Footy Speak

There will be no action this weekend due to an International break. But before going on this week’s break, Arsenal’s defeat through Manchester United is still afresh. There have been accusations from Arsene Wenger and Arshavin that Manchester United played anti-football, to break Arsenal’s free flow passing football. To add to Wenger’s frustration, Eduardo was banned for two matches by Uefa for diving in a Champions League qualifier match against Celtic.

Wenger also stated that, to play football the way United played against them, was a bigger crime than Eduardo’s diving. Such tactics can ruin the fun of the beautiful game, he believed. The good news for Wenger, was that his two key players, Nicklas Bendtnar and Denilson have successfully signed contracts with Arsenal. The details are not known but it is to be believed that the contracts will keep the two 21 year olds, at Emirates for at least another five years.

There was also sad news from the Manchester City camp, as they lost their best defender on the last day of the summer transfer window. The new summer arrivals forces 29 year old Richard Dunne, an Irish player, to leave the club for Aston Villa.

England were again the top spenders for the 2009 summer transfer window with a total spending of $715.1 million. Spain came second with $676.6 million, of which $355 million were spent by Real Madrid alone.

Barcelona started their La Liga title defense with a 3-0 win over Sporting Gijon in front of 90,000 home fans at Camp Nou. Messi was rested for the clash and coach Guardiola started with new summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovich.

The deadlock was broken in the in the 18^th minute by 19 year old Bojan and another was added by Keita in the 42^nd minute to make the score, 2-0 at half time. There was little hope of a comeback from Sporting Gijon but that too ended when the 69m signing, Zlatan Ibrahimovich scored in the 82^nd minute. Later Zlatan told reporters that he was very happy that he got his first goal for Barca on his league debut.

The last day of the transfer window also saw Eidur Gudjohnsen leaving the club for AS Monaco for an undisclosed amount. Though many pundits believe it as a step down in his career, Eidur doesn’t think so, and believes that he will get to play better football at Monaco. The contract will keep the 30 year old midfield player at Monaco for 2 years and he has been handed the No 9 jersey.

During the match against Sporting Gijon, goal scorer Bojan Krkic was injured and then later substituted by Jeffren in the 80^th minute. It was diagnosed later that Bojan has had an injury that will keep him out of the professional circuit for at least 3 weeks. This means Bojan will miss the start of the Champions league game against Inter Milan at San Siro.

After a brief pause, probably as a result of teams trying to scout young players from the Under 21 world cup or the Confederations cup, the transfer market seems have returned to its crazy, rumor-filled best.

The Ronaldo transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid has been without doubt the most talked about transfer of the current season and is most likely to remain that way. But a couple of teams in the big 4 have been making a few utility purchases- which they feel will add to their squad’s overall strength without having to break bank for it.

It all started with Arsenal signing Thomas Veramaelen from Ajax for a reported 11million pounds. The signing, Arsenal’s first of the season was wrapped up without much delay and is being looked at as the only major signing the manager, Arsene Wenger would make for the summer. Though there have been media reports of Arsenal signing Karim Benzema from Lyon in Adebayor plus cash deal, none of it is likely to happen.

Liverpool signed Glen Johnson from Portsmouth for a whopping 18.5million. The England defender’s signing is being looked at by a large number of supporters and rivals alike as a way to make up for the money that Portsmouth were supposed to pay from the Peter Crouch deal last summer. Many still believe that such a deal was perhaps made more out of monetary reasons than looking at it as a value for money signing.

Manchester United on their part have finally completed the signing of the Wigan Athletic winger, Antonio Valencia for an undisclosed amount. Though media sources do point out that United have forked out about 17million pounds for a 4 year contract, nothing much has been disclosed officially. The signing is being looked at as the first of the many signings by Sir Alex Ferguson as he looks forward to replace the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. United have also been linked with French Internationals, Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery – but neither of the deals seem to have made any progress. There were also rumors about United trying to buy Sergio Aguero but there are not developments on that front either.

However, the busiest club in the transfer window thus far have been Manchester City who’ve now completed signing Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn for 18 million and are actively looking to add Carlos Tevez and Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o to their all stars squad. City have been rumored to have put in substantial bids for Eto’o, but the striker is reported to have asked for even more than what is being offered and thus the deal is likely to be put off.

Chelsea though have been rather quiet this summer transfer window. They’ve been linked with a lot of players but have not signed anyone and may spring a surprise or two by the end of the transfer window.

It sure means that more excitement is on our way during the course of the summer.

Unbelievable! The 27 year old has signed a six year contract with Real Madrid for just under 58 million pounds (68 million euros) – This would be the second largest transfer, after Zinedine Zidane went to Real Madrid from Juventus at 72 million euros. At the time, Zidanes move was not worth 72 million, however, the value of the move has increased since then, from 46.5 million pounds. This is mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations – oh dear, moving into economics now!

Kaka mentioned that he is leaving his Italian club on good terms and “out the front door” and has already completed a routine medical at Recife – where Brazil are playing Paraguay in a World Cup Qualifier match.

“Everything I’ve always done for Milan has been by mutual agreement, from the moment I arrived until my departure today,” he said at the Brazil team hotel. “I’m leaving by the front door.”

“I’ve won everything that I wanted as a player and this is a new motivation for me.”

“I’m sure Real Madrid will build a competitive team which can start winning titles again.”

The official unveiling in Madrid is likely to take place at the end of the month, after the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

“We are working on building a good team, an important team, and this has only just begun,” Perez told radio station Onda Cero.

Milan thanked Kaka for his contribution.

“Milan thanks the man Kaka and the champion Kaka for his decisive contributions to so many victories obtained in the last six years,” the Serie A club said.

“His loss on the field, though serious, can be filled. It will, however, be very difficult to fill the void left by Kaka the man.”