Well it didn’t take long for Diego Maradona to give his public address regarding why he wouldn’t be renewed as Argentina’s national team coach and the outspoken Argentine former footballer blames certain team officials for undermining his coaching regime.

Let’s just say that it is a safe bet that national team director Carlos Bilardo and association president Julio Grondona will not be on Maradona‘s Christmas card list this upcoming December. The former coach blasted the two men (Bilardo was his coach in the WC 1986) and accused the pair of manipulating and sabotaging his opportunity of returning to the team with his staff still in place. Mardona made this statement:

They called me to put out a fire, and we put it out. Grondona lied to me. Bilardo betrayed me. While we were still in mourning, Bilardo worked in the shadows to throw me out. My technical team and I were prepared to keep going. Grondona, in the changing room in South Africa, said in front of witnesses that he was very happy with my work and wanted me to continue. But back in Argentina things started to change.

And although Maradona is obviously passionate about the game of football and representing his country I think the fire metaphor is a bit much. Did Maradona really rush to the aid of his nation and put out a fire or was the legend granted a great opportunity that he never would have been offered with his coaching resume if he had never been a legendary footballer? If anything Maradona might have started a few fires with his asinine comments and indecisive roster choices leading up to the Cup and any team that features Messi in the lineup certainly isn‘t in a firestorm type of situation.

But as I’ve said several times before although Maradona is a mediocre coach, he certainly is entertaining to watch on the sideline and in the post game press conference. Who else will tell Pele to go back to a museum or for FIFA to suck it? The man truly will be missed. Maradona gave these farewell words at the end of his speech at a Buenos Aires restaurant yesterday:

I’ve given everything, everything. I am convinced that Argentine football needs to be in a better position. I have tried to transmit the pride that I feel, being Argentine.

And no one would ever claim that Maradona wasn’t proud of his nation and his football accomplishments as a player, but it appears that the two parties just couldn’t agree on the proper future of Argentina’s national team. But it is hard to side with Maradona simply because of his own hardheaded nature. He was never going to compromise his own managerial style to the board members and was often considered a very difficult person to deal with.

Association President Julio Grondona made this comment regarding Maradona’s allegations:

I continue being sorry that he has gone because it’s very sad. But I did not lie to Maradona. I told Maradona that I was content with him, that he had to continue. What he misinterpreted was that the conditions weren’t the same.

photo credit: Juanedc

The long speculation of Cesc Fabregas finding a way to go to Barcelona has seemed to come to an end as Fabregas himself said that he will be staying at Arsenal after a recent interview.

Although many of the Barcelona players felt that the club will find a way to bring over Fabregas where he will enjoy playing with the club with whom he started his career with as a youth coming up in the ranks, it seems as if this will not be the case. Arsenal has already declined a 29 million euro offer for the captain of Arsenal and have said a numerous of times that they will not be selling Fabregas but Barcelona continue to try and make a deal. However, it seems to be final that Fabregas will not be making his way despite his love for the Catalan giants.

“I’m a Barca fan, I’m a socio, as is my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin… I have felt the colours from a young age, I’m Catalan.” Fabregas went on to say to DIR Emotions.

However, after long talks with Arsene Wenger, Fabregas has decided to stay with Arsenal.

“I’m the captain of Arsenal, I’m a ‘Gunner’, and I have become a player there and matured as a person.” Fabregas continue to say.

Fabregas admitted that he wanted to make his way to Barcelona following the World Cup but after having talked with Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, he does not know where his future is headed anymore. As the current captain of the Gunners, Fabregas has grown so much as a player and a person and his relationship with Wenger has grown very deep. The Spanish midfielder looks at Wenger more than just a coach/manager, he also see’s him as his 2nd father.

“He is a second father for me, the most important person in my life after my father. He has behaved really well with me and taken me in like a son. I am part of his family. He doesn’t want me to leave. And in my last conversation with him in London, it was one of the most difficult moments I have experienced. I ended up very upset.”

After having shared this, you can definitely see why it is so hard for Fabregas to just get up and leave (despite the fact that Arsenal aren’t looking to trade him anyways). Fabregas will always be loved at Arsenal and the club will always have a special place in the heart of his as well but the truth is, after his contract expires, Fabregas will most likely leave and depart back to Spain where he will play with Barcelona. A lot of teammates from the Spain national team are in the club and Villa (their most newest acquisition) was one of the many players who was hoping that Cesc would make his way.

But it will have to wait.

Do you think it’s a smart move from Wenger to keep a tight hold on Spaniard? Upset that Fabregas will not be reuniting with Barcelona? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Mario Balotelli is one of the most coveted stars available this transfer market. And although the nineteen year old striker is still a little bit rough around the edges many of the world’s biggest teams have begun to bid for the supposedly irreplaceable, young African forward.

And Manchester City is the favored club to win the battle for Balotelli this summer, but Jose Mourinho, the star’s former manager at Inter Milan, decided to give potential buyers a forewarning of what to expect if they land the star:

The guy has incredible qualities, but sometimes does not know how to use his brain. Let me give an example of when we played at home in the semi-final of the Champions League against Barcelona and he would not take the field. I threw him into the fray and Mario was static, not even giving a hand in defense.

And at nineteen years old Balotelli isn’t as mature as say Ryan Giggs when it comes to team responsibility. In fact Giggsey has been around for about 19 years for Manchester United, so no wonder. But in the case of Balotelli I think it is safe to say that no warnings are necessary considering the bouts he was in last season with the new Real Madrid coach.

And any potential buyer is fully aware of the baggage that would come with landing such an erratic young star. But the attraction of his skills will outweigh the potential headaches that could arise and Balotelli will always have work waiting for him even if he continuously butts heads with his coach.  After all Terrell Owens just signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Last year at Inter, Balotelli acted out of line several times including (like Mourinho said) in that Barcelona second leg. He refused to celebrate with the team following the match and was reamed out in the tunnel to the locker room by vet Marco Materazzi for his unruly behavior.

Wherever Balotelli goes (who are we kidding Manchester City) the buyer will be wary of the star from the day he enters the stadium. So in other words there is no need for Mourinho to talk about the potential disaster the nineteen year old can create because it is all ready well known to the public.

After all he‘s nineteen.

photo credit: tm-tm

With Raul Gonzalez having already stated his departure from Madrid, Raul went on to finish his deal with Schalke 04, as he went on to sign with the Bundesliga club earlier today. Having acquired Raul on a free transfer from Madrid, the speculation of Raul going to the Germany has finally come to an end as he went on to officially sign with the club earlier today. At 33 years old, Raul will continue his career playing in one of the most physical leagues in the world.

”I’m looking forward to starting on a new challenge. It’s an important challenge for me.” – Raul went on to say in regards to making the switch.

With head-coach of Schalke, Felix Magath, happy with the arrival of Raul, it will be interesting in seeing if Raul will be able to mesh well with the club.

”Great news for Schalke. I’m glad that we succeeded in enthusing such an exceptional footballer and world-class goal scorer about a move to the Bundesliga and to Schalke. His signing is a decisive step in our efforts to strengthen and restructure the squad.” Magath went on to say.

Raul has already made his departure known earlier in the week when he went on to say that he wishes to experience another type of style of football. However, with over 15 years of experience with playing at Madrid, it will be interesting in seeing if Raul will be able to adapt to a different style of football.

Raul went on to say the following :

”I want to experience another type of football, a different culture – that’s an important challenge in life. ‘German or English football – those are the only two places I would go … my motivation is to keep playing football.”

Although Raul may be seen as one of the best footballers in the world, to have to try and pick up a different playing style after 15 years and at 33-years of age, it will not be easy. If Raul can enjoy a strong showing with his stay at the German club, it will say a lot about his commitment to the sport. However, I don’t see Raul being a huge impact of Schalke but will be able to hold his own if given the chance.

How do you see things panning out for the Madrid legend? Sad to see him go? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Henrique joined Barcelona hoping to make an impact but unfortunately has been loaned out since his arrival in 2008. Having joined Barca in the summer of 08, Henrique failed to make an impression at Nou Camp and was loaned out to Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen, where he eventually found his way back to Barcelona but unfortunately only to be loaned out again.

With Henrique enjoying 22 matches at his stay with Racing Santander, he ended his campaign with a injury in his left knee. It was definitely a tough break for the young 23-year old who hopes to make the Barcelona squad one day but will have another chance to prove himself as he once again will be loaned out to another team who will give him minutes on the field.

Having to play for Rancing Santander for another year, Henrique has a chance to prove himself to Barcelona when both sides meet on August 29th. Although the chances of Henrique being called to the first team squad at Barcelona is unlikely to happen anytime soon, the young Brazilian defender can show Pep Guardiola that he will be the future of the club.

Think Henrique has a chance at making the starting squad at Barcelona or are they better off selling the Brazilian defender? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Every notice the trend of a professional footballer when they are in the last year of their contract?

First, they claim how badly they want to remain at the place they are at and how they hope a deal will be worked out soon. Then they discuss the possibility of being transferred elsewhere and then debate about where the best place to go would be. Then after they receive some bad press, they claim that they never wanted to leave in the first place and hope a deal can be worked out with their current club.

And it’s no different for Luis Fabiano of Sevilla.

Fabiano has been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur recently and the club is one of many in the EPL that has shown some interest in signing the Brazilian national team starter in the last year. And it was Fabiano, himself, who recently expressed interest in signing with a top level organization. And most recently the forward expressed interest in Tottenham Hotspur due to their desire to build a long term winner.

But now Fabiano is claiming that those were all rumors or quotes taken out of context and he actually doesn’t want to transfer anywhere this season. Fabiano made this statement earlier in the week:

During my time at the World Cup I was very calm because I knew that I was going to stay at Sevilla. Much was said but nothing true. I couldn’t talk because I was with the Brazil team but I have a year left on my contract with Sevilla and I am very happy. I really want to defend once again the Sevilla badge and I would love to help lift a trophy in August.

So apparently all that dreaming of playing for Manchester United and AC Milan turned out to be untrue? I’m sure if these teams were begging for the Brazilian then he would be singing a different tune, but since the only team seriously interested at the moment in Tottenham Hotspur perhaps Fabiano is merely biding his time for a bigger move next summer.

Regardless of what Fabiano is actually thinking apparently the guy is staying in La Liga for another season.

photo credit: *§ir John Hancook**

The financial problems that have plagued La Liga in recent years have stretched now to one of the two biggest clubs in Spain. Today Barcelona announced that they lost more than 77 million euros last season.

Sandro Rosell took over from Joan Laporta as Barcelona President and one of the first things he did was have Deloitte come in an audit the books. Laporta had declared that Barcelona had generated a profit of 11 million euros in late June, but the Deloitte audit shows a completely different financial situation.

The new results show that Barca had an income of 408.9 million euros for the 2009/2010 season, but their costs amounting to 477.9m. Add in further spending of around 8million euros and you arrive at a deficit of 77.1million euros.

“The figures presented by the former board don’t reflect the real image. They have cheated,” he club’s vice-president for economic affairs Javier Faus said. “There is a structural problem. The sporting excellence in the last few years has not been reflected in economic excellence. The new board’s goal is to bring economic excellence alongside sporting excellence.”

The new audit puts the club’s total net debt at 442million euros (552m gross) and Barca recently took out a loan of 155million euros after falling behind with the payment of player wages at the end of June.

UEFA President Michel Platini has been very outspoken at the debts in English football and he has gone as far to create rules that will ban teams from competing in the Champions League who are losing money. It will be interesting to see whether Platini says anything about the financial problems that Barcelona is having.

photo credit: findfado

When Raul was called up for first team action in 1994, the Spanish forward was 17 years old and was the youngest player ever to be awarded the great honor of playing for Los Blancos.  Now 15 seasons and over 320 goals later, the Spanish national team all time leading scorer has officially bid adieu to his longtime league family and is expected to join German side Schalke later this summer.   

Raul admitted at his farewell press conference that it was ”a very hard day” as “football has been my life and Real Madrid my home and together we have lived unique moments.”  And the former captain knows all about these special times considering he won 6 league titles, 3 Champions League cups, 4 Supacopa de Espanas, and was honored 3 different times as the UEFA Forward of the Year.

All in all Raul is one of the most recognized names in the game of European football over the last two decades and he has been a key component to the Los Blancos for so long that he was actually featured on Super Nintendo video games.  Just think of that when you think of longevity.  The man’s career nearly has outlived the Internet and certainly has outlived fantasy football by several years and in 1994 the highest grossing movie was The Lion King and one of the biggest albums released was Green Day’s Dookie.  In other words Raul has been playing football at Madrid for so long that Vanilla Ice was still releasing rap albums.

And in the last season it became quite clear that Raul’s time at Madrid was winding down and the legend was only used in limited action and scored fewer goals then any other season in his 15 year career.  And with the new age of los galiciticos taking over, the time has come for the former captain to pass on the torch to the future legends of the game.  But few can match the class of the loyal footballer and in the modern day sticking it out with one team seems to be a dying character trait of the superstar footballer.

And a player of Raul’s skill level and personal character will be missed in La Liga.  We wish the longtime Madrid man the best of luck wherever he decides to finish his career.   

  photo credit: Kıvanç Niş

Rafael van der Vaart has had trouble finding first team football in the last year with Real Madrid and the writing is on the wall for the Flying Dutchman now that Jose Mourinho has come to town.

Mourinho is renowned for his defensive minded stars and several big names have been on the target list this summer as new additions to los galicticos, but van derVaart’s name is not expected to be on the list of full time players. So the midfielder is ready for some first team action elsewhere. And considering a huge part of why he stayed at Madrid last year in the first place was because of his wife Sylvie’s ongoing cancer treatment in Madrid and it appears to be time to leave now that the super fine lady has successfully battled breast cancer over the last year and the cancer appears to be heading into remission. Sylvie was even at the World Cup fixtures supporting her man recently despite his limited action.

As for league play though, the van der Vaart’s are ready to move on from Spain and England appears to be the desired destination for the young brilliant crossing wingman. Here is what van der Vaart had to say about his potential EPL targets:

I have heard of the interest from Liverpool and Chelsea – and that is very flattering. If either of them were willing to offer me first-team football, I will be honest that it would be very hard for me to not listen to what they had to say. I think I have the relationship with Madrid where they understand my position and would let me hold talks. I expect the majority of transfers to be concluded in the next two weeks, and if Chelsea or Liverpool wanted to talk with me I would at the very least listen to what they have to say. They are both giants, and if they could offer first-team football it may prove impossible to turn down. Real Madrid is the most prestigious club in the world and I am happy here and also in Spain, but I am at the age where I have to be playing first-team football.

I think Liverpool would be a solid fit for the Dutchman, but Chelsea sounds a bit too ambitious. Certainly last year’s double winner wouldn’t be open to guaranteeing a spot to a guy that has only played reserve minutes for the most part in the last few seasons. I think often less can be more with these partial star players and if they make a move like, say, Landon Donovan did last year it can pay off much bigger then, say, Karim Benzema.

In fact the only place harder to be guaranteed a spot in the EPL is Manchester City considering they now own the rights to nearly half of the transfer list and are spending money like it is going out of style. And van der vaart and his potential suitors realize that now is the perfect time to add the Dutchman as a final boost to their squad if they want it:

I am getting to the point where I will be hitting my peak years and I need to spend those years at a club where I will be playing regularly. The boss knows how much he plans to use me, and if he is willing to listen to offers for me. I wouldn’t be willing to play for any clubs in Spain out of respect for Madrid, so in my eyes the only other place to go would be the Premier League. It’s the only league that competes with the standard of La Liga.

And as we all know the EPL more then competes with La Liga.  It’s the most competitive league in the world.

photo credit: bobster855

Raul will go down as one of the best players to ever wear a Real Madrid shirt. He scored 323 goals in 741 games for Real Madrid and helped them win three Champions League trophies and 16 titles in total while at the club.

But the 33 year-old has bid farewell to Real Madrid fans saying in his farewell press conference:

“It’s a hard day for me. I feel like a footballer still and I will keep on playing, but I will always be loyal to Real Madrid. I have tried to give everything in my time here. “Being a Real Madrid player is the greatest dream you can imagine. Today more than ever I want everybody to know that in every move, dribble, turn or gesture on the field of play, I tried to give the best I could. In my head the word surrender has never existed, because that is what Real Madrid is about.”

Raul is not retiring and the question is where will he play next with Schalke is likely destination. On his next step Raul said:

“The German team is interested in me and I have had very deep discussions with them. In a few days I will know whether I’ll be going to the Bundesliga, but there are other teams that are also interested. What is clear is that my future lies in Germany or England.”

Madrid president Florentino Perez also paid tribute to the departing idol.

“We will never forget Raul. There are many men who form part of the legend of Real Madrid, but few that are chosen to embody the club – Raul is one of those.”

Raul is the second Madrid veteran to leave in the last week, following the departure of midfielder Guti, who had spent just a year less than Raul (15) in the first team.

photo credit: Jan S0L0