ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC SIGNING INSTALLS BARCELONA AS ODDS-ON FAVOURITE FOR LA LIGA

Swap deals are rare in European Football and even rarer when they are between two clubs at the upper-echelon of world football. After a few weeks of wrangling, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has completed his move to FC Barcelona, home of Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta, from Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan. Samuel Eto'o is moving in the other direction in addition to a massive £40 million in cash and a loan-deal for Aleksandr Hleb. Personally, I think this is an absolutely ridiculous package for a single player who can sometimes go absent from a game. Big Zlatan is a quality player and when he's on song, he is one of the world's best, but if he's not playing well then he doesn't quite become a liability, but it gets close. I think that just the £40 million would have been more than enough (I do think Cristiano Ronaldo is twice as good and twice as bankable as a commercial asset) but throwing in Eto'o, who likely would have garnered a £20 million price, and Hleb on loan edges this up into a prime candidate for silliest transfer of the summer. The one saving grace here for me is that I think Zlatan's style plays better in La Liga than it does in Serie A, which is quickly becoming a bit of a footballing backwater with few discernable world stars continuing to ply their trade there. I think Samuel Eto'o is a bit of a metaphor for the entirety of Serie A- a player who is a bit past his prime and usually doesn't get along well with all of his teammates. I am personally of the opinion that adding Hleb to the deal means that Barcelona needed to lower the wage bill in order to accommodate Ibra's large pay package and signing bonus. Hleb is a useful player, but will probably find himself as an upper-mid tier Serie A player. Betfair has seen plenty of movement in the market for La Liga since the transfer was initially announced. Barcelona are currently trading around 1.93, just below even money, while Real Madrid sit just a touch behind them at a 2.22 price. According to the punters at Betfair, these are the only two plausible winners with 3rd placed favourites Atletico Madrid listed at 95.0.