Barcelona has officially announced the transfer of Arsenal midfielder and Belarus international Alexander Hleb (27).
This afternoon Hleb will undergo the medical tests. The player will tomorrow sign his contract and be officially presented as new Barcelona player.
Hleb joins Barcelona for the next four years and has a buyout clause of 90 million euro. Barcelona pays Arsenal a transfer fee of 15 million euro plus 3 million euro variables depending on the results and the qualification for the Champions League in the coming years.
Read the complete Alexander Hleb transfer story from the first rumours until the official confirmation
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
OFFICIAL: Alexander Hleb
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17 comments:
Great signing! I think we need one more player and the squad is perfect.
enjoy noshoot mcfancylegs......thanks for taking him off us.
Arsenal fan
hey pep
where do you believe he'll play
attacking mid or as a left winger?
Thank you Arsenal fan. I totally agree with you. Barca signed Willem Defoe and he'll only perfectly match together with Messi's dad - Dustin Hoffmann. That's perfect answer where he'll play.
Really dissapointed with this signing. We do NOT need another player with no end product. Should have gotten a player that can actually score a goal, not just dribble aimlessly.
not a bad signing fink pep will improve his shooting ability works hard tracks back and closes down something we missed last season will definitely give the squad a more competitive edge for sure. Pep or any one can you please tell me what is goin on with the Henrique signing havent heard any thing and it was supposedly supposed to be closed on monday???
I guess they had too much work with the Ronaldinho transfer over the last days...
hleb does not track back...you havent watched arsenal play, i am sure. He is great player no doubt, but he himself admitted that he is scared of shooting....he has great ball control and dribbles well, but you'll be tearing your hair out when he doesnt shoot even thou he has an open goal.
We're no counter attack team like arsenal so our guys don't have to track back the whole time.
It's od course not a "hohohohohoooooooooooow, what are we getting" now transfer, but let's wait to see how it works. Henry was hohohohohooooooooooow, but disappointed in the end, while Touré was the other way around, so you can't really predict it. Guardiola sure has his reasons.
I'm not Pep, but my guess is that Hleb becomes the Deco spot, an attacking mid. He's always liked that role, and that's a need of ours.
Hleb is a good signing for us. And we have plenty of guys to shoot, unlike Arsenal, who need Hleb to shoot. Between Messi, Henry, Iniesta and Xavi, not to mention Krkic and/or Eto'o/whomever his replacement is, shooters won't be a problem for us.
So all that Hleb has to do is what he does: dribble, pass and retain possession.
He doesn't even need to track back because we have two of the best holding mids in the world, Yaya and Keita, and a back line with pace and covering ability in Alves, Caceres and Abidal. Puyol can also still hold his own.
I'd say Guardiola has done very well. All we need now is that "9."
Don't analyze the player and how he was at another club. Analyze the needs of the club he's arrived at, and how he will fit with those needs. By those standards, Hleb makes perfect sense.
Kxevin, no one doubts that Messi, Xavi and the other can shoot. The problem is, that they don't. They'd rather just lead the ball over the goal line.
I don't like this signing at all.
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Hleb is here to take the Deco role, so all this talk about more shooting is silly. i'd rather have a Deco-type player who keeps possession instead of launching the ball 30 yards over the bar 50% of the time they get into position. at the beginning of the summer we had shooters, and we just signed 2 more: Alves and Keita, both of whom have absolute cannons.
Hleb is hardworking and versatile, never stops running. same with Dani Alves, but playing further up the pitch. that kind of workrate works wonders on a team, particularly when you compare it to the players who have left: Deco, who looked like a garden gnome in the middle much of the time; Ronaldinho, enough said; and Zambrotta, who spent most of his energy getting back into position. hyperactive players like Alves and Hleb are a welcome change to that.
all in all, a good signing. the final piece, if we keep going this route, is Arshavin. a gamble, sure, but if properly motivated by his dream club (us) does for the left what these other 2 players do for their positions: run around like maniacs, get possession, and assist the team. i think it's a risk worth taking, and he's proven more than some of these mid-table Serie A or random no-name Brazilian alternatives.
We've always tried to pass the ball into the net. And sticking Henry on the wing means the one guy whose default setting is "shoot," isn't in a position to do much except pass.
It's why I like what Guardiola has planned. The more Henry shoots, the more he scores. Messi will have to change his mindset from midfielder to attacker, but he can do that in about two seconds. Same with Xavi, who was worrying about the counter last season. And Keita will let fly at the drop of a hat.
I don't think shots will be a problem this season.
While I still have my own reservations surrounding Hleb, it has more to do as to wether he's an "ideal" fit for the club, rather than his talent and ability which I don't question one bit. I have to believe that Pep wouldn't have doggedly pursued Hleb unless he had a clear and defined vision as to his role on the club. And for the price Barcelona paid the hit won't be so great if Hleb doesn't pan out. And if he does, the transfer will look like a steal!
I don't care what people were expecting.
This is a good signing.
Now we've got the best midfield in the world!!! :)
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