Coaching staff preferred others over Garay

Asked about the failed transfer of Racing Santander central defender and Real Madrid loan out Ezequiel Garay (21), Barcelona president Joan Laporta has denied to journalists that the transfer was cancelled because Barcelona failed to pay a first part of the transfer fee:

"We didn't sign this player because the coaches thought we shouldn't. It's a great player and we knew that because the staff was following him. But then we had to make a decision and in the end they preferred other players. We didn't sign any agreement so we didn't fail to pay anything."

Laporta was reacting to Cantabria regional president Miguel Revilla, who had said in an interview with Catalan radio station Onda Cero Catalunya that Barcelona didn't pay the first part of the fee:

"Laporta asked my advice about Garay and I told him that Garay is extraordinary, both as a player and as a person and that he should transfer the defender as soon as possible. And that's what he did. They closed a deal for 14 million euro°. But then he didn't paid the first sum and Real Madrid came with ten million euro° cash and signed him because Racing had some financial problems at that time."

Racing Santander president Francisco Pernía meanwhile has said that Barcelona and his club hadn't signed anything yet.

Read more:
Cash shortage upsets Garay deal
Garay doesn't know why Barcelona transfer failed
Garay doesn't know why Barcelona transfer failed

Garay doesn't know why Barcelona transfer failed

In an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport, Racing Santander central defender and Real Madrid loan out Ezequiel Garay (21) talked for the first time about the fact that he was on the verge of joining Barcelona earlier this year before signing for Real Madrid (read more here).

How big was the disappointment when your transfer to Barcelona didn't go through?
I wouldn't want to call it disappointment. It's something from the past. It's true that I was very close to joining Barcelona, but for some reason the deal wasn't completed. I don't feel frustrated about that, I kept on working and was lucky to be able to move to Madrid.

Txiki called you to explain why the whole deal was cancelled?
No, I wasn't informed about the reasons. I guess they have their reasons, but I'm not aware of them. In any case, I'm grateful that a big club like Barcelona thought I could add something to their team. So I don't feel bad about it, I actually feel happy because they were interested.

Barcelona called you again when Milito got injured?
No, they didn't approach me another time. I only heard some rumours through the press. At that time, I was recovering from an injury myself, trying to get ready for the Olympic Games and I was picked up by Madrid.

You are especially motivated to play against Barcelona this weekend because you're owned by Real Madrid?
No, I will start the game with the same intensity as always. I will do the best I can, only thinking about my present club, Racing Santander. Barcelona's defeat in the first game could affect them but they have a lot of quality players who can decide a match. We must be aware about how to play against them if we want to get a positive result. We should wait for them to come, try to rob the ball off them and then quickly launch the counter attack.

Read more:
Why did Barcelona miss out on Garay?
Garay transfer is off
Case closed: Garay

Why did Barcelona miss out on Garay?

Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21), who signed for Real Madrid this week, admitted in an interview with Madrid sports tabloid Marca that he was close to joining Barcelona a few months ago: "With Barcelona everything was agreed upon. But then the deal collapsed for reasons I'm not aware of."

A few days before this blog started in the beginning of February, Racing Santander president Francisco Pernía said that negotiations were being held and that it would highly surprise him if Garay wouldn't end up playing for Barcelona next season.

So what went wrong? A lot of possible reasons have been put forward over the last months. They can mainly be divided in two groups. An overview.

1. Economic reasons

Things seemed yo go wrong when the clubs had found on agreement and Garay's agents Fabián Basualdo and Ricardo Schlieper came in. The agents would have offered the player to other clubs, amongst which Manchester United and Real Madrid, apparently hoping to organize a bid race.

Barcelona, who was already hesitating about the transfer price of presumably 14 million euro° (plus 4 million euro° in incentives), did not want to enter the game and put everything on hold in the beginning of March.

Barcelona and Santander had agreed that the transfer fee would be paid in three slices over the year, but Barcelona didn't pay the first slice in April. Barcelona that way lost its option on Garay, the deal was definitely off and Santander offered the player to Real Madrid.

It was suggested that Barcelona didn't pay because of a cash problem. Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain had closed the deal but that Barcelona president Joan Laporta then refused to pay the 18 million euro°.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Santander agreed to sell Garay to Real Madrid for only 10 million euro° because Madrid agreed pay the total amount immediately and Santander needs cash to make a few transfers in view of their participation in the Uefa Cup next season.

2. Technical reasons

Catalan sports paper Sport claimed in March that Rijkaard had vetoed the exit of Rafael Márquez (29), the player Garay should have been replacing. El Mundo Deportivo analyst Òscar Garcia had already labelled Garay "the new Marquez" because of the ressemblances in their playing style.

Catalan sports paper Sport claimed this week that the Barcelona tecnical department preferred Gerard Piqué (21) and gave up on Garay a few weeks ago when the negotiation on the transfer of the Catalan went in the right way. And because Márquez now seems to be staying, another central defender is not a priority anymore.

Piqué was chosen over Garay because the first is more polyvalent (also being able to play as right back defender and defensive midfielder), because he has a better pass and an contribute more in the built-up, because he is cheaper and because he knows the club. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed that the last scouting reports on Garay were not convincing.

Read more:

Cash shortage upsets Garay deal

Case closed: Garay

Rijkaard prefers Marquez over Garay

Read the full Garay transfer story

Case closed: Garay

Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay will not play for Barcelona as of next season, like had been rumoured over the last months (read more here).

Real Madrid has signed Garay for six seasons and will pay Santander 10 million euro°. The Argentinian defender will nevertheless keep on playing with Santander next season as he'll be loaned back to his current club for one year.

Read more:

Cash shortage upsets Garay deal

Case closed: Lahm

How things stand: Central defenders

Read the whole Garay-Barcelona story here

How things stand: Central defenders

(a few weeks before the end of the season, Barça Transfer Zone looks forward to the coming transfer summer making an analysis for each position, in part 3 we look at the central defenders)

2007-2008
Like was expected in the beginning of the season, the central pair Puyol-Milito started the most games until now. Due to injuries, this was nevertheless only the case in 18 games. The other most used pairs were Márquez-Milito (12 starts), Thuram-Milito (11 starts) and Thuram-Puyol (9 starts). Oleguer played only in the beginning of the season a few times as central defender.

Out
With Carles Puyol (30) and Gabriel Milito (27) no doubt going to stay, French international Lilian Thuram (36) will leave Barcelona at the end of the season. Since his contract expires in June and will not be renewed, the player has been given the permission to start talking with other clubs. There have been rumours about Arsenal and Salzburg.

Mexican international Rafael Márquez (29) could probably leave if a good offer comes in and if the club can find someone to replace him. The defender has been linked with Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid and AC Milan. Oleguer Presas (28) has been linked with an Ajax loan deal.

In
With Thuram leaving, Barcelona wants to bring in at least one first class central defender. If Márquez would also go, that would mean a second player should be transferred for that position, although it is not impossible that a new coach could use French left back defender Eric Abidal (28) in the centre.

Barcelona's first choice was apparently Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander - 21). It is believed that a deal with Santander was already found in the beginning of the year but that everything didn't went through in the end because of financial reasons (read more here and here).

At this moment Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo - 26) seems to be the first option and an agreement between all parties could be found in the coming weeks. Gerard Piqué (Manchester United - 21) is another player who probably has been contacted. Blocked in Manchester, the Catalan defender could return to Barcelona in the summer.

Other players that have been mentioned are Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan - 34), Lúcio (Bayern Munich - 29), Federico Fazio (Sevilla - 21), Martín Cáceres (Recreativo - 21), Daniel Jarque (Espanyol - 25) and Samuel Llorca (Elche - 22).



Read all How things stand contributions here or read the contribution about:
Goal keeper - Right back defender - Central defenders - Left back defender - Defensive midfielder - Attacking midfielders - Wing attackers - Centre forward

Deal with Coloccini

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Barcelona has recently reached a personal agreement with Deportivo La Coruña central defender and Argentinian international Fabricio Coloccini (26).

Barcelona will now have to find a deal with Deportivo, who has promised Coloccini that he can leave this summer. While Deportivo president Augusto Lendoiro was asking last summer a transfer fee of 9 million euro° for the player who has a contract until 2011, it is now expected that the player will leave for a price between 12 and 15 million euro°.

The tabloid claims that Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) was Barcelona's first choice but that the option was rejected after the player got injured earlier this year. In the end, the Barcelona technical staff chose Coloccini cause of his speed, his strength in one-on-one situations, his scoring ability and the fact that he can play on the right and on the left.

Asked about the new rumours, Coloccini denied at a press conference that there is already a deal: "One always tries to make progress and reach the top in the world of football. And at this moment, Barcelona is amongst the best teams in the world. But I'm playing for Deportivo and I have to have respect for the shirt that I'm wearing. All of this are rumours: there is no break-through and nothing is certain."

The Argentinian defender made clear that all he wants now is to focus on his current club, who can still qualify for the Champions League, and that he will not talk with his agent Marcello Lombilla until the season is over: "And my agent cannot close a deal without contacting me to give the final yes or no."

Read more:
Negotiations with Coloccini to start soon
Coloccini story unfolding
Rivals in the field for Coloccini

Garay doesn't convince anymore

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) is becoming more and more unlikely.

Although the first reports on the player were good and Barcelona contacted with Racing Santander (read more here), the Argentinian couldn't convince the Barcelona scouts anymore later on in the season. Besides that, the economic conditions of the transfer could be getting too high (read more here).

Cash shortage upsets Garay deal

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that Barcelona has not paid the first block of 4 million euro° on the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) in the beginning of April, like it had been agreed upon with Santander (read more here), because the club had troubles finding the necessary cash. The non-payment means that Barcelona has lost its option on the Argentinian defender.

Asked about the rumours linking him with clubs like Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, Garay told in an interview with British television station Sky Sports that he's not really closely following the whole situation: "I am calm. These questions are for my agent and the club, but it is normal that I wish to progress in my career. If a big offer finally arrives, then I do not have a preference about a concrete destination."

Read more:
Garay transfer is off
Rijkaard prefers Marquez over Garay
Garay agent wants more

Garay transfer is off

Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that Barcelona has pulled out of a deal on the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21). Earlier this year, Barcelona and Santander agreed upon the transfer of the Argentinian, who has a buyout clause of 20 million euro (°) and who would sign a five-year deal. Barcelona would pay (in three blocks, to be paid in April, June and December of this year) 14 million euro (°°), with another 4 million euro (*) in incentives. With Barcelona last month communicating to Santander officials that they would not pay the first slice, the deal is now definitely off.

In the meanwhile, Santander would already have offered Garay to Real Madrid. The negotiations are still ongoing and the main obstacle seems to be the transfer price: while Santander wants to receive at least what Barcelona was prepared to pay, Madrid doesn't want to pay more than 12 million euro (**). Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Real Madrid is not interested in Garay and that sources in Santander insist that the negotiations with Barcelona are well-advanced.

(read everything on the Garay transfer story here)

The four Barcelona summer objectives (1)

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo reports that the Barcelona tecnical staff has determined during a meeting on Tuesday the four main objectives in the coming transfer summer.

1 - Right back defender
The more than probable return of Barcelona right back Gianluca Zambrotta (31) to Italy, in all likelihood to AC Milan, obliges Barcelona to bring in a substitute. Because of his good price-quality relationship, Bayern Munich full back Philipp Lahm (24), whose contract expires in 2009, is at this moment the first option.

2 - Central defender
Since the contract of French central defender Lilian Thuram (36) expires in June and the situation of Mexican central defender Rafael Márquez (29) is uncertain, Barcelona wants to sign a first class central defender. The club would not be interested in Deportivo La Coruña central defender Fabricio Coloccini (26) or in Bayern Munich central defender Lúcio (29), who both would have been kind of offering themselves in the past few weeks. The transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) was well on the way until everything got too expensive due to the demands of the player's entourage.

(this was the first part of this contribution, you can read the second part here)

Garay is not amused

Catalan sports paper Sport says that Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay is angry with Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain. The Argentinian cannot understand that Begiristain convinced him during a meeting last month to sign for Barcelona and that the sports director since then hasn't done anything to close the deal, without giving any explanantion.

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

The search of Txiki (1) : Defence

Today Catalan sports paper Sport gives a global analysis of the Barcelona transfer activity for next summer. In five episodes we will bring this story to you.

At the back, Barcelona is looking to replace Italian full back Gianluca Zambrotta (31), who will leave for AC Milan, and French central defender Lilian Thuram (36), whose contract expires in June and won't be renewed.

For the right back positon, three names are on the Barcelona list: Sevilla right back Daniel Alves (24), Bayern Munich full back Philipp Lahm (24) and Bayern Munich right back Willy Sagnol (30). While Barcelona doesn't seem willing to pay up to 30-35 million euro for the Brazilian, they would already have found a pre-agreement with the two Bayern defenders.

For the centre defence position, Barcelona is mainly considering two options: Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay (21) and Recreativo Huelva defender Martín Cáceres (20). The Uruguayan central defender is only playing on loan with Recreativo and is owned by Villareal. Espanyol defender Daniel Jarque (25) has also been followed.

(you can read the second part of this story later today, the third and fourth part will be published tomorrow, the last part on Saturday. The five episodes are: 1. Defence, 2. How it works, 3. Midfield, 4. Marital status, 5. Attack)

Santander manager wants the best for Garay

Asked about the rumours linking Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay with a summer move to Barcelona, Santander manager Marcelino García Toral told in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport that the Argentinian is an excellent player: "And besides that he's a great professional who always wants to improve in every aspect of his game. So if Barça would come after him, I would not have the moral strength to try to keep him here."

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

Rijkaard prefers Marquez over Garay

Catalan sports paper Sport says that reports coming from Santander suggest that the negotiations on the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) have not been paralyzed cause of financial reasons like had been rumoured (read more here).

While Barcelona intended to bring in Garay to replace central defender Rafael Márquez (29), for whom the club received several interesting offers (one of them coming from Atlético Madrid), Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard has now vetoed the exit of the Mexican considering him a key player.

Earlier this year Barcelona reached an agreement with Santander, giving Barcelona the first option to sign the Argentinian defender. The talks with the player's agents were expected to follow shortly but haven't yet taken place.

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

Garay not for now

Catalan sports paper Sport says that Barcelona is still interested in Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21), but that the club will reopen the negotiations later in the season, when the value of the placer can be better estimated.

Over one month ago, after the first talks, the parties involved agreed they would close the deal within one month, but since then Barcelona didn’t contact the player again. Barcelona wants to pay Santander a transfer sum of 14 million euro (plus incentives), and wants the player to accept a contract in accordance with the club’s salary policy.

The whole situation is a disappointment for Garay, who thought he would have his future assured soon and had stopped every negotiation with other interested top clubs like Manchester United and Olympique Lyon. Now that the talks with Barcelona are paralyzed, his agents have put the Argentinian defender back in the market.

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

Second thoughts about Garay

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) is under discussion in Barcelona: the Argentinian player is still considered as an interesting option, but not to every price.

The transfer sum of 15 million euro for a central defender, a position that is already well occupied, makes Barcelona hesitate. And the transfer seems to get more expensive as time goes by: the interest from several other European top clubs makes the player, his agents ànd Santander ask more money. Santander would now have received an offer from Manchester United consisting of 16 million euro cash plus central defender Gerard Piqué (21).

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

Garay offered to Manchester United

British tabloid The Daily Mail claims that Manchester United have been contacted by Fabián Basualdo and Ricardo Schlieper, the agents of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) (read more here). Santander would like to sell the Argentinian, who was said to be very close to signing for Barcelona last month, and would prefer to see Manchester United central defender Gerard Piqué (21) being involved in the deal.


(read more on the Garay transfer story here)

A look at the coming transfer summer (2)

Last weekend Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo gave a global analysis of the possible transfer activity in the summer.

With relation to the incoming transfers, the paper states that the technical staff has three priorities: a right back defender, a central defender and a scoring midfielder.

For the right back position Inter defender Maicon (26) is being followed for a while now. At the moment he would be, together with Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm (24), the preferred option. Sevilla defender Daniel Alves (24) is a case apart: there are mixed opinions about the question if his capacities justify the huge transfer price.

The central defender the club is looking for should be a young player who can grow, who is strong and who has a good pass. Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay (21) fits this perfectly.

In midfield Barcelona wants to bring in a strong player, who can score ten goals in a season, who has a good distance shot and works hard. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard (29) looks like the ideal candidate and there aren't many other options. Arsenal midfielder Aleksandr Hleb (26) could be an alternative, although he's a different type of player. Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Luka Modric (22) is looked at but will be hard to get since Chelsea will probably make a very high offer.

Up front Olympique Lyon forward Karim Benzema (20) is the main target. Barcelona could try in the coming months to get an option to buy the player in the summer of 2009. If Eto'o stays, Chelsea forward Didier Drogba (29) probably won't come.


(read here the first part of the analysis, concerning the outward transfers)

Garay back on the market

Madrid tabloid Marca claims that the agents of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21), Fabián Basualdo and Ricardo Schlieper, have decided to put the player back on the market after they didn’t hear anything from Barcelona for the last three weeks (read more here). The deal would have been totally agreed upon (14 million euro transfer price, contract for five years), but nothing has been signed yet.

Now that Barcelona apparently wants to postpone the operation and because the offers for the Argentinian from other clubs (mainly from Manchester United and Juventus) are still coming in, the agents would now start talks with other teams to put pressure on Barcelona.

Garay talks in the fridge

Catalan sports paper Sport says the signing of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) isn't progressing as fast as the player's environment had expected.

Two weeks ago the agents of the Argentinian, Fabián Basualdo and Ricardo Schlieper, flew over to Spain to close the deal (read more here). But they didn't find an agreement and without a clear reason the parties drifted somewhat apart with Barcelona seeming less motivated to rapidly seal the deal. Garay, who also has offers from -amongst others- Manchester United, Olympique Lyon, Juventus and Real Madrid but who prefers to end up in Barcelona, is now hoping Barcelona will push to finalize the transfer soon.


(read more on the Garay transfer story here)