so having spent the summer annoying the shit out of everyone with this ronaldo melodrama, have Real madrid actually signed anyone to fill the yawning gaps in their squad other than the Dutch joe cole?

Here 's a list of the La Liga comings and goings. Real Madrid have actually bought Ezequiel Garay, who has been very highly rated in his time at Racing, both for his defending and goalscoring habits. Perhaps a shade inexperienced to be a regular starter, and indeed they're still umming and ahhing about loaning him back to Racing for a season, but I guess he's got to make the step up sometime. Ezequiel's a good name as well, as if he were about to dispense Old Testament-thunderbolt-style justice from his position at centre back.

Madrid had intended to loan Garay back to Racing so he'd get regular playing time. I am guessing the team feel Cannavaro is getting up in years and is now more injury prone than before, Metzelder isn't that old but always seems to be injured (and isn't the player he used to be) so they figure they can use additional depth at central defender rather than risk being short at the position. Obviously Garay won't play as much with Madrid as he would have with Racing but he'll see playing time and will enable Heinze to concentrate more on playing left back rather than filling in the middle.

Fortunately Sneijder's injury isn't as serious as first thought (a nasty tackle there from Diaby caused it) but he'll still be out three months. Van der Vaart is not in my view as good an all around midfield player as Sneijder but he is as near as you can get and should be a good signing. I'd much rather have him than Cristiano Ronaldo as I think he'll fit in better to Madrid's team. Shouldn't hurt his adjustment that he'll have plenty of Dutchmen there to help acclimate him.

They are just preseason friendlies but Barcelona are looking pretty good now, they put 6 past Hibernian, 3 on Fiorentina and 5 last night on Guadalajara. Xavi and Iniesta are picking up where they left off at Euro 2008, Dani Alves, Pique, Caceres, Keita and Hleb are fitting into the team and even the canteranos Pedro and Jeffren don't look out of place. Oh and that Eto'o fellow is playing like he has something to prove, which is when he is at his most dangerous.

I was disappointed to see Fabricio Coloccini leave Depor (destination: Newcastle) but they need the money.

Barca play Red Bull New York Wednesday night, and ESPN's televising it nationwide. Which means they should be streaming it at ESPN360.com if you can get to that from outside the US.

looking at that list Barca seem to have done very well for themselves, beefing up the back end of the team, but they seem to have thinned out the squad a lot in the front half. Giovani, ronaldinho, deco out, hleb in. who are henrique and Pinto? Who is the javi Garcia that is moving to real madrid from getafe, and whatever happened to that right winger JuanFran that benitez kept trying to sign from castilla?

Henrique is a Brazilian defender who has already been loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen; Pinto is a backup keeper who actually arrived on loan in the middle of last season.

You need a Merengue for the other two; I didn't even know that there was another JuanFran (not the fullback who used to play for Zaragoza and Celta).

According to the graphic in whichever paper i read this morning, Hleb played centre forward in the first half against Chivas.

I'm kind of surprised that barcelona haven't made an attempt to sign a proper goalkeeper at some stage. Have they just given up on the prospect of ever finding a good one, or have the accepted that the way they play is eventually going to make the greatest goalkeeper on earth look like a bit of a chump?

I would piss myself if real madrid wound up missing out on ronaldo and losing robinho to chelsea. What would it take for calderon to have to face a no-confidence motion like laporta?

Guardiola is toying with the "no formal centre forward" formation that Cruyff sometimes used with the "Dream Team" (when even Linker played on the wing). I think that experiment is unlikely to continue if Eto'o sticks around and stays healthy.

The goalkeeper question is an interesting one. There is probably some truth in your suppositions, but there is also the case that they were really burned with Rustu, who was very highly rated after the 2002 World Cup. Valdez has improved (there was a lot of room for that), but they have never really replaced Zubizarreta, who was jetisoned before his sell by date.

I thought that was in order to drive lineker out of the club more than anything else?

He didn't do it only to Lineker; he played Julio Salinas that way too. Cruyff never rated stationary centre forwards.

Continuing my adventures throughout the lower reaches of Spanish football, I have today bought a season ticket for C E Sabadell, the only club I know to feature an onion in their crest. After the abject misery of finishing last with Real Oviedo in 2B Group 1 in 2006-07, and the delirium of finishing first with Rayo Vallecano in 2B Group 2 in 2007-08, heaven knows what 2008-09 will bring in 2B Group 3. Sounds like I'm doing this for a bet - wish I was! ...

Will I be prancing around the streets come next spring like these guys? (My house is in the background at 3:53 ... )

Visca l'Arlequinat!

That should be entertaining. Any team that plays in quarters can't be that bad (unless you support Bristol City) and I'm sure that your fellow socio Dani Pedrosa comes to every game.

Is their website really only in Catalan? Or am I just missing the Castellano button?

Yes, it appears that the official website is only in Catalan. From what I've picked up, CE Sabadell are more politically like Barcelona than The Yol, so I guess it's tied up with all that stuff.

Red Bull New York 2-6 Barcelona. Or to be more precise, Victor Valdes 2-6 Barcelona. Eto'o 2, Xavi, Marquez, and a Suarez and a Pedro in the 2nd half (4-1 at halftime). Eto'o played the first half, Eidur the 2nd, Henry 60 minutes and was wincing badly on the bench after being subbed, Bojan got in several peoples' faces quite firmly after honest but late tackles, and what Dani Alves, Hleb, and Eto'o did to the left side of the Red Bulls defense I believe is prohibited by the Geneva Convention.

Sevilla have just collected the preseason 'Ramon de Carranza' trophy in Cadiz after beating the hosts 3-0. OK, it's only preseason and against a Segunda B team, but I have to say the rojiblancos are looking good. Romaric (ro-muh-REEE for today's commentator) looks fine, Maresca and Renato are pulling their weight, Jesus Navas is magic, but I've been especially impressed with Squillaci (a serious, hard, very solid defender), and my personal favourite Cheva(-cheva-cheva-cheva)ntoon up front. He's looking nippy and in good form, and, if his excessive tattoos give him enough strength to avoid injuries, maybe he'll give free-scoring-but-permanently-miserable-looking Luis Fabiano a run for his money for a starting place this season ...