As we all know during weeks without a game the Barcelona press go into overdrive with transfer rumours. They nearly all come to nothing. However, there is no denying that the club will be working hard already on plans for next season so here is a quick resumé of this week's stories.

The week began fairly slowly with reports that Ronaldinho had say no to Chelsea (again), Real Madrid were supposed to be after Mourinho though he is supposed to prefer the idea of Barça. Cesc Fabregas gave an interview on Catalan TV saying he was happy at Arsenal but did not rule out a move back to Barça in the future (I say get on your knees first, boy). A new name was mentioned: Miralem Pjanic who plays for Metz, and I have to admit I have never heard of. There was also talk that ex-blaugranas Laurent Blanc and ...

Just a quick roundup of today's news, I've had a long day at work and I ought to think about taking out my better half tonight. First story is that Barça have signed a 14-year-old wonderkid called Mauro Icardi. Born in Argentina but with an Italian passport, Mauro has played for the Canary Island team UD Vecindario for the last five years scoring more than 500 goals for their junior teams. Barça beat Real Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal, among others, to sign him. Click here to see him in action.

I'm sure you already know that Samuel Eto'o arrived back in Barcelona today and the medics say he has a strained femoral biceps muscle in the left leg. Eto'o will miss the game in Zaragoza which will no doubt disappoint the racist twats among their supp...

After yesterday's story about Cesc Fabregas the Catalan press have decided to really annoy Arsenal fans by running a story today saying Barça are interested in bringing Arsene Wenger to Camp Nou as a replacement for Frank Rijkaard. As I said yesterday, the papers need to write something and this week there is no midweek match. The Barcelona sports papers write something like 16 pages a day on Barça and they have to fill those pages with anything they can find.

The English press are not much better, The Daily Telegraph, Sky Sports, Tribalfootball and Goal.com have all run the story on their websites. Perhaps, there is some interest at Barça, the same as there is for Mourinho, but it is quite normal for football clubs to be constantly assessing their future possibilities. Personally I'm not craz...

This week the Catalan press have reacted as they so often do to a disappointing result: by talking about possible transfers. However, this week's stories have more interest than usual as they refer to the recent "Webster Ruling" which could in theory revolutionize the transfer market as much as the Bosman ruling did in the 1990s. In the last two days El Sport has suggested that Barça could get either Frank Lampard or Cesc Fabregas on the cheap. 

According to El Sport, Fabregas could leave Arsenal for as little as €7m. Click here for the El Sport article. Unfortunately they fail to mention that Barça...

Regular readers will know I'm not one to do too many transfer rumours, we all know that some newspapers and websites will print anything for the sake of selling more. However, this week two top class forwards have once again been offering themselves to Barça. Sometimes, of course, players are just being polite when journalists ask them if they would like to play for such-and-such a team one day. In the case of Didier Drogba it is clear that he is looking to leave Chelsea.

Drogba's comment that he wants to join either Milan or Barça fell on deaf ears at Camp Nou, and the following day there were reports that Barça didn't want Drogba because it would block the progress of Bojan Krkic. Fair enough I thought, but then today we had Lyon's Karim Benzema on the front page of El Mundo Deportivo sa...

Jose Manuel Pinto has been officially presented as a Barça player this evening (Friday) at Camp Nou. Pinto passed his medical this morning and signed this afternoon. Frank Rijkaard said that Pinto "is here to play and not just to train." Pinto will train with the first team tomorrow and almost definitely be on the list for Sunday's game at home to Racing. He has been given the number thirteen shirt to wear.

Barça fans may get a first chance to see Pinto in action in next week's Copa Del Rey game at Villarreal. If he can prove to be a good signing, it may turn out that Albert Jorquera's injury was a blessing in disguise. I'm afraid I never rated Jorquera much and I was very worried at how an injury to Valdés would affect the team's fortunes if Jorquera was his substitute.

Meanwhile, Leo Mes...

Barça and Celta have reached an agreement which will see 32-year-old goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto move to Barcelona on a loan deal until the end of the season. Barça will pay Celta €500,000 for the services of Pinto and have also secured an option to keep him until 2010 if they confirm this before May 31 this year.

Pinto was born in Cadiz on the 8th November 1975, he started his career at Betis and moved to Celta in 1998. In the 2005/6 season he won the Trofeo Zamora which is awarded to the goalkeeper who concedes fewest goals in La Liga. He has played 165 league games for Celta. 

Pinto will arrive in Barcelona and take his medical tomorrow, and if all goes well he will be officially presented on Friday. Pinto will take the place of the injured Albert Jorquera as Vic...

There is a lot of speculation this morning in the English press about Chelsea striker Didier Drogba and a possible summer transfer to Barça. Drogba was quoted as desiring a move to Barça and he especially expressed a wish to partner Samuel Eto'o -  "Any striker in my situation would be really happy to get the chance to play alongside Samuel Eto'o."

Since Jose Mourinho left Chelsea, Drogba has stated more than once his intention to move. Last week Chelsea signed Nicolas Anelka from Bolton for €20 million and so would probably be prepared to let Drogba go if the offer was right. So should Barça try to sign him?

If we simply look at Drogba's talent then the answer would be a definite yes. He can score all types of goals, from inside or outside the area, he is strong with both feet an...

As expected Marc Crosas has signed a loan deal with Lyon until the end of the season. Before leaving Crosas admitted that he didn't speak French. From Fcbnews, I'd like to wish him bonne chance and let's hope he improves in order to return to Camp Nou this summer.

Marc Crosas flew to Lyon today to finalize a deal which will see him loaned to the French club until June. With the deal more or less agreed it will just depend on Crosas passing the medical. Originally, Real Sociedad were favourites to sign the midfielder, but they wanted an option to buy him at the end of the season that Barça were not prepared to agree on.

Crosas played a total of 61 minutes in the two Copa del Rey games with Alcoyano and also appeared as a substitute for 21 minutes in the Champions League against Stuttgart. This means he can not play for Lyon in this seasopn's Champions League.

Yesterday was Crosas' 20th birthday, and a player of his quality should be playing in a better league than the Spanish third division. However I have to admit that I am worried that he may not g...