Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona will this weekend officially announce the transfer of Arsenal midfielder and Belarus international Alexander Hleb (27).
The agreements with Arsenal (transfer fee of 15 million euro° plus variables) and the player (four-year contract) would already have been closed a while ago and are now just waiting to be signed (read more here).
Hleb, who would have said goodbye to his Arsenal team-mates on Thursday and who could arrive in Barcelona this weekend, will be presented on Monday or Tuesday and will then immediately start the pre-season with the squad.
British tabloid The Sun claimed on Thursday that Arsenal officials insisted they had not yet agreed the fee. The English Premier League club would still be holding on to a fixed price of 18 million euro° but the deal was expected to be completed this weekend.
Read more:
Principal agreement on Hleb
Hleb wants to join Barcelona
Hernanes urged to focus on his game
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Hleb transfer to be announced this weekend
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15 comments:
15 million euro =
23 million us dollar
12 million british pound
18 million euro =
28 million us dollar
14,5 million british pound
Good signing. A very technical and clever player.
What I wouldn't give for this to be a lie. I don't want Hleb anywhere near Camp Nou. Not even for free, let alone for 18m€.
hleb is very good player, he has fantastic ball control, dribbling and good shots whitch makes him very dangerous near the goal. I think irs good buy and barca wanted a good attacking midfielder.
so in the end, we're getting the worst option of all the players we've been interested in
if we were looking for a goal who scores two goals a season and costs 18m this is best guy for the job.
Very upset. Barca seem to let Arsenal poach it's young players like Cesc & Merida and then pay too much for Henry and Hleb. Disgrace.
Great deal for Arsenal, terrible for us.
I really can't see why 15 million euro would be too much. That's exactly what Arsenal paid for him to Stuttgart and now we're getting him at the same price with more experience on the top level (premier plus chamions) and with 27 his best years are expected to be the next ones.
Maybe he's not the player we need but saying that we pay too much is ridiculous.
How for God sake hleb could be considered as the worst option...I respect all opinions but some people r emotionally harsh with their judgments on players...be reasonable and fair...if 15M are too much for hleb, then with all my respect to cute arshavin, he worth not more than 6M.
And Ronaldinho is then also for free expensive.
I agree to ramzi tanani. I thought it was a good signing.Hleb is top class.
I think wether subconsciously or not some people tend to form a negative view of Hleb because he's not Brazilian, or doesn't possess that "flair" that a lot of fans automatically assume should be part of Barcelona football. He has very good ball skills but he's not going to do 50 step overs as he's advancing the ball up the pitch. He is what I like to call an "effective", "efficient" player, with no wasted movement - who is only concerned about the end result, (aiding in producing a goal) rather than being in a bunch of YouTube highlights. But even his ball skills aren't his best feature. His greatest "skill" is that he is a tireless worker who will run himself into the ground. If you watched Arsenal games closely you would appreciate his work rate. As a paying customer you won't get cheated either because Hleb's going to give the team everything he's got while he's on the pitch. He is relentless! Knowledgeable football fans will appreciate his work, (winning a loose ball, fighting for possession, making the initial pass that leads to an assist and a goal, etc.) while others receive all the praise and limelight. Sure, he doesn't have that natural scoring "touch" but if he can win possession more often than not that will lead to more scoring opportunities for his teammates.
Efficient, with no wasted movements? Huh? He uses every chance he has, to try and dribble past a player, only to ultimately lose the ball/give the opponent time to get back in defense. And he's very bad in the scoring department. But I guess it's just Arsene's and Cesc's fault that he can't play at his best.
Hleb is a great signing. Not good, great. His talents and skills are as perfect a fit for La Liga as Gudjohnsen's weren't. His ball control, dribbling and passing skills are world-class. He gives the ball up when fouled, but even then he often wins it back.
He's also durable, and tough. Even for 18 million, which is Arsenal's valuation, we have a player who will make everyone around him better. I love Iniesta, but he gives up possession too easily sometimes. That won't be the case with Hleb, and he will make Henry better because of his knack for keeping the ball and finding the open man.
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