âÂÂNew York, London, Paris, Munich, everyone talks about...errrm...Kaká!âÂÂ
Spanish transfer tittle-tattle has gone all retro, âÂÂPop Musikâ in relation to Real MadridâÂÂs bench-warming salary-sucker, who is on a merry-go-round of stories linking the forward with Corinthians, New York Red Bulls and AC Milan.
ThursdayâÂÂs Marca reports that KakáâÂÂs agent held talks on Wednesday with MilanâÂÂs über-lord Adriano Galliani, with the aim of sealing a â¬13m return to Serie A for a player who would be considered a spring chicken by San Siro standards. The previous dayâÂÂs edition of the same paper had the Red Bulls eyeing up Kaká, who could spend a pleasant year or so walking the streets of Manhattan with Pep Guardiola, perhaps.
This has made a wonderful change from seeing Luka ModricâÂÂs face on the front pages, with the Spanish press a tad confused as to whatâÂÂs happening with the unsettled Spurs man.
Over in the Catalan capital, the news has flitted between David Villa and Carles Puyol getting back to fitness, and Leo Messi missing out on a friendly against Hamburg on Tuesday due to injury (an absence that cost â¬360,000 in appearance money for Barcelona). Then there's the very sad cruciate ligament injury to defender Marc Muniesa, which sees the 20-year-old sidelined for six months, and Dani Alves saying that all was well after apparently feeling let down over the summer when his club didn't back him in the face of reports they had lost confidence in the cheeky chappy.
âÂÂEverything has been fixed,â said the fullback on Wednesday. âÂÂWhat I wanted to do was express my unhappiness to the boss, so thatâÂÂs why I did it. But now weâÂÂve spoken and itâÂÂs all sorted.âÂÂ
Joan Vehils writes in âÂÂSportâ that this kind of rebellious business need to crushed into itty-bitty pieces under the boots of the club's top brass. âÂÂTito and his strong men need to be benevolent (to the fans) and show that the dressing room does not exist outside the margins of the directions of the clubâÂÂs communication department.âÂÂ
Mundo Deportivo are unhappy at the reaction of SpainâÂÂs TV channels to Real MadridâÂÂs 5-1 friendly victory over Oviedo, and Tito VilanovaâÂÂs debut at Hamburg - a tougher opponent, to be sure - which produced a 2-1 victory for Barcelona. âÂÂIn general, an abundance of optimism and winning power for Real Madrid and injuries, bad luck and controversy for Barça. And these were just friendlies. ItâÂÂs beginning well,â notes a downbeat Mònica Planas.
ItâÂÂs been far too long since LLL has been able to laugh at Atlético MadridâÂÂs expense, due to that pesky Europa League-winning business, but the blog got the opportunity on Wednesday, when the Rojiblancos suffered a 1-0 defeat at newly-promoted Celta Vigo. The blog wasnâÂÂt going to watch the game in a million years, but Gareth Nunn from the excellent Madridatleticos website saw enough and confirmed that âÂÂyou can understand how the game went when you see that Raul GarcÃÂa was one of the better players on the pitch.âÂÂ
