It's great to hear Cesc Fabregas talk about his commitment to the Arsenal, and how he wants to stay, but it's a little weird to hear him talk about a contract extension, when he signed an 8 year deal just two years ago.

Fabregas's excellent performances during the run to the Champions League final, and the promise of his fellow youngsters had led to him penning an 8 year deal, until 2014. This was designed to ward off interest from other clubs, as well as show that Arsenal were keeping their top players and building a consistent base for future success.

Transfer speculation of course continued, primarily because football clubs and newspapers in Spain would probably crumple up and die if they didn't produce copious amounts of transfer bullshit everyday, but Fabregas kept reaffirming his commitment.

Well today, he has come up with these quotes in an interview with Cadena Ser:

"I have a contract in force until 2014, I have six years remaining and I am talking with my club, who are interested in renegotiating it. I want to succeed at Arsenal and that the club wants me is fundamental for me."

It would be interesting to know what kind of terms this extension would be on. Still, Arsenal being Arsenal, we'll never find out anything other than "on a long-term deal, for an undisclosed fee". I'm sure his wages were already quite good, but they'll be bumped up a fair bit now.

Excellent news though. Arsenal have been playing some fantastic stuff, and Cesc is always at the heart of it, and will be influential to the future of it as well. Cescy football.

Well, good riddance to bad Reyes.

He's cried and moaned and whinged like a little baby for years now, and really needs to grow up and act like a professional. Arsenal paid a lot of money for him, and he basically put them in a position where they had absolutely no bargaining power and every club in the world knew this.

He's signed for Atletico for about €9 million, which is pitiful considering his talent and ability, and that he was valued at almost £14 million (approximately €20 million) when he went on loan to Real last season.

He always gave 100% on the pitch for Arsenal, even though he played like shit for a lot of it, and although he's never said anything bad about the club, his acting like a sissy has cost them in the transfer market. He's nearly 25 now, and needs to stop behaving like a lost, little boy. After crying all year round about the weather and how he wouldn't play in England again, he's gotten his wish, but at the expense of Arsenal. It's sad, especially when Arsene Wenger showed so much faith in him and gave him so much support.

Anyways, good luck to you Reyes. Hopefully he can make use of his incredible talent and stop crying in the media every other day.

And of course we have some leaked photos for you: 

  

Barca's radio station, Cadena Ser has announced that Henry has signed for Barcelona for 4 years, for €24 million.

Sad if it's true, and many Arsenal fans will not be very happy with Henry.

The most frustrating thing is that there doesn't seem to be any sign of Eto'o coming the other way, and the fee that we're receiving for Henry is pitiful considering a player of his stature. He signed for just under £11 million, and he's being sold for about £16 million.

I don't think there's any question that he needed to go, because he was making his position at the club very difficult with his comments about David Dein and all the goings-on. It's not what you expect from a player committed to the club, and most definitely not the captain of Arsenal Football Club.

Last season, when Henry wasn't injured, he seemed to not care much. Many speculated that his heart was elsewhere, but by the end of the season, with both our top strikers out, fans were desperate enough to believe whatever excuses were on offer.

I can't really hold any grudges against Thierry for what he's given to the club, but the way in which he's behaved over the last year has been awful, and a bit reminescent of Patrick Vieira. He's openly flirted with other clubs, made vague and misleading statements, and set an awful example for the younger players. His comments about people within the club (and allusions to some of his teammates) have been very destabilising, and it's hard to take many positives from these events. He had almost become another Mr. Arsenal, and his lack of honesty more than anything else has been most frustrating.

I'm sure Arsene Wenger has a plan, and to be honest after his absences over the whole of last season, the team has learnt how to play without Henry, and to be honest, played better without him on many occassions.

But Arsenal is a big club, and needs its star power, so a big name will have to come in. Will it be Torres? Will it be Eto'o? At least we know what Arsene Wenger was meeting Barcelona for, but hopefully he will not be following TH over there.

It's a testing time for Le Professeur as well... he's lost his main ally David Dein, he's lost his two major protegees in the last two years (Vieira and Henry), and with all the politics at the club I suspect there might be doubts over his future as well. Maybe Henry knew that Wenger wouldn't be there to take care of his future after this season?

 

Fucking rubbish news if it's true, but France Football is reporting that Thierry Henry has reached a 3-year agreement with Barcelona after meeting with their officials in the South of France. This is an odd one from FF, because they are usually very good and reputable, and don't do large scale speculation like the rags. But they've really nailed their colours to the mast with this one, because it's their cover story:

Again, all this has been complicated by a statement from Henry's agent Jerome Anderson read out soon after saying that the article is pure bullshit, that Henry hasn't been to the South of France in years, and that they are conisdering legal action.

Let's see what unfolds, but after very bold moves from Henry in backing the departed David Dein and criticising some aspects of the team in an exclusive interview, this is an equally bold move from the usualy reserved and reliable France Football. It's nervy for everyone, and not what you wan't to see from your captain. I hope he stays, but if this is all part of some game, then things will be very, very bitter.

Following on from my own views on David Beckham joining the MLS, here is what the rest of the bloggers at OleOle had to say:

Mike T	When I read this morning that David Beckham had signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy, my first thought was: why not Urawa Reds? There had been some rumours - mainly concocted by Beckham and his agents in order to procure a super-rich new contract, no doubt, that Beckham would consider plying his trade in the J-League. Yet when I read of the amounts of money being offered by LA Galaxy for his signature, I suddenly realised there was no chance of any club in Japan matching that kind of offer. So what sort of player are the Galaxy getting for their wads of cash? An under-appreciated one at Real Madrid, in my opinion. But Beckham was as much a victim of politics at the Madrid giants, as he was a player dropped for poor form. That's why I was surprised by his decision to play in the MLS. In some way, I think there'll be parallels with Dwight Yorke's signing for Sydney FC in the A-League. Yorke proved good value in getting fans through the turnstiles, but found his value diminishing on the pitch. There's no doubt that Beckham is a supremely gifted player. But he relies a lot on the ability of the players around him. So will he raise the profile of the MLS and get more fans through the gates? Probably. Will he single-handedly lift the standard of football in the US? I doubt it.
Footie Girl	Beckham's decision to move to the MLS is a tacit admission that he can't hack it at the top level any more. I've never been a huge fan of his, but still, you have to feel for the guy. Just a bit, because after all he's getting $250 million to dry his tears. So, instead of sliding into obscurity at Bolton or wherever, he gets a hefty paycheque, a cushy lifestyle in Los Angeles, and an opportunity to reinvent himself as a sort of ambassador of football. In return, Major League Soccer is getting the most marketable footballer in the world. The deal made front-page news when it was announced, but the question is whether it's going to have enough of a long-term impact to repay their rather sizeable investment. Now they've got Becks to bend in a few free kicks and smile pretty for the cameras, but if they really want to sell their product, they're going to have to improve the league from the ground up, rather than just bringing in more aging galacticos.
Oz	"David, what are you doing?" Probably the words of every football fan across the length of the UK upon hearing month-old rumours substantiated yesterday. All and sundry know that he has at least 3-4 years left of playing at the highest level and the quality of his suitors makes the decision even more baffling (Says the Englishman, predictably! -SM). $55 million/year goes some way to explaining it but most will hope that the US league takes off properly following this coup, to ensure that DB's final few years were not wasted away in a backwater league....
Gabriele	The real winner in Beckham’s transfer to LA Galaxy is Victoria. In my opinion, this is her choice, for her career as an actress. Of course, Becks made a very good deal, earning an incredibly high amount of money, especially compared to the insubstantial toughness of MLS, but I think he would have preferred to keep on playing in Europe. MLS executives think this is a big business for them, I'm sure there will be a great interest around Beckham at the beginning, but we don't know what will be in the next future. To make MLS grow, one single top player is not enough, and I am afraid they don't have money left to "invite" other top players to join the league. Beckham is the best footballer they could sign in terms of image: the Becks will certainly feed all gossip media in Hollywood and generally in the US, but technically speaking a talented player, even a juggler (not necessarily Ronaldinho) would have been better. Americans think about sport as a show, what kind of show a player like Beckham can give them? Crosses and free kicks? I'm not so sure…
Mauricio	US 250 million dollars? I bet Pele is wondering at home: Why don’t I play nowadays???? I think Beckham is absolutely right. In the first place, Real Madrid have already been half way to Hollywood in the last four seasons. Media players like Ronaldo and Becks, after all they won, have to hit the road and try other things in their careers. Although everybody will be saying Beckham is finished, I think playing in the MLS is definitely a better move than playing in Saudi Arabia or other of these great money making countries. And if I were in charge of CONMEBOL, I would straight away invite MLS teams to play in the Copa Libertadores, and get a share of the Becks money too.

It's 2007, and the blogging goes on. It's been a good weekend of football, and Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield 3-1 with two absolute corkers from Tomas Rosicky. Henrik Larsson scored his first goal for Man United, and Kiraly did his first blunder for Villa, as the reds won 2-1, and Tottenham embarassed themselves a bit with a goalless draw against Cardiff at Ninian Park. Charlton and the lovely Alan Pardew went one step further and lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest.

There are some interesting blogs kicking around the site, with a distinctly Arsenal flavour. There's one on Freddie Ljungberg, Arjun's done a great bit on Flamini and tackling, Mauricio brings us the latest news on Alexandre Pato, and you can enjoy Footie Girl's excellent FA Cup Preview with a good dose of hindsight. Teo gives us the latest on the Melbourne Victory, and our Chinese correspondent Zhixiang gives us some info on Charlton's new signing - China captain Zheng Zhi.

Enjoy! And please get in touch with your feedback, or if you would like to write.

Hello readers,

As you may have noticed (or may not have, obviously), we've now got a little User Contributed News section going on the site, and i'd like to encourage you to play around with it, and obviously send us the football news that you think people should know about.

We've also added a handy little login feature on the right hand side, and we hope that our live scores, fixtures and tables will be ready for you quite soon as well.

So keep checking in, and if you have a minute, then register.

We're busy here at OleOle, but we're going to enjoy a few days off for the festive period, and we'd like to give our best wishes to all our readers and contributers as well.

After I stupidly drank the water I was supposed to rinse my mouth and wash my hands with at the Meiji shrine in Harajuku yesterday, oddness ensued sometime later. This is the same water that everyone else washes their hands with, and in my ongoingly poor attempts at sign language in Tokyo, this was just the latest in a series of interesting misunderstandings.

So then, a few hours later as my stomach rumbled and my paranoia rumbled even more, I began contemplating a bit of death, and thought... "You know... it's OK as long as it happens after Sunday, because I really don't want to miss the football". And so now that brings us to today. My stomach feels fine (last night's drinks and thus-induced visit to McDonald's excepted). The sun unfortunately is not shining as it should be, but that's alright because they have lights in stadiums these days.

So the schedule goes a little something like this:

4.20 PM - Al-Ahly vs Club America
7.20 PM - Barcelona vs Internacional

Obviously, I have probably got the home and away teams mixed up there, but really since it's an Egyptian, a Mexican, a Spanish and a Brazilian team playing in Yokohama, Japan, I don't think it matters too much.

Well stay tuned for our coverage as always, blogging on the spot (this would be a nice time for a "blogspot" pun, but then... would we be sued?).

Al-Ahly will be the more motivated of the two teams in their contest, and there should be some good football on show. Claudio Lopez and Blanco will probably be rested, but Ahly's 3 centrebacks shouldn't breathe too easily because Nelson Cuevas can kill any defence when he's up for it. Islam Al-Shater will continue to bomb down the right flank for the Egyptians, and we have to see what frame of mind Flavio will be in today before making any kind of prediction or judgment. Still, there will be some attractive football on show.

As for Barca and Inter, it will be a tough contest. The Brazilians will be fighting hard in this game, taking a more Argentine or Uruguayan approach some might say. But they will try to play their football whenever they can. This might be a cracking match, maybe not as free-flowing and attacking as the Barca-America or Inter-Ahly games, but definitely an intense, exciting contest.

So stay tuned, and find a TV to watch the games if you can, because you'll miss out on some good football otherwise. Don't believe the people who say "It's a joke cup", and "no one really cares", they're full of shit.

The atmosphere has been utterly brilliant. The stadium is majestic, and sold out. The press boxes are excellent with internet and power connections, hence this post. What more could we have asked for.

Compared to the other games so far the atmosphere here is seriously good. All the Japanese fans are going for Barca, but it's the few hundred Club America fans in the corner that havae been making the noise. They've been singing non-stop and putting their European counterparts to shame.

Matchwise, Barca took control early on, and are 2-0 up. But Claudio Lopez had a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper early on, and if he'd taken his chances, things might be quite, quite different now.

Both Barca and America have been playing some good stuff, but the difference is that Barca look infinitely more intimidating when they go forward. Blano is on the bench, and might pop up for this half.

Stay tuned, the second half has kicked off, and i'm getting back to the action. Ta.

Well, we've had a great response to the launch of our website. Thanks to all our visitors for taking the time to come and check the site out, and we encourage more of you to enter the contest - it's a great opportunity.

I've also been disappointed by the lack of comments! Loads of hits, but no one with anything to say? What happened to football fans being the lippiest bunch around??

So anyways, today was the "much anticipated" Barcelona v Chelsea rematch - the 3,327th time they've played in the last two seasons, and it ended in a 2-2 draw. Deco put them up 1-0, and then Frank Lampard equalised to make it 1-1 with a goal that for once was both good AND did not involve 6 massive deflections off the knees or arses of the other team. Eidur Gudjohnsen then fired home to put Barca en route to victory, but some poor concentration and defending from Barca (coupled with great stamina and doggedness from Chelsea) saw Drogba score in injury time to salvage a draw. It was an exciting game, with some very good goals.

For the first one Deco carried the ball for about 20 or 30 yards down the left flank before cutting sharply inside and shooting from just outside the box into the far corner. It really was a cracking strike - a low, rising show, hit with great power straight through the legs of the lunging Carvalho. Hilario couldn't get near it.

Lampard's equaliser was an equally sensational goal. Essien chested the ball down about 40 yards out, and clipped a speculative lobbed pass over the defense which Lampard ran onto. He missed his first touch, and so had to shepherd the ball away towards the byline, giving the defender time to recover. However as he moved away from the goal along the byline, back turned to the keeper, he looked up to seek out options, and then swivelled to stroke a dipping lob over Valdes from an impossibly acute angle.

It was a great goal, but Valdes should have been positioned better. He first came off his line when anticipating a shot from Lampard from Essien's pass, but then instead of going back into position, he continued to hover around the near post even when Lampard was moving away from goal and had a defender covering.

There was also more than a hint of flukiness about the goal, because Lampard never once looked to see where the keeper was. Right before he struck it, he took a look up to see who was arriving in the box - Ballack was starting a run towards the far post, and Drogba was lurking close by at the near post, so it might well have been intended as a cross. But since we'll never know, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, because it was a nice goal as it turned out.

Gudjohnsen's goal was all about Ronaldinho. The perma-smile Brazilian was hugging the left touchline, and brought down a long pass from defence with one touch, and then flicked it past the right-back Boulahrouz in almost the same motion. He then slid a perfect pass across the face of goal with the outside of his right foot, and Gudjohnsen nipped ahead of the Chelsea defenders to convincingly fire home. A good moment for him up against his former club, and it will give him confidence at a time when the critics have been in full flow.

As for Chelsea's equaliser... well I think most people could see it coming. They lost the ball far upfield, with too many players committed too far forward. Either they lacked concentration, or stamina, but their attempts to win back the ball were exasperated. When they lost the ball, and Chelsea charged forward down the right with Essien, they put in a few half hearted challenges, and a few desperate sliding tackles and lunges when they would have been better served trying to get back into position and slow down the play. Essien powered forward and lumped it into the box, it was nodded down by Terry at the far post, and then Drogba chested it forward and stroked it home. Marquez was very culpable, first ball watching when Essien delivered the cross - meaning that Zambrotta had to try and mark Drogba, leaving Lampard free behind him, and then when Zambrotta moved back towards Terry, Marquez vaguely waved a back heel at the ball when Drogba chested it past him.

I think it was a fair result, but Chelsea's celebrations at the end were once again far too over the top. They are not winning any friends with the way they continually behave, and this was just the latest installment. Mourinho sets the tone for this team, and there is a visible lack of class in the way they conduct themselves. It is tiring to see them always behave like angry underdogs, when in fact they are bankrolled by one of the most powerful men in the world - flagrantly breaking the laws and conventions of football, throwing money at anything and everything, and generally destroying the whole idea of "competition". Apart from the various tapping up scandals, and the fact that they blatantly sabotage the transfers of other big Premiership teams, their disgustingly opulent spending has not resulted in anything close to the standard of football that you'd expect from a team with such overwhelmingly large resources. All Abramovich is doing is buying results, albeit indirectly. I hope for the sake of the Premiership that someone else can win the title this year, because if Chelsea win, and Abramovich spunks another 100 million pounds in the summer, hope will well and truly be hanging by a thread.