Zaba Daba Do? And Felipe Too? As City And Real Madrid Come Calling!

International breaks are always a stressful time for 'media influencers' and journalists as they struggle to generate copy for their viewers, the lack of much worthwhile news is an expense account breaker! So fair play to the 'click bait' reporter who 'broke' the Real Madrid interested in Felipe Anderson story, the only problem being that Real's interest is supposedly dependent on them missing out on getting Eden Hazard from Chelsea.

A couple of salient points to raise are (a) Chelsea are currently facing a transfer ban that will see them unable to buy players for at least one season if not two, so are they really going to get rid of their best player without being able to bring a replacement in? and (b) Why would Real target Anderson instead of Hazard? This is not too say that Anderson is not a worthy player, but Real can cast their net far and wide so it is unlikely that out of all the players available that they would choose him.

Much has been made of recent comments by Pablo Zabaleta regarding his future at the club, and he is either staying for another year according to some media outlets, or he is returning to Manchester City in a coaching capacity. Obviously 'Zaba' doesn't have too much left in the tank and would increasingly play a back up role to Ryan Fredericks, however if you ask any professional footballer they will tell you that the lure of the 'grease paint' is awesome and that the thought of retiring from playing is really difficult to deal with, however 'Zaba' is revered at Manchester City and the opportunity to return as a coach will obviously be extremely tempting.

By the time next season starts we could be looking at a West Ham team devoid of it's veteran right back, and without it's midfield maestro, if this is the scenario then it is to be hoped that replacements are already being organised and in Anderson's case that the club receives twice what they paid for him.

As they say, money talks, sentiment walks! - Ed