The pre-season looms, and what do we know?

By: Kevin | July 14th, 2009

Well, we know that Eto’o and his family had a great time in Miami, frolicking in the pool and later, with dolphins. Barcelona, his future and the football world seem about a million miles away. Everybody, repeat after me:

“Awwwwwww!”

He will be showing up for the beginning of the season on Monday as expected, as he is a player still under contract, says our supremo, Joan Laporta.

Rock on, dude.

–Gai Assulin will very soon have his Spanish citizenship, which means that he can bounce back and forth between A and B sides. It also means we’ll be seeing him in the pre-season friendlies in London, so we can all see what the buzz is all about.

–Sport says Caceres is transferring to Juventus? We’d heard various rumors about loans, etc, but a transfer? Straight up? Are we giving up on him after one measly season, and not even that much first-team action? I find it hard to believe. Caceres agent says he isn’t aware of any Italian teams, but that his player might leave us in quest of regular first-team action. It would be a bummer if Hai Karate left the club, but we’ll see. Stay tuned for this one.

–Still no news of a backup left back. Depor’s president, Lendoiro, is still holding out for more money. As with the striker thing, our folks are prepared to move on to two possibilities that have been previously discussed:

Andre Santos, Brazilian, never played outside of Brazil. Lots of potential, but who knows, right?
Maxwell, currently at Inter, in the Eto’o situation, which is to say unrenewed in the last year of his contract. But he wouldn’t be as cheap as Santos.

As we are fond of saying, “Stay tuned.”

–Just for the record, with just over a month to go in transfer season, we still haven’t spent one red cent. This is obviously good for the bottom line, but how good is it for the sporting program? On paper, we’re still the best side in Europe. But one or two key injuries, a little bit of luck and that balance gets a little funky.

On the up side, watching matches from early in the season then toward the end of the season, you could see the remarkable progression of the side, as Keita began to blossom, and Piquenbauer became the player that made Ferguson so annoyed to have sold.

It looks as if we’re going to need more luck this season, what with 6 trophies to contend for, World Cup looming and every team and their mamas gunning for us, just like last year, only worse. Racing Santander will be softening up sides for us, so we should be seeing fresher clubs, more bus parking, etc, etc.

–The hope of Txiki B and the lads is that Villa will continue to press his situation in an effort to force his way out of Valencia. The complexity is that he doesn’t want to seem like the bad guy, being image conscious as he is. Laporta, on the other hand, with his protestations of “There are other options,” should shut it. Are there really? Forlan is as for sale as Villa, which is to say, not (in effect). So now what?

The immediate footy schedule:

Friday, July 24 v Spurs in London (aired live at 2100 BCN time by La Sexta and TV3, still no real U.S. broadcast plans)

Sunday, July 26 v Al-Ahly in London (aired live at 1430 BCN time, again by La Sexta and TV3)

Sunday, Aug. 2 v Los Angeles Galaxy (and we wondered why Beckham was back with the side? Expect Fox Soccer to broadcast this one, thanks to their MLS contract and television rights. We’ll see about a live broadcast.)

–Finally, Pep’s Place is back, under new management. It’s good to see, and the time without them was short. Good luck, gang!