Subotic Breaks Another Barrier for Yanks in Europe

Yet another barrier is broken by an American soccer player in Europe. This time, its not signing for a big club or playing in a Champions League final (which has yet to happen) but rather making news for being seen around town with a beautiful girlfriend. That's right folks, in the tradition of Lothar Mattheus, Francesco Totti, Gigi Buffon, and others, new Borussia Dortmund signing Neven Subotic is getting ink on the society pages in Germany with his girlfriend Lisa Ryzih.

Ryzih (19) happens to be the women's U-20 world champion in the pole vault but also has the looks to make a living as a model. They met at a German TV studio in March where they were being interviewed for a talk show. Subotic asked her out afterwards and they've been together ever since.

Of course, this kind of media attention only puts more pressure on Subotic to deliver the goods at Dortmund now that he is reunited with his old coach Juergen Klopp, one of Germany's best managers. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Lisa is trying to qualify for the German summer Olympic squad so she can seek gold in Beijing.

Ronaldihno To Man City? Don't Hold Your Breath

There is a reason they call this the silly season. Brazilian superstar Ronaldihno, currently with FC Barcelona, has been linked with AC Milan, the LA Galaxy (which no one took seriously), Chelsea, and now Manchester City is being mentioned. AC Milan boss Silvio Berlusconi is ready to sell the family silver for Ronnie and only one club can probably outbid him, Chelsea. He does does not fit their style, a lesson they should have learned from the purchase of Michael Ballack. Its doubtful Manchester City can come up with the $40-50 million transfer fee and still have resources left to meet his salary demands. So, look for Ronnie to be wearing black and red this fall.

Monaco: "We Really Want Freddy Adu"

The latest word out of the AS Monaco camp is that they "really want" to sign young US international Freddy Adu, currently with Benefica. According to Monaco president Jerome de Bontin, they not only want Adu for his potential on the field but also to "export the image of the club to a wider international audience." According to the club's web site, Monaco and Benefica are getting closer to working of the details of the transfer with a fee running circa 4 million euros.

The deal may be a bit easier to work out given that current Monaco coach Ricardo Gomes played for Benefica for five years during his playing days. Gomes may also be quite understanding of Adu's Olympic aspirations since he himself won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, playing as a defender for the Brazilian team.

"El Tanque" Promises Napoli 20 Goals

Here in bella Napoli there is much excitement over new signing German Denis, acquired from Independiente in a five year deal for €8 million. The 26-year-old came on the recommendation of last year's Neapolitan Argentine sensation, Ezequiel Lavezzi and will complete an all-Argentine attack for the Ciucciarelli.

Yesterday Denis promised to score 20 goals this season and after scoring 15 goals in his first 13 games of Argentina's apertura, the Napoli faithful seem ready to believe him.

"I want to do well with the shirt of Napoli and try to win the championship,” said ‘El Tanque’, who was presented to the media along with fellow new signings Christian Maggio and Leandro Rinaudo.

Hopefully, 18 year old American striker Vincenzo Bernardo, who plays for the SSC Napoli reserve team can learn some new tricks from Denis. Bernardo finished a respectable reserve season tallying five goals and eight assists in 15 games and even began training with the first team.

Napoli begins training on July 24th in Austria minus Lavezzi and Nicolas Navarro, both on Olympic duty for Argentina.

Ronaldihno in Talks with LA Galaxy? Doubtful

The Spanish sports daily Sport is reporting that the LA Galaxy have made an offer to Barcelona to buy Brazilian star Ronaldihno for a 3-5 year deal paying nearly $30 million (18 million Euros) per year. With $48 million being the minimum transfer fee Barcelona would accept, its hard ti imagine MLS could outbid the deep pocketed AC Milan, which has been pursuing Ronaldihno for the last year. Even if it did, they would have a difficult time justifying sending him to the LA Galaxy, where truckloads of money are already being spent on David Beckham. If anywhere, a player like him would go to New York.

According to Sport, Ronnie's agent (and brother), Roberto de Assis, will be meeting with Galaxy officials in Houston in the next few days. Since MLS negotiates player contracts, this statement smells fishy. Thus, the whole rumor is hardly plausible and only seems intended to put upward pressure on the pay package AC Milan has on offer.

Onyewu: Interest from FC Cologne and Fulham

US defender Oguchi Onyewu is still drawing great interest from FC Cologne coach Christoph Daum but the German club also reports that they are facing competition from an English club which they did not identify. Later, Belgian soccer magazine Voetbal Belgie identified the club as (surprise, surprise) Fulham. Any transfer from Belgian champion Standard Liege, Onyewu's current club, is expected to run 2.5-3 million euros.

AS Monaco Interested in Freddy Adu

As of yesterday, Bologna was no longer expressing interest but according to the Nice Matin newspaper, AS Monaco has now targetted Benefica's American midfielder Freddy Adu for transfer. With Monaco looking to rebuild after a disappointing season, a player like Adu could see significant playing time early on.