FC Barcelona News

One piece of good news from the recent wrangling between players and management is that Victor Valdes contract has been renewed for another 5 years, potentially allowing the Barça goalkeeper to retire at the club.

Negotiations with the 27 year old player’s manager broke down recently, with Joan Laporta insisting that they deal direct with Valdes instead, with the aim of resolving the standoff. It is difficult to imagine Barça without the opinionated Valdes, who is also third Captain behind Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernadez, and despite coming in from some criticism he does a solid job when the Barcelona defense fails.

And as a product of the Barça youth system, born in nearby Hospitalet de LLobregat, it is almost impossible to imagine him playing for another club, especially in Spain. However, the deadlock was broken on Tuesday, when the player and Barcelona management agreed terms.

FC Barcelona showed off their new kit for the 2009/10 season last Saturday against Osasuna, and the good news is that it is now available to order online.

The official 2009/10 FC Barcelona shirt was designed by Nike and features traditional blue and burgandy “blaugrana” bars, rather than the blocks of colour used on the 2008/09 shirt. This home shirt is available in sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL.

You can also have the shirt printed with your favourite player’s name and number or customised to your own preference using the official La Liga or Champions League style, or add sleeve patches for £5.

The FC Barcelona shirt and other kit is available from UK Soccer Shop.

All I can say is that it’s a right mess at FC Barcelona at the moment, but hopefully they’ll get themselves sorted out soon and it won’t have a negative impact on the squad.

What am I talking about?

Last Sunday there was a vote of no confidence that required a 66 percent vote AGAINST the club president to kick him out. With only 60 percent of the members who voted going against him, Joan Laporta won the vote…

…for the moment. And then yesterday the board of FC Barcelona convened to discus their way forward and 8 members out of 17 resigned after Laporta refused to step down.

It’s quite a turnaround for the golden boy of Barça. Until this season it seamed he could do no wrong in the eyes of fans, having turned the club’s fortunes around. But with no trophies for the second year and lacklustre performances from players like Ronaldinho, his support dwindled.

Having ditched Frank Rijkaard unceremoniously in May he must have hoped he could put his troubles behind him. Instead the pressure seems to be intensifying, at a time that all eyes should be on the new squad.

FC Barcelona has issued a statement denying that manager Frank Rijkaard has been sacked. Catalan station TV3 last night reported that Rijkaard would be leaving the club with B-side trainer Josep Guardiola, taking over the job next season.

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