Saturday, February 10, 2007

Barca odds and ends

my opinion on some transfer rumours

  • The Old Lady needs to keep her grubby hands off Saviola (he wants to stay in Spain, remember?)
  • Frank Lampard? A thousand times no. What would he do? And before anyone asks, this swap deal with Deco idea better be nonsense dreamed up by the press. There aren't many players I'd swap Deco for.
  • (I wouldn't say no to a world-class defensive midfielder though, since both of Barca's seem to be cursed with permanent injury problems.)
  • C Ronaldo? I don't think so. Why would Man Utd sell? (If this does go through with Xavi going in the other direction, a lot of people are going to be very angry, including me.)
the two amigos

Att: Eurosport - Andres Iniesta's career is not 'fledgling'. He's 22, has already played 100 games for Barcelona as well as captained the side, and in 6 years time he will probably be captaining Spain and directing the midfield alongside Cesc Fabregas.

While we're on the subject of players who have achieved more than a lot of players will do in a life time at an astonishingly young age, Leo Messi will play his 50th official game for Barca against Racing this weekend. That might not seem like a big number until one is reminded that he doesn't turn 20 until the end of the season. If his injury problems didn't exist he would have played as many games as Iniesta by now.

So congratulations to a fearless prodigy, and long may he prosper in a Barca (and Argentina) shirt.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A injury free, in form Messi in action is probably one of the best things about modern football. of course Barca's opponents wont agree with me on that. Just ask Del Horno!

Mal said...

Linda, what do you make of the rumours of Frank leaving and Ronaldinho going to Milan?

Linda said...

Z: I totally agree with you. It would be so good to see him back in action and in form. As for Del Horno, I think the poor guy never recovered.

Mal: Rijkaard leaving is a distinct possibility, unfortunately. I would hate for it to happen, but he's got to be getting fed up with how crazy everything around the club is. (Did you know he's one of our longest serving coaches at 3 and a half seasons? Tells you something about the madness of Barca.)

I really don't know about Ronnie. Word is that Barca have held off offering him a new contract because they're not sure he's still motivated, but his current deal is quite good as it is, and runs 'til 2010, so I don't really know how Milan are going to top that. Of course, if Rijkaard does go there (and he might not - he's apparently leaning towards a year away from football) then all bets are off. Ronnie loves Rijkaard.