There Is Only One Sinnacle

Two years after one of the greatest out of the blue transfers leaving Real Madrid for Manchester City, Robinho has this time left Manchester City for A.C Milan.

I’m not sure A.C Milan signed Robinho but more like he fell into their lap with Santos not having the money to pay Manchester City and no other elite European club interested it was A.C Milan who came in late to seal the deal to take Robinho to Italy.

Like I said previously no idea who Pato, Ibra, Ronaldinho and Robinho will be able to share one ball but you can’t blame A.C Milan for making this deal. After there 4-0 win against Lecce and seeing Roma, Juventus, and Inter go winless A.C Milan couldn’t pass up the chance to go for the kill by signing a player with a world of talent in Robinho. A plus for Robinho is he doesn’t have to be the man at A.C Milan like he was excepted to be with Real Madrid and Manchester City. He can just play football with the limelight not solely focused on him.

Chose the above picture because for the most part these last 18 months have been a kick to the head for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who was never given the time to adjust with Real Madrid and now A.C Milan.

To Huntelaar’s credit, atleast publicity who never spoke out in frustration about going from Ajax’s main man to a bit player with Real Madrid and A.C Milan. Here is hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel for Huntelaar as Felix Magath side Schalke have paid 13 million Euros for the Dutch internation.

Once word Schalke made an offer Huntelaar should of jumped at the chance to link up with old team mate Raul in Germany. The Bundesliga should offer Huntelaar a style of football he can excel in, even if he is playing for a cautious coach in Magath. When the choice came down to staying on the bench in Italy or getting regular playing time with Schalke, It’s an easy choice for Huntelaar to leave.

It took Javier Mascherano sitting out for Liverpool against Manchester City to make this finally happen but Barcelona’s plan B has finally been signed by the Spanish Champions.

I’ve made mention of this prior much to the dislike of Liverpool fans but this transfer saga was handled wrong by all parties, not just Mascherano when he decided to sit out. Everyone knew going back to last year Mascherano wanted out and quite frankly considering all that is going on with Liverpool these last couple of years if Barcelona comes calling most players are going to desire playing there. Mascherano gave it another year because Liverpool weren’t going to sell both Xabi Alonso and him. We all know from there how Liverpool’s season then turned out. Once the season ended, at the very least once Roy Hodgson was signed should Liverpool have started to sell a player who clearly didn’t want to be there anymore.

Besides this is Javier Mascherano not Torres or Gerrard we are talking about. Mascherano is a good player but it isn’t like he is a Liverpool legend. If his heart isn’t with Liverpool anymore, sell him and get it over with before it caused a distraction which it clearly did. In the end, wrong as it may be Mascherano did what he had to do. Loyality is a two way street and everyone knows football clubs aren’t exactly loyal either. If so Robbie Fowler or Sami Hyypia would still be a Red. It’s not like Mascherano grew up in Liverpool, he most likely doesn’t even like England. It’s business on both sides of the coin and both sides are guilty of bad business here but I still can’t blame Mascherano who should of been sold long ago. The last point I wanted to make is people saying Mascherano hurt his transfer value by walking out. Well, yes it gave Liverpool no cards to play with but they should of been smart enough to see something like this happening. Besides they paid close to 20 million for Mascherano which is on the high end for a defensive midfielder, unless Manchester City came calling even with Liverpool having all the power they weren’t going to turn a huge profit on the player. Getting rid of a player who didn’t want to be there plus getting most of your money back isn’t an awful return for Liverpool. It could always be worst, look at the loss Barcelona took selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic as an example.

Sometimes you have to cut your losses and that is the story behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Barcelona parting ways. At this time last year people pegged Barcelona as a dream team adding Ibrahimovic but right from day one the transfer threw me off. Barcelona anted up a ton of money plus Eto’o who in his own right was a top five striker. It was bad business then and it surely ended up as bad business now with Barcelona trying to get out of the 5 year 95 million dollar contract they handed Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish striker wanted to get out of dodge quickly to avoid another year where he and Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola just never seemed to see eye to eye. While scoring 20 goals isn’t a bad return, Ibrahimovic always seemed like a sqaure peg in a round hole in the Barcelona set up. With Barcelona the ball is always moving on the ground trying to break a through pass. While Ibrahimovic has good enough ball skills to play this style he is at his best holding up the ball or waiting in the box for a cross, neither of which fit Barcelona.

So it’s off to Italy where Ibrahimovic takes a 33% pay cut to join Milan in what is officially a one year loan deal with 24 million to follow next season. First Juventus, then Inter Milan and now A.C Milan. For a player who was bored with Italian football last year, Ibra sure gets around. Unlike Barcelona this is a nice piece of business for A.C Milan. After a quiet summer up to this point A.C Milan have grabbed the headlines signing Ibra and will they do it again by adding Robinho?

When I think of it there was a couple of reasons why I could never warm up to Liverpool these last five years. The main being Rafa’s excuses and arrogance, the other was Liverpool had no Portuguese. Well both ills have been cured as Liverpool have signed former Porto midfield Raul Meireles for £10.7 million to replace the Barcelona bound Javier Mascherano.

Of course I am biased but Liverpool couldn’t of found a better replacement for Mascherano. Meireles will fit right in from day one will quickly become a fan favorite with his work rate and selfless style of play. On the plus side Meireles can chip in a few goals unlike Mascherano but he does like to have a go of it from 35 yards only for the ball to sail 20 feet over the cross ball. Liverpool fans will have to live with that.

All and all this is a deal which suits but sides. Porto cash in on a player who going forward wasn’t a part of their plans with only one year left on his contract and Liverpool get to move forward after Mascherano decided to pack his bags.

Sometimes in football, like relationships things don’t work out for whatever reason. I originally loved Juventus striking early in the transfer market to sign Diego last year but it never seemed to work out between Diego and Juventus with the Italians gaints cutting they losses by selling Diego to Wolfsburg for a fee rumoured to be €15 million.

I remember watching the Juventus-Fiorentina friendly at the Rogers centre just before the World Cup thinknig how the mightly of fallen with Diego playing a meaningless friendly instead of being on the Brazilian national team. A move back to Germany where he excelled with Werder Bremen might get him back in the national team picture.

Wolfsburg coach Steve Mcclaren must be thrilled with the way this summer has worked out. Not only have they signed two quality players in Diego and Simon Kjær but they have also kept Edin Džeko from the likes of A.C Milan and Manchester City.

Always love transfers that come out of the blue as Lyon have spent big to sign Yoann Gourcuff who most people would consider the best player in France currently.

Lyon must be thinking if you can’t beat them, sign them as Gourcuff was the main reason Bordeaux snapped Lyon seven year reign on top of Lique 1 back in 2009. The 22 million euro fee Bordeaux recieved is impressive but it comes at a cost selling Gourcuff to a league rival. Lyon has signed Gourcuff, Marseille signed Loic Remy and Bordeaux now look to be a distant 3rd in the French top division.

Wonder what Lyon will now do with Miralem Pjanić as Gourcuff may push him out of the starting 11? If I was another European club I’d be making calls right now asking for the price tag on Pjanic.

While Barcelona were running in a fruitless chase for Cesc Fabregas, Real Madrid has been stock piling talent in an effect to over throw Barcelona at the top of Spanish football.

The latest addition is German World Cup star Mesut Özil who has signed with Real Madrid from Werder Bremen who were willing to let him go before losing him for nothing at the end of his contract next summer.

What really interests me is how will Kaka work his way back into the Real Madrid starting lineup? Does Ozil coming in mean Kaka makes his way out next summer?

No, not Pepe the Real Madrid defender but Bebe a 20 year midfielder who played with 3rd division side Estrela Amadora in Portugal last year.

After I rolled my eyes when Manchester United signed Javier Hernandez earlier this year I’ll now reserve judgement on Manchester United signing a player few even in Portugal knew about.

With a rumoured fee of £7.4m this is a great piece of business for Vitoria Guimaraes who just signed Bebe five weeks ago on a free transfer after Estrela Amadora failed to pay his wages. Either this signing will turn out to be Carlos Queiroz tipping Sir Alex Ferguson on a diamond in the rough or be an expensive swing and miss.

Not a lot of video on Bebe but enjoy. (On the plus side good to know Vitoria Guimaraes has an official youtube channel.)

Much like most of Bob Bradley’s time in charge of the US national team a game which had some promise to it turned into a disappointment in front of 77000 fans at the meadowlands.

Bob Bradley coaching this team against Brazil was really nothing more than a marriage of convenience until the United States finds a new head coach closer to the end of the year. The timing wasn’t perfect coming off the World Cup and right before the start of a new season but it was the new look Brazilian team who looked hungry and was out to control the game. The United States just looked flat and couldn’t rise to the occasion in a game which could of been much worst if it wasn’t for some fine saves made by Brad Guzan in the second half.

In the dawning of a new chapter in Brazilian football new coach Mano Menezes couldn’t of wished for a better start. His youthful Brazilian setup showed the flare of Brazilian teams of old with Neymar and Pato each getting on the score sheet.

In the closing of a chapter, if the United States Football Federation wasn’t convinced as to whether or not to replace Bob Bradley they would be after another flat performance in which his tactics were outmatched by his coaching counterpart.