Finally back

Morning blog readers, this writer has finally returned from his one-month trip to Hong Kong. Very nice it was too .

The big story over in Spain at the moment is that Real Madrid (after being rejected in their attempts to get Fabregas, Kaka and Di Maria) are on the verge of completing the signings of Ballack and Robben for a massive 27 million pounds. Seems like a good deal for Chelsea and the two players involved, but I can’t see why Real are paying a fortune for two of the most injury prone players around. Robben is a mystery when they could have gotten Reyes for less than half the price and one would think they should look at strengthening their defense (which was shown to be still suspect in the 5-2 win over Lokomotiv Moscow) before making moves for the likes of Ballack. Elsewhere, Valencia beat Sven’s new look Manchester City 1-0 in a preseason friendly, with David Silva scoring the only goal of the game. Athletico Madrid completed a 3-1 win over Lazio in the Amsterdam tournament, with new boys Reyes and Garcia both getting goals- but it was English side Arsenal who took home the trophy.

Lastly, Milan have been rejected in their quest to sign Julio Baptista; Cicinho has given Roma the thumbs up on a possible move; while Salgado and Kanoute both want to stay at their respective clubs.

Till next week’s blog.