Both parties have struck a deal, at least thats what the Real officials are saying. They Said GAGO will be in madrid tomorrow.

Real Zaragoza have expressed interest in West Ham United midfielder Javier Mascherano.
Mascherano’s future at Upton Park is clouded following the change of club ownership and manager in recent weeks.

Juventus coach Didier Deschamps has confirmed his interest in the midfielder, but he will face competition from Zaragoza, which has a successful history of getting the best out of it’s Argentine signings.

Real Madrid refused to budge over the 18 million mark whereas the Xeneize exec refused to come down any lower than 21 million Euros. This three-million difference is tantalisingly close to an agreement considering the original difference was 13 million: Madrid offering 12 million Euros and Boca demanding 25 million.

Lombilla now has been given a loose 48 hour deadline to smooth the Boca deal and get signatures on paper by Macri. The idea is to convince Real Madrid that if they’re in for a penny, they’re in for a pound and to at least offer a midway mark that will oscillate between 19 and 20 million, many seeing the 20 mark as perfect for a handshake.

A Madrid spokesman, however, gave the impression that the White House can wait. “We’re not in any hurry as the FIFA deadline to sign players such as Gago ends on the 31st of January so we have a month and a half. Just because Macri had a bad end to the Apertura [lost in the last round to Estudiantes] doesn’t mean that we have to pay extra.”

Macri paid a visit to the ‘Esquina del Bernabéu’ (‘Bernabéu Corner’: the Merengue club’s official merchandise outlet) where he bought a pair of Raúl boots before catching the midnight flight to Buenos Aires. The Boca boss will be waiting for Lombilla for 48 hours without listening to any other clubs’ offers – but after that it’s open season on Gago…

No problem Ken…I’m enjoying being here on these blogs. Finally somewhere to have a decent conversation about all things Argentina and football!!!

Yeah I guess 20 million is definitely TOO much for Gago, but I don’t want him to go to Barca, I really don’t. Messi aside, I don’t like how they treat Argentinean players! Plus, his idol is Redondo and it would be great to see him fill his boots. Seeing him at Athletico Madrid would be interesting alongside Maxi and Kun Aguero…lets see how this unfolds.

Todd Utah, I understand what you mean about us complaining at the lack of Argentines at the biggest clubs and about them not getting as much playing time, but as I said earlier, if West Ham had decent forwards, I could totally understand. What is shocking is the guys who Tevez is sitting behind. OK, not every player has to be a superstar, but these guys would struggle to get in to most premiership teams. Zamora signed for Tottenham, a pretty big team, and didn’t even ever play before they swapped him with West Ham for Jermaine Defoe, where as Harewood has never even played in the premier league before coming up with West Ham. Teddy Sheringham is a good player, no doubt, but is 40 years old, and Dean Ashton has been injured all season…it makes no sense whatsoever to have Tevez on the bench and sharing playing time with these guys. I seriously doubt that Alan Pardew or Alan Curbishely could have seen any of Tevez’s old matches for Boca or Corinthians because if they saw some of the quality he regularly produced there, they wouldn’t dream of leaving him out.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Lucho Gonzalez on the superb form he is showing this season for FC Porto. More impressively, he has been playing as a central midfielder and he is now their captain. I expected big things from Lucho in the world cup but the form of Maxi rightfully stopped him from shining too much. Maxi was undoubtedly one of the highlights of this year’s tournament. Many people regarding him a “surprise” – but not to most people on this blog!

Anyone else have this sort of empty feeling compared to last year? This time last year I was buying my Argentina jersey for the world cup! Roll on 2010!!!

However every statement since November indicates he wants to play for his ‘homeland’(parents are from Messina) & become an Italian star.

Try these websites Alexa.
http://www.footballclips.net
http://www.footballtorrents.net

I’ve got some old tapes from 1994 inc.Rumania v Argentina & will try to upload some material onto youtube or onto the torrent site.