Henrique will arrive today

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Palmeiras central defender and Brazilian international Henrique Adriano Buss (21) will arrive in Barcelona today.

Henrique should already have arrived one week ago, but Barcelona asked the player to postpone his arrival until the transfer of Ronaldinho to AC Milan was finalized. After the medical tests he will sign a five-year contract. The transfer fee is 8 million euro° plus a possible 2 million euro variables.

In an interview with the paper, Henrique says he's delighted about the transfer: "I'm aware that this is a unique opportunity in my life and I'm ready to grab this chance. I'm incredibly motivated and ready to start training and playing in Europe. I don't yet fully realize what it means to represent Barcelona, I think I will only feel the importance of the club when I arrive."

There's still a chance that the player will do a part of the pre-season with Barcelona, although the most likely thing is that he will immediately join German club Bayer Leverkusen, where he will play on loan next season like has been agreed upon between Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and the brothers Marcos and Naor Malaquias, the agents of the player.

The paper claims that it were the agents of Henrique who themselves proposed the Leverkusen option to Barcelona once the club had made clear its intention to loan the Brazilian defender out for one season (read more here).

Henrique thinks that accepting the loan deal has been the right decision: "The most important thing is that I will be a Barcelona player and that the club decided to transfer me. I think that Bayer is a good option now, because it's a top club in Germany that will allow me to adapt to the football in Europe and will give me the chance to keep on growing as a player in view of my definitive arrival in Barcelona. Over the last weeks, I have been training on my own which will probably help me to pick up the rhythm quickly."

Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that the only remaining problem with Bayer Leverkusen is that Barcelona wants the German club to fully pay Henrique's salary during next season.

Read more:
Henrique will be loaned out to Leverkusen
Brazilian defender Alex Silva high on list
Henrique won't be presented