The new season started already

David Villa: Pre-Season officially begun last week with Pep Guardiola having a press conference on Monday followed by the first training session of the season; however, a lot of work has been done already in order to prepare for next season. Just a week after they became La Liga champions F.C Barcelona signed Spanish striker David Villa for €40 million; a sum that doesn’t seem to be a lot after seeing “El Guaje’s” performance at the World Cup. Had the deal been made after the tournament his price on the market would have been almost twice. Both, the player and the club, wanted to close the deal quickly after the season was over. This is the signing that F.C Barcelona needed to do; with Zlatan Ibrahimovic not adapting well the team needs a striker that not only can score but also can play with style of Barcelona. Villa is a striker capable of playing as a center forward or as a left wing as he did in the World Cup. Though a year late, David Villa comes as a consolidated star whose only success has been with the national team.

Pep Guardiola: a man of his word, the successful coach signed a contract extension for one year as he had promised at the beginning of the year. Despite the fact that the new president Sandro Rosell had offered him a 6 years contract Guardiola opted to go for one more year only. The reading of this move is clear, the coach wants to see how the new administration works, how involved they are, and also how much freedom he will have with his team. For two years Guardiola has been able to have his way with everything that regarded his team. If Guardiola feel respected, appreciated, and in control of the team he will stay for another year. Sandro Rosell has already made a decision against the coach’s will with the transfer of Dimitro Chygrinsky. The new president claims economical reasons for the move and Guardiola accepted the move but the idea of the coach was to keep the player. The relationship between president and coach is in the beginning stage but tiny mistakes like this can make Pep’s future away from Camp Nou.

More signings to come: with Thierry Henry, Toure Yaya and Chygrinsky gone the team needs to reinforce some positions. The general belief is that the team needs to go for a winger but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic staying in the club David Villa will be in charge of the left wing formerly occupied by Henry. Sevilla’s player Adriano Correiro has been signed and will most likely play as a left back sending Abidal to the center of the defensive line. Due to his versatility Adriano can also play as a right back or a winger in both sides. The efforts are clearly set upon Cesc Fabregas; bringing back the Catalan would give the team a lot of tactical options and Guardiola could rotate players easily as he did in his first season. If Arsenal refuses to sell Cesc, F.C. Barcelona will look for other options; the most attractive option on the market is the young German Ozil. Regardless of the result of the Fabregas operation a defensive midfielder will come to the team to cover for Toure’s departure. The main concern of the fans is seeing how short the squad is and how this is a similar situation to last year. The main hope comes from the junior division which, as proven, can bring a lot to the table. Keep an eye on Jonathan Dos Santos; Andreu Fontas and Thiago Alcantara.

Maxwell Effect

First transfer of the season: Barça made at last its first move in the summer transfer market signing Brazilian left back Maxwell from Inter Milan for 5 million euros. Maxwell was one of the choices of Guardiola to cover the hole left by Silvinho. This transfer will help Barça both technically and tactically from the very first day. Maxwell is a very offensive player that will create some competition with Abidal for a place in the main team. But the best aspect of this signing is the effect that it will cause on the market. First of all; it is a very strategic signing that didn’t cost Barça too much. In fact, 5 millions euros seems like nothing in today’s market. Second, this signing allows Barça to save money that they were willing to invest for Deportivo’s defender Filipe Luis. Barça put an offer of 9 million euros which Depor’s president considered to be too little. Now Depor ended up losing a good deal and keeping an unhappy player.

Villa will be next: He seems as though he really wants to leave Valencia and want to be in Barça. If he really wants it he will succeed; I’m of the opinion that Villa will break his silence soon and manifest to the media his interest in playing for Barça. Valencia’s president has to look at what happened with Filipe Luis. When a player wants to leave and he doesn’t then he ends up playing very bad; even if his level is equal or better, his mood affects the dynamic of the team. Barça has other options; one of them as attractive as Villa. If Valencia keeps pushing they will end up just like Depor; missing the opportunity of make a good deal and bring money to their account, and keeping an unhappy player. The funny side of this story is that Valencia was asking for 42 millions to Real Madrid for Villa and Barça is willing to leave them 42 millions for the same player and even two players on loan and Llorente [Valencia’s President] still don’t want to negotiate.

Forlan on deck: the second alternative that Barça is considering at this time is Diego Forlan. The two times and current golden boot of Europe has been linked to Barça for years now. Forlan wants to be back at the elite of the world after Manchester United let him go. He is a player that has a lot of resources to score and would adapt to Pep’s offensive style. His signing is probably easier than Villa since they don’t even have to negotiate with Atletico; all Txiki has to do is pay the termination clause of his contract which is 36 million euros. The only negative thing about Forlan is that he currently sits at 30; these things don’t really matter if at the end Barça wins big titles but 30 years still 30 years. Regardless of what happens, Maxwell effect will start to feel soon; hopefully Barça ends up signing players that will lead to the 4th Champion’s League

Florentino Strikes Back

Florentino Skyrockets the Market: when Florentino Perez entered the race to become president of Real Madrid we all saw what was soon to come. Millions and Millions of dollars spent in world class players with the excuse of getting the money back solely on marketing. The man has done it again; 67 million euros in Kaka and 94 in Ronaldo. The truth is that Real Madrid obtained a 300 million euros loan from Banca Madrid of which now they only have 89 since they spent another 36 in Benzema and 15 in Albeol (the only Spanish player). Last year, Barça was able to arm a champion team with 94 million euros; although, the nucleus of the team was already in Barça and it was all made at home through their junior development system. This year however, 89 millions euros are so little that it will give Madrid the chance to buy maybe 2 more players. The effect Florentino is already present; last year, for example, to buy Villa any team would have to pay 30 million; now that quantity seems like a joke. Now for Madrid had to pay 36 millions plus incentives for the Benzema who had a mediocre season overall. Liverpool is asking for “just” 35 millions for midfielder Mascherano and the funny thing is that due to the effect of Florentino’s crazy acquisition it look as if 35 millions were just OK even though a player like that may be worth 25 Millions at maximum in a regular transfer season.

The Almost Perfect Picture: The story seems to have all the ingredients for another epic journey by Real Madrid in the Champions League and La Liga; but there is already a “mole” to the otherwise seemingly perfect body that is this team. One of the mistakes that Florentino had in his first era as president of Madrid was the absence of Spanish players. Saved for Raul, Casillas, Guti and Hierro the rest of the team was made of foreign players such as Zidane, FIgo, Ronaldo, Beckham, Makelele, Panucci, and others. There were Spanish players and they bought Ramos; but Perez always seemed to think that Spanish players were overpriced and foreign players not. His first promise this time was to make a more Spanish team and the man to cause that effect was no other than David Villa. The payment 94 Millions for Ronaldo and 67 for Kaka to make a huge impact; but these moves also backfired when they asked for Villa the response by Valencia was 45 millions which Perez considered to be “too much”. Once again Florentino makes the mistake of underestimating Spanish players once again. They ended up paying 36 millions for incentive for Benzema rather than 42 for Villa who is already adapted to La Liga and scores at least 22 goals per season. Villa is now on the verge of signing with Barça and that will be the first defeat of the “new” Real Madrid. It is subject of envy when you see Barça winning the first ever Spanish treble with not only Spanish players but players made in their youth development system. Real on the other hand is a team made in the banks and despite Florentino’s speech of having learned his lesson it all seems more of the same.

Villa Is “Just A Matter of Time”: that was the heading of Madrid’s newspapers during the confederation cup when their “secret sources” could confirm that Madrid was going to buy Villa. Even Florentino said it that they just needed time to negotiate the overpricing of the player which they were hoping to buy for 28 million euros. Now the situation happens to be true but with Barça’s name instead of Madrid. The player has negotiated his contract with Barça and has already talked with Guardiola of what his role will be in the team. The only problem right now is convincing the president of Valencia who was asking for 42 to Madrid and now he’s asking for 50 to Barça. The player has spoken with the president of Valencia and knows that the player wants to leave; he was put on the market before and now he demands to be transferred. Villa has been very passive but soon won’t be if he’s made to stay in Valencia. The worst part of the story is that this player should already be in Barça who is starting the pre-season in less than 10 days from now. It’s just a matter of time, but Guardiola doesn’t have that much of a time and plan B is there; 30 years old, two times golden boot and Atletico De Madrid’s own Forlan. This summer’s transfer is a long way from over but many feel that more movement should have happened already; Florentino has done it again.

Rumour-mania 2009 III

In a long 15 days period where there is only going to be international matches there is not much to talk about La Liga. As expected, the different sports newspapers have taken the chance to talk about the “future teams” and the new “top secret” plans about how a team is going to acquire some player. First it was C. Ronaldo then it was Benzema, Ribery, and now back again to the headline please welcome back Cesc Fabregas. Sport sites from Barcelona (www.sport.es, or www.elmundodeportivo.com) are claiming that Cesc will be the future midfielder in Barcelona while Madrid sites (www.marca.com or www.as.com) are claiming that the Catalan will finally go to real Madrid. My bet? He’ll stay in Arsenal next year.

Real Madrid Episode II…Calderon Strikes Back. Just when you’d think that the picture of the Real Madrid situation could not get any crazier we get the former president, Ramon Calderon, saying that he will present his candidature for the coming elections in the summer. What makes this whole situation so surreal is that less than 2 months ago he was forced to resign after a fraud scandal; on top of that, Calderon was known for his false promises such as bringing Kaka, CR7, and Cesc Fabregas to the club and there was nothing but joy by the shareholders of the club when he resign. Now, Mr. Calderon appears on the media challenging the expected-to-be new president Florentino Perez to debate in public; and in the mean time, the current transition president goes very arrogantly saying that Madrid would win against Liverpool (which didn’t happen) and that they will also conquer the league title (they are 6 points from the first place). If you love nonsense humour watch what happens during the summer elections.

“Future” Barcelona’s Player. Every year there has to be a new player in every team. It’s not only a tradition but a measure to create competition within the team so everybody brings their top game. Prove of that is what Real Madrid did (or didn’t do) during the summer when they only acquired 1 player. The final result was a team that lack of competition in itself and that was going from winning the league in may to being 5th in November, and if it wasn’t for the winter transfer window they’d be right know struggling to get a place to the UEFA’s Cup. With that being said, it is not a secret that Barcelona will have to get some new players for the next season. A left back is needed as Abidal can be a hit-or-miss player and Silvinho is in the twilight of his career. Another position that needs some reinforcement will be the left wing. Hleb has been more than disappointing and the chances of him staying in Barça are less to none; so, the parade of names to fill these positions is huge. However, the positions that do not need any changes are also being talked about. For instance, there are a lot of rumours that Cesc will be signing for Barça but to be honest he’s not needed at the moment. Xavi and Iniesta are directing the midfield like Beethoven on his 5th symphony; playing Cesc Iniesta and Xavi would be a huge mistake since the 4-3-3 schema needs a defensive midfielder like Toure who can destroy the offensive game of the rival team. Another position that is being talked a lot is the striker. Eto’o is currently sitting at 25 goals in 28 games; he even said that he wants to stay in Barcelona for the coming years. Adding another striker would be a huge mistake. Specially having Bojan on the bench.

The Striker Dilemma. If Eto’o leaves then Barcelona must acquire a striker of the likes of Villa for the next season. However, with the high chances of Eto’o staying there must be no changes at all in this denomination. A column by Spanish writer Fabian Ortiz of sport diary “As” said something very true. Lately Karim Benzema is being said to cost above 40 million euros; but then you think about it the young French striker currently sits on 17 goals on the French league (a very mediocre league) while Bojan who is 3 years younger has scored 9 goals in all competitions without being regular in the team whatsoever. If Eto’o leaves Bojan has to be the second striker o the team; it is time to put some money on the line for the youngster; and if Eto’o decides to stay he must be included more frequently on the team. He has the striker instinct but lacks of experience and exposing him at this time can be very risky. However, the time will soon come when Bojan needs a more decisive role in the team. Let’s hope that a)Pep gives him the chance and b) that he responds… up until now he has.