Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

The injury crisis across football took several victims during this international break, but the anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered by Gavi felt particularly cruel. The 19-year-old was having a monstruous season, starting for Barcelona and Spain, but will now miss the rest of the club season, the Euros and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The question for Barcelona is whether they try to replace him. Sporting Director Deco has explained that that is ‘impossible’ on the market, but Barcelona can bring in a loan signing for up to 80% of Gavi’s wages until the end of the season without salary limit restrictions.

So far the debate is whether they should try and persuade Tottenham Hotspur to part with the almost unused Giovani Lo Celso on loan, or bring forward the transfer of Vitor Roque. The 18-year-old Brazilian striker will join for €30m plus €31m in variables next summer, but they don’t have a back up for the creaking legs of Robert Lewandowski.

Meanwhile Real Madrid have lost Vinicius Junior until February and Eduardo Camavinga until mid-January, to add to a long-term injury list already containing Eder Militao, Thibaut Courtois, Arda Guler and Aurelien Tchouameni.

Marcelino will do that, according to Trigueros. pic.twitter.com/r5zfLJewXs

— Football España (@footballespana_) November 22, 2023

Yet the talk about replacements in Madrid is quiet – at least for the players. Conflicting information continues to leak out about Carlo Ancelotti and the potential for him to take over the Brazil job next summer, but Los Blancos have contacted Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi about a potential vacancy. He is added to an impressive list of candidates already containing Xabi Alonso.

Elsewhere, Real Betis are negotiating with Leeds United for midifelder Marc Roca, who has been excellent since arriving. West Ham are interested in Celta Vigo defender Oscar Mingueza, and Sevilla are after Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi.

In less frivolous news, the public prosecutor has requested a sentence of nine years behind bars and a fine of €150k for Dani Alves if they get a guilty conviction against the Brazilian for rape. Meanwhile former Sevilla and Ajax midfielder Tarik Oulida will escape jail time entirely after sexually assaulting his own six-year-old daughter.

The post Inside Spain: Real Madrid managerial race, Barcelona respond to injury crisis and Dani Alves case appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

‘No doubt. The players are affected by the environment around them, and what is said.’ With those words, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez made himself the story despite their 2-1 win over Alaves before the international break.

The story was that Xavi had blamed the press for Barcelona’s poor performances, and while it seems a long way off that Barcelona might consider dismissing him (just two points off Real Madrid), Xavi is being questioned more than ever. Publicly, President Joan Laporta has backed him, but privately, they have sounded out a potential replacement.

As is Ilkay Gundogan. Since his fiery post-Clasico rant, the ex-Manchester City midfielder has been rather disappointing himself. After that rant, stories emerged that he was not best-pleased with Barcelona for their lack of support in helping his family settle when he arrived. Partner Sara Gundogan publicly denied that.

This international break, Gundogan was linked with a move to Galatasaray, which his brother and agent Ilhan Gundogan came out and denied – ‘We have no idea how this news came about’.

Real Madrid were feeling good in spite of Jude Bellingham’s shoulder injury, after a 5-1 win over Valencia showed the first real signs of Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior looking at their best this season.

Cadiz (A)
Napoli (H)
Granada (H)
Real Betis (A)
Union Berlin (A)
Villarreal (H)
Alaves (A)
Real Mallorca (H)
Atletico Madrid (N)

The nine games Eduardo Camavinga is set to miss with his knee injury. #RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/seKMoq05zq

— Football España (@footballespana_) November 16, 2023

They had little time to enjoy that though, as Eduardo Camavinga went down in France training with sprained knee ligaments. That injury is expected to keep him out for eight weeks, and with Aurelien Tchouameni also out with a fractured metatarsal, Carlo Ancelotti will have to improvise with one of Toni Kroos or Fede Valverde moving deeper.

Arda Guler has again been injured before making his debut, and is set to miss the rest of the year too – that has led to the sacking of their chief doctor. Another of their injury prone players, Ferland Mendy, is already having his replacement lined up. Real Madrid are set to go to battle for Alphonso Davies.

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone was not only on a high after renewing his contract, but also in the mood to wind up Premier League fans with some surprisingly frisky assertions for him. With Manchester United still looking at but not moving for Sporting Director Andrea Berta, former Barcelona Director of Football Mateu Alemany will not be joining, at least for now.

Villarreal are onto their third manager of the season already. The return of the prodigal son, Marcelino Garcia Toral comes back to the club he took from Segunda to the Champions League in the space of a little over three years. He has been dealt an early blow though, with Yeremy Pino tearing his ACL – it looks as if that will be the end of his Euros hopes with Spain too.

Reportedly, Rafael Benitez’s hapless Celta Vigo are negotiating a loan deal for Gabri Veiga to return from Saudi Arabia in January to get them out of the relegation zone. At the other end of the table, Girona continue their ridiculous run at the top of the table, three points clear of Real Madrid, and playing the best football in La Liga.

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The arms race for the best young attacking talent is getting ever more ferocious as football scouting becomes more extensive, and agents adept at ensuring all the right people know about the latest precocious forwards. In particular, that race tends to end in Brazil.

Santos forward Marcos Leonardo, 20, is the latest to be tipped to make the jump across the Atlantic Ocean, with a number of suitors interested. Sevilla were initially interested, and while the price tag mentioned for either a January or July move has been set at around €20m, it looks as if they might be priced out.

More recently, Real Madrid, West Ham and Newcastle United have been linked to Leonardo, with his representatives seen at the Santiago Bernabeu recently. In spite of his youth, he has already played 162 times, scoring 54 goals and providing 11 assists.

Sevilla are very interested in 20 year old striker Marcos Leonardo from Santos. ????

He is the ideal striker for the future and a move could be done in January. Sevilla have had conversations with his representatives as well as Santos.?

[@OrtsSVQ]pic.twitter.com/p6EezthmIp

— LaLigaExtra (@LaLigaExtra) November 2, 2023

“There is a kind of Aguero-type striker there, he is not particularly tall but comes alive in the penalty box and I think there is talent there as well. He needs to be supplied. I remember seeing him last year, I was really, really looking forward to seeing him but he had an absolute mare.”

“Everything he did outside the box fell to pieces but I like him a lot, inside the penalty box. He has got that ability in tight spaces, that kind of Aguero or Romario-type ability.”

“You wonder if he would make an immediate impact at West Ham, I probably doubt it, but he is one for the long haul.”

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Liverpool are firmly behind Jurgen Klopp, but given the intense German coach has been working tirelessly on Merseyside for the past eight years, they will no doubt be conscious of the fact they may at some point need to find a replacement.

At the time of writing, few options would excite Anfield more than Xabi Alonso. A fan favourite for the Kop during his playing days, he has taken his smooth composure and midas touch into management. His first major job with Bayer Leverkusen could scarcely have gone better, and in the space of a year, Alonso has dragged die Werkself from second-bottom to top of the Bundesliga.

Xabi Alonso ball = Leverkusen playing quickly, even when the ball goes out.

Just counted up 29 balls lined up round the perimeter of the pitch. Some of them below. That seems…a lot!? pic.twitter.com/766aC8yVXa

— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) November 12, 2023

Already the wolves are circling, and with Carlo Ancelotti out of contract at the end of the season, Alonso is being put forward as the top candidate currently. In spite of this, Sporting Director Simon Rolfes has maintained that Alonso is committed to the job, and the former Real Sociedad star is not one to rush things.

In the event Liverpool did find themselves in need of a manager, and Alonso is at Leverkusen, SDZ (via Football Espana) report that he has a release clause of between £13m and £16m.

Regardless of Rolfes’ comments, that clause is a sure sign Leverkusen know just how impressive Alonso is, and just how strong the interest in him is likely to be. At any rate, Liverpool will be hoping that Alonso arrives in due course, but not for some time.

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Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

If Barcelona were not in crisis mode following their defeat to Real Madrid in El Clasico, they most certainly are after two depressing performances and some disappointing transfer news.

The Blaugrana beat Real Sociedad (who are flying and qualified in the Champions League) in stoppage time via a brilliant Ronald Araujo goal last weekend, but were absolutely dominated for the first 75 minutes. While that could have been put down to a one-off, their 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk plunged them into despair, and this week’s news cycle has in part been dedicated to team meetings to sort out their issues.

One player who probably won’t do so is Vitor Roque. The Brazilian wonderkid, who Barcelona wanted to bring in this January having agreed a deal for the summer, is highly unlikely to join in the winter transfer window, as Barcelona’s finances will not stretch far enough.

Meanwhile Real Madrid followed up their Clasico win with a 0-0 draw at home to Rayo Vallecano, while Jude Bellingham dislocated his shoulder. He should be fine to face Valencia, but Arda Guler will not. The Turkish starlet’s torrid time with injuries continues, as he was ruled out for another month. Guler is yet to make his debut after suffering three successive injuries since joining in the summer.

Zidane on Messi. pic.twitter.com/heQEUmZAYF

— Football España (@footballespana_) November 10, 2023

Otherwise, Carlo Ancelotti has been fairly positive about matters. He did show his serious side in responding to Gerard Pique’s comments that his most recent Champions League triumph would not live long in the memory.

Across town, Atletico Madrid celebrated their 6-0 demolition of Celtic by renewing Diego Simeone’s deal until 2027. If the Metropolitano messiah completes his contract, Simeone will have been at the club for 15-and-a-half years.

None of the big three are leading the league though. Girona continue to defy the odds with their incredible run to the top of the table, with Michel Sanchez now being mentioned as Pep Guardiola’s replacement at Manchester City. Star midfielder Aleix Garcia is in the Spain squad, and their left-back is a potential transfer target for Arsenal.

There was disappointment at Real Betis that Isco Alarcon did not make the Spain cut, but that can be remedied with a win over Sevilla in the hottest derby in Spain on Sunday night. They may have a former Spain goalkeeper amongst their ranks this January too, after preliminary talks were started with David de Gea.

The post Inside Spain: Mini-Barcelona crisis, Real Madrid fake news, Arsenal interest in left-back and David de Gea appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

If they weren’t already, Real Madrid’s miracle victory, by the hand of miracle man, confirmed that Spain, or more accurately Madridistas, are obsessed with Jude Bellingham.

His Clasico brace was confirmation to many in La Liga that perhaps nobody, on form, in the world is better. The 20-year-old’s performance was Cristiano Ronaldo-esque, scoring twice from nothing and swinging the game in their favour. So mature for his age, even his answers about being mature are mature.

It’s been a big week for Los Blancos. Vinicius Junior renewed until 2027, Rodrygo Goes renewed until 2028, and the noise about Kylian Mbappe is growing once more, confidence that they can sign him rising with it. Meanwhile they are lining up a move for Portuguese central defender Goncalo Inacio, according to the latest reports, as well as Bayern Munich defender Alphonso Davies.

Even Jude Bellingham's answers about being mature are mature. pic.twitter.com/vbNmnYu6aX

— Football España (@footballespana_) November 3, 2023

As Barcelona lick their wounds, Ilkay Gundogan’s post-Clasico rant went viral, but Xavi Hernandez told the press that not only were they making a mountain out of a mole hill, but that he agreed with Gundogan. They too are rethinking their transfer strategy though, and will scour the January market for an impossible task: a cheap, quality holding midfielder.

Everything was going swimmingly for Atletico Madrid, with reports that Diego Simeone has agreed to a new contract surfacing early in the week for the form side in La Liga. That was until they ended Las Palmas’ 36-year wait for a home win against them on Friday night, going down 2-1 and missing the chance to go top.

Meanwhile Real Sociedad host Barcelona on Saturday night. Tottenham Hotspur will be watching. Spurs are reportedly scouting midfielder Brais Mendez, who has 10 goal contributions in just 14 games this season, and is being tipped for a return to the Spain team. And in positive news, Nabil Fekir is back in the Real Betis squad, eight months after tearing his ACL.

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Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

There’s nowhere else to start. Real Madrid face Barcelona at 16:15 CEST on Saturday, and the headline act is a 20-year-old Englishman by the name of Jude Bellingham.

Madridista mouths will have contained no shortage of hearts on Tuesday when Bellingham limped off against Braga late on, but he has confirmed that he will be present. Not so much for Barcelona’s injured sextet. Sergi Roberto, Jules Kounde and Pedri have been ruled out, Raphinha looks as if he will be back, while Robert Lewandowski and Frenkie de Jong could take pain-killing injections to make it back.

Either way, it will be a match of extra spice. Carlo Ancelotti spent all of his press conference answering questions on referees on Tuesday, after President Joan Laporta claimed that a ‘sociological Madridismo’ was in action in the halls of power in Spain, a general bias in politics, sports, the courts and the media. What is more, Xavi Hernandez called it ‘a reality’.

Cesc Fabregas has been very impressed with Jude Bellingham for a number of reasons. pic.twitter.com/j5uMsvAagU

— Football España (@footballespana_) October 26, 2023

In addition, Barcelona Director said the treatment that Vinicius Junior got on Tuesday against Braga was ‘not racism’, but rather deserved a good slap.

What has not been made up is the court case against Madrid Council. They have given permission for a car park to be built underground next to the Santiago Bernabeu and run by Real Madrid. The locals are taking the council to court, alleging that it is a misuse of public funds to benefit Los Blancos – they could make over half a billion euros on the deal.

Meanwhile Aston Villa are clearly happy with how things are going under Unai Emery, but little did they know they had the Michael Jordan of transfers working above him. At least that’s according to former Leeds United Sporting Director Victor Orta, who was effusive in his praise for Monchi.

Real Betis are back in talks for former Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, as they are down to their last two central defenders. Real Sociedad continue their sensational form, and are now top of their Champions League group ahead of Inter after an away win at Benfica, while Girona remain second behind Real Madrid. Anything other than a win for the Madrid side in El Clasico, and Girona will have the chance to ensure a Catalan side go top, just not Barcelona.

The post Inside Spain: Jude Bellingham’s first Clasico, Real Madrid conspiracy and replacing Michael Jordan appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has thus far escaped the heat. However this week it was revealed that Laporta would be included in the bribery case levelled against the club and two former presidents for the payment of €7.3m to the former Vice-President of the Referees Committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

And yet Laporta, through either political charisma or honest confidence, seems pretty relaxed. And that is exactly what he told Barcelona fans to do on Thursday, explaining that he expected the case to be archived, despite a court magistrate writing that ‘logically it could be presumed that Barcelona were getting the results they wanted from those payments’ from a ‘group of corrupt referees’. Only time will tell, but there are some questions Barcelona and Laporta have yet to answer.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid’s continue to spend their week drooling over Jude Bellingham, in one of the largest love-ins seen in the Spanish capital. They also think they have another future superstar in Arda Guler. The 18-year-old Turkish wonderkid could finally make his debut this weekend after injury, but has already been tagged with the ‘better than Messi’ line…

Meanwhile, both Barcelona and Real Madrid are looking to bring in one of Messi’s favourite teammates. Julian Alvarez of Manchester City has been linked with Barcelona in the past, and there has been various reports this week that both of the Clasico duo have been in contact with his agents over a move. Whether Manchester City are open to that or not, it generally means his agent feels he deserves a better contract, or one elsewhere.

Cometh the international break, cometh the sackings. Almeria are bottom and Vicente Moreno is no more, after Gaizka Garitano replaced him. Only Real Madrid spent more (net) this summer, so he will be hoping to turn it round for their talented young side. Sevilla are onto their fourth manager this campaign, with Europa League winner Jose Luis Mendilibar barely making it past six months in a bittersweet short time at the club. Former Uruguay and Inter Miami manager Diego Alonso has taken over, but he has a tough task on his hands too.

Finally, Spain will be hosting the World Cup with Morocco and Portugal in 2024. It appears the Santiago Bernabeu will host the final, amidst much Catalan sniffing, while Spain have also settled on eight of their ten or eleven venues for the competition.

The post Inside Spain: Barcelona President under investigation for bribery and the Premier League star Real Madrid want appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

Barcelona have been formally charged with bribery, in case you had missed it. The Negreira case was always going to rumble on, but now it looks as if the Blaugrana will have their day in court.

The court magistrate has charged Barcelona for paying a public official €7-8m (£6-7m) over 17 years for their business relations with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the Vice-President of the Referees Committee, between 2001 and 2018. The nuance is important here –  previously Barcelona were being investigated for sporting corruption, which would require proof that Barcelona had received favourable treatment for their money. With bribery, just the intention is enough, the public prosecutor will only need to prove that.

This could result in anything from a warning to relegation to dissolving the club, depending on what the judge decides at the end of the case. Meanwhile UEFA could kick Barcelona out of next season’s Champions League too, although Barcelona feel they have found a loophole to get out of it.

On the pitch, they rumble onwards after stodgy wins over Sevilla and Porto, but the mood is one of concern. Robert Lewandowski is a major doubt for El Clasico on the 28th of October after spraining his ankle against the Portguese giants. That will keep him out for anywhere between three and five weeks.

The games Robert Lewandowski could miss:

??Granada
?Athletic Club
?Shakhtar Donetsk
?Real Madrid
??Real Sociedad
??Shakhtar Donetsk
?Alaves#Barca #ElClasico #Lewandowski pic.twitter.com/Jj8JajXRM6

— Football España (@footballespana_) October 5, 2023

Real Madrid are also suffering with injuries. David Alaba looks close to a return, to join their last standing central defender Antonio Rudiger. Nacho Fernandez will now begin a three-game ban after a horror challenge on Girona’s Portu last weekend in a 3-0 win. It sort of doesn’t matter when Jude Bellingham is in this form. Against Girona he provided a Luka Modric-esque outside of the boot assist for Joselu Mato, while he was imperious against Napoli in their 3-2 win in Italy. Bellingham now has 9 goals and 2 assists in 9 games, better numbers than Cristiano Ronaldo started off with. Modric on the other hand is not happy about being on the bench, something that has become very public over the last week.

Vinicius Junior is back on the pitch and scoring, but after testifying in a racism case from when he was abused at Mestalla during a match with Valencia. Reportedly, he told the judge the whole stadium was chanting ‘monkey’ at him rather than just some, which Valencia responded to quickly. ‘Racism cannot be combated with fallacies, nor unfounded lies’, say Valencia in another slightly uncomfortable statement.

It’s been a busy week for the courts, as various members of the Spain squad, staff and management testify in the sexual assault and coercion case against Luis Rubiales – including the man himself, who said he would do the same again if the war ended in Ukraine.

Real Madrid are back at the top of the table, closely followed by Atletico Madrid, Girona and Barcelona, which is impressive for Atleti given 11 of their players have missed game time this season through injury. They’ve only played 10 games. It’s not going so well for Rafael Benitez at Celta Vigo. He slipped into the relegation zone after a 97th-minute Las Palmas winner on Monday night, although his side did have a goal disallowed in dubious circumstances. The latest Liverpool-linked figure in the game to complain about VAR, ‘What are we doing here, this is football, not ping pong?’, Benitez fumed in a remarkable rant.

The post Inside Spain: Breaking down the Barcelona bribery case, injury crises and Jude Bellingham reigns supreme appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

And it’s back. By it, we of course mean the Barcelona corruption case, and in a big way. On Thursday morning, Barcelona were allegedly charged with bribery.

The Negreira case looked as if it had lulled over the summer, it’s really not that far-fetched to suggest that everyone was on holiday in the state department, but it’s back with a bang now. The Football Federation offices were raided for documents by the police on Thursday morning, and shortly after it transpired that the club had been charged with bribery. Nothing has been proven, but it looks as if they may have their day in court. The range of punishments for Barcelona is wide, and goes from a warning to dissolving the entire club.

Manager Xavi Hernandez denies ever having been favoured by referees, and says he has too much to worry about to consider whether Barcelona should have been paying the Vice-President of the Referees Committee. Barcelona came back from 2-0 down in the 81st minute to beat Rafael Benitez’s Celta Vigo on Saturday, but could not repeat the trick away to Real Mallorca, drawing 2-2 on Tuesday. They have scored 15 goals in their last four, but conceded four in their last two. It took them 25 games to concede 8 goals last season, and has taken just 7 this time round.

"You know my opinion about this. There will be more news about the Negreira case next week, and the week after, and another one in a month and a half."

"I have never, ever, had the sensation that the referees were ruling in our favour. Never, ever."

Xavi on #CasoNegreira. pic.twitter.com/nXlfTxv0PU

— Football España (@footballespana_) September 28, 2023

Real Madrid are also having problems at the back. Down to just Antonio Rudiger and Nacho Fernandez at the back following their 2-0 win over Las Palmas, not even Jude Bellingham could save them in their 3-1 derby defeat to Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Atleti got just their second win over Los Blancos since moving to the Metropolitano in 2017, and Alvaro Morata’s brace along with Antoine Griezmann gave them a deserved win. Real Madrid travel to the remarkable Girona side on Saturday, who are top after six wins and a draw, playing brilliant football too. Top scorers and best defence in the league, Manager Michel Sanchez also said protege Savio Moreira is the best dribbler he has seen since Vinicius Junior.

After the match, it curiously emerged that Xabi Alonso was the favourite to take over from Ancelotti next season. He came under heavy fire for his tactical decisions in the defeat, while Diego Simeone walked out on a bed of roses. Los Colchoneros have issues of their own though too, with seven players out now with injury too. Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin took advantage of Real Madrid TV going full conspiracy theory against the referees this week to claim they were adulterating the competition with their reports.

Elsewhere Vicente Moreno became the second sacking of the La Liga season, after he was dismissed (still not announced) for just two draws from their opening seven matches. That is despite Almeria having a higher net spend than any other club save Real Madrid. Manchester United loanee might have been warmly welcomed by Getafe fans, but that is not the case for other sides. On Wednesday, Athletic Club became the fourth side to get into trouble following some brutal chants about Greenwood, joining Real Sociedad and Osasuna – or every team they have played since he joined apart from Real Madrid.

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