Barcelona - The Catalan Club
Tuesday 28th June
Barcelona have today announced that their hugely successful manager Josep Guardiola will once again be back in charge of the club for at least one more year. The wiley Spanish manager who has seen his team blossom under his guidance has pleased the fans who had always wanted him to stay. Guardiola is an enigma when it comes to his Barcelona contract, only ever signing one year extensions when many other managers would want to commit to a longer contract, given the players and the success the Catalan club have. With strong morals and an extremely gracious approach Guardiola states that if his or the clubs attitude changes towards one another or if the relationship between the two ever becomes stagnant, both parties can walk away within a year. This also unselfishly gives Guardiola no chance of huge severance payout if the club decided to sack him.
Barcelona President Sandro Rossell was delighted when Guardiola agreed to stay on for another year and has promised his manager all the support he needs and a summer warchest which is yet to be announced but expected to be in the region of thirty five million Euro's. Rossell who has seen the club flourish in the past few seasons under Guardiola will be hoping that his manager can get the team to perform as they have been over the past few years and that they can successfully retain the much coveted Champions League trophy and defend the Spanish League title too.
With Guardiola and Barcelona having mastered the Tiki-Taki style it seems that the Spanish Champions are a mile apart from any other major European team, Real Madrid are the Catalan clubs main rivals in the Spanish League but in recent years have fallen far behind Barcelona in the chase for the title, even with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Özil and Kaka in their team and with José Mourinho now managing them it doesn't look like Barcelona will be easily beaten.
The Blaugrana as the club is affectionately known possess some fantastic players and without these players the club nor Guardiola would have enjoyed such success'. Lionel Messi is the Catalan clubs poster boy and at the moment is being touted the best player on the planet. The young Argentinian it seems is even being labled as the best player ever to grace the game! The club also possess the superstar midfield duo of Xavier Hernández and Andrés Iniesta who both act as the engine room in the team. Both players dictate the play around them and have the ability to provide the team with goals and the killer pass to create them. David Villa who was recently purchased from Valencia in the summer of 2010 is a menacing threat in front of goal and has always been earmarked as one of Europe's most dangerous strikers. Even the Barcelona defence possess' great talent with the likes of Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol and Daniel Alves all protecting the Barcelona goal.
Barcelona who have always relied on their youth setup system are still churning out great prospects with the likes of Carlos Tello, Isaac Cuenca and Thiago Alcântara all expected to get a sizeable amount of playing time this season to aid their development at the club. The youngsters who have all come up through the ranks of the club will be looking for the chance to make their stake for first team football and to make their own bit of history at the club.
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Thursday 14th July
TRANSFER NEWS
It's been a couple of weeks since Pep Guardiola signed his one year contract extension with Barcelona and he already looks to have wrapped up the clubs summer spending spree. With the Spanish mastermind having now completed this summers transfer signings he can now turn his attentions to Pre-Season where he'll taking his team to Belgium to participate in four friendlies.
With Barcelona having such an array of talent within their ranks it must be hard for Guardiola to find ways to improve things, especially when there isn't really much to improve. The old saying goes if it's not broken, don't fix it. Guardiola however has seen the need to sign three players this summer and each looks like they could benefit The Blaugrana.
Transfers In
Gylfi Sigurðsson - £10,250,000 From View attachment 232165Hoffenheim
Guardiola has suprised alot of people with this signing as Gylfi Sigurðsson until now has been a relatively unheard of player around Spain. The young twenty-one year old who has previously played in Germany and in England will be looking to impress in Spain with the European champions as fans at his new club have been caught off guard with the transfer as they know very little about their new man.
It's believed that Guardiola see's Sigurðsson as someone who can learn from Xavi and Iniesta and perhaps even eventually replace the ageing superstars in the team. The young Icelandic midfielder has similar traits to the Barcelona icons as he too possess the ability to masterfully pass through an opposition team. Sigurðsson also has a keen eye for goal and can score from long range too. His freekick taking is also very strong and the youngster has admitted to continuously watching David Beckham on the TV when he was younger and learning from the England Icon's technique.
With Sigurðsson having not even played his first game for the club, it seem's he is already under pressure to perform due to his obscurity in Spain. Many fans will be hoping that he is of the quality that the Blaugrana already have in the team.
Lucas Andersen - £600,000 From View attachment 232202 Aalborg Boldspilklub
The young Danish winger has only really recently been noticed around Europe and is now starting to earn himself a reputation as being a future star. Barcelona have acted quickly to snap up the youngster with a whole host of other clubs ready to sign him up. Andersen however has opted to sign for the European champions where he feels he'll be able to improve and further his career the most. He stated that he will feel honoured to be at the same club as the likes of Lionel Messi and Xavi who he admires alot.
It's believed that Guardiola will place Andersen in the clubs under 19's squad to build up his experience and that he may call upon him in Cup games against inferior opposition. At sixteen years old though the youngster will have plenty of opportunities to earn his place in the squad and with the players around him he will have some of the worlds best talent to learn from.
Iker Muniain - £21,000,000 From View attachment 232224 Athletic Bilbao
Iker Muniain has moved from Athletic Bilbao to Barcelona which will certainly impress the Barcelona faithful. Muniain who has been closely watched by everybody in Spain at the moment is definately not short of talent. Coming to Barcelona from an Athletic team which seem's to be producing some great Spanish players as of late, Muniain stated that although leaving Bilbao had been a hard decision to make coming to Barcelona was like a dream come true.
The young Eighteen year old who plays mainly as a wide left attacking midfielder seems to be the perfect choice of player for Barcelona's David Villa to turtor. The youngster already shows glimpses of what his future has in store for him. The talented winger can also play up front although his finishing training will need to be worked on within the club.
Guardiola had to stump up some serious cash for the Basque player and after a brief meeting with club chairman Sandro Rossell it seemed like the Barcelona manager easily persuaded the man in charge of the club to part with his money in order to sign the young starlet.
Transfers Out
As interesting and exciting it is to see new talent come into the club, Barcelona have sold players too. Some are notable players too with the likes of Seydou Keita and Adriano being shown the door. Others like Ibrahim Afellay who never really got his Barcelona career started and Keirrison another player to flop at the club have both left too. José Manuel Pinto also leaves the club but on loan to Zaragoza.
José Manuel Pinto - Loan to View attachment 232250 Zaragoza
Keirrison - £2,300,000 View attachment 232252 Fiorentina
Ibrahim Afellay - £7,000,000 View attachment 232253 Paris Saint-Germain
Seydou Keita - £5,500,000 View attachment 232254 Arsenal
Adriano - £6,250,000 View attachment 232251 FC Porto
With Barcelona having wrapped up their incoming and outgoing Transfers already this season, Guardiola will already be tinkering with his side and exploring new ways to improve Europe's best team even further. He takes his side to Belgium in a few weeks to play four routine friendlies where he can give the team some match fitness after a long summer hiatus. He can also use this tour as an opportunity to give some fringe players the chance to impress and perhaps stake a claim for a first team place.
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