Europe - Time to Wrap Up & MLS - Time to Clean Up

As Man U appear to wrap up a 19th title, AC Milan, Porto, and Dortmund have all clinchedtitles in their respective leagues, with Lille and Barcelona waiting in thewingsto lift their trophies. Man City clinched the last Champions League spot in England, making the only worthwhile matches in England involving West Ham, Wolves, Wigan, Blackburn, and Blackpool, aside from those involved with the Championship Playoffs, with QPR now avoiding point deductions and Norwich pushing out the other teams for 2nd.

It is in this point that I have questions for the FA about the proposed point deductions: When Faurlin joined in 2009, why would investigations have not have started then? Why also would you tack a point deduction on after a team had believed that they had clinched the 1st place position/promotion? Asthis controversy fades because of the lack of any point deduction and the controversy of Qatar buying FIFA votes, the MLS is running into its own controversy, more related to that of player conduct.

Colorado Rapids midfielder Brian Mullan and Chivas USA forward Marcos Mondaini, amongst others, are coming under attack of MLS fans for near-season ending injuries to Seattle's Steve Zakuani and RSL's Javier Morales, respectively. Watching these challenges are not for the squeamish, and the punishments are not either, with Mullan receiving a 10 match ban.

One must consider what else can be done to prevent these kinds of tackles, which you may have noticed are occurring on playmakers of teams. It is strange to look at this and see that Red Bulls' DP Thierry Henry has yet to be fouled in 6 games. This point aside, should the MLS enact rules similar to that of the NFL to protect offensive players from hard fouls?

Transfer Rumors

So I know to most people, transfer rumors are just things of fiction that bloggers write about in hopes that players come to that team, but that is not my intention in writing this (although I do hope there are some players that do come to Liverpool!). Here are just a number of players who are being chased by the big clubs and with the list of teams in the order I think the player is currently considering or where I think he is most likely to go:

Eden Hazard (RW, Lille OSC)

At age 19, this Belgian international is not out of favor at Lille, but ratherseen as though his time to hit it big is now. Lets just not hope he ends up like Marouane Fellaini, however...

Where he could end up: Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Tottenham, Chelsea,.

He is strongly linked to Arsenal, though I believe they have been ruled out because of a previous Arsene Wenger comment

Romelu Lukaku (ST, Anderlecht)

This 17 year old, is catching the eyes of all European scouts, though I have yet to see his worth in a tougher competition. A large transfer fee for such a young player is also a huge risk to take, confirming my belief that a team with a huge transfer wallet will most likely snatch him up.

Where he could end up: Real Madrid, Tottenham, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal.

I know this is almost the same list of teams, but I don't think Chelsea will have much pull with this player, even if he wishes to take Drogba's role, were he to move back to Olympique Marseille soon.

Connor Wickham (ST, Ipswich Town)

Another 17 year old, this goal threat would be a valuable asset to any team looking to have a superstar on their roster, especially with the homegrown players rule now in place. With Ipswich set to face Arsenal in the Carling Cup Semi-Finals, and Wickham getting only 3 starts and 11 bench appearances with no goals this season, this is another player showing potential with no real bite yet.

Where he could end up: Liverpool, Arsenal.

These two teams are the only two seriously looking at the player, as Wenger has a legendary ability to work well with young players and Connor being quoted as saying his idol is Fernando Torres. I give my Reds the edge here though, as newly appointed Damien Comolli has been monitoring this player for some time. Comolli could add Wickham to the list that includes bringing flashy left-mid Gareth Bale to Tottenham.