BARCELONA Brazilian player RONALDINHO
will be decided in the next hours. FC Barcelona has repeated on
various occasions that they do not count with the player anymore
& are willing to transfer him.

The Club has received two offers: MANCHESTER CITY - 30-32M€
& AC MILAN - 20M€. Barcelona for obvious reasons prefers the
English Club offer, but Ronaldinho desires to play at AC Milan & this
is precisely the problem. The Italians are hoping the players pressure
on Barça will sway the Spaniards to approve the less than economic
offer from Milan. Manchester City from its end is doing everything
it can to convience the Brazilian that they have a serious proyect
for 2008/09.














Latest news from Italy via "Gazzetta..." is that AC Milan will
finally raise its offer to 25M€ & that will make Barça happy.
SFS also believes that Ronaldinho will finally go to AC Milan
because the real truth of the matter is that the Brazilian considers
Manchester City an inferior Club for his level, its obvious & the
player has let it be known.

This show or "circus" will end very soon, in the next hours.

U/19 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008: BAD START FOR SPAIN

The U/19 European Championships at the Czech Rep. got under
way with GERMANY defeating two time Champions SPAIN
2-1 in the opening game of Group A ( other teams Hungary &
Bulgaria) with Spains only goal from ALBA.


















The Germans out played Spain with a better organized team in
defence & strenght. The Spaniards controlled the ball but were
frustrated by the "German Wall".

After the "Seniors" won the Euro Nations Cup with sublime Football,
everyone is exepecting the Spanish U/19 to do the same & that is
difficult to repeat, putting some pressure on the boys.

Spain now meets Hungary in their next game & must win to keep
their chances alive. SFS feels that a good lesson was learnt against
Germany & Spain will not repeat mistakes.

Match Summary:

GERMANY 2
Zieler; Diekmeier, Jungwirth, Reinartz, Toprak (Kopplin, m.79);
Risse, Sven Bender, Latza, Nsereko; Gebhart y Sukuta-Pasu
(Soyudogru, m.89).
SPAIN 1
De Gea; Azpilicueta, Ortiz, Sanjosé, Antón; Alba, Parejo, Camacho
(Luque, m.63), Aarón (Lillo, m.77); Aquino (Bolado, m.54) & N'sue.

Goals: 1-0, m.7: Sukuta-Pasu. 2-0, m.56: Toprak. 2-1, m.66: Alba.