Okay guys, negotiations between David Silva and Valencia over a new contract have apparently stalled and Barca are said to be keeping tabs on the situation, with the possibility of launching a bid when they return from their pre-season in the United States.

The bid could be made as early as Monday, with a figure of 25 million euros plus bonuses being quoted.

Valencia could very well entertain the offer given the current financial issues at the club, but one must wonder if they are willing to sell to one of their rivals.

I know many Barca fans would love to see Silva in our ranks and I share the same view, however I kind of want him to stay at Valencia to maintain some balance throughout the league, but regardless of what happens he indeed would be a good signing for the Blaugrana and a decent replacement for Ronaldinho on the left side of the midfield.

Inter Milan manager, Jose Mourinho, and Juventus manager, Claudio Ranieri, have been in a war of words over the last couple of days.

The whole thing started on Sunday when Ranieri's side lost the Emirates Cup 3-0 to Hamburg. Ranieri said "I think the opposite to Mourinho. I don't need to win to be sure of what I do." He continued his attack on Mourinho by speaking on Mourinho's earlier attempts during this transfer season to land Lampard, he said, "I think that if I would have been the one to ask Abramovich for Lampard, he would have come to Juventus".

In typical Mourinho fashion, he responded with these words “I am in Italy to work hard rather than take part in a war of words,”

“I want to do well with Inter and do the best possible for us and to forget about the work of others.

“Ranieri? I guess he’s right with what he said I am very demanding of myself and I have to win to be sure of things.

“This is why I have won so many trophies in my career. Ranieri on the other hand has the mentality of someone who doesn’t need to win. He is almost 70 years old.

“He has won a Supercup and another small trophy and he is too old to change his mentality.

“He’s old and he hasn’t won anything.”

So much for not wanting to take part in a war of words LOL!

After Mourinho's comments Ranieri has hit back at his Portuguese colleague by stating ,

“I think it’s best to leave the August controversies behind, they will pass with time just like football matches,”

“However, Mourinho has shown everyone what he is really like, his true personality and what he thinks of his colleagues.

“It will be very difficult for him to take charge of a team who has won two consecutive titles and expected to win everything.”

I'm just wondering why Ranieri would mention Mourinho after his defeat to Hamburg, is he threatened by the Portuguese tactician? I don't know but it just seems to me that the managers in the Serie A have something against Jose Mourinho. Ranieri is not the only one to have words for Mourinho, now Catania's coach Walter Zenga, has responded to Mourinho's words for Ranieri by saying,

“What is [Mourinho] trying to say? That other coaches in Serie A are trying to avoid hard work?

"In Italy we have some excellent coach’s even amongst the younger ones.

“All this stuff about punctuality and precision; every coach expects this not just him.”

I don't know guys but it seems to me like the managers in the Serie A hold grudges against the "Special One".

According to Spanish newspaper Marca, Brazilian superstar Robinho has made his feelings know to Real Madrid president, Roman Calderon and coach Bernd Schuster during negotiations.

Robinho apparently is disappointed with the club's delaying tactics over a new contract, and also the offer which is well below the 6 million euros on offer at Chelsea. Madrid are said to have only offered the player 4 million euros per year.

Marca quotes Robinho as saying "Let me go to Chelsea," "I want to go to Chelsea in the same wat that Ronaldo wants to come to Madrid. It is the same thing."

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has openly expressed his desire to keep the former Santos player, having said that Robinho is a key part of his plans.

I understand Robinho's feelings and if I were him I would do the same. Robinho has been a key part of Madrid's success in winning the the La Liga title in the last two season and deserves more. His thinking is probably, if they are going to pay Cristiano Ronaldo that much, why can't they pay me the same. He is far more important to Madrid than Ronlado will be as he is a better player. Madrid in my opinion needs stop stalling and pay up because if they loose Robinho they will regret it, even if they get Cristiano Ronaldo. Like I said before Robinho will be a bigger hit at Chelsea than Ronaldo at Madrid.

The longest transfer saga of the summer is apparently in its closing stages.

Crisitiano Ronaldo has blatantly said that he is going to join Real Madrid this summer. Spainish newspaper 'AS' has quoted Ronaldo as saying, "Everything is fine. Next week I will return to England and tell them [Manchester United] that my only desire is to play for Real Madrid and that I will not negotiate."

Ronaldo is currently recuperating in Portugal after having undergone a surgery.

According to reports the talented winger will hold a meeting with Sir Alex and the owners of Manchester United next Tuesday, to tell them he wants out.

Should he arrive at the Bernabéu, it will be interesting to see how he will be received, it is said that the players are tired of rumors of his arrival. Some players like Gago and Higuain have reportedly said they have no problem with Ronaldo's arrival, while others like Sneijder aren't really too keen.

So what do you think? Will Ronaldo be a help or a hindrance to Madrid? I personally am of the opinion that he is by far more important to Manchester United than he will be for Real Madrid.

The longest transfer saga of the summer is apparently in its closing stages.

Crisitiano Ronaldo has blatantly said that he is going to join Real Madrid this summer. Spainish newspaper 'AS' has quoted Ronaldo as saying, "Everything is fine. Next week I will return to England and tell them [Manchester United] that my only desire is to play for Real Madrid and that I will not negotiate."

Ronaldo is currently recuperating in Portugal after having undergone a surgery.

According to reports the talented winger will hold a meeting with Sir Alex and the owners of Manchester United next Tuesday, to tell them he wants out.

Should he arrive at the Bernabéu, it will be interesting to see how he will be received, it is said that the players are tired of rumors of his arrival. Some players like Gago and Higuain have reportedly said they have no problem with Ronaldo's arrival, while others like Sneijder aren't really too keen.

So what do you think? Will Ronaldo be a help or a hindrance to Madrid? I personally am of the opinion that he is by far more important to Manchester United than he will be for Real Madrid.

With Barcelona's squad near completion( I say near completion because of the uncertainty of Eto'o's future) it's time to pick who you think should be the starting XI, and what formation should be used. If you want, include a striker who could possibly replace Eto'o if he leaves.

Squad Members:

Goalkeepers
Victor Valdes, Jorquera, Pinto

Defenders
Abidal, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Milito, Marquez

Midfielders
Xavi, Iniesta, Yaya Toure, Keita, Hleb, Crosas

Strikers
Messi, Eto'o, Henry, Bojan, Gudjohnsen

My Starting XI and Formation{4-1-3-2}

-----------------------------------------Valdes-------------------------------
---Alves------------Marquez---------------------Puyol-------------------Abidal------
--------------------------------------Yaya Toure-------------------------
------------Iniesta----------------------Xavi-------------------Hleb------------------
---------------------------Messi-----------------Eto'o-------------------------------

According to reports Manchester United will pay Media Sports Investment, the Kia Joorabchian firm that owns Tevez's rights a record fee of around 32 million euros to gain full ownership of the player.

Tevez along with Javier Mascherano were both brought to West Ham by the firm in a third-party move. West Ham was subsequently fined by the Premier League 5.5 million euros for not disclosing the details of the players' contracts. The Premier League FA has also stated that this will be the last time that a player is allowed to join a Premier League club under a third-party agreement.

Tevez moved to Manchester United on a two-year loan deal which runs out next summer. Manchester had the option of closing a permanent deal for the player, but has opted to wait despite the player's appeal for a permanent deal.

Now that talks have reopened with MSI, a fee has been agreed that will surpass that of the 30.6 million euros that Chelsea payed Milan in 2006 to bring Shevchenko to Stanford Bridge, making Tevez the most expensive player in English history.

I believe the fee is correct because Tevez is easily the best player in the Premier League currently. I strongly believe that if he wasn't being used so sparingly by Sir Alex that he would have easily surpassed Ronaldo's goal tally. Tevez scored 19 goals while starting the majority of his games on the bench, scoring more than Wayne Rooney who started, justifying my reason why he should be starting.

It is yet to be seen if Manchester will pay the fee this summer or when Tevez's loan deal runs out.

Finally! Oleguer Presas has been sold. To me his sale has been long overdue due to the many defensive arrivals this summer and Oleguer's clumsy tendencies. Oleguer never looked to me like a defender who was up to Barca's standards and I'm glad to see him go.

According to reports Ajax and Barcelona have agreed to a transfer fee of 3 million euros for the player, and if the Amsterdam club qualifies for the Champions League in one of the next three seasons, an extra 2.25 million will be paid. Oleguer is the Dutch club's fourth singing of the summer.

In other news Eto'o is being linked with a move to Lyon that includes Benzema coming to Barca in a swap deal. Lyon president, Jean Michel Aulas is apparently very keen on bringing the Cameroon international to France, as the club is looking to strengthen their attacking options ahead of the Champions League. However this sounds like just another rumor, as Benzema is a prized possession at Lyon, but who knows, Eto'o is more prolific than the Algerian-Kabyle descendant, and Lyon as well as Barca could be tempted.

To cap off my post, I just want to give some hope to the Barca fans out there like myself, who want to see Eto'o stay at the Nou Camp. After Barca's thrashing of yet another Scottish side, this time running out victorious over Dundee United 5-1 in their second preseaon match, where Messi scored a hat-trick, President Joan Laporta was full of praise for Eto'o, commending him for his attitude and for just being a great player. When asked by the media if Eto'o would stay, the president sunned the question and raced away in a hurry according to reports. Seems like Laporta might be having second thoughts about offloading Eto'o, but only time will tell what the future holds.

Atletico Madrid midfielder Maniche, who was told by the club that his services were no longer needed, due to disagreements with coach Javier Aguirre and a few of his teammates, has now publicly apologized for his behavior and expressed his desire to stay at the club.

Maniche was loaned out to Inter during the January transfer window because of his conduct but didn't really impress at the San Siro.

Now back at Atletico Madrid the player has admitted his mistakes and wishes to fight hard for his place at the club.

Atletico Madrid took the last Champions League spot in Spain, and will be challenging for top honors in both La Liga and Europe.

I myself was wondering why Maniche was loaned out to Inter because he played relatively well in the team. Now that he has admitted his mistakes, I believe he will be a valuable player to Atletico, as he will bring much needed experience as he has won the Champions League before with Porto back in 2004.

Adrian Mutu who's future has been quite uncertain over the duration of this summer transfer window, was linked this week with a move to Roma.

Roma made a bid for the player in the region of 20 million euros, and Fiorentina sporting director Pantaleo Corvino had publicly stated that his club might be open to the move, due to the money at hand and Mutu's age.

However Fiorentina has made an official announcement today on acffiorentina.it. stating: "President of ACF Fiorentina Andrea Della Valle communicates that, referring to the offer made by AS Roma, Adrian Mutu is and will remain a Fiorentina player."

This comes as a surprise to many as people thought Mutu was destined to a Roma move. It is believed that coach Cesare Prandelli is behind the motion to keep the player, as they both know each other well and Mutu is a key part of his current squad.