Summer vacation and the latest from the transfer market

    Coach Juan Carlos Garrido has bid goodbye to his players for the summer; preparation for the new season begins July 10.  Of course, ten of the first team are on international duty--the La Roja five, Musacchio and Ruben for Argentina, one each for the USA, Italy and Brazil.  It's a new record for the Submarine.

   So what changes might we see in the squad for next season?  Marcos Senna has apparently accepted the concept of a one-year deal with a pay cut in view of last year's injuries and is confident a deal will be worked out.

 Villarreal is very interested in signing Javier Camuñas from Osasuna, but is unwilling to offer more than €1.5 million in cash, per EPM, but might be willing to include a player that's not being used much though.

 With both Borja Valero and Santi Cazorla indicating they are happy where they are, and the club blowing off offers from Napoli and Málaga, it's only Giuseppe Rossi that continues to be the subject of sale rumors. 

Latest is Barcelona are trying to decide between Rossi, Javier Pastore (also wanted by Malaga--who isn't) and Alexis Sanchez to strengthen their frontline.   Rossi also has interested Juventus, but with a lack of European football for them next season I don't see it. 

Onda Cero reports Real Madrid doesn't want to sell Canales, only loan him (preferably to Germany), but we'll see.

Here's a quick rundown of some La Liga stats, courtesy of forza futbol--notice Bruno among the leading passers.  And not surprisingly, Elisa from that same website has done a nice piece for Global Football Today, in which she selects Borja Valero as her midfielder of the year in La Liga.

And our community member aupasubmarino has been busy with bilingual podcasts and direct radio shows in Spain over the past few weeks, and there's an mp3 file of his latest show here. 

And Ill try again to give you a link to the B-team highlights (in fact, highlights of all the Liga Adelante matches last weekend).  Outstanding golazos by Airam and Wkaso, worth another look.  Cristobal's goal for Elche is at around 1:10 of those highlights, but watch the whole thing to see a scuffle including a kick in the pants (really) and another open-net goal following a poor clearance from a keeper outside the penalty area.

Lots of other stuff going on involving the coaching merry-go-round, I'll try to cover that tomorrow.  And finally, Manchester United's Paul Scholes has retired.  All sorts of praise for him, including from Giuseppe Rossi who tweets:

"One of the greats in his position has retired. Was an honor playing with Paul Scholes.."  #RespectForALegend

Don't forget to read the excellent review of Gonzalo and cast your vote, and keep the fanshots and comments coming.  And if you have ideas for features, stories, etc. do let us know--you'll find contact information for us on the left of the main page.  Endavant Villarreal!!