The Bale formula

100 Million euros for one football player.  Even if it is great Gareth it is a hell lot of money. Real Madrid raised money by dealing with Napoli and selling them Albiol, Callehon and Higuain and now they are targeting what they always wanted - best player in Premier League.

No doubt that every player has his dreams. But it is questionable whether one Welshmans dream is to play for Real Madrid. They are one of the best in the world, no doubts, but isnt playing in Premier league the highest possible challenge? Playing against City, Chelsea, United..? Playing in front of 60 000 geordies at St.James Park? Playing against some of the best defenders in the world...and playing fair. In Spain, one thing is sure, and you dont need to be a prophet for that - Real and Barca will finish their season a mere 20 points in front of the rest of the league. Duopolis. Even if Valencia and Atletico give their best, they simply cannot compete. On the other hand, you can see Swansea, West Brom and Everton going up and getting good results, even wins against top 5 teams in England. I can understand Bale s frustration in not playing Champions League and Spurs have a lot of work to do to get there but if that is the case, he could surely try to push his transfer to Chelsea/City/United. Everybody would find the money needed for him. They know what he brings to the team - goals and assists 

So at the and, its all about what player wishes. He can become a superstar at Madrid, score 100 goals, get a lot of marketing money for Perez, play CL, but...He will be playing against Granada, Murcia etc..And he wont be guaranteed titles. Real built a great attack but the back four doesnt give much confidence. Varane, Ramos and Pepe are the only centre backs left in the team, and i would not put my money on them protecting me against Barca, Bayern, Dortmund or PSG. If he goes, i am sure that in one or two years he will be coming back. 

As for Tottenham - who can reject 100M?

Latest Transfer news!

Arsenal Football Club bidding 40M pounds for a player? Shocking. Is this the same Arsene Wenger who always liked to buy some unknown French or African players for 1-3 $ and then turn them into 25M superstars? But, times are changing. This is the world where Gonzalo Higuain costs Napoli a whopping 37M Euros without add-ons, the world where Jonjo Shelvey costs 7M. And it`s totally understandable that Liverpool rejected the highest-ever bid from AFC for their star asset Luis Suarez. If they ever gonna sell him, that should come at a right price for them, because they will be losing the only super player from their team. Gerrard grows old and Sturridge isn`t top class just yet.

So Arsenal and Arsene are throwing everything they can to sign Luis and we are all sure that it could be a massive boost for them. Or for anyone else who signs him. Suarez produced 20+ goals and 10+ assists during the season in which he was occasionally suspended and injured. And he plays his trade with Downing and Henderson. Obviously if he goes up front, turns his back and sees Downing trying to run and pass him the ball he isn`t so happy. If he goes over to the Emirates he will turn and see Cazorla magic and Podolski crosses. That`s un upgrade for sure. But, the whole transfer and contract thing is becoming very puzzling with Suarez` agent Per Guardiola (Pep`s brother) trying to build a path for Luis to go. Obviously, Rodgers and LFC owners are doing everything they can to keep him but i can`t see him in Liverpool crazy new shirt anymore. Arsenal or Madrid, we shall see.

In the otha` news Chelsea is doing nothing..Like a shark smelling for blood, Jose is waiting for further Rooney news. United is waiting on Fabregas but i think their chances of getting him are slim – Barca already sold one midfielder, Thiago, to Bayern so there is no room for departures anymore.

Napoli have splashed the cash they gained from selling Cavani. And although i must admit that Aurelio De Laurentis is a great seller – he got what he wanted for Cavani (64M Euros) he doesn`t semm much of a buyer. He overpayed for Higuain and he had some better and cheaper options. Jackson Martinez would have cost around the same price they paid Real for Higuain and seems much much better. Seydou Doumbia from CSKA is a goal machine and i doubt he would cost more than 25M.

Higuain produces goals when served but isn`t much of a treat by himself. It is highly anticipated how will Rafa build his attack around him and would he be able to reproduce some good form from the glory days in Real Madrid.

In France, of course, there are buckets of money thrown around. PSG haven’t finished with Cavani. A week later they paid around 40M for Marquinos, talented Roma defender. He is young and good, but 40M? They also acquired one of the best future left backs in the world, Lucas Digne from Lille, and he was 15M. Their main money rivals, Monaco are weighing up a move for Hulk. Poor Lyon and Marseille, they are trying but they won`t stand a chance next year.

Fiorentina is emerging like a total winner for me in this window. Mario Gomez, Joaquin and now Josip Ilicic. Sale of Jovetić provided financial muscle and Montella spent it wisely.

So next week, i expect a lot of Gareth Bale and LS news. See you..

Transfer news!

Ok, it`s been a while so let`s wrap up the official stories.

First of all, the story of the month is Edinson Cavani going to PSG for a mere 63 million euros. The saga is over. No Real and no City for him. Apparently money talks, and altough City and Real do have the cash, Les Parisiens have more. And they showed it.It will be interesting to watch him with Ibra, if Ibra decides to stay, of course. Monaco and PSG are going to play one hell of a derby in France this year. One thing is for sure - Cavani will score a lot of goals.

Aurelio De Laurentis, Napoli president, said that City didn`t want to match his asking price. Frankly i can understand their desicion - but to spend that money on two players (Negredo and Jovetic) that are realistically lower class then Cavani is a questionable desicion. We will see if the 27m spent on tallented Jovetić is justified, but 25m for Negredo sounds inflated. Luckily for Sevilla, he had his best season behind him, so they seized their chance to monetize. Pellegrini is a man who can turn average players into excellent team members (Joaquin, Toulalan, Eliseu..). And by looking at Isco`s develoopment he surely can help young stars.

As for their United neighbours, they are quiet for now, and except Zaha and a rejected Fabregas bid they hadn`t been doing anything but talking about Rooney. Moyes stands firm and repeats that he`s not for sale but on the other hand says that he is a backup striker for RVP. And i think we all know that Wayne Rooney doesn`t like being a backup. He is England first choice striker//support striker so he won`t be sitting on the bench for long. Chelsea made a formal bid, and i don`t know where and how he would play there alongside Lukaku, Demba, Torres and Schurrle but i think Jose knows that Shrek is too much of a chance to miss it. And if he gets him someone is heading to the exit door.

Barca sold one of their prize Masia assets to Bayern. Thiago Alcantara reunited with Pep Guardiola. Bad move, by all means. If there is one club where a midfielder can`t get lot of playing time, except Barcelona, it is Bayern. Schweini, Gustavo, Martinez, Kroos, Muller, Gotze. I don`t know where he thinks he will fit in and who he`s gonna dump out of starting XI. He could do the same in Barca but that`s his desicion and we`ll see if he`s done it right.

One club that really surprised me with great moves is Juventus. Llorente came for free, Tevez came for 11m + bonuses and icing on the cake came with Ogbonna, great defender who arrived from Torino for 15m. They will destroy Serie A, that`s for sure so all that is left is a strike on Champions League. Another important (and a bit sad) news comes from Italy. Legendary owner Massimo Moratti apparently sold the biggest stake in Inter to Indonesian magnate Erick Thohir. Seventeen year old reign is coming to an end, and altough he had his downs, he is a legendary face in world football, a true fan that did everything for his club. Inter has some financial issues and Thohir is there to solve them.