Tito Vilanova is about to face one of the toughest challenges ever in world football during his debut season: Succeeding Pep Guardiola, the most successful coach in over 110 years of Blaugrana history.

If we compare English and Spanish football, there is no question: The Premiership is more direct, physical and pacey than La Liga.

Tito Vilanova bravely accepted the very challenging task of succeeding Pep Guardiola, the most successful manager in over 110 years of FC Barcelona history. His experience as Pep's highly-involved assistant coach means that he doesn't need to waste time getting to know the squad, only recruit the right players to improve the team we already have.

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior will be the next big name to join FC Barcelona. That is, of course, if you choose to believe the hype that the Catalan media keeps trying to create on a daily basis.

Spain's Olympic football team crashed out of the London 2012 Olympics after two painful defeats against Japan (0-1) and Honduras (0-1). Against the Central Americans, La Rojita failed to score despite taking 24 shots and hitting the woodwork three times in the second half.

I get asked the following question far too often: 'Who will win the Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?'

Let's be clear: Individual awards such as the Ballon d'Or are more of a publicity stunt than exact science and, as such, we shouldn't give them too much importance.

Sandro Rosell, Barcelona president, has reignited the controversy that surrounded the La Liga campaign last season by saying: "We all know that the last edition of the Spanish League was very strange"

Rosell is alluding to the conspiracy theories doing the rounds in Spain and, allegedly, the power of five key men.

Javi Martinez is the missing piece in Barcelona's puzzle ahead of the 2012/13 season. I believe that adding the 24-year-old Basque midfielder to our squad would be sufficient to challenge for all titles next season. Especially after completing the transfer of speedy left-back Jordi Alba for a mere €14 million, which, as you can read here, was an absolute bargain!

Jordi Alba has finally achieved his dream of coming back to Barcelona. After months of negotiations, the Cules have agreed to pay Valencia a total of €14m despite the fact that Alba only had 12 months left in his contract. Some argue paying that much for a player who would have been free next summer is a waste of money. Keep reading to find out why they are wrong.