Carlos Marchena retires; Adrian Marín to Barcelona?

Carlos Marchena has retired from football--in case you were like me and thought he already had, MARCA reports he had been playing in India for the Kerala Blasters.   Marchena was a member of Villarreal's 2010-11 side that made it to the Europa Leage semifinals and finshed fourth in La Liga, and he was also a member of the 2011-12 side that was relegated.   We canceled his contract when we went down and allowed him to find another club (Depor).

Now aged 36, I confess I remember Carlos best for his response when he was asked what he thought about Paul the octopus's prediction about the World Cup Final.  "Es un pulpo" (it's an octopus), he said with his trademark smirk.

He also, I recall, is an artist so maybe he will have time to pursue that interest now.  Good luck to him.

Adrián Marín's excellent performances have been noticed by Barcelona, according to several reports, for whatever that's worth.  Marin says he isn't paying attention to any of that talk, which seems wise.   Everyone seems starved for transfer news; the "imminent" signings of Nolito and Denis Suarez by Barcelona haven't happened yet.

Several players are leaving Spain for other shores: Nordin Amrabat has joined Watford from Malaga, a loss for them as he had been a pretty impressive player for the boquerones. Cristian Tello is allegedly joining Fiorentina from Barcelona, and it's rumored Felipe Caicedo is abandoning Espanyol for a team in China.  However, Espanyol's new owner (also Chinese) is hoping to persuade him to stay.

And a coaching change in La Liga: Granada fired José Ramon Sandoval after yesterday's 5-1 drubbing in Eibar and have replaced him with Francisco Rodriguez, who coached Almería from August 2013 to December 2014.

And Robin Harris may have more for us on this, but apparently Adrián López and Daniele Bonera trained with the first team today; Jaume Costa did as well, but only for the first half, then worked on his own.