Has Thiago Silva Reached an Agreement with Barca?

Today Catalan media house, SPORT broke the story of an apparent agreement being reached between the Brazilian central defender, Thiago Silva and FC Barcelona on a move to Camp Nou. As per the story, the Brazilian has agreed for a 5 year deal with the Club and decided to take a substantial pay cut to join Barca. In my earlier post where I outlined "Why Thiago Silva won't join Barca?"; I mentioned his wages as a big obstacle. As per the SPORT story he will be placed in the same bracket as Xavi and Iniesta and will have it's pay increase based on performance bonuses. That's in real terms means a minimum pay cut of 2 - 3 Million Euros; that makes it difficult to believe this story(Have a look at Barca Pay Structure here - FC Barcelona Player Wages 2013). Also SPORT has a history of drawing up stories to sell their paper. Remember a day before Barca agreed on Villa transfer, they sold the player along with Thiago to Manchester United in exchange of Rooney.

Continue Reading...

Lionel Messi unfairly being Targeted in USA

• Cancellation of Los Angeles Friendly draws ire of US Media and Fans.
• Even Chicago Friendly has landed in serious controversy.

Things are not going well for Lionel Messi, at least on the Public Relation front. First it was the tax avoidance allegations, then came the cancelled friendly in Los Angeles and then came another disaster after the Chicago Friendly. To be honest Messi has nothing to do with any of this mess. The tax situation could be a bit of legal tussle; since his attorneys have stayed firm we could assume the case is strong on his side. The LA Friendly cancellation have somehow squarely landed on his head. This is happening even when there were other star players scheduled to play in that; Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Robert Lewandowski, Sergio Aguero and Boateng all were supposed play in that and all are in United States presently. But when the organisers decided to cancel the event they placed the entire blame on Lionel Messi.

Continue Reading...

For Eric Abidal, Monaco Signing is a New Start not the End of Footballing Journey

Finally yesterday, I received two great news which I have waited for since the start of Transfer Window. First was the signing of David Villa to Atletico Madrid and then it was the signing of Eric Abidal at AS Monaco. It wasn't like I didn't want them to stay at Barca; but it was better for them to go to a club where their services will be seen as adding values rather than an obligation or charity. Of the two, the Abidal signing brings in more emotions one could explain in a blog post. He has gone through a lot in the last two seasons. In his own words, it has changed the way he looked at life and what he hold as valuable in life. If we were this emotional, think about Eric Abidal. What he was going through while signing the deal was perfectly captured by Abidal's measured words - "It's very emotional, it's huge. After what I've been through, it wasn't easy to find a club with confidence in me." Hidden in those words are a serious feeling of hurt at the way may be Barca dealt with him. AS Monaco has given him a one year deal with an option to extend it further the next season; something we could have offered.

Continue Reading...