Man killed watching Boxing Day Matches

Ok. I am exaggerating, as you can see by this post, I am still alive, but barely. For Christmas next year, I will simply ask that the Italian, German, and Spanish leagues play through the holidays. We are only human, and can only watch so many English games at once. So without resorting to quirky posts or more pleas to the gods to grace me with some elegant soccer, I have decided to keep it simple and give you the latest rumors making the rounds:

Barcelona want Luca Toni from Fiorentina, willing to double his contract in June 2006 and trade Maxi in return. I doubt this and believe we are in for an avalanche of these type of rumors in 2006 as teams and countries try to confuse and distract their opponents. After all, if you were the Spanish media, do you really have anything else to do? Stay tuned.

Liverpool, proving to the be the Inter of England are going after more international players including Deportivo la Coruna defenders Fabrizio Coloccini and Cesar as they look for back-up for Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher.

Do not, and I repeat do not piss off Sir Alex Ferguson, see Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Roy Keane...the saga now involves Mikael Silvestre possibly going to Lyon.

Newcastle aka Hell on Earth is considering selling striker Alberto Luque for £8m to Real Madrid and they would also get Thomas Gravesen. Sure, this will fix Real's problem, another striker with no service...hmmm, I guess Raul, Ronaldo will have another companion as they sit at the half-line as the ball is being pulled out of their net wondering, where the drinks tonight and how smart was Figo for leaving when he did?

Brazilian winger Gustavo Manduca has joined Benfica from Maritimo on a four-and-a-half-year contract.

Maradona will not sign for Primera C side Excursionistas. And even though Azzurri Dreams only comments on happenings in Europe, anytime you can mention Maradona, you do. I for one would have welcomed this. I bet there is a team or two in the Premiership that have tried to interfere with this signing and raced to sign him since top strikers are at such a premium!

And lastly, welcome to my overseas Azzurri Dreams colleague, Feyenoord. Its a good thing we will not have any shoot-outs on this blog...

Azzurri Dreams