Farewell to Juliano Belletti

In a move that surprised many people, Barcelona rightback Juliano Belletti has been sold to Chelsea for 5.5 million euros.

On the Barca end of things, out of the group of players who were said to be expendable (Motta, Ezquerro and Gudjohnsen being the other names on it), Belletti was the one who would have proved most useful had he decided to stay. But he had very publicly stated his displeasure at losing his starting place to Zambrotta last season, so perhaps a change was for the best.

This is also quite a surprising move by Chelsea, at least from where I'm standing. Mourinho's distrust of attacking fullbacks is well known, and Belletti is nothing if not a defensively dubious attacking fullback.

He'll probably be better than the likes of Glen Johnson, leaving Michael Essien free to return to his midfield duties, but it's hard to see how Belletti fits into Mourinho's big picture. And it's not like he hasn't seen Belletti's defensive problems first hand: the unfortunate rightback scored an own goal in the Camp Nou against Chelsea in 04-05 and his marauding runs forward in the return leg left him stranded upfield, leaving Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen free to give Chelsea an early 3-0 lead. So my question is: did Mourinho sign him? Or was this more the idea of the sporting director or Peter Kenyon? It will be interesting to see how he gets on in the Premier League.

But back to Barca. Juliano Belletti joined Barcelona as part of the 04-05 revolution that revitalized the team, going on to win La Liga twice. He played more than 100 games and contributed heavily with his effective attacking runs forward to the team's success. I always liked him for that attacking verve, even though as I've already pointed out he is defensively fragile.

During his time at Barca, Belletti also participated in the campaign that saw Barca win the Champions League for only the second time. I think if you ask Barca fans for their most vivid Belletti memory, it would have to be the goal that gave us victory over Arsenal in the final, which was his only goal for the club.


That goal was a personal release for Belletti, who had been relegated to the bench in favour of Oleguer for most of the games during that season and had only come on as a substitute in the final. The look on his face captured on the wonderful photo above sheds some light on what it meant for him personally. For Barcelona, it meant the culmination of a rebuilding process which had finally lifted the club back on top of Europe, 14 long years after the last time.

So the 'hero of Paris' departs. Good luck, Juliano. And thank you.

La Liga news round-up: more transfer market insanity

Transfer insanity continues apace, with the rich clubs splashing the cash like there's no tomorrow and the less rich clubs trading players like a particularly demented version of Wife Swap. If you speak Spanish, reputable newspaper El Pais has a good list of all the transfer activity so far.

Barcelona

Our 4th and last signing of this transfer window, barring any unforeseeable events, has finally been officially confirmed: Argentinean central defender Gabriel Alexander Milito is now a Barca player for a cool 17 million euros, with an additional 3.5 million conditional on trophies. The Real Zaragoza captain will arrive after the conclusion of the Copa America, where he is currently preparing for the final against Brazil, and sign a 4 year deal.

Most Barca supporters seem quite happy with this move, although some are wincing at the price tag. Given the currently ridiculous levels of inflation in the transfer market, though, I'm not sure we could have done much better. If you've been watching the Copa America, you'll have noticed that Milito's pretty slow. But having said that, he's also got a fantastic sense of positioning and I've been particularly impressed with the way he copes with high balls.

Welcome, Gabi.

The club have indicated that having achieved their signing objectives of a forward, a centerback, a leftback and a defensive midfielder at considerable expense (65 million euros total, and that's not counting the trophy bonuses), they will now turn their focus towards ushering those deemed surplus to requirements out the door. Rijkaard's preference for a small squad of 23 players or less is well known, so we can expect at least 3 more players out of the current group of 26 (including Gio Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, who are being promoted to the first team, with both expecting to agree professional terms with Barca) to leave.

For those of you who were concerned about the various transfer rumours surrounding Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco, president Joan Laporta has promised that none of them are for sale. Although, frankly, if Milan really were crazy enough to shell out for Ronaldinho's buy-out clause, I could see the logic in letting him go, much as I admire the Brazilian's skills. That buy-out clause? 125 million euros. Some second division teams' entire first XIs aren't worth that much money. More to the point, that much money could fund Barca's transfer spending for a good 3 seasons.

Laporta also spoke his mind on Javier Saviola joining Real Madrid as a free agent, more on which later on in this post. He didn't condemn the move, but he didn't exactly sound approving, either. Not that Saviola will care what Laporta - who, it must be said, was the cause of some of Saviola's problems at Barca - thinks.

Confusingly, Belletti's agent claims that his client isn't looking to leave Barca, despite having complained loudly about lack of playing time at the end of the 06-07 season and having threatened to look elsewhere for opportunities. He also confirms Roma's interest. So let me get this straight: he's definitely leaving, and you're just trying to drive down the price so he can get a decent deal. Great.

Lastly, Yaya Toure speaks about his desire to win the Champions League with Barca (join the club, lad, you're far from the only one thinking that) and his admiration of Frank Rijkaard.

Real Madrid

Real shocked everybody by announcing the prompt signing of Porto's young Brazilian-born defender Pepe for - allegedly - a whopping 30 million euros. At first glance, this is a puzzling bit of business, although the quiet efficiency with which the deal was done is very impressive. Real are probably in need of a defender, but they just signed the highly rated Christopher Metzelder for free. Surely 30 million euros is a bit much to be spending on an uncapped young player who's unproven in Spain. I have no doubt that Pepe is very talented and will prove useful for Real, who've had trouble with the centerback position in the past. (For more discussion of Pepe's signing and issues associated with Real's defence, see the recent posts by Gonzalo at All In White.)

Iker Casillas has already come out in defence of the price tag. He makes a lot of sense, as always, although my personal theory regarding the price tag is that the 'blame' can be laid squarely at the door of the Porto chairman, who has done some very good business in the past: 30 million euros for Ricardo Carvalho, 20 million euros for Paulo Ferreira, 15 million euros for Maniche (!) and so on.

More boardroom business: Sergio Ramos has got himself a much deserved pay rise after his impressive performances of the last few seasons and striker Roberto Soldado has earned himself a nice five year contract after having a good season on loan at Osasuna.

I'm going to remain in denial about the latest Real signing until he's presented in a white kit, but it seems to be official: Javier Saviola has joined as a free agent. Isaiah over at the Barcelona Offside and most of the commenters there are taking it much better than I am. It's not that I dislike him - far from it. I'm quite fond of Saviola. But I'm cringing in anticipation of his first visit to the Camp Nou now.

It wasn't a wise move in that sense, in my opinion, although it's nowhere near a Luis Figo-type case, but also I can't see how he's going to get regular playing time, which is a concern of mine because I support the Albiceleste. This is Real's current striker list: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul, Robinho, Gonzalo Higuain, Antonio Cassano, Roberto Soldado. So how many of those are Schuster going to play in his formation? 2 or 3, most likely, and you'd think van Nistelrooy and Raul will be default starters. We'll see, I suppose. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, Madridistas.)

Sevilla

(Allegedly) batty president del Nido has reacted predictably to Freddie Kanoute's frank request for a (probably deserved) pay rise - I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a massive contract right now - by pretty much flipping him the metaphorical finger. Kanoute has already had a 15 million euro price tag slapped on him, so watch this space.

Meanwhile, the club have signed Malian international Seydou Keita from Lens on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Atletico

Atletico presented young Brazilian striker Diego Costa da Silva, but confusingly enough he's probably not going to play for them in 07-08.

Their failure to qualify directly for the UEFA Cup in 06-07 has seen Atletico's players 'punished' with having to cut their vacations short and start pre-season early to get ready in time for the Intertoto Cup. Coach Javier Aguirre held his first press conference of the season and discussed the impending campaign.

Others

New Recreativo coach Victor Munoz spoke about the difficulties he anticipates for the club in their second season, and having had a glance at that list of departing players at the end of that article, I agree with him. Yikes. They need some signings, alright.

In departures, having already lost captain Arruabarrena to AEK Athens and Diego Forlan to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal have also lost influential midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi, who has ended his loan period and returned to Juventus, where he's looking to join another Italian club.

Relegated Real Sociedad have let midfielder Mikel Alonso - brother of Xabi - go on loan to Bolton. I promise I'll stop writing about La Real soon, but they've just been relegated after all.

Lastly, Depor, Mallorca and Betis can give themselves a pat on the back for one excellent signing each. Betis have secured themselves a replacement for dodgy 'keeper Toni Doblas in Sporting Lisbon's Ricardo Pereira - yes, that Ricardo, and he only cost 3 million euros. I'm looking forward to having the Portuguese no.1 in La Liga.

Mallorca have signed Cameroonian forward Pierre Webo, who just left Osasuna on a free transfer. They do need a goalscorer, especially after selling one of their only decent attacking players in the form of Bosko Jankovic (the other one is the Venezuelan Arango) and Webo's a fairly good one who knows La Liga.

In my last round-up post, I wrote about the hole Depor have found themselves in. They avoided a relegation struggle in 06-07 chiefly because they could defend a bit, and now they've sold several of their best defenders (Capdevila to Villarreal, Andrade to Juventus) and are looking to flog another decent one in the form of Fabricio Coloccini to Zaragoza.

Not sure how they're going to line up defensively in the new season, but at least they've started splashing some of the cash they got from those sales in order to solve their attacking problems. Signing promising young Mexican Andres Guardado from Atlas for around 7 million euros is a good start. He's a fine midfielder and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him play in Spain. Depor fans must feel slightly better about the next season now - although they're not out of the financial doghouse yet.

Barca 06-07 wrap-up: player by player (1)

I've had to break this up into 3 posts since it's gotten so long. So here's my evaluations of our first team squad of 22, plus the technical staff and club management. I'll do another post looking ahead to the Barca squad of next season once all the transfer business is done.

Goalkeepers

Name: Víctor Valdés Arribas
Age: 25
Evaluation: Great season from our young 'keeper. Those of you who only saw his rather hapless performance against Liverpool at Camp Nou might be surprised, but he single-handedly kept Barca in it many times this season with spectacular reflex saves and the ability to truly dominate the penalty area. Saved a couple of penalty kicks, too. I've been the first to criticise him before when he was so error-prone as to seem like a liability to the team, but he's really done very well this season. One of Barca's best performing players in a lackluster season.
Probability of transfer: No way. Safe and secure.

Name: Albert Jorquera Fortià
Age: 28
Evaluation: With Valdes so well established, the only games Jorquera played this season were in the Copa del Rey, where I'm sorry to say he did not reassure in the same way as Valdes. Technically Jorquera is fine, but he's slower than Valdes and hardly ever leaves the penalty area. Not to blame for Barca's missteps in the Copa, but not entirely impressive either.
Probability of transfer: Low. Unless Barca sign a talented young keeper, which doesn't look very likely, Jorquera will be staying. Just extended his contract this season.

Defenders

Name: Juliano Haus Belletti
Age: 31
Evaluation: Belletti has been hampered by repeated injury layoffs this season, as well as there being 2 competitors for his rightback position. He's looked impressive going forward in the few matches he did play, and rather shaky defensively.
Probability of transfer: High. Belletti is reportedly not satisfied with the amount of playing time he had this season, and with Zambrotta establishing himself as first choice, that's only set to continue.

Name: Giovanni 'Gio' Christiaan van Bronckhorst
Age: 32
Evaluation: One of the features of Gio's years at Barca have been the consistency of his performances. We know what he can do, and that's combine well in attack with Ronaldinho, whip in a decent ball from defence and make well-timed runs forward, and what he can't, demonstrated whenever he gets caught upfield when the opposition breaks. This season has been no different.
Probability of transfer: already gone, unfortunately. I was quite surprised - if any of the leftbacks left, I'd expected it to be Sylvinho. He'll be remembered fondly for his contributions not only during the good times, but in turning the barren years into fruitful ones.

Name: Silvio 'Sylvinho' Mendes Campos Junior
Age: 33
Evaluation: One of the wise elders of the dressing room - perhaps one of the main reasons why he has been retained for another season - Sylvinho was unfortunately hampered by injury problems this season. When he did play, he displayed his usual efficiency going forward and was sometimes exposed defensively. Still quite a bit of pace running up and down the left wing despite his age, and combines well with the attacking players.
Probability of transfer: Almost none, now that Gio has left. He'll be Abidal's backup next season, and in all probability will play quite a bit if he can avoid injury.

Name: Gianluca Zambrotta
Age: 30
Evaluation: Zambrotta had a tough time adjusting to the Spanish league at first, but even then his class was apparent. In the latter half of the season his displays in attack and defence improved, and with that came the goals. Not bad at all for his debut season with the club.
Probability of transfer: none, despite several Italian clubs vocally wishing otherwise. Zambrotta is trusted by Frank Rijkaard and expected to be first choice rightback next season.

Name: Carles Puyol Saforcada (c)
Age: 29
Evaluation: If every player were like Puyol, we wouldn't have any internal problems. Simple as that. He represents what Barcelona is all about, and as Sylvinho once said, he's this squad's soul. Always a model of dedication and leadership both on and off the field, through both the good and the bad times. (Anybody remember when Barca were 'Puyol and ten other blokes' back in the pre-Rijkaard days?)

El capitan hasn't had a good season, fraught with both personal tragedy and injury problems leading to a loss of form. He had some outstanding games towards the end of the season and always looked the most composed and least error-prone player in an often shaky defence.
Probability of transfer: There was a time when the club contemplated selling Puyol because we were that broke and desperate for the funds he'd generate. As we are not in the middle of such a crisis any longer, Puyol will not be sold. He's indispensible.

Name: Rafael Márquez Álvarez
Age: 28
Evaluation: It's been a season to forget for Rafa. His defensive partnership with Puyol saw Barca to the glories of the 04-05 and 05-06 season, and he had a decent World Cup as well, but this season saw him in appalling form. Such were the levels of ineptitude he displayed at centerback, compounding the already error-prone defence that he was eventually dropped in favour of Lilian Thuram. He played some games as a holding midfielder in Barca's brief flirtation with 3-4-3 and was largely anonymous. (Thankfully, he seems to be back to his normally impeccable self now.)
Probability of transfer: minimal. There was some speculation, but Puyol's injury dashed that.

Name: Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien
Age: 35
Evaluation: The veteran Frenchman earned the respect of the fans early on in the season with his positioning sense and skill and he eventually worked his way into the starting line-up. Unfortunately, his lack of pace was brutally exposed many times, most notably in both games against Real Madrid. It's not entirely his fault, of course, given the lack of cover most of the time, and his footballing intelligence was still much appreciated. Hits a good ball out of defence.
Probability of transfer: minimal. Thuram looks after himself, but at the age of 35 it's difficult to see him moving on at this point. Will most probably play out his two year deal with Barca.

Name: Oleguer Presas Renom
Age: 27
Evaluation: I get nervous everytime Oleguer plays a game at rightback. He's a decent centerback in a 4 man backline, especially when partnering Puyol, but his lack of pace and attacking threat going forward are brutally exposed on the wing. To be fair, he had quite a few decent games when playing rightback this season - it was when he was playing as a part of a 3 man backline that he looked most shaky. The most notable of these performances came against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, where he was sent off before halftime.

The strange thing about Oleguer is that I remember people talking about him as a fairly good centerback and decent rightback just a few seasons ago. Perhaps he's just not had a good season. The other possibility, which a lot of Barca fans subscribe to, is that he's simply not very good. I would suggest that's a bit uncharitable.
Probability of transfer: none. He's the most likely backup to Zambrotta, especially since Belletti is leaving. Also, Oleguer loves Barca and wouldn't want to leave unless he was absolutely not getting a look-in.


Next up, midfielders.

Barca news round-up: good news and bad news

So, good news first. Ronaldinho's had his two-match ban reduced to one, which means he could appear in Barca's last game of the season against 'Nastic.

Moving on to some transfer news, which is either good or bad depending on your perspective, everyone and their dog wants to leave. Edmilson has reportedly issued a come-and-get-me to AC Milan, and Belletti has done the same to anyone who would listen, both citing a lack of playing time. (Have to say, I'm a bit puzzled in Edmilson's case, as he's either been injured or horribly off form this season, with the honourable exception of the last few matches.) Added to other pretty much certain departures like Ezquerro and Saviola, Barca probably need to get a move on in the transfer market in terms of purchases.

Eto'o and Ronaldinho have also been linked with moves incessantly this season, but it's hard for me to see either of them going. Perhaps my judgement of tabloid gossip is biased because of my desire to see the awesome frontline of Messi-Eto'o-Ronnie playing together for at least a couple more seasons, but I have yet to see a rumour with some proper evidence backing it.

There is some concrete evidence that the long-rumoured Eric Abidal move may finally be on, that is if Barca can agree on a price with Lyon. If we're going to buy an expensive full-back I'd much rather have Dani Alves, but apparently the price that Sevilla want for him is pretty astronomical.

Two pieces of bad news. The first concerns the timing of the game this weekend. In their infinite wisdom, the Spanish FA have decided to play almost all the games at the same time, to avoid accusations of match fixing and so on. While this is no doubt a good idea, the time they have chosen is Saturday night. The internationals only get back to their clubs on Thursday. You may begin to see where the problem is for the club with the most internationals on duty. Barca may be the most affected club, but Sevilla and Real also have a considerable portion of their first team away doing the same thing, and I doubt they're happy about it.

Now, so far all the news items I've mentioned will only have short to medium term impact. This next bit of bad news, however, is going to haunt Barca for years to come. You ready?

Barca B have been relegated to the Spanish fourth division. First of all, I have to say that I don't understand how this happened, given the fact that they have some very decent players.

Second, this is absolutely awful news for Barca's youth development program, which has been very successful over the years but is increasingly losing the talent they unearth to other teams more ready to offer these young players first team opportunities. (E.g. Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique and so on.)

But it has happened, so the club has to deal with it. The plan right now seems to be sorting through the players and sending the bulk of the decent ones off on loan where they'd be playing at a slightly higher level than that of the Spanish fourth division, to be bought back if and when the rest of Barca B claw themselves back up. The two stars of the team Giovani Dos Santos (18) and Bojan Krkic (16) will probably be integrated into the first team squad next season despite their youth, as they are both very talented and the club doesn't want to lose them.

The likes of Xavi, Puyol and Luis Garcia (the Liverpool player, not the Espanyol forward) once made up an excellent Barca B team which won promotion to the Spanish second division back in the 90s. Ah, how the mighty have fallen.

Barca news and press round-up

Barca have no games for 2 weeks. I'm actually pleased about this as it gives me a chance to catch up on blogging. There are about 3 unfinished articles and a couple of match reports coming up. But first, a news round-up.

internationals

10 members of the squad are off on international duty. Details:

Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol (Spain) - the usual suspects head off for vital Euro 08 qualifiers. Puyol is suspended for the Denmark clash in the Bernabeu, which is followed by playing Iceland in Mallorca.
Gudjohnsen (Iceland) - speaking of which, captain Eidur has also been called up for the aftementioned game.
Ronaldinho (Brazil) - Ronnie will head off to Gothenburg to play Chile and then to Stockholm to play Ghana as part of Brazil's friendlies schedule.
Marquez (Mexico) - captain Rafa will be involved in pre-Copa America friendlies against Paraguay and Ecuador back in Monterrey and Oakland respectively.
Gio Van Bronckhorst (Holland) - as a senior member of the Dutch squad, Gio will probably end up playing both Euro qualifiers against Romania and Slovenia respectively.
Zambrotta (Italy) - Zambrotta returns to the Italian squad for the Euro qualifier against Scotland.
Thuram (France) - the veteran defender has been called up for an Euro qualifier against the mighty Lithuania and a friendly against co-host nation Austria.
Eto'o (Cameroon) - Sammy finally makes his return to the Cameroonian NT for an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia in Yaonde.

injury news

Deco has had an operation on his finger following the injury he sustained in a challenge against Recreativo. For what it's worth, club doctors say that he will be able to resume playing with 'special protection' in 3 weeks time - which is rather convenient. He'll have to miss Portugal's qualifiers in the next two weeks, and the visit of Depor, but he was booked for the aftementioned challenge and would have been suspended anyway. So it all works out. Hopefully he will return on time against Zaragoza, as his form was much improved in his last outing.

transfer news

The only credible transfer news lately has been about who's not going anywhere. Belletti renewed his contract, finally putting those AC Milan rumours to rest. The new one-year extension will take him through to 2009. Jorquera also recently agreed improved terms and will be available to give reliable if unspectacular performances in Spanish Cup games until 2008.
Zambrotta has come out and denied that he wants to go back to Italy - apparently after settling in, he's finally beginning to enjoy himself in Spain. I'm very pleased about this, as Zambro is my favourite (non-Argentinean) full-back (not just in Barca, but in European football) and I would very much like him to continue playing for us.

Rijkaard has also spoken out on the constant speculation linking him with a move to AC Milan. He feels that he 'owes a debt' to the club for putting their faith in him and basically in his own roundabout way said that he would not leave unless results compelled him to, or if the club didn't want him anymore. He's a polarising figure amongst Barca fans, but personally I would rather have him than anybody else, even with all his tactical flaws. Hotheaded he may have been as a player, but his behaviour as coach has been impeccable and many times by his words and actions he has made me proud to support Barca.

news story of the day

Most football fans could probably name a favourite retired/former player from their club off the top of their head. Barca fans have a lot of choice - Maradona, Cruyff, Rivaldo, Suarez and so on, not to mention members of the Dream Team.

My personal favourite happens to be someone who achieved nothing at senior international level and retired after years in the wilderness after being tainted by a ban for allegedly taking illegal substances. That doesn't sound too great, especially considering some of the other options, but he was and continues to be hugely respected in Spain, even amongst Madridistas. They say that he was the only Barca player the Bernabeu never booed. He is the reason Barca's youth academy has become a mass production line for a certain type of midfielder. Ask Fran Merida, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta or even Xabi Alonso who they idolize, why they became the players they are today; ask Xavi who he measures himself by; and they'll give you his name.

He was known as that rare species, an articulate and intelligent footballer whose soft-spoken elegance led to years of ignorant innuendo about his sexual orientation. He was a passionate advocate for the Catalan team and its occasional captain. He gave up law school for football.

I am of course talking about the inimitable 'Pep' Guardiola.

Guardiola's understanding of football is total and intuitive, but he is also capable of explaining the concepts with clarity in simple terms. One day, he is going to make a fantastic coach.

When he speaks, people listen. And he chose to speak in defence of Ronaldinho:

“He’s got a right to imperfection and also needs to be judged by his performances over a period of time, not with a game-by-game judgement from critics. He may have dipped a little from what he was doing before, but it’s inhuman to expect any football player to be on the top of his form, beating personal records and carrying a team on his shoulders the whole time. Nobody in the history of football has maintained that standard all the time."

He also said that he wanted Rijkaard to stay, defended the recent use of 3-4-3, and praised the 'extraordinary class' of Messi while urging people not to pressure him on the goalscoring front.

and a light-hearted note to end on...

I've been wondering where Edmilson has disappeared off to in the last few weeks. He wasn't picked for Brazil and he hasn't played for Barca for a while. I hope he's doing alright. Poor guy's not had the best of luck at Barca, injury-wise.

UEFA magazine had a rather amusing and endearing story about the Brazilian, which I'll quote in full here:

Footballers and their cars, eh? Or 'rides' as some of these whipper-snappers will have it. All flash, and no doubt with the latest mod-cons like go-faster stripes and CD players. Thank God for FC Barcelona defender Edmílson to restore some motoring sanity, professing his love for that most honest of jalopies, the humble tractor. "If I wasn't a footballer I would have become a long-distance truck driver," he told Britain's Daily Telegraph. "Even today, when I go back to my father's farm, I love to drive his tractors." Practical, reliable and sturdy. And tractors are not bad either! (Thank you very much, and good night.)