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Welcome to Bernabeu Bites where every Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday we take you around the world of Real Madrid, Liga BBVA and even through in some European Football all in tasty bite size form. So grab a beverage, sit back, relax and enjoy.
Honestly there hasn't been much as far as decent news goes during the international break, so thank god it's over and we can return to club football. It's been a pain wading through all the crap and fluff pieces this week. However, I was able to pull out some nuggets for this edition.
It's no secret that Vincente Del Bosque the head coach of Spain, and Real Madrid President Florentino Perez are not on the best of terms and most likely wont be exchanging Christmas gifts anytime soon. With that said, Del Bosque will not show up on November 3 to receive Real Madrid's golden insignia from Perez.
Rafael Nadal and Placido Domingo will be on hand to receive their gold insignias, as they are both very high profile los blanco supporters. Del Bosque, on the other hand, is using this as a public snub of Perez which will most likely bring their feud out into the public light more than before. According to the report, there are several reasons why he plans on not showing up; he thinks that his assistants from his time there should be awarded and that Perez is bowing to public pressure to award Del Bosque the insignia.
Speaking of people with an ax to grind, lets head over to the Nou Camp. It seems that former FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta is going to go public with FCB's dirty knickers. This man is either loved or loathed by Barcelona socios. He's been accused of misusing club funds for things like U2 concerts, private jet rentals and buying a crap load of Champions League tickets that were not used by club members.
Of course he maintains that he's innocent of all charges. Current President Rosell, who was Laporta's deputy when he was in charge, did not complain when a Barca socio filed a civil action suit against the former President, an action that could freeze his assets and property by the courts. Laporta isn't just going to set back and take it -- and could take down other members of Barca's current board if he's found guilty.
With the international break it seems the transfer rumor mill has once again fired up. In the last week, I think we've been linked to every midfielder on the planet and only two strikers: Carlos Tevez of Manchester City and Javier Hernandez of Manchester United. While I don't see either one coming to Real Madrid because, we couldn't afford Tevez's weekly pay (250,000) not to mention the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is our highest payed player at 200,000 a week.
While we need a third striker Tevez isn't the answer -- too much baggage and again too much cash. It's been tossed about that Real Madrid has serious interest in Hernandez, but it seems those rumors can be put to bed now that the Mexican superstar has signed a new five year deal with Manchester United.
Luis Figo retired from football in 2009, and is acting as an ambassador for Inter Milan. In a recent interview he says that he didn't regret leaving FC Barcelona for Real Madrid.
"There was a lot of pressure on me, but looking back I think I made the right choice as joining Real Madrid allowed me to win many trophies," he told Montecarlonews.it.
Nuri Sahin is getting even closer to joining the squad--he's started training with a ball now. Just the other day 300 Real Madrid members were allowed into training where they saw Sahin doing laps around the training pitch. He was given a standing ovation every time he passed the select group.