photo by Globovisión

• by Adam Huntington, writing from Dundee, Scotland

Spain have been mighty successful of late. Huge achievements internationally have seen them hailed as an unbeatable force, whilst domestically, Barcelona have slowly became one of the best teams of all time. The ever-tedious "Which League is Best?" argument that usually flows between the Spanish and English has taken a very confident shunt toward Spain thanks to domestic and international performances over the past few years. Personally, Spain's league has always been a much more entertaining league; much better technically, far more inventive in attack and more resolute in defence. These skills transfer very fluidly to the national team, who then showcase them on the most global scale. The majority of the focus and plaudits go toward Barcelona, Valencia, Real and Atletico Madrid, the usual top four. However, since their establishment in the top tier in the 2000's, Villarreal have often threatened, and occasionally succeeded, to break up that four.

El Submarino Amarillo, literally "The Yellow Submarine", can attribute their success to the quality spine of their team. From the fantastic Musacchio and Marchena in center back, through the midfield partnership of Senna and Bruno, and finally up to the lethal Nilmar and Rossi, Villarreal are solid. However these are not the only good players; Santi Cazorla played well last season from the wings, as did Valero. Left back Joan Capdevilla was consistently good again, and remained in the national team's starting eleven, no easy task when the Barca and Madrid squads are taken into account. Villarreal managed fourth place this season gone, playing well at home, but stumbling away from it. In that season, Giuseppe Rossi scored a phenomenal 32 goals in all competitions, an achievement that was probably overlooked due to Messi and Ronaldo's superhuman efforts.

However these good performances throughout the season also attract attention from other clubs, and Rossi now has a number of teams after his services. Spurs have been quoted, as have Juventus and none other than Barcelona, but it's hard to think where he would fit in at the latter. Juventus have also been heavily linked with Argentine wonderkid Aguero, who reportedly signed a new contract with Atletico which lowered his mandatory buy-out clause, making him cheaper for the Turin club. Juve have also recently signed Matri, who impressed whilst on loan, as well as already having Iaquinta, Del Piero, Toni and Quagliarella. Without selling at least two of them, it's inconceivable to think of Rossi arriving there. Spurs have been interested for a while, and could well make a move considering Robbie Keane looks poised to leave. With the possibility of Modric heading to rivals Chelsea, they could easily use the money to launch a bid for the Italian.

Fortunately for Villarreal fans, if Rossi does set sail there's a good chance that a large sum of money (something in the region of £30 million) should be received. Plenty to buy in some real quality and comprehensively replace him, maybe even better him. Unfortunately though, the papers and articles online have suggested a very uninspiring replacement in Wigan's Hugo Rodallega. Good for Wigan, but in my honest opinion, not fit to replace a player of Giuseppe Rossi's calibre. Hopefully no more than a lazy suggestion, it probably won't surface. I'd like to think that Villarreal are a little more clued in when it comes to potential replacements. Palermo's Abel Hernandez looks to be a very promising talent, and plays in much the same way as Rossi, if they're looking for a rough equivalent. For £30 million though, they can afford to be a little more ambitious as it should be enough to prize Cavani away from Napoli, or even Fiorentina's Jovetic - who was out for the entire season with injury - which would see him as support for striker Nilmar.

Hopefully, all this transfer talk surrounding Rossi completely hides the rest of the team from other clubs. I'm looking predominantly at Musacchio, the Argentine who has created a strong defensive partnership with veteran Marchena. The Spaniard looks to be passing on his experience to Musacchio, still only twenty years old. The two were excellent last season and it would be a shame to see them broken up, although the younger of the pairing looks destined for great things, whether they are at El Submarino Amarillo, or not.

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