footballspectator

Pablo Aimar has joined Real Zaragoza for €11 million. No disrespect to Zaragoza, but it’s a strange move for a player of “el payaso’s” quality. He might have been persuaded by the club’s burgeoning Argentinean community which includes “el cabezon“, aka Andres D’Alessandro, Ponzio and the Milito twins, Diego and Gabriel. With D’Alessandro and Aimar, one thing is guaranteed - Zaragoza will be an attractive team to watch next year.

Aimar is likely to be replaced at Valencia by Benfica’s Simao Sabrosa who is about to join in a €12m deal. Simao is not Valencia’s ultimate target however. They are apparently preparing to offer him and cash to Manchester United to secure Cristiano Ronaldo. This might explain why Man Utd are trying to sign Argentinean duo Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians.

Having signed Van Nistelrooy, Emerson and Cannavaro, Real Madrid continue to restructure thier squad. First out of the door is Roberto Carlos who is joining Zico’s Brazilian revolution at Fenerbahce. Meanwhile Capello is lining up moves for Cristiano Zanetti and Adriano.

What’s more surprising about Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s transfer? The fact that Manchester United let him go for £10.3m or the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to reinvest that money and more in buying Tottenham’s Michael Carrick?

Let’s take the first part. Van Nistelrooy has scored 150 goals in 213 games for the Red Devils. He is United’s leading scorer in Europe with 38 goals. His international record is also impressive - 28 in 53. Conclusion - he is in the top echelon of forwards in the game. Now yes he is 30 years old but so is Shevchenko and Chelsea paid £30m for him. Allowing for Chelsea inflation let’s say a realistic fee for Sheva was £20m. Is Van the Man worth half that? If I had to choose between the two, I would favour Shevchenko. He contributes more to team build-up and is better at creating his own goals whereas Van Nistelrooy is more of a poacher. Still the difference is not £10m, more like £2m-£3m.

The problem is that by washing his dirty laundry in public, Ferguson shot himself in the foot. When Fergie falls out with a player, the world knows that the player will leave - see Stam, Beckham and Keane. As a result, it becomes very difficult to command a certain price. The player becomes a depreciating asset. Teams just have to wait to get him on the cheap. Sir Alex’s attempts at insinuating that he was close to patching up his differences with RvN were just a pathetic attempt to arrest the player’s declining value.

Turning to the second part - is Carrick the man Manchester United need? Their midfield has been a problem area since Keane’s demise and departure. Carrick is not going o change that. He is a good passer but he is lightweight. He cannot however take over the game when his team are struggling like Steven Gerrard can for Liverpool. He is not in that class and he is definitely not worth the £14m to £16m that United are rumoured to be paying for him. Marcos Senna of Villarreal is being targeted to provide the bite that Carrick lacks but he too is a “poor man’s” solution. Conclusion? United will continue to struggle in midfield.

The problem is that they will also struggle in attack where they now only have one truly outstanding player - Rooney. Saha, despite his prolific end of season form is not top class. Solskjaer has not played for two years. Rossi is an unknown quantity. Alan Smith, who will be re-converted into a forward is tough and a hard worker but hardly inspires fear. If a top-class forward is not added there is a risk that Rooney will become frustrated and we all saw in the World Cup how he reacts when that happens…

Many will say that United’s problems stem from the Glazer takeover, but is this true? Is money the reason Fergie can’t capture the star names? No - Carrick and Senna will cost a combined £24m. The problem is Ferguson himself. Unfortunately, the players he falls out with are the stars. Why? because they start to become more influential than him and his ego cannot accept that. The big names see this and decide to go elsewhere. How long before he falls out with Rooney? He may be United’s most successful manager, but it’s time for him to go.

Inter secured their 14th Scudetto today, without a match being played! It’s Inter’s first title since 1989. How can they have won it before the season has started you ask? Well it has been awarded to them retropectively as part of the fall-out from the Calciopoli scandal. While many teams would not have celebrated a title which was not won on the pitch, Inter are an exception, maybe because their dry spell has been so long. The club’s website featured the picture on the left.

President Massimo Moratti declared it the “Scudetto of honesty and respect“. He went on to say that it was won by the best team and the team with the right spirit and was doubly valuable because it was won at a time when everyone was following recent events. Coach Roberto Mancini said it was “just reward for our efforts and honesty. We deserve it and we are happy“.

The championship also gives Inter their first ever double. Amazingly Inter may soon win their second title in as many days, should it be decided that the title Juve “won” two years ago sould also be theirs. It’s like waiting for buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at the same time!

The appeal court announced its verdict on the calciopoli scandal earlier this evening. The big winners are Lazio and Fiorentina with both teams escaping relegation to Serie B and instead remaining in Serie A but starting the season with -11 and -19 points respectively. Milan must also be pleased. They will start with -8 instead of -15 points and crucially will be able to take part in the Champions League, although they will start from the qualifying rounds. For Juve too there was a slight reduction in penalty. They will start on -17 as opposed to -30 but remain in Serie B. They now have an outside chance of promotion.

The losers included Lecce and Treviso who will now play in Serie B - after the original verdict they had been reinstated to Serie A. Palermo also suffered with their Champions League hopes being dashed.

So it seems like the summer sales will continue at Juve. Milan will probably now be able to keep their star players like Kaka and Fiorentina will need another stupendous season from Luca Toni (if he stays) to survive. The court has been soft and the decision seems like a cop out to me unless there were darker forces involved. Berlusconi? Or perhaps Luciano Moggi himself…

Bayern have increased their bid to sign Ruud Van Nistelrooy. According to Franz Beckenbauer ther is now only a €5 million difference between Bayern and Manchester United, and the Bavarian giants would be prepared to include either Claudio Pizarro or Roy Makaay as part of the deal.

As they await the verdict of their appeal hearing, Juventus are struggling to hold on to players for their Serie B campaign. Patrick Vieira is moving ever closer to Inter and now doubts have emerged surrounding Pavel Nedved’s future with his agent Zdenek Nehoda announcing his client will decide very shortly. Nedved has offers from Tottenham and Monaco. Meanwhile David Trezeguet is being lined up by Lyon but club president Jean-Michel Aulas, said “it’s still too early to decide whether to make an offer - we have until the end of August“. Sounds like he’s waiting for the price to fall even more..

Rumours persist in the Spanish press (aka Marca) that Kaka wants to leave Italy, with, surprise, surprise Real Madrid his preferred destination. Apparently Kaka thinks Italian football is too tactical and does not allow him to express himself….hmmm. Real are also after Xabi Alonso, but the player quickly rebutted any interest saying he wanted to stay with the Reds. He is likely to be joined in England by Benni McCarthy who has flown in from Porto’s traning camp in Holland to discuss terms with Blackburn Rovers.

Following a successful World Cup there are plenty of Portuguese players in demand. Two have been linked with Valencia. It was reported yesterday that Los Ches had made a €15m bid for the Benfica winger which included Marco Di Vaio. However, Valencia chaiman Juan Soler denied that story today, saying instead that his main target was Cristiano Ronaldo and told Manchester United to name their price.

Carlos Dunga, the captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning side has been announced as the new coach of the Selecao following theresignation of Parreira. Dunga’s contract is to cover the World Cups of 2010 in South Africa and 2014 which may be held in Brazil.

Dunga  declared that he wants to bring the same characteristics that he showed as a player to the  national team, “motivation and a will to win are the keys to wearing the national shirt“. Judging from their abject performances in Germany, these are two qualities which are currently very much lacking.

As a player Dunga played at the World Cup finals of 1990, 1994 and 1998.  He won 96 caps in all winning 66, drawing 21 and losing 9, scoring 6 goals in the process. Apart from the World Cup he also won 2 Copa Americas (1989 and 1997) and 1 Confederations Cup (1997). Canarinha fans everywhere will be hoping that he can recreate this success as a coach.

It’s amazing how quickly players can go from “hero to zero“. Take Carlos Tevez. Last year he was Corinthians fans’ favourite player, leading the big spenders to the Brasileirao and being voted player of the championship - an incredible feat given he is an Argetinean playing in Brazil.

This year, things are different. Corinthians are underperforming and lie 18th in the Brasileirao. Their fans are obviously disappointed and their main target has been Carlitos whose performances have not matched those of last year. Of course, last year there was no World Cup but the fans don’t care, they just want to see their team doing well.

In Timao’s latest match against Fortaleza things reached breaking point. Throughout the match the Tevez was booed everytime he received the ball. So when Carlitos scored to make it 2-2, he could not help it and celebrated by holding his finger to his lips sending a clear message to supporters. As expected this annoyed them even more. He then probably made things worth when after the match he, said that supporters should show more respect towards a group of players that lifted the championship the previous year. European clubs will be monitoring the situation closely - if the relationship deteriorates further Tevez may welcome a European escape route.

It’s been an active day for Chelsea. They have managed to offload defensive liability and all-round flop Asier Del Horno to Valencia. It seems strange to us that a team would actually pay for Del Horno - Valencia obviously see something we don’t! They have also agreed a fee with Newcastle for Damien Duff. Again, another strange one. Newcastle have players in wide positions but no centre forward following Shearer’s retirement and Owen’s injury. Does Glen Roeder think he can “do an Henry” with Duff and convert him into a scoring machine? Duff is not as good as Henry nor Roeder as good as Wenger…

The sales down at Juve continue. Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram have joined Barcelona for €14m and €5m respectively. They are soon to followed out of the door by Patrick Vieira who is likely to join Inter in a €13m deal.

Villarreal have said that they are negotiating the sale of Juan Pablo Sorin although they have not said where he is going. Real Madrid are still in the hunt for Ruud Van Nistelrooy but have said that Manchester United’s valuation of him is unrealistic. Los Merengues are also interested in Lyon and France fullback Eric Abidal.

Ze Roberto might soon be joining Rivaldo at Olympiakos for his last season in European football after Bordeaux, Milan and Real Madrid have moved for other targets. Yaya Touré will not be staying for the farewell however with Monaco telling Olympiakos to name their price.

FIFA passed its sentence on Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane today. Zidane was fined €5,000 and banned for 3 matches. Materazzi was fined €3,500 and banned for 2 games, meaning he will miss the World Cup final repeat - Italy’s qualifier for Euro 2008 at the Stade de France, in September. FIFA confirmed that Materazzi’s verbal abuse was not racist.

Our verdict? Bizarre. Zidane’s punishment: what’s the point of banning someone who has retired? Zidane has pledged to spent 3 days doing community service instead but still, if Zizou had done what he did on the street he would be facing a jail term. The fine is pathetic. It sends out the message that it’s OK to head-butt. Materazzi’s punishment: its disproportionate. How many times do players insult each other on the pitch? How many are punished? An insult is being deemedto be almost as bad as a head-butt!
The decision is obviously politically motivated. FIFA wants to appease the French and preserve the image of Zidane as the greatest player of his generation. It’s too much of a “coincidence” that the Matrix is banned from the match in France where he was likley to receive a “special” welcome. Blatter and Co have made a mess of this one…

There are only about three weeks left until the start of the new Premiership season. Most players are training hard, preparing for the long season ahead. Those that played in the World Cup have been given an extended break.

One of those is the Czech Republic’s Milan Baros. Now Baros can hardly claim to be drained after his involvement in the tournament - he was injured and only played in the Czechs’ last game against Italy. He seems to be making the most of his time off though as these pictures published in Czech paper Blesk prove. A clearly drunk Baros was caught dancing bare-chested with a condom tied to his hair, arguing with a wedding party and even kissing another man.

He has shown signs of remorse, however: “I should be an example to young athletes and unfortunately during this period I have not been“, he said.

We think it’s too early to make judgements. Romario regularly parties ’til dawn, goes straight to training and games with no sleep and yet has racked up almost 1,000 career goals. Maybe following his example will help Baros to show his international form in club football!

Barcelona are apparently trying to scupper Real Madrid’s transfer plans by launching a €19 million bid for Zambrotta (€14m) and Thuram (€5m). Real have already signed Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson for €20m and wanted the Zambrotta and Thuram to compliment them.

Thuram is also apparently wanted by Arsenal, to replace Ashley Cole who may be on his way to Chelsea for £25m. Two players who apparently won’t be joining Zambrotta and Thruam on the way out of Juventus are Gianluigi Buffon and Pavel Nedved. Buffon’s agent, Silvano Martina said the Buffon would stay and Juventus even in Serie B. “It is a championship he has not won and he wants to try to“, he joked.
Another player who may be on the move is Inter’s Argentinean striker Julio Cruz. Torino president Cairo is in hot pursuit and looking to add to the signing of Milan keeper Christian Abbiati to help the granata’s fight for survival in Serie A. Everton’s Andy van der Meyde is apparently also a Toro target.

In Germany Hamburg are desperate to sign a new striker to partner with Paulo Guerrero who has moved from Bayern. Aston Villa’s Milan Baros is one option, but another is Patrick Kluivert who has been he can leave by Valencia.

South America’s big two are searching for new coaches. Carlos Alberto Parreira has parted company with Brazil following a bad World Cup and Jose Pekerman has also confirmed that he will not be reconsidering his decision to resign.

David O’Leary has left Aston Villa following a turbulent period at the club. A group of senior players supposedly released a statement earlier this week asking for club chairman Doug Ellis to leave so that a new investor could give the club the spending power it needs to compete in the Premiership. O’Leary’s only previous success was when he had cash to burn, at Leeds United who he lead to the Champions League semi-finals.

Following on from our earlier article, according to Sport1.de, the two additional teams being investigated for their involvement in the match-fixing scandal otherwise known as “Calciopoli” are Chievo and Reggina. Apologies to all Inter fans!