If I can’t get Clasico tix, we’ll just rent a place for a week in Paris, and do a day trip to Barcelona.

And it looks like vacation will swing free enough where I’ll be able to do El Clasico at the Nou Camp this year. Wifey and I figure a few days in Paris, jet over to Barcelona, back to Paris for a couple of days, then home.

I’m kinda bummed about not seeing Messi, but I’m totally geeked about the fact that everyone else will be there. My friend and I are dying to see Dani Alves in action, live and in person.

we would be idiots if we didn’t sign Arshavin now. Silva’s agent today said that he didn’t want to leave Valencia, nor would they part with him for anything approaching a reasonable fee. Arshavin’s not just our best choice for the left: he’s our ONLY choice. our board needs to get over the whole Messi situation (they do seem to have tunnel vision, don’t they?) and work on fleshing out our still-thin roster. time is running out.

and does anyone know if the FIFA ruling means Messi won’t be available for the game in Chicago on Sunday? i would think it does, but i’m hoping not.

This was the ruling of a single judge, however. Laporta has said that we will seek a definitive ruling from the court of appeal.

In other news, Arshavin to Spurs? Rumors are that Tottenham have agreed on a price with Zenit, now that the number has come down from 25 to 17 million, and Arshavin is saying he’d love to go to Spurs, of course, because he wants to be anywhere other than Zenit.

Of course, we’ve all heard these rumors before. We had purportedly agreed on a price with Zenit, and we all saw where that deal went.

Meanwhile, apparently Eto’o is still pissed about being told that he was surplus to requirements, according to his agent. He felt the club should have spoken to him first, rather than his having to read about it in the media.

Whatever. And then there’s this Laporta quote posted by Jake in the preceding thread, which I’m putting here so that it won’t get lost:

“The behaviour of Samuel has been good and I’m very happy for that. Apart from the technical decisions that could be taken, I’m satisfied with the behaviour of Eto’o. The rest is the responsability of Txiki. Every team would like to have a motivated Eto’o in the squad. But some things happened so we have to make a serious analysis. We thought that selling some key players was the appropriate thing to do but in this world of football nothing is unchangeable. In the case of Eto’o, I don’t think his situation is irreversible. The technical staff will have to decide and the football arguments should prevail. The mental and physical recovery of the player will be decisive in the final decision.”

I think the real reason this is coming up at all is that nobody, and I mean NOBODY is making a serious bid for Eto’o. Who knows why? High salary? Uncertainty about being able to cut it in other leagues? Attitude? Sudden fragility? All of the above? Dunno. I do know that we canNOT allow Eto’o his wish, which is to play out his contract then leave on free transfer. I’m sure that even the most devoted Eto’o fans understand what a fiscal nightmare that would be for the side. Letting Ezquerro leave on a free is one thing. Eto’o leaving on a free is something else altogether.

Most of what this shows is that if a player wants to scuttle transfer plans, he can do so. Gudjohnsen and Eto’o have in effect dug their heels in, trying to grab a place in the squad by in effect refusing all offers in the case of the Icelandinc Monument, or presenting absurd salary demands in the case of the Cameroonian. I don’t understand it, because being difficult isn’t going to put a player in any coach’s good graces, particularly one who was planning a life without said player(s).

Yaya sez that Drogba wants to come to Barcelona, which might be true, but no overtures of any significance have been made in that direction, unless you count rumormongering press folks. Of course, Yaya also wants to keep Eto’o, which goes to show you what players know about team management.

And Ezquerro is officially signed with Osasuna. Best of luck to him.

His striker role was very different from that of Drogba, who is indeed the one and only. Every pass goes to him, every long ball goes his way. Anybody who has watched Arsenal over the years knows that it’s pretty difficult to imagine a team with a style more like ours.