This is the final result of this blog's Is Seydou Keita a good transfer? poll:
27% ... 8
25% ... 7
16% ... 10
11% ... 9
6% ... 6
6% ... 5
5% ... Don't know
2% ... 4
1% ... 3
1% ... 0
1% ... 1
1% ... 2
Average score: 7.61
Saturday 23 August 2008
Poll result - Rating the new guys: Keita
Guardiola convinced Gudjohnsen to stay
Asked about his position at the club, Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (29) has said at a press conference today that he decided to stay after Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola told him the he can be useful for the team:
"I had doubts about my future but after the holidays I talked with Guardiola and he told me that he really believes in me and my qualities. He thought I could contribute a lot to the team this season. And that's all I needed to hear, this is enough for me to make the decision to stay.
There are a lot of midfielders in the squad but all of them have different qualities. Guardiola asked me to come into the box from the midfield and to score out of the second line. With 60 or 70 matches, it will be a long season and the team needs all of us to be on top of our game when the coach needs us.
If the manager would have said he didn't count on me, I would have left. I didn't want to stay just to be here. I want to be involved and add something. Besides that, I came here to win trophies and this season and this season we have everything to achieve that. This also has been an important reason for me to stay.
Now that I have decided to stay, I won't consider leaving in January. If I'm staying, I'm staying for the whole season. I wouldn't like to stay having to think about what will happen in three or four months, if I would have to leave in the winter transfer period or not."
Read more:
Gudjohnsen will probably stay
PSV interested in Gudjohnsen
Paris Saint-Germain not interested in Gudjohnsen
The first league game team
Catalan sports paper Sport claims that this is the team that will play the first league game against Numancia next Sunday (7pm barcelona time) :
News of the day - Saturday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
Barcelona will decide after the General Assembly on Sunday if they will get another player, Guardiola prefers to keep the squad as it is now (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Even if the transfer of Arshavin and Palacio cannot be closed this summer, Barcelona plans to give it another try during the January transfer window, when the leagues in Russia and Argentina will have come to an end (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Dennis Lachter, the agent of Arshavin, says that he expects that Zenit will offer the player a renewal soon (Sovietski Sport)
Zenit manager Advocaat says that, although his club doesn't need to sell, Arshavin will probably move to Tottenham (Bloomberg)
read more
Txiki and Rijkaard liked him, but Capel has never been on the list of Guardiola (Sport)
read more
Manchester City is working on the transfer of Thierry Henry (L'Equipe)
read more
Olympics: Argentina-Nigeria
Argentina won the Olympic gold medal by beating Nigeria in the final of the Beijing Games with 1-0.
Barcelona player Lionel Messi started the game and gave the assist for the winning goal of Di Maria in the 58th minute. Messi was replaced by Ezequiel Lavezzi in the 93rd minute.
Read more about Messi's performances during the Olympic tournament here
Friday 22 August 2008
News of the day - Friday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
Txiki wants to bring in another player for the left wing, there's a three-men short list: Palacio, Arshavin and Van Persie, the board has already contacted the entourage of all three and the reactions were positive, Zenit could lower the asking price for Arshavin to 20 million euro, Van Persie is the last option since he already made his debut with Arsenal in the Champions League last week, Guardiola will have the final say (Sport)
read more
Léo Rabelo, the agent of Thiago Neves, doesn't exclude that the player could leave this transfer period, Fluminense vice president Tote Menezes says that the club doesn't own the player so his future doesn't depend on them (Lance)
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Delcir Sonda, the president of Grupo Sonda who holds 66 per cent of the transfer rights of Neves, says that the attacker could leave for Manchester City although there are also other interested clubs, his agent Rabelo is in Europe since yesterday trying to close a deal (Lance)
read more
Manchester City are investigating the possibility of making Thierry Henry a "box office" signing in January (The Guardian)
read more
Benzema says he wants to play one day with a team that can win the Champions League although he doesn't yet know the date of his exit nor his destination (French sports weekly Sport)
read more
If São Paulo lowers the 25 million euro asking price for Hernanes, Barcelona plans to make a new attempt to sign the midfielder next summer (Sport)
read more
Barcelona is interested in Brazilian attacker João Bueno de Camargo "Joãozinho" (17), who plays for Brazilian third division club Noroeste and is currently on trial with Inter Milan, Barcelona also invited the player for a test period (Calcio Mercato)
read more
Thursday 21 August 2008
Ex-Barça: Antic to Serbia
Former Barcelona manager Radomir Antic (59) has been appointed as new head coach of the Serbian national team earlier this week after Miroslav Djukić was fired because of the disappointing Olympic tournament. The Serbian coach returns to the bench after he was more than four years ago dismissed by Celta Vigo.
Antic arrived in Barcelona in late January 2003 after he had been out of coaching for one and a half year since leaving Oviedo in the summer of 2001. He took over from Dutch manager Louis van Gaal and managed to qualify the team for the Uefa Cup competition. When Joan Laporta won the election that summer, Antic had to leave Barcelona after five months and was replaced by Frank Rijkaard. Half a year later he joined Celta Vigo.
Read more:
Ex-Barça: Giuly to Paris Saint-Germain
Ex-Barça: Mark Hughes to Manchester City
Ex-Barça: Meho Kodro dismissed by Bosnia
Read all ex-Barça stories here
Bojan will sign renewal next week
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona forward Bojan Krkic (17) will sign a new five-year deal with Barcelona when he turns 18 next week (read more here). The buyout fee will be 80 million euro°.
Bojan signed his first three-year contract (plus two optional years) with Barcelona when he turned 16 two years ago. The financial emphasis of this first contract, that expires next summer, was on the incentives based on games played (read more here).
Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that Bojan's salary will rise from 60 000 euro to 1,75 million euro net a year with an important part of that amount being incentives and mainly depending on games played and trophies won. Catalan radio station Ona FM claims that the player's earning will get higher step by step during the coming years.
Spanish news agency EFE also claims that the renewal is upcoming and Catalan sports paper Sport claims that the news has been confirmed by official spokespersons of the club.
Read more:
Bojan will accept renewal offer
Renewal offer for Bojan
Arsenal interested in Bojan
News of the day - Thursday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
Capel is now the main left wing option for Barcelona (As)
The presumed interest in Capel would be organized by Capel's agent to get a salary rise, Capel doesn't fit the profile Guardiola is looking for (Sport)
read more
Arshavin is again an option, the player has asked his club to lower their asking price (As)
Thiago Neves has been offered by his agent but Barcelona rejected to sign the player a few days ago, the offer included a four-year deal worth 1,5 million euro a year and a transfer fee of 12 million euro (Sport)
read more
Barcelona has again contacted São Paulo on the transfer of Hernanes because Guardiola thinks there's still missing a Deco type of player, last month the deal was cancelled at the last moment when the player's agent wanted to change some amounts after a pre-agreement had already been reached, Hernanes' agent is in Spain and plans to talk with Barcelona in the coming days, Barcelona would be ready to pay 14 (10+4) million euro (Sport)
read more
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Talks on Boca Junior striker Noir
Argentinian newspaper La Nación claims that Barcelona is interested in Boca Juniors forward Ricardo Noir (21).
After the Gamper tournament on Saturday, Boca Juniors president Pedro Pompilio would have stayed in Barcelona to hold talks with Barcelona officials on Noir, who made his debut with Boca's first team last May when he scored the winning goal against Racing.
Watch videos of Noir's goal in his debut match here and here
Read more:
[Crosas] Dundee United-Celtic
Celtic played last weekend 1-1 against Dundee United.
Former Barcelona midfielder Marc Crosas stayed on the bench for 90 minutes.
Since Barcelona can buy Crosas back in the summer of 2010 for two million euro (read more here), this blog will follow the performances of the midfielder over the two years.
Sunday 10 August - League game 1: Celtic Glasgow-St Mirren 1-0
Non-selectable. Crosas has signed his contract and is presented to the fans before the match.
Sunday 17 August - League game 2: Dundee United-Celtic Glasgow 1-1
Bench.
1 Hamilton 6
2 Rangers 6
3 Celtic 4
4 Kilmarnock 4
5 Inverness 3
[...]
Barça B - Official: Urbano to Sabadell on loan
Spanish third division club Sabadell has last week officially announced that Barcelona Atlètic forward Sergio Urbano (21) will join the club on loan for one season.
The Catalan forward had been told by Barcelona Atlètic coach Luis Enrique a few weeks ago that he was not part of the plans for next season and that he could leave this summer (read more here).
Read more:
News of the day - Wednesday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
Arshavin has contacted Barcelona this week to know if they're still interested in him, Barcelona has replied that the club is still considering if they will sign another player and that he's just one of the options, Barcelona would not be willing to pay more than 20 million euro while Zenit is asking 25 million euro (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Zenit states that they have negotiated with Tottenham on the transfer of Arshavin but considers the talks closed after Tottenham didn't make a new proposal (official website)
read more
A Zenit spokesperson confirms that the negotiations with Tottenham on the transfer of Arshavin are cancelled but says that other clubs can stil launch a bid before the end of the month (Efe)
read more
Barcelona didn't push any longer for Arshavin after Zenit president Dyukov replied to Barcelona's first offer by sending a fax that said: "If you want Arshavin for 15 million euro, we'll buy Messi for 20 million euro" (Sport)
read more
Barcelona doesn't want to pay Capel's buyout fee of 15,6 million euro and has asked the player to put some pressure on Sevilla by making clear that he wants to leave (As)
Sevilla is aware that Capel could leave before the end of the transfer period and is already working on how to replace him (As)
Barcelona denies that they're interested in Capel, the entourage of the player says that Txiki hasn't contacted them (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Hernanes is again an option, his transfer would allow Iniesta to play on the left wing, the value of the player has risen because of his participation in the Olympic Games and São Paulo could be holding on to the 25 million euro asking price (Sport)
read more
Jeffren is now an absolute priority for Zaragoza, who is expected to push for the player in the coming days, Jeffren has several offers but prefers to join Zaragoza on loan (Equipo)
read more
Tuesday 19 August 2008
Barça B: Jeffren, Busquets and Vazquez are back
Barcelona has announced on its official website that Barcelona Atlètic players Jeffren (20), Sergi Busquets (20) and Víctor Vázquez (21 - picture), who started the pre-season with the first team, have returned to the B team today.
Barcelona Atlètic assistant coach Joan Barbarà welcomes the news: "They are very motivated by the new project. They know that Guardiola will be watching them and that they could be able to return to the first team if they do well here. These player will add a lot to the team."
From the seven Barcelona Atlètic players who started the pre-season with the first team (read more here), only two are now still remanining with the squad: wing attacker Pedro (21) and polyvalent midfielder Víctor Sánchez (20).
Read more:
Youth - Official: Valles to NAC Breda
Dutch club NAC Breda has last week officially announced the transfer of Barcelona Juvenil A attacking midfielder Enric Vallés (18).
Enric, who convinced the NAC staff during training sessions and a friendly match against Blackburn Rovers (read more here), signed a two-year contract with an option for a third year.
Dutch local newspaper BN/De Stem claims that NAC hasn't paid Barcelona a transfer fee but that the two clubs have agreed on a formation fee, that will probably consist of a percentage of the later transfer fee.
Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona didn't include a buy back clause in the deal and will receive 20 per cent of the fee if Enric is transferred by NAC.
In an interview with the club's television channel, Enric showed his satisfaction about the transfer: "My first impressions are very good. I'm very happy that I have signed for this club. We'll see how everything will go from here but I'm very motivated to work hard and have a good season."
See the quote and some training images of Enric Vallés here
Read more:
Youth: Enric on trial in Holland after refusing Madrid
Youth: Jonathan dos Santos waiting for renewal
Youth: Fasciana arrives this weekend
Olympics: Argentina-Brazil
Argentina has today defeated Brazil in the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament. By winning 3-0, Argentina qualified for the final against Nigeria on Saturday.
Barcelona player Lionel Messi played the whole match.
News of the day - Tuesday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
While Guardiola doesn't want to sign any new players, Txiki thinks the squad is short to be on top in all three competitions (Sport)
read more
Due to the good performances during the pre-season, there's less need to sign another player, Guardiola will in the end decide if there will be a new transfer or not (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Arshavin is still the main candidate for the left wing position certainly now Tottenham seems to have pulled out of the race (Sport)
read more
Arshavin and Capel are the two names on the list, Arshavin is the first option but if Zenit doesn't move the transfer of the Russian won't go through (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Barcelona is considering to pay the 16 million euro buyout clause for Capel and could put the money on the table in the coming days (Marca)
read more
Sevilla is aware that Capel could leave the club in the coming days given the low buyout fee of 15 million euro and the low salary, a renewal hasn't been possible earlier this summer because Capel doesn't accept a new and much higher buyout clause (As)
The Neves option would be on the rise although there are questions about the player's character and private life, the Brazilian would cost around 12 million euro (Sport)
read more
Eto'o has asked Barcelona to lower his 150 million euro buyout fee because he wants to be able to leave easier if there would be a new conflict situation, Barcelona has accepted although it's not known what the new buyout fee is (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
The Barcelona board wants to offer Xavi a contract renewal and extension and plans to start the negotiations next month (Catalunya Ràdio)
read more
Barcelona has told Jeffren he won't be able to stay with the first team and that he can choose between returning to Barcelona Atlètic or leaving on loan for one season, although several English and Spanish first division clubs, like Villareal and Getafe, are interested in the player, Barcelona has advised the player to leave for a Segunda División club like Zaragoza, Herculés or Tenerife (Equipo)
read more
Monday 18 August 2008
Case closed: Adebayor
Arsenal forward and Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor (24) will not play for Barcelona as of next season, like had been strongly rumoured over the last months (read more here).
Arsenal has officially announced today that Adebayor has signed a new deal with the English Premier League club, although no further details were given. The statement on the club's official website reads as follows:
"Arsenal can today confirm that Togolese forward Emmanuel Adebayor has signed a new long-term contract with the Club. Everyone at Arsenal looks forward to Emmanuel’s continued contribution to the Club over the coming years."
Read more:
Case closed: Van der Vaart
Barcelona pushing hard for Adebayor
Case closed: Coloccini
Youth: Barcelona wants to promote Iago
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona Juvenil A attacking midfielder and Spanish youth international Iago Falqué (18) has been told by the club last week that he can stay with Barcelona Atlètic this season.
Barcelona Atlètic coach Luis Enrique had decided earlier this pre-season that Iago, who is now playing a tournament with the national team, wasn't part of his plans (read more here) and the player was talking since then with the club about ending his contract (read more here).
The decision will now depend on Iago, who has kept on training with Barcelona Atlètic over the last weeks. Because the attacker thinks he won't be given enough chances by Luis Enrique, Iago is also considering other options. Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam would be interested in Iago.
Read more:
Youth: Iago won't be promoted
Youth: Iago wants to leave permanently
Youth: English clubs interested in Iago
[Henrique] Leverkusen-Borussia Dortmund 2-3
Bayer Leverkusen played this weekend the first Bundesliga game of the season. Bayer lost at home against Borussia Dortmund with 2-3.
Central defender and Barcelona loan out Henrique started the match and played the whole game.
You can watch a summary of the game here (Henrique plays with number 3 as left central defender)
Read more on the performances of Henrique in Leverkusen here
Sunday 10 August - Cup round 1: Rot-Weiß Oberhausen-Bayer Leverkusen 2-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 120 minutes.
Saturday 16 August - Bundesliga game 1: Bayer Leverkusen-Borussia Dortmund 2-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.
News of the day - Monday
(This post will be updated throughout the day.)
Guardiola now wants Capel for the left wing, Barcelona and Sevilla have already been talking but haven't agreed on the fee, the buyout clause of Capel is 15,6 million euro (As)
Capel says that you never know what can happen but that he's for now totally focusing on Sevilla (Rock & Gol)
read more
read more
Barcelona has also reactivated contacts for Arshavin and Palacio although those transfers seem difficult because the fee asked for Arshavin is too high and because there's no consensus in the club about Palacio (As)
Arshavin's agent Dennis Lachter says that 25 million euro is Zenit's take-it-or-leave-it asking price but doesn't exclude that a deal will be closed before the end of this transfer period (Sky Sports)
read more
Palacio didn't travel with Boca to Barcelona last weekend because he wanted to avoid the media attention this could cause after he was again linked with a move to Barcelona (Sport)
read more
read more about this issue here
Barcelona won't consider a Milan offer for Márquez since the defender has become a key player under Guardiola (Sport)
read more
Sunday 17 August 2008
Team presentation
Before the game against Boca yesterday,
the team for next season was presented to the fans. Some images.
#
Barça B - Friendly 6: Eibar-Barcelona 5-0
Miño
Montoya (46 Toribio)
Fontàs
Solano
Polaco
Thiago (46 Rueda)
Romeu
Abraham (60 Rochina)
José Luis (60 Rayo)
Goran Maric (60 Nolito)
Gai
1 Yagüe (pen) 1-0
14 Codina 2-0
29 Yagüe 3-0
75 Germán 4-0
82 Germán 5-0
Eibar plays in the Spanish second division, Barcelona Atlétic will play in the third division.
Friendly 1: Tona-Barcelona 1-3
Friendly 2: Barcelona-Swansea 3-3
Friendly 3: Barcelona-Hospitalet 3-1
Friendly 4: Eivissa-Barcelona 0-1
Friendly 5: Las Palmas-Barcelona 3-1
o m s # # # #
The striker has arrived
Laporta:
Now that we have played the first match of the champions league qualifying round, I can finally present you who deep down has always been the "transfer" we wanted: Samuel Eto'o!!!
Eto'o:
Deep down indeed, but really, really, really deep down
cayecaturas.com
sport.es
Crosas presented in Glasgow
Former Barcelona player Marc Crosas was last Sunday officially presented by his new club Celtic Glasgow before their first game of the season.
Crosas will wear the number 17 shirt for Celtic and could make his debut in today's match against Dundee United.
Read the complete Marc Crosas transfer story from the first rumours until the official confirmation
News of the day - Sunday
Txiki says the club keeps looking at the market ready to sign another play if there's an opportunity (Rac 1)
read more
read more
Txiki denies that Barcelona has spoken recently with Boca officials on a transfer of Palacio (Rac 1)
read more
Arshavin has told Tottenham manager Ramos that if Barcelona really comes after him, he prefers to join Barcelona (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
Txiki says that Márquez is not for sale so Milan better forgets about him (Rac 1)
read more
Txiki says Barcelona talked with Milan about Henrique but Milan wasn't interested in a loan (Rac 1)
read more
Chelsea manager Scolari says that signing Deco was a condition for him to join Chelsea this summer (press conference)
read more
read more
Txiki says that if there's no new transfer, the players of the B team have a chance to be permanently promoted (Rac 1)
read more
Because little playing time with the first team or a return to the B team could stop Pedro's progress, Barcelona prefers the player to leave on loan and a deal with Primera División team Malaga could be closed in the coming hours (El Mundo Deportivo)
read more
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