Join Owen Wyatt and Jon Bramley as they take the opening of the transfer window all too literally and pick out a couple of players who should be among the top targets this January.

Owen reckons Juan Arango of Mallorca and Fulham’s Brede Hangeland could be among the bargains to be had, while Jon has his eye on Serie A…

Do you have other ideas? Let us know in the comments, or send us a video of your own and we’ll happily host it here.

(And it’s good to see they’ve found the best lighting for Jon at last…)

Christmas is here and it´s time for the annual debate about whether England´s Premier League should follow the rest of Europe and introduce a winter break … you know, to give the players (and fans) a much needed rest, to ensure they´re not all too exhausted to give their best at the business end of the Champions League.

Except this year, there is no real debate (with apologies to Martin O´Neill). This is an argument that has been settled decisively in favour of the status quo. In fact, I think we´ll see more pressure on the other big leagues to copy the Premier League and go hell for leather over the festive season.

Can you imagine if West End theatres decided they were going to close down over the Christmas period to give the actors a rest? If TV stations said there would be no live programmes for a fortnight this year? If Apple Inc said they were taking a break from selling iPods over the holidays?

The Premier League understands that it is pushing a spectacle, a show, entertainment, and not just organising a sporting event. Why on earth would you close things down when people have more leisure time … when the kids are off school and the adults are off work?

Sure, you could still have a winter break in January or February, but why give up the spotlight to the leagues in Spain, Italy or Germany? Why give up your unique selling point? For the good of the national team? What a quaint idea. And anyway, that´s surely irrelevant now given the international flavour of the English game.

I blogged last year about the unusual level of interest in the Premier League in Spain these days. Where once Spain looked down on English football as a very inferior branch of the family, this time last year it was wall to wall Premier League in the Spanish media and the level is cranking up again, it seems.

I don´t think it will be long before Spain has a rethink on the calendar.

David Villa had a trip down memory lane this weekend when Valencia hosted Sporting Gijon in the Primera Liga, the Asturian club where he began his professional career.

The Spanish international striker announced before the match that he would not celebrate if he scored.

“I will not celebrate out of respect for the team which saw me born as a professional and which helped be become who I am,” the 26-year-old said.

Villa was true to his word, showing no sign of pleasure when he netted from the penalty spot in Valencia’s 3-2 defeat.

It was a nice nod of the head to a club Villa clearly still loves, but I wonder if Valencia fans are completely happy about it. Shouldn’t highly paid professionals be giving their hearts, minds and bodies to the cause of their employers? (more…)

Sorry, couldn’t resist this one.

When Thierry Henry is given a day off from Barcelona it turns out he prefers cooking and amateur sleuthing to a night out on the town.

“I stay at home,” Henry said during an interview on Catalan TV, picked up in El Mundo Deportivo this morning. “Yesterday, for instance, some friends came round and I made them ‘torrijas’ (a revolting bread pudding type of thing).

“Afterwards we watched a film and played Cluedo.”

Who said footballers were anything but a wholesome bunch?

ALL IN THE WRIST: Barcelona’s Thierry Henry demonstrates the action required for the perfectly beaten egg (not really) during a press conference at the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Oct 16, 2008. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

The British press are purring after Arsenal’s clash with Manchester United was decided by French winger Samir Nasri’s two strikes.

“Onlookers across the world were reminded that this sport, in its modern form, can cause excitement and awe in equal measure,” wrote the Guardian’s Kevin McCarra of Arsenal’s breathless 2-1 win over the champions.

After Arsenal’s bonkers 4-4 draw with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur two weeks ago, Hull City’s unbelievable start to top-flight life and the fact that Liverpool might just be genuine title contenders, the Premier League is once again ‘the best league in the world’ TM.

Or is it? (more…)

Barcelona have made the best start to the Spanish league season by any club since Bobby Robson’s 1996-97 vintage scored 30 goals in their first nine games.

Under Pep Guardiola, the Catalans have amassed 28 goals from nine league matches, winning their last seven to move to the head of the standings.

They have let in just eight, joint lowest in the league with Villarreal and Sevilla.

But looking back through the stats, you can see why Guardiola is so cautious (”We’re top with 87 points still to play for,” he said at the weekend.)

That 96-97 Barcelona team, featuring Ronaldo and Guardiola, won the European Cup Winners’ Cup but still managed to come second to Real Madrid in the league, despite scoring 102 goals in their 38 matches to Real’s 85.

With that in mind, you can see why Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Basel suited Guardiola just fine (apart from the injury to Iniesta). (more…)

Watching Villarreal’s Robert Pires bustling around the pitch during Sunday’s match against Atletico Madrid, you would think he was in his mid twenties rather than his mid thirties.

The former Arsenal midfielder, who spent six seasons in London before joining the Spanish Primera Liga side in 2006, turns 35 today and says he is playing some of the best football of his long career.

Villarreal were leading 10-man Atletico 4-2 when Pires was taken off and they immediately seemed to lose their shape, conceding two late goals to draw 4-4. Before his substitution, the Frenchman was the fulcrum of the team, launching attacks with good distribution and cleverly winning free kicks in key areas.

“In my head and above all in my body I feel young,” Pires said in an interview published in Wednesday’s Marca newspaper. “I have been playing football for more than 15 years and I am enjoying it like it was the first day and that’s the most important thing.”

Pires, a World Cup and European Championships winner with France, said two serious knee injuries had helped him prolong his career.

“Not playing for almost two years delayed the end of my career and helped me rest my body,” he said. “I will play until I am no longer physically able. It will be the day I wake up and I have no desire to go to training.”

Pires told Villarreal’s website he thinks he can carry on at the top level for one or two more years and then he hopes to become a pundit or sporting director at a soccer club.

“I always knew that I wasn’t just coming (to Spain) to enjoy the sun and eat paella,” he said. “And I have proved it.”

PHOTO: Villarreal’s Robert Pires is challenged by Celtic’s Aiden McGeady during their Champions League match at the Madrigal stadium in Villarreal, September 30, 2008. REUTERS/Heino Kalis

It seems even the most experienced players can forget that criticising your coach in the media pretty much always backfires.

Germany captain Michael Ballack has backed down and offered an apology after he angered coach Joachim Loew by suggesting in a newspaper interview that senior players were not being treated with enough respect.

“I will sit down with Loew as soon as my injury permits and apologise for my behaviour,” the Chelsea midfielder said on Sunday.

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos spent Sunday evening “sucking the bench” (as they say in Spain) after he used an interview with As newspaper to express his dissatisfaction with coach Bernd Schuster and said the club lacked a truly influential player. (more…)