Maxwell Becomes Barca's First Official Signing

FC Barcelona's official website has reported that FC Barcelona and Inter Milan have reached the beginning of an agreement for the transfer of the Brazilian Scherrer Cabelino Maxwell Andrade “Maxwell” for a fee of 4.5 million Euros with an additional 0,5 million in variable payments. Now with that signing it is certain that we have neded our interest in Luis Fileppe of Deportivo. Deportivo was asking for too much for the left back and I have to appreciate the audacity with which our management found a replacement. Maxwell is expected to give Abidal a good fight for his position. And for all those Barca fans he has more attacking instinct than Abidal. It is not clear when we will complete the signing and how long he is staying in the club. The initail rumours says that he will be offered a contract which will keep him till 2012. With this signing we will have a capable cover for the space left by Sylvinho's absence.

Maxwell started his career with Cruzeiro. Then he joined Ajax in 2001 and stayed till his transfer to Inter in 2006. With Inter he has won three League titles and Italian Super Cup. He was also selected as the "Dutch Football of The Year" in 2004. He is good in going forward and can play in advance position. In his debut season Maxwell's superb solo goal against Parma was voted as the best Inter Goal of the season.

Valdes Extends Stay till 2014

Barcelona custodian, Victor Valdes has signed a new contract whihc will see him playing for the club till 2014. The contract negotiation with Barca's No.1 goal keeper and the club has been stalled in many occasion. Victor Valdes has been looking to improve his contract taking him par with the best paid players in the club. It is not yet known what will his salary but his buy-out clause has been set to 150 million Euros. There was huge drama with Valdes contract negotiations throughout last season. Valdes was looking for a better pay from the begining but in the middle of season it was rumoured that Barca were willing to part with their custodian as Valdes held firm on his demands. But the unavailability of any of the top Goal Keepers made Barca's job a tough one and they did come to a conclusion that Valdes was the best of the rest.

Victor Valdes may not be the best goal keeper around but he is still an above average one. He may not be an Iker, Buffon or Cech but he is still the best in one on one situation. So his contract extension is a great news for Barca. He is bound to make mistakes in some high profile matches but I have mentioned early - Valdes makes more match winning saves than mistakes in a season.

Yaya Toure Renews Contracy Until 2012, Hurray!!!

There were some tricky contract negotiations to be done for Barca this summer. Luckily they have concluded the most important one of all. Yaya Toure has signed a new deal which will keep him at the club till 2012. This one deal extension wwas shrudded in mystery for sometime. Especially with reports emerging about Guardiola's new found likeness for Mascherano. He was linked with a move out of the club and I have earlier written against any such move by the club - Guardiola Prefers Mascherano to Toure.The details of the new deal is not clear but he is sure to get a much better pay scale with this deal. The buyout clause has been raised from 66 million Euros to 100 million Euros. It is a great relief to fans like myself to see Toure extending the deal. He has been the most consistent performer in the last two seasons apart from Iniesta and Xavi. He compliment Barca's atatcking talent too well, you just have to watch that wonder goal against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final for a testimony.

Meanwhile there is not much clarity about the big signings in the transfer market. But as I said in my last post, most probably Filippe will be our first official signing of this summer. Mean while there are reports that Valdes will be signing a new deal very soon.