FC Barcelona News

“Barcelona continues with its stance of not wanting to let me go and I understand it,” Messi said. “But I also think they have to understand that my dream is to take part in the Olympic Games with the national team.”

Sometimes it’s hard to fully understand the thought processes that go on in the heads of Barcelona’s management team, and the attempts to block Lionel Messi from playing for Argentina in the Beijing Olympics is one.

Messi announced earlier this year that he wanted to play in the Olympics, because it could be his only chance. However, Barcelona seem intent to alienate their star player by preventing him from doing exactly that. They did requrest for FIFA to make a decision, although FIFA had already done so in stating their policy that tems have to let anyone under the age of 23 play in the Olympics.

Today FIFA has announced at a hearing that FC Barcelona must let Messi play, but of course Barcelona are now going to appeal this decision.

While there is some risk of injury to the young Argentinian, surely Barcelona wants to keep his moral up at the same level it has been during this last tricky year. If they think it is all about forcing their players to do what they want they really have no idea about the dynamics of a team and deserve to fall flat on their faces.

It’s now been confirmed that Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho will be leaving Barcelona for AC Milan after coming to an agreement on Tuesday night.

Although his last season with Barça was bitterly disappointing, he was well loved by fans and brought some real magic to the Nou Camp. Let´s hope that he can regain even a little of his form in Italy and continues to dazzle for years to come.

Troubled FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has today confirmed that AC Milan and Manchester City have tabled bids for Ronaldinho.

While Man City have more money on the table, the former club wonder boy favours a move to Italy, no doubt for the better climate as well as to join fellow Brazilian players. Laporta believes that negociations should be completed this week.

Barcelona’s 4-1 defeat by Real Madrid on Wednesday proved to be the last straw for the club directors, who met on Thursday to discus Frank Rijkaard’s future. Joan Laporta confirmed the inevitable at the press conference that followed, saying that Frank Rijkaard would leave at the end of June, with B team coach Pep Guardiola stepping up to take over for next season.

Guardiola was part of Barcelona’s “dream team” and seen by many as the ideal candidate - ex-Barça player, Catalan and already part of the furniture. However, it isn’t a view held by everyone and it remains to be seen whether he can breathe life back into a much demoralized squad.

The summer saw some interesting activity for Barcelona. Thierry Henry finally settled seasons of speculation and made the move from Arsenal. This gives Barca a wealth of opportunities up front but Henry’s versatility and ability to play as a lone striker or on the wings in a striking formation will certainly seem to work to Barça’s advantage.

In the same week the club also signed midfielder Yaya Toure from Monaco and defender Eric Abidal from Lyon. It’s generally thought that Abidal was signed as a direct replacement for Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. Finally, the club also signed Gabi Milito from Real Zaragoza which fills the hole left by the departure of Motta for Atletico Madrid.

Gio Van Bronckhorst made the move back to Feyenoord over the summer. Although he had recently signed a contract until 2008 with Barca, he had a verbal commitment from the club that they would allow him to move back to Feyenoord, the club he supported as a child and where he first played football, if they came in for him.

Maxi Lopez, after a season’s loan at Mallorca, made a permanent move to FC Moscow. The striker didn’t look likely to get a first team chance at Barça, especially after the arrival of Thierry Henry. The same could be said for Saviola who left for Real Madrid on a free transfer after his contract was not renewed in June and Giuly who, with a year left on his contract, made the move to Roma. Both players found it hard to break into the team last season and with the arrival of new players and the emergence of home-grown forward talent, they seemed unlikely to be able to make much of an impact this season either.

In defence, Belletti finally made his much speculated about move to Chelsea. The 31 year old found it hard to compete for a first team place with Zambrotta in such fine form so was allowed to go. Finally, Motta fell out with coach Frank Rijkaard in the summer and was put on the transfer list. The player found it hard to consolidate his place in midfield at Barcelona - a position which wasn’t likely to change given the current talent, new signings and the emergence of youth players - so eventually agreed a one-year deal with Atletico Madrid.

The summer also saw the emergence of two Barça Youth players who may well make their mark on the first team this season. Bojan Krkic has progressed through the youth set up in phenomenal time and, although only 17, is hailed as one of the most exciting striking prospects in the game. Giovani Dos Santos, also a forward player, is also considered a ‘Wonder Kid’ and has been hailed as the new Ronaldinho.

Players in:

Thierry Henry, Arsenal (£16.1m)
Yaya Toure, Monaco (£6.1m)
Eric Abidal, Lyon (£10m)
Gabi Milito, Real Zaragoza (£12.1m)

Players Out:

Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Feyenoord (Free)
Maxi Lopez, FC Moscow (£1.3m)
Javier Saviola, Real Madrid (Free)
Ludovic Giuly, Roma (£2m)
Belletti, Chelsea (£3.7m)
Motta, Atletico Madrid (undisclosed)

With the transfer season open FC Barcelona has been busy shopping. As well as signing Thierry Henry, which we reported earlier in the week, Barcelona has also opened its chequebook for midfielder Yaya Touré from Monaco and today the club announced that defender Eric Abidal is joining from Olympique Lyon.

So far only Gio is leaving the club, but it is certain he won’t be the last to leave.

Full name: Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Birthplace: Rotterdam, Holland
Date of Birth: 5^th February 1975
Position: Defender
Height: 176cm
Weight: 72kg 

Previous Teams:  Arsenal, England; Glasgow Rangers, Scotland; RKC Waalwijk, Holland; Feyenoord, Holland; FC Barcelona.
National Squad/Number of Appearances: Holland/60+ Overview

Giovanni van Bronckhorst originally joined Barcelona on loan from Arsenal for the 2003-4 season before making a permanent transfer. He can play in either a left-back or left midfield position – he tends to play as a left-back for the team at the moment. An experienced defensive player, van Bronckhorst also likes to attack and is a proficient and creative crosser of the ball. He has an eye for goal and a strong and successful reputation in deadball/free-kick situations. He transferred back to Feyenoord at the end of the 2006/2007 season from Barcelona.

Facts: 

• Van Bronckhorst was the only Barca player to appear in every game of the 2005-6 Champions league campaign.
• Nicknamed Gio, van Bronckhorst has opted to have his nickname as his shirt name at Barcelona whereas previously his shirt name was van Bronckhorst. It’s thought this was partly done as Spanish commentators find it hard to pronounce the player’s surname.
• Originally signed to Arsenal to replace Emmanuel Petit, van Bronckhorst’s time at the club was marred by injury and he found it hard to break back into the team with the then emergence of players such as Ashley Cole.
• During his time with Barca he has won two Spanish Supercups (2005-6/2006-7), two League Titles (2004-5/2005-6) and the Champions League (2005-6).
• At Feyenoord he won the Dutch Cup in 1994-5.
• At Glasgow Rangers, van Bronckhorst won two League Titles (1998-9/1999-0), the League Cup (1998-9) and two Scottish Cups (1998-9/1999/0).
• Whilst at Arsenal he won the Community Shield (2001-2), the League Title (2001-2) and two Cup Finals (2001-2/2002-3).
• He was one of a record four players shown a red card during the World Cup match against Portugal in 2006 when Holland were knocked out of the competition.
• He is contracted to Barcelona until 2008 and has announced his intention to return to Feyenoord to finish his career there.

It is being widely reported that Arsenal’s Thierry Henry has signed a €24 million contract to move to FC Barcelona. Although both clubs had agreed to delay the news, the story was leaked by Cadena Ser on Friday and Henry will be appearing before the press on Monday.

After Eto’o’s comments earlier in the week the club is eager to ensure that all looks right to the world. Eto’o was seen hugging Ronaldinho at training yesterday and it was all put down to misunderstanding on both sides.

But, is that all there is to it? Eto’o also mentioned to journalists that there were two factions inside the team, one of the pro the president and the other unspecified but presumably anti-Laporta. Sandro Rossell, previously Laporta’s buddy until their big falling out, has long been considered a contender, but he looked surprised at Eto’o’s comments and it seem unlikely that he is behind any kind of coup.

What is clear though is that all is not well behind the scenes at Barça. What it is we don’t know, but Eto’o’s outburst shows that there is a tide of discontent sweeping over the players.

It seems that Samuel Eto’o isn’t the happiest chap in the Barça squad at the moment. After his long awaited return to fitness he refused to play for the last 5 minutes of the match on Sunday (according to Rijkaard) and then stormed at both Rijkaard and Ronaldinho at an appearance today. Apparently Ronadinho had apparently made a comment in a post match interview to the effect that he should have put the team first, a comment that Eto’o was clearly furious with.