Surprisingly, not much controversial news today, unless you’re a David Beckham fan (or a Chelsea-hater).

Tim Vickery talks about Ronaldo’s importance to Brazil’s 2002 campaign and of his future prospects (Ronaldo turned 30 last Friday). He is one of the few journalists who bothers to paint the Brazilian striker in a positive light – reading the negative media surrounding Ronaldo’s form in Germany 2006 was a shameful reminder of how fickle and irreverant public opinion can be.

Myles Palmer harps on about how Arsenal is being transformed into Cesc’s team and what role Henry will play in this new setup (which will be built around Gallas-Fabregas-Rosicky). It’s an interesting read but it also serves to highlight the flowery memories Palmer has of Arsenal’s past (Vieira and Bergkamp were good, but not THAT good).

Paul Wilson says something smart – why not investigate the transfer deals that were made in the open, ‘within’ rules As things stand, regulation governing football transfers are so lax that even ‘on-the-record’ transfers can hide serious problems – such as a couple of deals Manchester United have made in the past 3-4 years.

The Lord Stevens report is due to be passed on to the chairmen of the 20 Premiership clubs on 2nd October, and has already identified 50 suspect transfers out of the 500 or so that took place from 2004-2006 (5 transfer seasons in total). Just 50 Count us in for a few.

More Champions League coverage is up next.