Keeper’s hesitance to wear shirt more than once causes a kerfuffle

Now for a slightly bizarre story from today’s edition of the Spanish newspaper Marca (who were, incidentally, the media ringleaders when Real Madrid started sniffing around Ronaldo).

Apparently, Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas has only taken three jerseys to Austria/ Switzerland - one for each match of the group stage. If his side reach the quarterfinals, new shirts will need to be sent to him from his homeland, but the current Spanish transport strike would make this impossible. Hence, Marca are suggesting that the indefinite strike - which has been called over soaring fuel prices - will affect Spanish team selection if it continues past June 21 (the date of Spain’s first potential quarter-final match).

Quite why they couldn’t (a) fly the shirt over or (b) go and buy one from any sporting goods store in Austria/ Switzerland or (c) put one of his qualification stage jerseys in the wash, remains a mystery.

[Marca]

West London club linked to every player under the sun

According to Marca (a daily pro-Madrid sports paper), or specifically a Mr Garcia Caridad director of Radio Marca, Chelsea have offered 50 million Euros (around £40m) for Fernando Torres.

Avram Grant has already shown interest in the Spanish striker, after asking Benayoun to introduce them. The powers that be at Liverpool, however, are reportedly not interested in listening to offers.

This isn’t the first time the striker has been linked with a departure. Last month, we reported on an article in The Times that claimed Liverpool would be obliged to offload Torres and Babel