The footballing world was busy as usual this week and we have all the highlights. Guess who is being linked to Chelsea and which Barcelona player is in trouble again. All this and more in our weekly football round up.

1. Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato has been linked to Chelsea several times this week but he may not get to play at Stamford Bridge. Guus Hiddink, Chelsea’s manager has put to rest rumours surrounding Pato’s transfer. Hiddink noted that with the availability of Diego Costa, the return of Loic Remy, as well as other available players, the club will not have a need for a striker. In addition to that, he basically told fans that they should expect very little transfer activity and that transfer plans are on hold until the new manager arrives. Is this a good idea?

2. Once again a Barcelona player is headed to court. This time it is Barcelona forward Neymar Jr. Apparently, Barcelona had originally said they were paying €57.1 million for Neymar Jr but it seems as though they had actually paid over €80 million for him. It is understood that much of this sum went to companies that were controlled by Neymar Snr. In June, a Brazilian investment company, DIS, made a complaint that Barcelona’s withholding of the real amount caused them financial troubles. While all parties involved have denied doing anything wrong, a court date was set for February 2, just days before Neymar’s birthday. The parties involved include Neymar Jr, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, current club chief Josep Bartomeu and Neymar’s parents. 

3. Just when things were beginning to look up for Real Madrid they were handed a transfer ban. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were handed transfer bans for the next two transfer windows, not inclusive of the January window, for allegedly signing minors. Atletico were fined £622,000 while Real were fined £249,000. Both clubs say that this claim is false and will appeal. It is interesting however that Barcelona was given a similar transfer ban in April 2014 for the transfer of minors. The ban has only ended this month yet this didn’t stop them from signing players like Luis Suarez. Barcelona had appealed to delay it’s implementation and used this time to sign players. Both Atletico and Real Madrid may do this.

4. With the a looming transfer ban and the looming deadline for the window currently open things have changed over at the Bernabéu. There is now no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will remain at Real Madrid. This transfer ban spells bad news for Premier League hopefuls that were hoping to snatch the previously named players and others such as Sergio Ramos. Also as a result of the ban there have been many big names that are said to be transferred before this current transfer window closes. These names include: Harry Kane, John Stones, David De Gea, Paul Pogba and Sergio Aguero. This might just be useless chatter because Real Madrid director general Jose Angel Sanchez said that the club is not considering emergency big signings this month. We’ll see.

5. Manchester United boss Louis Van Gaal has tried to instill some hopes in the fans this week with a hopeful message. Van Gaal, who seems to have narrowly escaped being sacked says that he just cannot imagine it will take 26 years to become champions like their rivals Liverpool. He insists that the club is headed in the right direction. He also noted his support of the captain Wayne Rooney who suffered a terrible goal drought in the first half of the Premier League season. Van Gaal made these remarks before Manchester United’s win over Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.