Valencia striker David Villa has been talking with Barcelona about a move to the UEFA  Champions Leugue winners, Spanish media said on Thursday.

“I only want to go to Barca,” Villa told Barcelona’s technical director Txiqui Begiristain at a secret meeting, the Catalan sports paper Mundo Deportivo said.

He said “that there are only two alternatives: to agree on his transfer to Barca or he is ready to see out his contract with Valencia,” the daily Sport reported.

It said the 27-year-old has rejected interest from Chelsea and from Barca’s arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona, who have won a unique treble of league, Spanish cup and European Champions League trophies last season, are ready to offer Villa contract of four or five years, said Mundo Deportivo.

Source: supersport.co.za

Pic: koptalkinsider.wordpress.com

David Beckham, on-loan LA Galaxy star might be staying at AC Milan on a timeshare agreement.

The future of the England international is reportedly close to being concluded, but AC Milan chief Adriani Galliani told the club’s official website: ”I have read that everything is resolved but that is not the case. The deal is not resolved.

”We are in fact working on the possibility that he remains on loan until June 30 but no agreement has been reached.”

On Monday, Galliani confirmed the club’s intention to sign Beckham, but revealed their idea was now to extend his loan until June – after which point he will return to LA Galaxy, and then in January he will join the club for free as he has a clause in his contract which allows him to leave the MLS in November.

“I hope I succeed in sorting it out that he stays until 30th June,” Galliani told the club’s television station. “After that he can go back to Los Angeles, before returning to us next January.

“That is what we are trying to do. It is complicated as we always knew it would be, but we are still trying.”

Galaxy have insisted that Beckham will return to the States on March 9, but the player has already publicly confirmed his desire to stay in Italy beyond his current loan agreement.

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The vice-precident of AC Milan Adriano Galliani has insisted that his club won’t increase their reported offer of three million dollars to Los Angeles Galaxy to permanently sign on-loan midfielder David Beckham.

Galaxy chief Tim Leiweke had described the offer for the 33-year-old former England captain as ridiculous but Galliani is playing hard-ball.

Speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday, he said there would be no compromise.

“Milan have made an offer that is fair for what is essentially an eight-month loan deal because, as Leiweke said himself, David can leave for nothing on November 30,” said Galliani.

“I don’t want to cause any problems, quite the contrary, I want to thank Galaxy for loaning us Beckham these last months.”

However, the reported three million dollars on the table will not be increased, despite Galaxy apparently holding out for a figure nearer 12 million dollars.

“Absolutely not. I have a lot of experience with regards the price of players,” added Galliani when asked if Milan would increase their bid.

“And from a point of view regarding the European parameters, there’s no sense in spending any more.

“In the States they look at the commercial aspect. But in Europe transfers are done for technical reasons.

“I’m already at the limit of the budget at my disposal.”

Gazzetta claims that the budget mentioned by Galliani includes not only the transfer fee but also the conditions of Beckham’s contract offer until June 2010.

Galliani’s comments will not be well received in Los Angeles after Leiweke told Gazzetta just 24 hours earlier that he was determined not to let Beckham go on the cheap.

“Two weeks ago Milan made a ridiculous offer that took me just a few seconds to reject,” he said of the reported three million dollar bid.

“With this figure Galaxy wouldn’t even be able to cover the loss in revenue from shirt sales.

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David Beckham is ready to use his famed determination to seal a permanent move to AC Milan despite Los Angeles Galaxy saying the transfer is dead. The England midfielder, on loan at Milan until March 9, desperately wants to stay with the Serie A club and increase his chances of playing at a fourth World Cup in 2010.

Major League Soccer said a deal had to be done by last Friday but Milan and Beckham’s advisors have virtually ignored the deadline and are confident the transfer can still take place.

“Up to March 9, I think there is time to find a solution,” Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters after Sunday’s 2-1 derby defeat by leaders Inter Milan.

Beckham has fought tough battles before and won.

He virtually took England to the 2002 World Cup single-handedly and forced Fabio Capello to bring him back into the title-winning Real Madrid side in 2007 after being dropped when he announced he would be leaving for LA Galaxy.

It looked unlikely two years ago that he would equal Bobby Moore’s England outfield caps record of 108 but he managed it in last week’s defeat by Spain having burst back on to the scene.

Beckham’s options are varied and it is unclear which road he will take, but he is very likely to end up at Milan.

His preference is for the clubs to agree a deal, which could take place outside of the transfer window because he is technically on loan at Milan until June.

Talks will take place this week but the two parties are poles part when it comes to a valuation.

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Team of the week

Special mentions all round for European teams. Aston Villa held off Arsenal and almost got the result before an equaliser with 2 seconds of stoppage time remaining. Atletico Madrid were in destructive mood beating Barcelona convincingly and Everton overcame a tricky Portsmouth team to presently occupy the final English champions league spot ahead of Liverpool.

The team of the week for me though would have to be Napoli. The little Italian club made famous by the brilliant Maradona. Whilst beating a team 1-0 is nothing earth shattering, the fact that the team beaten was Inter Milan makes the story a little more fairy-tale like. Inter had not lost once in the league all season and were flying very high in Italy, almost untouchable. Napoli fought hard and were deserved winners of the weekly accolade.

Player of the week

Argentina is a football barracks, spitting young talent out on a daily basis. This week the only 19 year old Argentine on the pitch in the Barcelona game was Sergio Aguero. The youngster has been attracting praise for sometime now and on Saturday he took the fight to Barca. He scored the first goal, set the second up, won the penalty for the third and Scored and Excellent fourth. He commented

“My favourite was the second goal when I gave Maxi a good pass that he put away very well. It was a nice move and Maxi needed this goal. It turned the game and gave us a 2-1 lead just before halftime. I think it was the key moment.”

An Excellent display against no ordinary team, Ladies and Gentleman, Sergio Aguero.

Moment of the week

Special mention to Ronaldinho for scoring a cracking overhead goal. Lets hope that the troubled genius can start finding those moments of brilliance again.

Not for the first time this year a young Arsenal side have found themselves on the brink of losing vital ground in the premiership title race and not for the first time they respond emphatically. Nicklas Bendtner was able to snatch a late goal and keep the gunners at the top of the league. We have 10 games left in the Premiership and six points separating an extremely talented top three.

Manager of the week

Brazilian starlet Robinho played his first 29 seconds of competitive football before scoring his first goal following an injury induced spell on the sidelines. Berndt Schuster will have smiled secretly as the young talent went on to seal the game with a delightful chip to round the game off 3-2 to Real Madrid. It was a game of high emotion as studs and fists were flying at all times and the timing of the substitution was spot on. He might have dodged the post match press conference but the Real coach will breathe a little easier knowing that Barca are currently back to 5 points off the pace.

Still to come

This week sees the second league of the first knockout stage in the champions league, expect the usual drama and make sure you make yourself available for the vital showdowns happening.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE VENUE
21:45 SA AC Milan v Arsenal Round of 16 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
21:45 SA Barcelona v Celtic Round of 16 Estadio Camp Nou
21:45 SA Sevilla FC v Fenerbahce Round of 16 Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan
21:45 SA Man Utd v Lyon Round of 16 Old Trafford

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE VENUE
21:45 SA FC Porto v Schalke 04 Round of 16 Estadio do Dragao
21:45 SA Real Madrid v Roma Round of 16 Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
21:45 SA Chelsea v Olympiacos Round of 16 Stamford Bridge

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TIME Home Away STAGE
21:45 SA Inter Milan v Liverpool Round of 16

(Image credit : Getty)

Team of the week

There were many great performances this week and while challenging for the award, in my opinion there were 2 teams who performed near identically. Manchester United and Barcelona both took the opportunity to close gaps in their respective leagues by thrashing their respective opponents 5-1. Both teams have taken the week by storm and while it is hard to separate the two teams one feels that being only the second team to beat Celtic at home in the champions league puts Barcelona in first place. A great week for the Catalan giants closing what 3 weeks ago seemed an insurmountable gap to only 2 points. A special mention is also due to Tottenham Hotspur, beating Chelsea in a highly tactical battle to win Carling cup silverware.

Player of the week

Samuel Eto’o marked his return to action with a hat-trick this week in a very special performance. Another hat-trick and special mention goes out to the young spaniard Fernando “El Nino” Torres Scoring 3 to take his personal league tally to 15. He is 9 goals short of Ruud van Nistlerooys’ record for a debutant. It was however the enormously talented Cristiano Ronaldo who takes this weeks praise. The youngster is now proving that he is class. Despite being subbed off with 25 minutes remaining the prodigy was able to score 2 classy goals and set Wayne Rooney up for a tap in. As good as the youngster was last season, 29 goals with at least 14 games in the season remaining means this could be the one that catapults the young player into Legendary status.

Moment of the week

Whilst one never wishes to see injuries on a football field the moment of the week belonged to Eduardo Da Silva. The young Arsenal player is probably the most undeserving player in the premiership of the tackle that Martin Taylor put in on him. A true gentleman I have seen the player carded only once and when that happened he went to the ref, politely inquired what the card was for and apologized to all parties involved. The Injury comes at a time when Arsenal least needed it. Eduardo has been showing great form and Arsene Wenger has a limited strike force due to injury as is. With the season hitting the home stretch no manager can afford to lose a player like Da Silva. One can only hope that after the horrific tackle the youngster will one day play at the top level again. Pictures of the impact chill to the bone and can be seen here

Manager of the week

In a week of many special performances, the one manager who pulled of the biggest turnaround of the season is deserving of this weeks award. Juande Ramos came to Tottenham having lead Sevilla to a run of amazing results. In Spurs he found a team languishing at the bottom of the table and performing dismally, despite pre-season talk of a champions league spot finish. Ramos got straight to work and the fruits of his labor are now a reality. The manager has not only taken spurs 8 places higher on the league table but he beat Chelsea in the final of the Carling cup this weekend. A marvelous result for “The cup king.” Tactically both managers continued to fight into extra time and Ramos came out as victor, A remarkable turnaround from a dismal start to the season.

What a difference one week can make in football. For the full answer to that ask any Liverpool supporter. Down and out of the FA Cup thanks to a very stubborn championship side Barnsley. How many people would predict that by Tuesday they would be deserved victors over the near domestically perfect Inter Milan? A team that has yet to lose in the very tough Serie A league. A European Liverpool side seems to be miles ahead of the side that Rafa Benitez has been rotating in the premiership. The beauty of football personified : down in the dumps Saturday and flying high by Tuesday.

Another contrast is the Arsenal side who were severely outclassed 4-0 by Manchester United. Come Champions League and both teams were able to earn respectable draws in contrasting situations. Arsenal very unlucky not to score at the end after a usually prolific Adebayor could only hit the bar following a header with an open goal and 2 meters in front of him. A good result however as Milan failed to get any away goals. Manchester were persistent after going down 1-0 to an absolute quality goal from target striker Karim Benzema. The introduction of Nani and Tevez on 63 minutes sparking the path that lead to a late equalizer.

At Celtic Park fans were treated to a great game of football! Celtic who had only been beaten at home once in champions league history twice took the lead against a Barcelona side fielding the “fantastic four” for the first time since October last year. Messi turned out to again be the Catalans’ savior after snatching two goals. Thierry Henry scored a delightful curling effort to leave The Scottish side the mamoth task of winning by two clear goals in Spain.

Elsewhere the Champions Leagues’ younger less attractive sibling the Uefa Cup provided some good football. An ever improving Everton side were able to thrash SK Braan 6-1. The return of Yakabu from AFCON duty signaled a great attacking display and the Nigerian striker bagged his second hat-trick of the season. Bolton also continued to show positive signs overcoming Spanish heavyweights Atletico Madrid with a 1-0 aggregate after holding them to a 0-0 draw in Spain.

Spanish giants Real Madrid will not look back on this week favorably after losing to both Real Betis and Roma away. The two losses give others hope after Ronaldinho sealed a victory for Barcelona on Saturday leaving Barca 5 points adrift of the summit. Manchester United are in the same position with 5 points separating them and Arsenal with 12 games left. The premiership returns this weekend and the drama rolls on!