While some reports in England have recently suggested that Toure Yaya could be on his way to Arsenal, the player himself made no mention of any such move in an interview for Barça TV. Toure talks about Pep Guardiola and Barça's new signings Seydou Keita and Gerard Pique and his recovery from his back problems. Given the interview was for Barça TV it was of course unlikely that he would talk about leaving and he wasn't asked about the speculation. However, it would seem a bit strange to give such an interview if he was planning to pack his bags. I hope we have the big man for many years to come. Click here for the full interview

A little late perhaps, but I've finally decided on my player of the season. Some will say his stats are not great, but even so Leo Messi has to win the award because he is quite simply head and shoulders above the rest. Only three other players can really take much credit from a generally disappointing season. Andres Iniesta is second because of his remarkable consistency and because he continues to improve, only a niggling knee injury towards the end of the season saw his level drop a bit, let's hope he gets over the problem. Third place goes to Toure Yaya whose performances in midfield had a lot to do with the improved defence in the first half of the season. His back injury had a lot to do with Barça's defensive frailty as the season wore on though he deserves tremendous credit for bravely playing on. Next i...

Gabi Milito's knee injury was worse than initially thought and he could be out for as much as nine months. In today's operation surgeons needed to extract part of a tendon from his left leg and insert it into his right. This is terrible new for the player as injuries of this length can be career threatening. Right now I just hope he can make a full recovery. There was better news for Toure Yaya whose back operation was a complete success, doctors say he shouild be back to full fitness in six to eight weeks.

Gabi Milito and Toure Yaya both go under the knife tomorrow (Tuesday) for operations on their injuries. Milito will have his cruciate ligament in his right knee seen to by Dr. Ramon Cugat at 2pm at the Clínica Quirón. While at 3.30pm Toure will have the operation on his slipped disk that he has bravely put off since March. Dr Enric Caceres will do Toure's operation at the Instituto Dexeus. Club doctor Ricard Pruna will give a press conference tomorrow afternoon to report on how the operations have gone. If all goes well Toure should be fit and well for the start of the preseason, but Milito is not expected to return until November. It's a shame the season has ended like this for the players who turned out to be Barça's best two signings of last summer. 

Toure Yaya has been added to the injured list for tomorrow's game with Valencia after he injured his ankle in this morning's training session. First reports say he will also be doubtful for Wednesday's game at Real Madrid.

Another month where it seems there is little to smile about. However, as usual when the chips are down our very own Captain Marvel, Carles Puyol, raises his game, and he thoroughly deserves to be named April Player of the Month. He was excellent in the quarter final games with Schalke, and stayed at a decent level throughout the month despite all the team problems. The top five for April is as follows:

1. 
   
   
2. Carles Puyol
   
3. Leo Messi
   
4. Toure Yaya
   
5. Andres Iniesta
   
6. Gabi Milito

While Toure Yaya's attitude and commitment are commendable, I really feel it is time for him to take the operation on his slipped disk. Toure says that apart from a few sharp momentary pains he is capable of playing on with the help of injections but his performances in the last two games are below the high standards he was showing before the injury.

If Toure had the operation now it is thought he would be out for one month which would mean he could be back in time for a theoretical Champions League semi final. While Schalke will be no pushover, I believe it is better to have Toure at 100% even if it is only for the last few games than to have him struggle on in his present condition. If Marquez cannot play either we will just have to put Iniesta in Toure's position. If Barça are going to have a cha...

According to the club website Toure Yaya is suffering from a discal hernia which if I'm not mistaken is called a herniated disc or slipped disc in English. The report says that he will not undergo surgery but will be treated with anti-inflammatory injections. This morning's El Pais were already suggesting that Toure could miss as much as three weeks due to his back problems.

This is terrible news on top of Messi's injury and also with Rafa Marquez struggling to recover from his foot problem. No doubt questions will be asked as to why doctors didn't see the problem and get Toure to rest as he obviously had back problems. But before we all jump on the bandwagon we should remember we are not there to see what goes on or to know what the doctors could see, I imagine those guys have been...

Toure Yaya is doubtful for Sunday's game against Villarreal after pulling out of today's training session with back problems. Toure was left out of last week's game at Atletico Madrid with similar problems but managed 67 minutes of the game against Celtic before being substituted. The club, however, have not ruled him out completely for the game.

On the other hand Rafa Marquez has definitely been ruled out for Sunday with his foot problem. This means the only true centre backs available are Milito and Thuram. If Toure doesn't recover we could see Edmilson return to the team, or Rijkaard might opt for the three pequeños Deco, Iniesta and Xavi in midfield.

All in all it's been a pretty good month for Barça. Undeafeted in six games with four victories and two draws. The month would have been a lot worse if it hadn't been for the four goals scored by this month's winner, Xavi Hernández. Xavi got a late winner at home to Osasuna and followed it up with the equalizer at Sevilla, he opened the scoring against Levante and then scored the last gasp goal on Wednesday against Valencia.

I should mention that both our African players have been great since returning from the African Cup, but only Toure Yaya gets a mention in the top five as he played over 50% of the minutes this month while Samuel Eto'o only played two full games. Anyway, this month's top five is as follows:

1. 
   
   
2. Xavi Hernández
   
3. Leo Messi
4. Andrés ...