Spanish Liga and cup News

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Robben Out For Three More Weeks

Real Madrid's medical staff have reported that Arjen Robben could make his league debut on Matchday 3 of La Liga as he continues to work on his fitness...

New Real Madrid signing Arjen Robben still hasn't been seen in a white shirt due to lingering fitness concerns.

The player, bereft of a competitive pre-season at Chelsea, has been making up for lost time at Madrid, and could be ready to play in three weeks' time.

After undergoing an operation earlier in March, the player was back in first team action by May, but is now seeming a little worse for wear, with Madrid unwilling to take any gambles over the Dutch player's fitness.

With this in mind, he's out of the Merengue squad again this week - but could return for the home clash with Almeria in Matchday 3.

At the moment, Dutch international winger Robben doesn't train entirely with the rest of the squad, but instead undertakes extra gymnasium work in an attempt to regain match fitness.

Marca reports that the player's life is currently strictly regimented between work and rest, with little time for family or recreation, but that Robben feels honour-bound to comply, given his 36 million euro price tag.

At least now, though, there is light at the end of the tunnel for both club and player.

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Laporta And Txiki End Ronaldinho Saga Joan Laporta has reiterated that Ronaldinho is not for sale while Txiki Begiristain has ironed out any problems following a lengthy telephone call with the Brazilian star's brother.


Speculation has been rife about Ronaldinho's future at the club with talk of a rift over his night's out and lack of fitness and form, but Barça have moved to end all the stories.

Chelsea are said to have be ready to offer the former PSG star a huge salary to attract him to Stamford Bridge and pay Barça anywhere up to €70m, but Laporta laughed off the idea.

"No amount of money in the world would prise Ronaldinho from Barcelona. He is quite simply not for sale," the president said.

"Ronaldinho is happy atv the club and we are happy he is here. He is the player that children want to be and as well as what he does ont he field, he is the image of Barça's solidarity around the world."

Ronaldinho has missed the Blaugrana's last two league outings and that led to a rift with Frank Rijkaard, but that has also been rubbished by Laporta.

"If he has not played then it is purely because he is injured," he continued. "That is all, but we do hope to have him back with us next week.

"We also hope and believe that he will become the best player in the world again."

The 27-year-old's brother and agent, Roberto De Assis has been a key figure in recent weeks as he is quoted as saying that there is a plot against Ronaldinho.

Such accusations have not been left and Barça's technical secretary has moved to explain the club's situation to De Assis and is said to have cleared up any problems.

During a long telephone conversation all the controversy was discussed and Begiristain laid out the club's desire to see Ronaldinho play again and be back to his best.

De Assis is said to have accepted the explanation and the relationship between Barça and the player is now fine again.

Lucas Brown

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Koeman Set To Take Over At Valencia. Ronald Koeman has agreed to become the new Valencia coach and will officially sign a two-and-a-half year deal this week, according to reports in Spain.


The Dutchman has reached an agreement with Los Ché after a quick round of negotiations and will replace Quique Sánchez Flores at Mestalla.

Valencia approached PSV about talking to Koeman, who had a contract with the Eindhoven giants until 2008, and were given permission to make their offer.

After accepting the contract laid out by the Spanish side, Koeman will take over until the summer of 2010 with the remit of challenging for silverware and playing entertaining football.

Flores was sacked in the early hours of Monday morning after Valencia slumped to defeat against Sevilla, which followed a number of tepid displays already this term.

Speculation over his successor was rife with José Mourinho, Fabio Capello, Marcelo Lippi, Vicente Del Bosque, Didier Deschamps and Luiz Felipe Scolari being mentioned.

Koeman's name only cropped up in the press on Wednesday morning and by then talks between Valencia and the trainer were already close to a conclusion.

The other big names in the frame had almost all ruled themselves out, although it now appears doubtful that any of them were formally approached.

After working as Louis Van Gaal's assistant at FC Barcelona, Koeman moved out on his own and guided Ajax to the Dutch league title in 2002 and 2004 and then won the championships last term with PSV.

He also won the Dutch Super Cup with Ajax in 2002 and the Portuguese Super Cup during a brief stint as coach of Benfica.