Asked if any current Barcelona players could join a new professional football club in Miami, Marcelo Claure, the Miami-based Bolivian businessman together with whom Barcelona is bidding for a place in the Major League Soccer (MLS), the professional football league in the United States and Canada (read more here), said in an interview with Catalan radio station Ona FM that the name of Barcelona forward and French international Thierry Henry (31) is on the table:
"We have talked with Barça about the possibility that a key player of the first team could come and play in Miami in 2010 and the name that is up is Henry. We've discussed it but Barça will always have the priority. A technical committee will choose the player, they will decide because they are the football experts.
Henry is one of the candidates, I think he could be the ideal person because in interviews with the American media he always says how much he likes the country, but there are other names too."
Read more:
Henry could consider MLS move in the future
FCB Miami: Weighing the seven bids
Chelsea manager wants Henry in January
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Henry could leave for Miami in 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
other than guddy and henry I don't see anyone else going there in 2010....
well, we could basically build a "training camp" for youngsters and place to shine for retiring star players. I like the location Miami,too. It's not too far away from the South America so we could bring in some fresh talents.
It will be hard to have a Miami-Barca as a training academy as according to current MLS rules, you can only have 8 foreign players. This limits a team like Barca to recruit foreign players for Miami-Barca and is a mistake Chivas USA already made.
You mean eight in the first team, Cali Socis, or eight in the whole club? Cause 8 in the first team don't seem that little to me and not a real limitation. If we could attract the best American young talents, that could work out fine too.
I have also read the following in local papers here in the States:
1) Eto'o and Henry have vacationed in Miami in the past year and have showed interest. Milan's Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and Roma's Christian Panucci, among others, own apartments in Miami Beach, where Nesta rehabbed his knee.
2) Maimi-Barca would play in a new stadium (capacity 18,000) on the campus of Florida International University.
3) Speculation is that Laporta, who has vacationed in Miami, would live in Florida once his term as Barcelona president expires in 2010.
4) According to Laporta, hiring the front-office personnel would be Barcelona's responsibility. "That is our specialty," he said.
5) Dario Brignole, Barcelona winger Lionel Messi's commercial agent, also is based in Miami. He says he hasn't spoken to Messi directly about a version of Barca in MLS but says it would make business sense and would be a good link for Messi down the line. (Messi just signed a deal to replace Henry in the Gillette ad with Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.) "The players talk to each other, and [the Messi] family travels here every so often."
6) Claure and Laporta insisted their wish was to begin playing in MLS in 2010, and the initial $40 million expansion fee would come from Claure. The financial muscle of the 37-year-old Bolivian entrepreneur, a former goalie and president of the largest Hispanic-owned business in the U.S., is expected to smooth over any resistance at FC Barcelona, a nonprofit sports club. Claure, owner of privately held Brightstar Corp., which has assets of more than $4.8 billion, already is co-president of Bolivia's most successful club, FC Bolivar. He is also a friend of former D.C. United star Marco Etcheverry of Bolivia.
7) Albert Vicens, a former Barca vice president, questioned the Miami initiative in an article published in El Periodico de Catalunya. "It seems to sign a deal with an unknown businessman, in a league that holds little interest for the Barcelona faithful," Vicens wrote. "If it's such a great deal, then why bring in a third party?"
fcbee,
It's my understanding (and I might be wrong) is that MLS teams can only have eight foreign players on each team. At first glance, it might look like enough, but this is America and soccer quality and style is sub-par.
I know I might seem harsh, but I'm American and have become frusterated over the years at the lack of player development in the US. Giuseppe Rossi who plays for Villarreal is a perfect example of a New Jersey born player who opts to leave the US because of it's lack of player development and play for his parent's home country (Italy).
I'm probably opening up a problematic topic, but this is just my humble opinion.
By the way, if Barca wants the Miami thing to happen it better change its language.
MLS isn't interested in promoting Barcelona FC or making Miami a Barca B team. They want a viable franchise to compete in their league. The fact that Barca's name can be attached and can lend its expertise is only secondary. Chivas USA has not been successful and the MLS is weary to make that sort of mistake again.
I also think Barca fans are way too ambitious about what an MLS team means. Sending our young players there is NOT necessarily going to make them better, it's not like if we set up an academy there we'll produce Fabregas and Xavi. The football culture still isn't there and one academy isn't going to change it. What will happen is the promotion of the Barcelona BRAND in North America, and that only happens if Miami is really successful. We should definitely look to build a successful team first, which is a lot different to do than an European team due to the various rules. The other stuff comes after.
Yes, yes,yes Thierry Henry in Miami in 2010.
Post a Comment