Steve Finnan has revealed that Liverpool's Spanish players convinced him to come to Espanyol.

The Republic of Ireland international made the switch to Espanyol on deadline day as Albert Riera travelled in the opposite direction to Anfield.

Finnan admitted last week that the transfer had come 'out of the blue' but he decided it would be a good move after speaking to the likes of Jose Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso. Click to continue reading...

At the risk of sounding like a disgruntled former employee - which i'm sure i am - i feel compelled to share a story about my only previous contact with the Chicago Fire's new team president, Dave Greeley.

First, however, please read this well written post by Steve Pastorino, my partner in crime at the Chicago Fire from 1997 through 2004. Click to continue reading...

A native of the United States, Sean has relished in the ever-present glow of first-rate soccer since moving to Europe nearly six years ago. A national team devotee, he is still working to develop fervor for the Bundesliga that approaches that of a German male's. As a traditional supporter of the underdogs, Sean has spent the past two seasons trying to think of reasons not to like Bayern Munich and is running out of reasons -- suggestions are welcome. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea have made a £19.7m bid for Real Madrid's Brazilian striker Robinho, BBC Sport understands. In a statement on their website, Chelsea confirmed they have made an offer for Robinho, although they did not reveal the size of their bid. The 24-year-old former Santos star played a key role in helping Real secure the Spanish title last season.

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Its taken six years but LA Galaxy striker (for now) Carlos Ruiz has finally gotten his green card and will no longer be counted as an international player. This could be a blessing to the Galaxy who have been looking to trade the striker for weeks now. Having him not count as an international play makes [. Click to continue reading...

Like why the hell didn't Liverpool sign Keane earlier?

That's a nice little mini-shot the Reds skipper sneaks in among all the good news.

God forbid we have another Gary McAllister situation (who? not sure, some commenter will I bet).

"You'd hear people say how we should have signed [McAllister] years ago.

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Claudine Palmer, wife of Liverpool new soccerstar Robbie Keane has told her close pals that she's delighted to move to Liverpool following Keane transfer from Tottenham Hotspurs to Liverpool recently. "Claudine and Keane have just got married and this move will be a fresh start for their new life as a married couple," Claudine pals said.

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After six years at Tottenham, Robbie Keane has completed his transfer to Liverpool, the club he supported as a youngster. It is a great move for Keane who will play Champions League football and should be a great move for Liverpool who have bought an experienced and proven striker. The fee of nineteen million pounds is high but in the light of other recent moves, would seem to be about right. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool have completed the signing of Robbie Keane in a deal worth £20.3million but the fall-out with Tottenham over the transfer continued following more comments from Daniel Levy.

Spurs chairman Levy has dropped his complaint against Liverpool to the Premier League but insisted he did not "regard it as a transfer deal" due to the way the deal was conducted. Click to continue reading...

This is your chance to pit your wits against fellow readers and vote on which of these two top performers is the BEST! Arsenal centre-back Kolo Toure can easily lay claim to being one of the bargains of the Premier League age! Since arriving at the club over six years ago ... Click to continue reading...

Soccer coaching can be extremely fun but never more so than when you are coaching children who are under six years old. Pre-school children will often do the funniest things. You can never grow tired by their levels of enthusiasm. It doesn't matter what the weather is doing, you'll still see smiles on their faces, [. Click to continue reading...

I was starting to get a bit worried about Lionel Messi. He's young, ridiculously talented and living in Barcelona, but doesn't seem to have got the memo about the importance of having a piece of busty arm candy. Things appear to be on the up for him though as he is now reportedly dating fellow Argentine, Luciana Salazar, who was his country's alleged mascot at the 2006 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

Pablo Mastroeni says he has "made his mind up" and he is ready to go to Europe to play.  Mastroeni who has been in MLS for the last ten years says he is finally "ready to go."  Mastroeni has been in Colorado for the last six years.  His hard nosed midfield play has earned him [...] Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez eyes up a very experienced campaigner to help beef up his defence. Liverpool and Juventus have signalled their intention to sign VfB Stuttgart defender Fernando Meira, his agent has claimed. It is understood that Meira has made no secret of his interest in a new challenge after six years of . Click to continue reading...

Lilian Thuram has always been one of my favorite French players -- a class act both on and off the field. He's thirty-six years old and has played for France since 1994. He's the team's most-capped international at 142 games. In the years since World Cup 2006, he's worn the captain's armband every time Patrick Vieira has been injured, which has been frequently.

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The big news on the eve of the Euro 2008 Final is the right calf injury that may keep Germany captain Michael Ballack out of tomorrow's game. The talk out of the Germany camp is that Ballack is day-to-day, and a decision on his fitness will be made tomorrow. Looks like it could be a situation where either he starts and Germany are prepared to sub him out early if the calf doesn't respond, or he comes off the bench. Click to continue reading...

Some six years after missing the 2002 World Cup final due to yellow cards, German national team captain Michael Ballack could miss the Euro 2008 final vs. Spain with a calf strain.

Ballack hasn't trained in two days and could be replaced in the lineup by Bastian Schweinsteiger or Tim Borowski.

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After a certain, indefinable point, failure becomes a default option. Like the South Korean team who, for so long seemed capable of doing everything but winning a match in the World Cup finals, so it was with Russia. Would they ever get past the group stages of a major tournament again? The answer to that, finally, is yes, and they managed it some style this evening with a win against Sweden that was the best performance that I can remember having seen from either a Russian or Soviet team. Click to continue reading...

Hat-trick hero, favourites upset, hosts 'go home' and Polish sour grapes all feature in today's good, the bad and the ugly. Click on the links to discover more about each story. Good David Villa's hat trick for Spain against Russia was the stand out performance after the first set of matches leading many to tip Spain for [. Click to continue reading...