Enjoy !

If you do, you’ll know he was one of the former Yugoslavia’s best ever midfielders with an eye for goal that rivaled the very best in the world in his position. The Serb netted 150 goals in his career, but surely none better than this.

Now, Stojkovic is manager of J-League side Nagoya Grampus and by God, has he still got it.

Witness this from a recent Japanese league game, where Stojkovic pings the ball into the back of the net from inside his technical area.

It’s phenomenal. Of course, football officialdom being what it is: he gets sent to the stands. But it’s worth it for sure.

In football, it now seems that the big names are gravitating away from the Man Utds and the Liverpools towards Real Madrid and AC Milan.

Of course, the players themselves are making all the right noises, “dream move”, “boyhood dream”, “playing alongside legends” - you know the stuff.

However, more cynical motivation does spring to mind however for this apparently sudden sea change in where the big players want to play.

Firstly, the strength of the Euro against the UK Pound means that no longer is it a guaranteed money earner to come to the Premier League.

And secondly, and even more critically, the recently introduced 50% top rate of tax on earnings over £150,000 has severely impacted the take home earnings of top footballers.

So, all of a sudden, moving to the top clubs on mainland Europe is five times as attractive as it was last season.  And for the top players already on the continent - the Premier League looks just a little less glossy.

Only In It For The Money? Perhaps.

And, in one of these parallel universes Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is really as good as he thinks he is.

In fact, you can get a peak into this universe on YouTube with this video.

However, in this universe, Ibrahimovic isn’t anywhere near the player he thinks he is. He goes missing at international level for Sweden, he goes missing in big European games and the top defenders in the game have no trouble keeping him quiet.

None of this, of course, troubles the mighty Ibrahimovic ego. Because, according to The Zlatan himself, he is the north, south, east and west.

Yes, really. He is, you know. He said so in a diary that is sold to Italian children.

Full details here, but my favourite excerpt is :

“‘I am west because I love the United States, where I often spend holidays with my family. I love the weather and I like English as a tool to communicate with the world.”

Zlatan - you are as pretentious as you are overrated.

The thing is: Eto’o seems reluctant to leave. He feels that Barcelona have messed him around - and he’s right. Rumours coming from Spain suggest that he will see out his contract, which ends in 12 months and then leave…for nothing.

Right now, Eto’o’s agent is making all the right noises about compromising if the club want to sell the player, but yesterday Eto’o himself was wanting a £13million ’signing-on’ fee to stay at Barca.

You’ve got to admire the cheek of the guy. But then again, he did score 36 goals last season and helped his side win the treble.

If Manchester City do land the player - and they’ve offered him a huge deal which will make him the world’s best paid player, they will have a proven striker with an ego to match.

Rumours that his ego and Robinho’s ego will get their own dressing rooms to make space for the rest of the players have yet to be confirmed.

Anyway you would have to be living in a hole in the ground to not have noticed that Real Madrid have signed both Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo at a combined fee of around £140million ($190million).

There’s an article on the official Real website that states, with masterful understatement, that president Florentino Perez “thinks big”.

Too big. In my opinion. The idea is that the increase in shirt and merchandise sales will effectively recoup the transfer fees, but as you would need to sell literally millions of extra shirts to people who aren’t even Real fans, that just isn’t going to happen.

Perez is mortgaging the future of his club in the hope of getting a quick fix of success, but there’s no guarantee that even with Kaka and Ronaldo in place, this will happen.

Barcelona aren’t going to step quietly aside and allow Real to win La Liga. Similarly, just by having those two players in the squad, doesn’t automatically mean Champions League success.

This is all going to go pear shaped very quickly.

You can of course delay the inevitable by buying the latest Real Madrid shirt here, but it is inevitable. The financial implications of these transfers mean that Real is a time bomb waiting to go off.

A poll of Sentanta viewers revealed this this were the top ten worst cliches :

1. “At the end of the day” (18%)
2. “On paper…” (16%)
3. “A game of two halves” (14%)
4. “This game needs a goal” (12%)
5. “There are no easy games in international football” (10%)
6. “For a big lad, he’s good with his feet” (9%)
7. “A funny old game” (8%)
8. “This free-kick is in Beckham-range” (7%)
9. “Setting out their stall” (4%)
10. “End-to-end stuff” (2%)

So Sentanta’s commentators have vowed not to use them. However, given that one of those commentators is Chris Waddle, I give it 10 minutes at most.

It would be nice, thoug.

1.      In what year were Manchester City established?

2.      For the first seven years (since establishment) Manchester City
weren’t known as Manchester City. What were they known as?

3.      What is Manchester City’s Nickname ?

4.      What were the names of the two Brightwell brothers that have
previously played for Man City?

5.      Where do Manchester City play their home games? City of Manchester Stadium

6.      Who is the current manager of Mancherster City ?

7.      Which Asian politician sold Man City to Abu Dhabi United Group in
2008 ?

8.      Which club did Manchester City sign Elano from ?

9.      Which Manchester City player is the current captain of the England
Under-21 team?

10.     Which former City player and manager is manager of England Under
21 side?

11.     Which travel company currently sponsors Manchester City?

12.     What was City’s home ground before the moved to the City of
Manchester Stadium in 2002 ?

13.     Which controversial former City player who was jailed a couple of
times for violent conduct and assault currently plays for Newcastle?

14.     What is common to Andy Cole, Peter Schemichel and  Dennis Law ?

15.     Which player did Manchester City sign in 2008 for a British record
transfer fee of 32.5 million pounds?

16.     Which team did Manchester City beat in 1970 to win the European
Cup final ?

17.      Why is the jersey number 23 retired by Manchester City ?

18.     Through what special criteria did Manchester City qualify for the
UEFA cup for the 2008-09 season ?

19.     The current owner of Sunderland is a Manchester City legend,
having played 203 games and scoring 90 goals for the Citizens. He was
also inducted into the Manchester City Hall of Fame. Who ?

20.     Whom do Manchester City play in their local derby ?

Jardel has earned 7 caps for Brazil from 1996-2001 scoring just once. His most memorable days in Europe were with FC Porto. He scored a phenomenal 130 goals in 125 appearances for them.

“I have made my decision, I am leaving Roma. I don’t feel respected anymore. It’s a pity because I have spent 8 great seasons here in Rome. At present, I am not in contact with other clubs yet”.

In an interview with a local Italian daily, Palermo’s owner and chairman Maurizio Zamparini said that he only had a 30% chance to sign Brazilian forward Nilmar. Nilmar has been targeted by many top European clubs and it will be a real coup if Palermo can sign him under the noses of many European giants.

Juventus’ sporting director Alessio Secco has rubbished rumours that Juventus are after Chelsea’s left winger Florent Malouda.

“We are absolutely not interested in Malouda and we won’t sign anybody in this transfer window. It’s well known that we are seeking a new winger and we have a list of names for the summer, but the Frenchman is not an option”.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho wants to reduce his squad size at Inter Milan. But none of the players are close to a move. Dacourt’s move to Bologna has stalled while Crespo isn’t too interested in Espanyol’s offer. Jose is set to meet Massimo Moratti to resolve this issue.