Rather sad news: Hamburg and Juan Pablo Sorin have parted ways by mutual consent. Sorin joined Hamburg 2 seasons ago but has only played a handful of games due to a string of injuries. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Wow, he couldn't have played often, I didn't even know he was there. Great player at Villarreal.

VERY bad news for Schalke 04. Manuel Neuer broke his leg during a friendly against Erkenschwick. He'll be out for several months.

Also many Bundesliga teams have problems with the nomination of several players for the Olympic games. Especially Schalke since Rafinha (Who's in Dungas squad) threatened Schalke to leave the club if he wouldn't get the permission to play there. But it's still unlikely that they let him leave as they play the CL qualifiers in August. Bremen have problems with Diego.
Bayern allows Breno to play for Brazil but Lucio and Demichelis have to stay.

Ow. Poor Schalke. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) That really is awful news. Guess we'll get to see if their #2 keeper is any good (although! If they need another keepr, Milan has some of those for sale!).

There's real tension between clubs and national federations about who's being released to play in the Olympics. In Italy, the rule seems to be that players under the age of 23 are released while those over 23 are not (the thought being that it's a tournament essentially for U23s). Spain seems mostly to be doing the same thing. Is Rafinha under 23? Not sure how old he is. (btw, there's a news story in the Italian press about Fiorentina being interested in him. thing is, they're only letting ONE of their kids - Montolivo - go).

Well...as far as I know no one really knows when a player has to be released. But the general opinion in Germany is that the club CAN forbid the players to play at the Olympics as it's not a FIFA tournament.
But since Rafinha (22) and Diego (23) could still play for Brazils under 21 squad it's an unclear situation...

Some other news:

- Ivan Klasnic apparently signed a for FC Nantes.
- Sami Khedira renewed his contract with Stuttgart till 2011.
- Rumors are linking Rafael Sobis with a move to Hoffenheim. Betis seem to want 8 million for him.

Most likely. I've expected such activities by Hoffenheim.

What's Wolfsburg doing, now that they have a good defense? Any new striker?

LaPalma, what do you think of Jürgen Klopp as new BVB manager? I personally disliked him at Mainz. He just was...irritating.

I don't think Wolfsburg needs to strengthen it's attack. They already have a very good striker in Grafite and very talented one in Edin Dzeko although it was rumored that Magaths wanted Quagliarella and/or di Natale. They don't need them IMO as they have, besides their solid strikers, two very good goalscoring midfielders in Marcelinho and Misimovic. But you never know. They have the money and Magath is always looking out for some good additions.
Klopp might be the most popular coach (he really knows how to interact with the media and yes...he really is funny. Plus he's a very popular TV expert at the German TV) in Germany and I think he's a good one too. He's a good tactician and is desperate to establish some kinda team spirit at Dortmund. Something they lacked since Ottmar Hitzfeld. I read some things about the way he works at Dortmund....he could do something good there. There's one very important goal he already achieved...the fans love him (unlike Thomas Doll).

Mh, Doll was disliked, I know. But what about Matthias Sammer? Remember his time at BVB as coach? He made a real team with Kohler, Reuter, Wörns, Dede, Koller, Rošicky, Amoroso...ahh...does were the days when Dortmund could take it with Bayern and Bayer and actually had the money. But later it turend out that...well, it was a miscalculation.

And good transfer news for Dortmund? I think Klopp has to deal with many real bad players or mistaken signings. Nelson Valdez, Buckley, etc. At least they got rid of Armedick.

Amedick has already been sold (wise decision). Buckley will most likely end up playing for Bielefeld next season.
Sammers team was very very good...of course. But as you said they spent a lot of money back then and are (as you know) in huge dept because of that era now. Koller and Rosicky had be sold, Kohler and Reuter retired years ago, Amoroso turned out to be a huge flop after one season...only Dede is left. And of course he's the most popular era among Dortmund fans. He gave the club a lot and still does.

Interesting snippet in the news today. Team captain Fernando Meira is leaving VfB Stuttgart. The announcement that he's 'going on to a new adventure' is up on Stuttgart's website, but the location of this new adventure hasn't been made public. Speculation has him possibly going to Galatasaray or maybe making a return to Benfica. It's a loss for Stuttgart. (I like Meira; would love to see him at Benfica).

It was obvious he'd leave after Armin Veh dropped him as captain and replaced him with Hitz. Meira wanted to leave for Juve last year. Stuttgart said no back then but promised that he'd be allowed to leave this season if he wants to and there are good offers.

Also very interesting...Rafinha didn't show up at Schalkes training camp today and will play for Brazil at the Olympics albeit Schalke forbid him too. Stupid moron...he should be banned for the Olympics. And if I were Schalke coach Rutten I would let him enjoy a nice season on the stands.

Stuttgart didn't waste their time finding a Meira replacement. Today, they signed Khalid Boulahrouz from Chelsea (he'd been on loan in Spain last year).

I'm hoping it'll be a good move. the Cannibal did well in the Bundesliga when he was at HSV and he played well for the Dutch NT during the Euros under exceptionally difficult personal circumstances.

Great respect for him after the Euro's....by all accounts had a very good season at Sevilla and considering he cost almost £10m when Chelsea bought him a good buy at £4m

and he's well accustomed to the bundesliga, he's best season were with hamburg.

Bayern is getting completely pwned by Dortmund in the German Supercup. It's Dortmund 2 - 0 Bayern in the 37th. Apart from Ribery, Bayern is playing a mostly full-strength team too (including Lucio, Sagnol, Van Bommel (IMG:style_emoticons/default/puke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/puke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/puke.gif) , Schweinsteiger, Klose, and Toni) .