It's easy to forget with all the Santi Cazorla stuff going on, but Cristian Zapata was presented to the press and fans at El Madrigal today.  At 6'2" he certainly adds some height at the back, and though he said he prefers to let his play on the pitch do the talking for him he was delighted to be at Villarreal and is looking forward to contributing to the team.

   He certainly seemed to be smiling a lot!  Welcome to Villarreal CF, Cristian!

      And there's news that Sporting Gijon is interested in signing Iago Falqué.  Wonder what the story is with him, he scored 11 goals for our B team yet we wouldn't pay €1.5 million for him, and that seems to be a recurring theme.  Luis Enrique didn't want to keep him at Barcelona, Juventus has no use for him.  And I guess he's had a fling at Real Madrid as well.  Obviously there are off-the-field issues here. 

    At least if he does go to play for Sporting he won't have to wear this monstrosity.   When Sporting showed off their new home uniforms the supporters were so unhappy with them, especially the largely-white shirts, that Kappa has now given in.  They thus become the second team in La Liga this summer, after Atléti, to abandon a splashy kit design in the face of criticism from fans.  Well done.