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Soccer Break – Friday edition
Lionel Messi one day, Cristiano Ronaldo the next. It does not get any better than seeing the world’s best players at the top of the their game after Ronaldo’s hat-trick inspired Real Madrid to a 7-0 hammering of Malaga.
There’s plenty to get your teeth into here, while other Real blogs are debating the future of midfielder Kaka. Could you see him in the Premier League?
Back to England, and not good news for Manchester City after Kolo Toure was suspended after testing positive for a specified sample. The former Arsenal man has been key in the heart of City’s defence this season and they will struggle to replace the Ivorian international if he does get a ban.
North of the border, and Celtic and Rangers passionate yet fiery relationship lives on.
Looking ahead to the weekend and there is so much at stake in all the top European leagues. Read our Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 previews to fill you in on what’s going on.
Enjoy the weekend of football action and see you again on Monday to discuss all things soccer.
Comment on all these topics and other stories in world soccer on the Reuters Soccer Facebook page. And please feel free to send us recommendations for your pick of the day’s stories.
City’s spending spree makes sense in battle for fourth place
There’s been a fair bit of speculation, here and elsewhere, about whether Manchester City could actually win the Premier League title but a more realistic goal is a top four finish. That being the case, the summer spending spree seen by some as being brash and uncoordinated is actually very shrewd.
Look carefully, and what City have managed to do, with the recruitment of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, is to weaken two of their rivals for fourth place.
Last season Villa and Arsenal fought tooth and nail for that position and with his transfer policy Mark Hughes has struck an early couple of blows in this season’s fight.
Note that City also have their sights on defender Joleon Lescott from Everton, another team with Champions League aspirations.
Add to that the hugely satisfying signing of former Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez and there would seem to be a pattern to their spending spree — even if results are not yet going their way.
haha thats the point these players obviously dont have as much ambition to succeed as they do to make loads of money! look at gareth barry for example saying he would only leave for a champs league team last season and rafa benitez said he even bid for him this transfer window, and you didnt even get in the europa cup which to me speaks volumes, yeah u wanna get in the top 4 but buyin most of the bad apples from the teams above you and mashing them together is hardly going to garauntee that is it
Wenger’s unrivalled Midas touch
Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez may feel he got a good price for Xabi Alonso but he is in no danger of dislodging Arsene Wenger as the Premier League manager with the Midas touch.
Wenger has received criticism of late for not ‘spending big’ on replacements for departing first-teamers. He should be receiving credit for earning a huge pile of cash for players no longer in his plans. Does anyone in football generate as much money from transfers as Wenger?
The wily Frenchman has built a career on signing young prospects for small fees and selling them for gigantic ones when he feels the time is right.
Most recently Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure moved to Premier League rich boys Manchester City for a reported combined fee of 39 million pounds after being brought to Arsenal for much less.
They follow the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira in enjoying great success and form under Wenger before moving on to pastures new to the benefit of the Arsenal bank balance.
Success-starved Arsenal fans, frustrated by the absence of a trophy since the FA Cup in 2005, may look upon the departures of such players as a defeatist approach but Wenger has a bunch of hungry youngsters waiting to come in and yearning for success.
Between them they should be able to replace Toure, Adebayor and, if Everton get their wish, the Swiss defender Senderos, shouldn’t they?
I agree that Wenger has made some excellent signings for peanuts during his Arsenal career. However, the same can be said of Dave Jones at Cardiff. He has made a number of great signings (Chopra) and brought through the youngsters (Ramsey), then sold them in a couple of years for huge profit.However, this has resulted in Cardiff hovering around the top of the Championship. In a similar way Arsenal hover around the top of the Premiership. If either want to realise their ambitions and reach the top of their leagues it is the time to stop selling and keep hold of their best players. Or don’t they want to?
