Victor Valdes Born: Barcelona Joined the club: 10-years-old First team appearances: 470 Martin Montoya Born: Barcelona Joined the club: 9-years-old First team appearances: 16 Carlos Puyol Born: Lleida, Catalonia Joined the club: 17-years-old First team appearances: 563 Gerard Pique Born: Barcelona Joined the club: 10-years-old First team appearances: 190 Jordi Alba Born: Barcelona Joined the […]
Abroad
De Klassieker: Why this weekend’s Ajax vs Feyenoord won’t be like the good ol’ days…
Ajax and Feyenoord. Feyenoord and Ajax. The two biggest rivals in Dutch football. Since the first game in 1921, it has always been a grudge match. Ajax won that game with 3-2 but after protests of Feyenoord, the full time score was officially set at 2-2. It’s also a game between the two biggest cities […]
Ibracadabra is all magic and no illusion
For every critic and doubter, there is a fanatic and supporter of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, football’s greatest enigma. He has the enviable title of the world’s most expensive player when you accumulate all his transfer fees. Love him or hate him, one thing no one can doubt is the technical ability that he possesses. Amongst the […]
TRANSFER RUMOURS – Jovetic to Manchester City? Lewandowski to Manchester United? Cole to leave Chelsea?
Stevan Jovetic has been linked with a January move from Manchester City to Fiorentina after rejecting their interest in the summer September 3rd: Jovetic – “I received important offers in the summer and I thought about what to do but the club promised me that they would build a great team, and that has happened. […]
The definitive Premier League vs La Liga debate… Part II
In Part I of this article I compared English football with Spanish by comparing how well teams did in European competition. Now it’s time to look deeper, using different criteria to judge the strength of the leagues. Putting the Catalans to one side for the time being (finally), why is it that Chelsea – the […]
Let me introduce you to AFC Ajax…
I don’t need to introduce AFC Ajax to you. I’m pretty sure you all know this club, its rich history, its world famous youth academy, the legendary players the club has produced. You are all football fans with knowledge in your bags, you know your stuff. But if I asked you to name three players […]
Europe’s Best XI in September – Messi, Ibrahimovic… and Jaaskelainen?
Masked by football: Spain’s crumbling economy
Don’t be fooled by the title; I’m not about to go through Spain’s fiscal issues. What I am going to talk about though is the current problems that are shielded from the average television viewer. “The top division alone holds a combined debt of $4.61 billion through the 2010-11 season, with six of the teams […]
European Teams of the Week: Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1
Teams of the week taken from WhoScored.com
Here we go again… La Liga or Premier League?
Here we go again. Inevitably, Chelsea’s defeat to Atlético Madrid in the European Super Cup at the end of last month saw the above inquisition come to the forefront of people’s minds once more. So, I’ve decided that I may as well give tackling it a go myself. It’s rare that I consult the family […]
Did Del Piero really turn down Liverpool because of Heysel?
Earlier this week, Alessandro Del Piero was strongly linked with a move to Liverpool, only for him to opt for Sydney FC instead. Liverpool are in desperate need of a striker after selling Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy, as well as loaning out Andy Carroll to West Ham. Brendan Rodgers even refused to rule out […]
Hulk’s Final Destination Proves Chelsea Were Right To Leave Him
And we all thought Chelsea spent big this summer! Just two days before the close of the Russian transfer window, Zenit St Petersburg have stunned sport news outlets by splashing out £64m on just two players. The Russian club swooped in to sign Hulk for a staggering £32m from Porto, while Benfica midfielder, Axel Witsel, […]
They love the badge, the fans, the city… Not the money
I’ve always said I don’t believe player loyalty to be a characteristic of the greatest importance as when it boils down to it football is a profession like any other and looking to further your career financially or professionally will always be an incentive. That isn’t to say I don’t value loyalty very highly when […]