In one fell swoop, the Los Angeles Galaxy have lost both their head coach and general on the same day. Former Dutch international Ruud Gullit stepped down as the Los Angeles boss while Alexi Lalas is out as the GM.

There are various reasons to explain their departures. First of all, the Southern California squad is winless in their last seven games. Second, they failed to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup. The Galaxy have had a disappointing season thus far, posting a record of 6-8-5 in a season in which they were expected to seriously contend for the MLS title.

In the meantime one of the team's historic figures takes over for Gullit. It's none other than Cobi Jones, who is not too far removed from the sport. He'll be taking over on an interim basis. According to a team spokesman that I contacted, there will be no formal press conference for Jones. However, Jones will be present at tomorrow's press conference as the league promotes yet another edition of the Superclásico.

But Jones' stint as the interim manager could end up being brief. A source close to the team informed me that another legendary Galaxy player could end of the "permanent" head coach. That is former El Salvador international Mauricio Cienfuegos. I heard that if Cienfuegos were to take the helm of the team, Jones would move upstairs to become the club's new general manager.

I'm not sure if Cienfuegos is the right man to take over as the head coach since the team that he's managing in his native country (Nejapa) at the moment is dragging through the mud.

Following up on a previous commentary regarding Nery Castillo possibly leaving Manchester City, the Mexican international today confirmed on a Spanish-language sports radio network that he has sparked the interest of Tottenham Hotspur. This is a departure from the rumors that another London-based team, Arsenal, was going to approach Shaktar Donetsk about loaning him for the upcoming season.

It's great that a squad that would like to improve on its 11th place finish is interested in someone that could possibly provide a boost to the attack (provided Castillo stays healthy), but this would not be a wise move for Nery. Furthermore, this would not be convenient for the Spurs since it appears that the roster is already set.

Isn't it time to actually play an entire season with the same team? Castillo has been with City for just half a season and contemplating this!

During the radio interview, Castillo admitted that it would be great to join Tottenham since another Mexican, Giovani Dos Santos is on the team. He is intrigued by the possibly about playing alongside a former Under-17 World Champion.

This one came out of nowhere. BBC Sport says that Swansea City coach Roberto Martínez is one of the frontrunners to become Sir Alex Ferguson's number two at Manchester United.

Flattered to hear about this, the League One manager of the year had this to say: "It is a huge compliment coming from the best football club in Europe, but it's a compliment for Swansea City.

"There's nothing to be making decisions on, I've got too much work on my hands here at the moment."

This one was too good for the oddsmakers to stay away from. They have placed the Spaniard as the favorite along with Brian McClair and Mike Phelan. The amazing part is that Martínez has only a year of experience under his belt, which explains why he was taken aback by the news that he could be working with Ferguson.

Martínez received a great amount of recognition after lead Swansea to the League One championship with 92 points, a club record. That assured a spot in the second level of English football for the first time in 24 years, so it's not like this happens every day at Swansea. 

Another reason that the Spaniard could be at Man U is due to the fact that he has important contacts abroad.

Carlos Queiroz left the number two spot vacant after accepting the job as the Portugal coach last Friday.

After coaching Chivas de Guadalajara for a brief period in 2005, Xabier Azkargorta did not exactly forget about one of Mexico's most popular teams altogether. It turns out that the former Chivas boss has been keeping an eye on a specific player-Patricio "Pato" Araujo, a midfielder that was part of Mexico's Under-17 national team that won it all three years ago.

According to a Spanish-language program heard in the United States, the current Valencia general manager will recommend that the La Liga side sign the 20-year-old Mexican. But Azkargorta will have to wait until Guadalajara concludes its participation in the SuperLiga and returns to Mexico for these talks to take place.

If Araujo ends up going to Valencia he would be the fourth member of the U-17 World Cup champion that would join a European side. The others are Carlos Vela, Giovani Dos Santos and Héctor Moreno.

This got my attention because Chivas is doing a good job of projecting the team at the international level and that this institution is starting to become one that exports players. It all started when  Carlos Salcido went from Guadalajara to PSV Eindhoven after the 2006 World Cup.

Barcelona and AC Milan have come to an agreement in principle regarding Ronaldinho's transfer to the Italian side in a deal worth 25 million euros, according to Barca officials.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that Ronaldinho will travel to Milan tomorrow (Wednesday) with the club's permission.

"Dinho" is reported to have signed a three-year contract with Milan.

The Brazilian striker joins fellow countrymen Kaká, Alexandre Pato, Emerson, Dida, among others.

We'll see how if a change of league will serve Ronaldinho well. I don't think Barcelona is going to miss him though. 

When it was apparent that AC Milan was on the inside track to gaining Ronaldinho's services, Manchester City now looks like the favorite to sign the Barcelona forward. According to reports from a British publication, City is dueling with Milan for the Brazilian by bidding £25.5 million.

Even Barcelona president Joan Laporta acknowledged Man City's bids by calling them "interesting" and now beginning to favor the proposal from the English side. Also, a Barca spokeperson said that they would talk about the "Dinho's" future with his agent later today. However, it was not made known whether the Spanish squad would see representatives from either City or Milan.

Not ready to give up, Milan VP Adriano Galliani is in Barcelona to try to convince the 28-year-old to play at the San Siro instead of the City of Manchester Stadium.

And this is a pretty good sign that the Brazilian probably won't be playing with Barca: he did not show up to this morning's pre-season fitness tests led by new Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola. It was confirmed that his stint with the Catalonians was over when Pep confirmed that the two-time FIFA player of the year was not in his plans.

With all this debating whether Cristiano Ronaldo will get transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid or not has taken another interesting angle. It turns out that CRon's girlfriend Nereida Gallardo had a fling with Spanish Euro champion Sergio Ramos. So now Gallardo is attempting to convince her beau to stay put at ManU and not head over to the Spanish capital.

This was one of the topics of a program on a Spanish-language sports radio program in the United States earlier today. The story also made headlines in a well-known British publication.

Back to the "love triangle"...You can imagine why Gallardo is trying to stop CRon from leaving the Red Devils. Since I imagine he already knows about Sergio Ramos getting to Nereida first, sparks would indeed fly, especially since the Spaniard is known to joke around. And this would be quite some joke, right? How would Ramos welcome Cristiano Ronaldo to the team? "Hey, guess what? I tapped your girl before you did!" That would really be something!

The worst thing about this is that Gallardo has kept in touch with the 22-year-old Ramos as friends. Well, that what she says. "Friends" can take on many meanings here.

According to a top Mexican sports publication, Tecos de Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara president Antonio Leaño that Inter Milan is very interested in signing Heriberto Aguayo.

So who is Aguayo? Yes, that my first reaction. He is a defender in the Tecos' youth academy. Leaño made it clear that Aguayo will go to the "Neroazzurri" on the condition that the teenager is given favorable terms if Inter is respectful with the Zapopan-based squad. The objective is to sign an agreement in which both UA de G and Inter will each have 50 percent of his Aguayo's rights.

It's worth noting that Aguayo participated in a tournament in Italy which the Tecos' youth team ended up winning. Three weeks later, Inter Milan representatives started approaching him and his family to offer the opportunity to play overseas.

Tecos and Inter are now in contact with each other and are in the negotiation stages, although UAG's management is aware that another three teenagers are also being targeted by the Italian side.

This situation normally happens in South America, but in Mexico this is still something new. Tecos management is doing the right thing by making sure that the terms are favorable regarding Aguayo's possible move to Inter Milan. What surprises me is that Inter is after three other players from this team. It makes me thinks what the "Neroazzurri" intentions are.

Another reason that this is also newsworthy is the fact that Italian teams normally don't sign Mexicans. They only show interest and it doesn't go beyond that. I recall that about a decade ago, Chivas Guadalajara's Pedro Pineda was thisclose to getting transferred to Inter Milan. Since then, no Mexican player has been that close to playing in the Serie A.