With over 15 years at the club, from a youth player to the age of 33, and 228 league goals in the Spanish La Liga, the great Raul Gonzalez has left Real Madrid. He is/was one of the most prolific strikers in all of Europe, and not too many clubs can boast a talisman as valuable as he. He was in that select league of strikers that elevated his team with his class and leadership, a league in which I would include such players as Jurgen Kilnsmann, Alan Shearer and Dennis Bergkamp.

Raul is only 33, so he is not quite retiring. There are rumors he might go to Shalke, while others link him to the Premiership, and he has himself admitted he would only consider a move to one of those two countries. Last season he didn’t start as many games for Real, and with Jose Mourinho taking charge, it became clear that his time at the top of the game may be coming to an end. I’m sure he can still bang a lot of goals for whoever he signs for, so we haven’t heard the last of him. He admitted he would like the challenge of a new culture and a new league, so he still seems hungry for more. Raul departed with the words “I will always be available to Madrid for whatever it needs me”, which was a nice touch.

As a reminder, another long-serving player to leave Madrid this summer was midfielder Guti, so Mourinho’s vision for a new, younger team is already taking shape.

David Beckham may already be in LA playing for the LA Galaxy, but one of his closest friends, actor Tom Cruise, wants him to become an actor himself. The megastar was quoted as saying: “I’ve been encouraging him to become an actor. He’s got the looks, he’s got everything. He’d be terrific.” The two have been buddies for a long time, and Cruise has made such comments in the past as well.

It’s funny because at the same time, transfer rumors have come out linking him with a return to England. West Ham United want the former England captain to play for them, and believe they have the money to lure him. Still, Hollywood or West Ham for Becks? I can’t say I’d blame him too much if he chooses the former. He has achieved everything there is to achieve in club football, and I think he wouldn’t mind spending his last few years as a player in the States.

Beckham has been apart of hundreds of commercials and photo shoots around the world, but does this mean he can act? I guess we’ll find out one day, but I’m certain everyone remembers the Adidas Star Wars commercial released in the summer. He only has a few words to say, but contributes to a highly amusing piece of work. Maybe comedy can be his thing – I don’t think he can quite match up to the dramatic work Tom Cruise does.

AC Milan defender Oguchialu “Oguchi” Onyewu has declared he wants to play one full season at the club without being paid a salary, in order to make up for being injured pretty much for the entire year. Oguchi moved from Belgium side Standard Liege to the Italian giants in 2009, but a knee injury has restricted him to only four appearances.

Oguchi, who is set to represent the US at this summer’s World Cup, decided that the best course of action would be to add another year to his contract where he’ll play for free, a move that has earned him a lot of praise from the Milan directors. He has done what many footballers say they’d like to do but never really carry out, and I think he deserves admiration for that.

It has never made perfect sense to me why footballers who stay on the sidelines for an entire season still get paid big money weekly, since for most other jobs their contracts would simply be terminated. Of course, a club has to stick by its players if it wants them to be happy and continue playing, but getting rich by literally staying at home on your feet is ridiculous.

Considering how much modern footballers at the highest levels get paid, you’d think one season of no pay wouldn’t hurt them much at all. Hopefully more players take a leaf from Oguchi’s book, as there are many things that can be done to reduce some of the obscene spending in football.

After an unforgettable 22 year career, German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has finally retired at the age of 40. He played his last game for Stuttgart in their 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim, and will now carry on as a TV-pundit ahead of the World Cup.

Football, in my opinion, is made for personalities like Lehman, and those who followed his career where in for one heck of a ride. He got into fights and arguments with just about everyone, from managers to fans, from his long-standing rival for the national team Oliver Khan, and most recently to the ball-boys. He definitely got under the skin of a lot of people with his outspoken and at times flamboyant nature, an attitude he carried on the field as well.

When all is said and done, he should be remembered as one of Germany’s best of the past decade, though sometimes his crazy decisions have cost his team dear. Who can forget Lehmann getting himself sent off at the start of Arsenal’s Champions League final against Barcelona, which they went on to lose? At the same time, he was on goal the last time the Gunners won the Premiership crown, which along with the FA Cup count as two of his biggest achievements.

The last time he played for Germany was when they lost the 2008 European Cup final to Spain, which was a big disappointment, but I’m sure most Germans fans will remember him with good thoughts.

The veteran admitted he was shocked when he had to come on after 27 minutes, but did pretty well and only let in a single goal. Speaking to reporters, he claimed he did not feel his age during the match, but faced the inevitable “aches and pains” the morning after. He also praised his teammates for keeping him protected, and minimizing his workload as much as possible.

While not quite breaking the record, Geddes became one of the oldest players in Europe, a feat which shows that even in today’s high-tempo age there are still some that can go well beyond their supposed cut-off years. Despite his, the Scottish keeper has no plans to revive his playing career, and has said he’d be happy to continue his work as coach.

Geddes began his career at Dundee in 1979 and made 253 appearances for the club, before moving on to a couple of other Scottish clubs and finishing his career at Brechin City in 2000. Some 30 years later, he can now make that number 254 for Dundee.

Controversial Italian striker Mario Balotelli might have ended his chances for a future with Serie A champions Inter Milan, after a truly unacceptable action he made after Inter’s 3-1 Champions League victory over Barcelona. Angered that some fans booed him after he missed a shot at the end, he threw down his shirt on the ground, a gesture that got him in hot water both with his teammates and Inter’s supporters.

Conflicting reports followed for what happened after, with some sources claiming he asked for a transfer request, while others reporting that he apologized to the fans. It all came too little, too late, however, and despite his absence, he was met with a very hostile reception ahead of Inter’s clash vs. Atalanta. There was a huge banner displayed in the stands that read (translated from Italian) “There is no time to think about a child who doesn’t respect the shirt…Come on boys, united ahead of another battle.”

All this might hamper Balotelli’s World Cup chances as well, with the young striker hoping to make it into Marcello Lippi’s squad. He has not been playing for the team on a regular basis, and whenever he has come on, the headlines after have been littered with confrontations he got in on and off the pitch. If he truly wants to be a world great, as he claims, he needs to start filling in those headlines with goals. More than likely, though, he’ll have to start doing that at a different club.

The sentence is in for Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu, and he has been suspended for nine months after testing positive to the banned substance sibutramine. The Romanian striker has reacted with disappointment to the news, but in truth it could have been much worse. This is the second time in his career that he has been banned for using an illegal substance, and he could easily have been given a sentence for more than a year.

Mutu’s defense is that he had no idea that drug was in his system, and he claimed it was the result of slimming tablets his mother had given him. It’s hard to say how innocent or guilty he really is, but as this is his second offense, he can expect less sympathy from people. On one hand, it is quite absurd that you can get suspended for so long because of a random pill that doesn’t have any real affect, but then again, these players are paid very big sums to make sure they have the people around them to tell them what’s acceptable and what’s not.

Mutu can also count himself lucky that Fiorentina are sticking by him and he will have a future at the club when he returns next season, considering Chelsea sacked him and are still suing him for getting himself suspended for seven months the first time around. In any case, this surely must be the last such incident for the striker if he wishes to continue being employed as a footballer.

Juventus striker Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira has finally gained his long-awaited Italian citizenship, which makes him eligible to play for Marcello Lippi’s World-Cup winning side. The striker was born in Brazil, but spent the majority of his playing career in Italy, where he has also worn the shirts of Messina, Chievo and Palermo.

His most successful seasons were 2008 and 2009, where he scored 15 and 12 goals for Palermo and Juventus respectively. He has long been regarded as a top class player, but severe competition in the Brazilian squad had prevented him from being called up. Ironically enough, he actually received an invitation to play for Brazil against Italy in a friendly match last year, but was called up too late and failed to join the squad. Under official FIFA rules, even that one appearance would have been enough to disqualify him from playing for any other national team.

Amauri expressed how delighted he is with his new citizenship and said that he’d be “the happiest man in the world” if he got to represent Italy at the World Cup this summer, but another problem for him might be that he hasn’t had the best of seasons at Juventus. He has only scored five league goals so far, and his lack of form is parallel to the poor season his club are having. If he wants to be included in Lippi’s plans, you think he really has to start banging in the goals in this final stage, and help Juventus clinch that 4th Champions League spot.

How time changes things, doesn’t it? Years ago Craig Bellamy couldn’t stop getting into trouble due to his lack of discipline on and off the field, but as he nears 31 years of age, the Welsh striker says he has turned a new page. Not only that, but apparently he is also “ashamed” by many things that go on in football today.

Speaking to News of the World, he had this to say:

“Sometimes when I see certain things I’m ashamed to be a footballer. I don’t go to nightclubs, I don’t go to lounge bars, I don’t spend my days shopping. That doesn’t interest me.”

He also criticized some fellow professionals, stating that:

“I don’t know how to be on the pitch as a tourist. Some lads do that but I can’t. When I play, I play for real. I never pretend.”

He certainly shows great passion every time he steps on the field, but these are strange comments from a player that has changed so many different clubs in the past few years. His most troubled time was back when he was a Newcastle player, though he was also a big fan favorite there. He left for Celtic when things didn’t turn out that well, but seemed to rebuild his career at Blackburn Rovers. He left for the opportunity to play for Liverpool, but that chapter of his career quickly ended as he left once again for newly-bought Manchester City. And even now, he is saying he doesn’t see himself staying much longer at the club.

So it’s fine for Bellamy to want more commitment from his teammates, but maybe he needs to try settling at one club before giving us his judgment on the game.

In what is a surprising turn of events, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney might be available for selection just a couple of weeks after injuring his foot against Bayern Munich in his club’s 2-1 defeat. At first there were fears whether he would able to play for England at the World Cup, then predictions went down to saying he would be out for a month, then two-to-three weeks, and now it seems like he might be touch-and-go for United’s crucial 2nd leg with the German Champions after all.

It is certainly good news for United fans, but the bad thing is that it highlights just how much they rely on one single player to keep them going. Rooney missed United’s 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea this weekend, a crucial match in the title race which makes it very hard for the champions to retain their crown now. Not only that, but ManUn looked very poor in the game as well, so poor that Rooney himself couldn’t stand to watch and left the stadium before it ended.

He is their gold talisman that they simply can not function without, and it makes sense why they’d rush him back as soon as possible. It is similar to how important Christaino Ronaldo was for the team last season, and many predicted a change of fortunes for the club when the Portuguese star-man left for Real Madrid in the summer. Rooney stepped up to take the mantle, however, and now he is just as important to the team as Ronaldo was.