Barcelona Agrees on Hleb

If you remember my last post, there was news of Hleb showing his displeasure against Wenger. I have written that that could be an indication of Barcelona closing on him. It looks like I am going to be proven right. Almost all the major sport websites and daily has reported the closing of the Hleb deal by Barcelona. Barcelona seems like have paid somewhere around 18 million for the Belorussian. Inter Milan and Bayern were interested in him, but Hleb is said to have a keen desire to play in the Barcelona uniform. The player who was born in Minsk has started his career with Dinamo Minsk. His preferred position is the attacking midfielder role. From Minsk he moved to F C Bate. It was during this time Stuttgart scouts spotted him and eventually led to his transfer to the club. In 2005 Arsenal bought him for 15 million. He did shine in matches but was overwhelmed by the presence of Fabregas. He was also not helped by the fact that Wenger played him out of his position. In that backdrop it's still a big question mark where he will play in Barca. He is supposed to take the position of Ronnie, but his preferred position is the attacking midfielder.

In my last post, I reported a story of Laporta resigning which was broken by Sport. Laporta has denied this after a frantic board meeting on Tuesday. If you consider that one trouble is over, just wait for the next one - Ronaldinho is insisting on his rights to represent Brazil in Olympics. Ronaldinho has said that "Going to Beijing is an honor". He sees Olympics as the best chance to re-kindle his form and fitness. But the club has said No to Ronaldinho's participation in Olympics. It looks like Ronnie is very much unhappy with the way Barcelona treated him during the transfer saga. They are not yet able to find a club for him and this could complicate matters. But like as in the case of Messi, I am with Ronaldinho for this. I believe that a player should not be stopped from representing his country, let whatever be the circumstances. This also put into question the commitment of European players to their national pride. If you analyse carefully all the players who are fighting with the club to make into Olympics are from Latin America. European players seem like happy with the money. By the way it looks almost certain that Messi will represent Argentina in Beijing. All the best for him and kudos for making a brave and wise decision.

Other news are - the arrival of young Brazilian player Henrique to Barcelona. He is considered as a player of the same capability as Jose Edmilson. But Barcelona hopeful signing of Hernan has stalled. The club very soon will withdraw from negotiations with Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is not ready to lower the price tag and Barcelona as usual is not ready to pay a bit more. But the latest rumour is from Goal.com. Goal has reported a possible Barcelona bid for Valencia's David Silva. Silva was the best Spanish player in Euro. Valencia is reported to be in some financial crisis and would be thinking of selling one of their stars.

End of Road for Laporta?

It looks like Laporta escape from the "No Confidence" motion is going to be short lived. Sport.es has broken an exclusive story in which they claim that Laporta will resign from his post on Thursday. This is after the majority on the board threatened to resign if Laporta continued. First vice-chairman, Albert Vicens is expected to take over from Laporta. This is done to ensure that there is no instability in the club especially considering that Guardiola is building his team from scratch. An election now will put on hold all the transfers and that could seriously jeopardise Guardiola's plans. On that backdrop this comes as a sensible decision, even then one is left to wonder whether the Board has no responsibility in all this mess. If 67% disapproves of Laporta, it effectively means the same does about the Board. I firmly believe that Once the season commence the Board should resign and commence fresh elections. Otherwise this board may not have the moral authority to take tough decisions.

What are the other news - the biggest is the announcement of Zenit about the end of negotiations with Barcelona for Arshavin. Barcelona offered 15 million euros for the Russian star, but Zenit valued him at close to 25 million. In an interview to 'Sport Express', Arshavin confirmed this fact; but he also reiterated his decision to leave Zenit. Soon we could find Arshavin playing in English Premier League. Meanwhile Hleb has launched an amusing attack against Wenger and Fabregas. Hleb said his first preference is Barcelona and was very unhappy with the way Wenger has handled him. Hleb's rebuke against Fabregas should be justified as he has no right to poke his head in other's business. He accused Barcelona for going after Hleb and Adebayor; but looks like conveniently forgotten the way he signed for Arsenal. But Hleb's outburst should give enough indication of him being moving to Barcelona pretty soon.

Arshavin Signing for Chelsea?

Fresh rumours are emerging from Russian media that Arshavin has probably signed for Chelsea. Reports suggest that Arshavin has been in London for discussing the deal. The report also suggests that Chelsea has offered 15 million Euros for the Zenit striker. This is kind of amusing. There were earlier reports suggesting that Barcelona have offered 15 million Euros for the service of Andrei Arshavin. That makes it hard to believe that Chelsea has signed him for the same price. But one thing is for sure Zenit St Petersburg is not going to let him cheaply. They have already indicated that they intend to keep the striker; it looks like a tactic to earn as much as from Arshavin as the player has clearly indicated that he wants a move away from the club. It is not sure whether Barcelona will be interested in dueling with other clubs; but most likely Barcelona will let go the opportunity if the price rise more than what they believe justifiable for the striker.

Adebayor signing has taken a huge turn from the last time I wrote a post here. Now with A C Milan publicly withdrawing from the race, Barcelona looks like the only option for Adebayor. But again Barcelona will not be trying to match Arsenal's asking price and would look some where if the Arsenal insists on unreasonable price. Then it is not clear where will be Barcelona looking for a replacement. Arshavin and Adebayor signing looks like a distant possibility as of now; but that could result in Ronnie and Eto staying in the club. They are pretty unhappy by the way Guardiola handled them, and could result in a seriously unsettled squad next season. Guardiola should always remember that Ronaldinho will drive more loyalty in the dressing room compared to anyone in the squad.

Anyway A C Milan has suddenly renewed their interest for Ronaldinho. They are still reportedly unhappy with the price Barcelona is asking. Anyway they will be waiting for the result of Laporta’s No confidence vote before taking any steps. There were reports that A C Milan would like to have Ronaldinho on loan next season. But will that be feasible is the big question? Meanwhile Chelsea has come up with an offer for Eto. Chelsea sees Eto as the perfect replacement for Drogba and has offered 18 million pound plus Malouda for the striker. Anyway these are rumours. There is more confirmed news. Barcelona officially ha presented Dani Alves. Deco has signed for Chelsea Thuram's and Ezquerra's contract with Barcelona has expired and they will be available for free transfer. Marc Valiente has signed for Sevilla for free. The 21 year old defender had a clause in the contract which made him available for free if he wasn't promoted from B team.

In Guus We Trust

Usually I don't write articles not related to Barcelona F C in this blog, but this time I am tempted to do so. Guus Hiddink, probably could be the only coach whose name gets chanted by the fans every time him team plays. The recent Russia - Dutch match it was his name the Russian fans chanted in the beginning not any of the star players. That should talk as a testimony for the tremendous impact of this wonder coach in modern day football. If it was anyone else than Guus, who has taken Russia to the semis, then the world would have dismissed it as a pretty lucky coach. But then Guus has done it earlier, not once but many times. Guus Hiddink started his stint as a full time football manager in PSV Eindhoven. He has coached the bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Valencia etc , but it has to be said on a club managing level his best record belongs with PSV. His managerial record with national sides has over shone all his success with PSV. In 1998 world cup he took the Dutch team to Semis where they were knocked out by eventaul winners Brazil. He followed the same success with South Korea in 2002 world cup, when again he took the team to Semis. In his next stint as the coach of Australian National side, he took the team to the 2nd round where again they were controversially knocked out by eventual winners Italy. And now again he took an unfancied Russian side to semis of Euro 2008.

As a coach his success has been attributed to his calm nature. He has been regarded as a person who will never become nervous even in the difficult of situation. This nature could be well described by the way he handled the Australian Goal Keeper Mark Schwarzer before the crucial penalty shootout. This is being described about a person who used to tremble among his players in his first season at PSV. There was a story that he once was so nervous that he lit the wrong end of his cigarette. Guus Hiddink's playing system is very simple - he has a preference for the 4-4-2 formation where he organizes his attacks using wingers. Usually Coaches of lesser talented teams go for a much more physical approach, but not this man. He always believes in playing the beautiful game with all its beauty. So even in the toughest of situation you can expect him to play the game beautifully.

With such a simple and straight forward approach to the game, it always intrigues me how he is able to carve all these success. That has to be attributed to the intense loyalty he commands from his players. His players will testify anywhere that he is the toughest coach. But like the many peers in footballing arena, he does not display the toughness by abuse of opponent coaches and players via press meeting and term it as psychological warfare. He is stern as a rock and does not hesitate in taking the tough decisions. He showed no mercy in dealing with players like davids, arshavin, pavylchencko etc. This no-nonsense approach made him so popular among his players; Romario once delayed a kick off at Camp Nou so that he can run to the sidelines and kiss his old coach on both cheeks. So is the case with Park Ji-Sung, Arshavin etc, they all adore him.

For all his success his critics could very well highlight his inability to go past the semi final stage as his weakness. They might term him as unsuccessful for the lack off trophies. But he is not bad at those too; with a very competitive PSV team he has won the one European cup and many Dutch league. How can some one forget the performance of his PSV side in 2006 champions’ league semifinal against A C Milan? Yet, it could be argued that with his latest failure to take Russia to final, he can't be put in the company of the greatest. But all these team whether it was Korea or Australia or now Russia, never was expected to script such great things. He could inspire a bunch of average players to perform tremendously in the toughest of all tournaments will testify for his greatness. If you look the way Russia and Australia qualified for the tournaments that alone will say the fragility of these sides. But still he is able to drive his boys to achieve greatness in these tournaments.

Guus Hiddink for all these feats is loved and admired by fans around the Globe. He is worshipped in the countries where he worked. An Australian newspaper famously suggested imposing Guus tax (in order to pay his wages) so that they can hold on to this guy. South Koreans renamed the World Cup stadium in Gwangju in his name. Russians may surpass these when they have let go him after 2010. Guus Hiddink can be described as the only minimum guarantee coach in world football - "The Guarantee that He will not fail you.”

Guardiola Hints Arshavin Signing

Guardiola during the official presentation of Keita as a Barcelona player gave some hint of the impending signing of Arshavin. He described the Russian as a quality player and emphasized that "In the end we’ll get what we want". Txiki Begiristain also gave positive hints regarding this saying that there could be three more signings. The three players who are linked with the club are Arshavin, Hleb and Adebayor. Barcelona expect some difficulty in signing of the Russian, as they expect Zenit to ask a bigger price than the initial 15 million euros. The bunch of English clubs which are linked with the striker also will not help Barcelona. Sport.es anyway reports of Zenit sporting director Konstantin Sarsaniya confirming that Barcelona has made an offer for the 27 year old Arshavin.

The club could be in for some trouble with the fate of the fantastic trio of Ronnie, Eto and Deco. Out of which Deco is the only person, for whom there is a genuine interest existing from Chelsea. he can be expected to sign for Chelsea for the coming days. But Eto's case is a bit complicated. Barcelona looks like have an informal agreement with Inter for the player, but Eto has emphasized that the club will not be the one who take the final decision. If this is complicated, Ronaldinho case is some thing like a whirlpool. A C Milan who was genuinely interested in him is not ready to match the price Barcelona is asking. Manchester City is ready to match the price, but Ronaldinho may not be interested for that move. Goal.com reports a story in which it is stated that Guardiola might be interested in having Ronaldinho in the squad. How much Goal.com can be trusted, is a question? Whatever if Ronnie stays participation of Ronaldinho in Olympics is going to be a big problem for the club. As in the case of Messi, Guardiola has insisted that Ronaldinho skips the National duty. As far as I am concerned, Guardiola does not have the moral authority to ask such a thing. Messi should represent Argentina in Olympics, what will Guardiola do - fire him from the team, he must be kidding. The worst what Guardiola could do is relegate him to the bench, but then Messi can use the Fifa clause to get out of the contract. Come on Messi, Show some character, your country reckons you!

Arshavin Rumours Gets Stronger

As I wrote in my last post Arshavin - Today's Hot Dish there was no official bid for Arshavin from the Club. But everything might be in for a change. Sport.es has reported that Barcelona after reinforcing their defense and midfield has made the signing of Adebayor and Arshavin as the highest priority. It also reported that Josep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain have agreed on this and are waiting for the Euro to complete before making the official bid for the Russian. The report suggests that Barcelona was aware of this Russian sensation before the Euro; especially Rijkaard was reported to be interested in him. The two reasons why they never made an official approach were due to the fact that his experience outside Russia was minimal and he used to play in a position occupied by Messi. The Euro campaign has dispelled both these problems, with Arshavin emerging as a player who can play in a variety of position. Arshavin is reported to have approached by seven major clubs in Europe but is expected to prefer Barcelona over others. More Over Barcelona board is interested to move in for Arshavin before the Vote of No Confidence against Laporta. This move would give Laporta the confidence to easily overcome the vote.

The reports of a Barcelona bid for Arshavin excite me, but the same cannot be said for Adebayor. I don't believe that he is the one striker we are looking at, may be then I am wrong. Whatever the club expected to endure a long negotiation with Arsenal in order to strike a deal for the tall striker. All the Barcelona fan blogs and forums are dominated by the call for not signing the striker, everybody fears a repeat of the Henry signing here. With Arshavin coming into the picture, Barcelona might be ready to drop the Hleb bid if Arsenal insist on the insame amount. But there are more troubles for Pep and the board to ponder. They still have not found a club for Eto. It is clear that he features no where in Pep's scheme of things. Barcelona is desperate to find a club for him and the latest one interested is Marseille, but I don't think Eto will jump in to that deal. Another big trouble for the club would be dealing with Ronaldinho. He is reportedly unhappy with the fact that Pep doesn't seem him as necessary. He has demanded answers when he return back from holidays.

Arshavin - Today's Hot Dish

Ok, there is no rumour yet about an official Barcelona bid for this Russian striker; but all the Barcelona fan blogs, forums are dictated by the 5 feet 8 inch Russian. All things are discussed - where should he play, should Guardiola change the system, is he that good etc. After the Sweden- Russia match, the only big club which was interested in making bid for him was Arsenal (apart from Everton and Manchester City). But now after his destruction of Holland - Milan, Chelsea all are interested. Nobody is making a decisive approach because of his stated affection to Barcelona. His affection started with the club at the times of the great Brazilian Romario. It was the former Russian Football Federation president Vitaly Mutke who dragged Barcelona into the plot when he stated that the two clubs which are close to Arshavin's heart are Zenit and Barcelona. Barcelona fans might be thanking Vitaly Mutke for bringing the club into the race to sign the talented Russian. Arsenal manager Wenger along with Milan's Ancelotti have openly praised the 27 year old. He might have bloomed a bit late but have taken the world by storm with his performance in Euro. Barcelona maintains a great chance to sign him even though there could be some possible trouble with his signing. The biggest will be where he will be fit in, he is a natural winger and can play at the place of Ronaldinho - but it is proven that he does wonders in that floating strikers role. Second is the price, he might come cheap but will be very expensive to be kept in the team. Zenit pays some 60,000 pounds per week and some bonuses are also involved, add to this the fact that in Russia football players are taxed less. But thinking of a possibility of seeing him play along with Messi excites me. Anyway there is a rumour doing the rounds that Abrahmovich has asked Scolari to prefer Arshavin ahead of Deco. Who ever signs him has to be careful in dealing with him, he has a history of being a bit wayward. He lost the Russian captaincy for an alleged assault on an Andorran player and it is said he lost the captaincy of Zenit because he partied till the morning (sounds similar to Ronnie!). But there is still hope, he has shown a tendency to fall in line when pulled up - this was demonstrated by both Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink.

Roman Anatolevich Pavlyuchenko, was the first Russian to be linked with Barcelona in this summer window. Eventhough Arshavin has taken all the news spot, the rumour regarding Pavlyuchenko simply refuse to die. He could form the leathal partnership with Ashravin at Barcelona. And one more thing he will come much cheaper. It looks like Barcelona can count on the service of maybe Ronaldinho and Eto next season. Atleats in Ronaldinho's case, it looks rather unlikely that he will find a club to suit him. Last week when the press questioned him about the transfer, he replied that his current contract will run till 2010. Both these players are pretty unhappy with the way Guardiola has treated them, they are basically not sure whether they are in the scheme of things for next season. This may be good, these two guys should be fired up to prove the world that they are no push over and regain their places back.