Barça B - Official: Joni to Sporting B

Spanish third division club Sporting Gijón has on Sunday officially announced that former Barcelona Atlètic central and left back defender Jonathan López "Joni" (22) will play with Sporting B this season.

Joni played last season on loan for Barcelona Atlètic and returned to Sporting this summer.

Because he couldn't convince during the pre-season with the first team and a transfer didn't seem possible, he will in the end join the club's second team, Sporting B, that plays in the Spanish third division.

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Barça B - Official: Solano to Ecija
Barça B - Official: Maric and Joni will leave
Barça B - Official: Longas to Cartagena

Barça B - Official: Maric and Joni will leave

Barcelona has yesterday officially announced that Barcelona Atlètic central and left back defender Joni (22) and Barcelona Atlètic forward Goran Maric (25 - picture) will leave the club this summer.

The contracts of the players, who both were signed last summer (read more here and here), expired this month since Maric had a one-year deal and Joni was loaned from Spanish first division club Sporting.

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Barça B - Official: Abraham to Cadiz
Barça B: Serbia thinking about Maric
Barça B: Xavi Torres will join Malaga

Injured Puyol not in Betis list

Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has earlier today announced a list of 19 players for the 23rd league game of the season against Betis Sevilla tomorrow.


The list:
Valdés, Pinto,
Alves, Piqué, Márquez, Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho,
Xavi, Touré, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen,
Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry, Iniesta, Hleb


Puyol, who had been working apart from the group the whole week, isn't recovered from an overburdening problem of his right quadriceps. Jorquera, Víctor Sánchez and Pedro are not inlcuded in the list. The last two will play with barcelona Atlètic this weekend. Milito is still recovering from a knee injury. Yesterday, Barcelona Atlètic players Verdés, Botía, Abraham an Joni trained with the first team.

Barcelona will tomorrow travel in the morning to Sevilla, where the game against Betis will tomorrow evening start at 8 pm.

Barça B: Luis Enrique enjoys coaching

In an interview with Asturias regional newspaper La Nueva España, Barcelona Athletic manager Luis Enrique (38) has talked about his first month as a coach.






How are things going in your new job?
Good, I'm again fully enjoying football. I have a good team and players with a great future.

You feel comfortable on the bench?
I actually didn't think I would like it this much. I would like to continue coaching, but a coach only depends on the results and he will be judged based upon that.

How does your team play?
We're following the tactics of the first team and the tradition that has been in this club for many years. We play a 4-3-3 system with wingers and trying to always play in a nice and dominant way. The idea is to balance defense and attack and to get a lot stronger by finding the right balance.

You also had an offer from the Spanish football federation (read more here). Why did you choose for Barcelona?
I'm very grateful to the federation and especially to their sports director Fernando Hierro for the confidence, but Barcelona gave me the chance to train at a daily basis and to return to a club I also consider to be my home.

What is the objective of Barça B this season?
We want to try and win every game, in the beginning mainly to really see after ten games what our possibilities are. I don't exclude anything and our performances will show if we have been doing our job properly.

Guardiola sometimes takes away some of your key players.
For me, it's an honour that he promotes a few of my players every week. That's actually the reason why the first team squad is that short. I also have a very short squad so the Juvenil players have options to join us every now and then.

How is Joni López doing?
Good, motivated to get better and adding his experience to the team. He's performing at a good level.

How are you looking forward to the game against Sporting this weekend?
My heart is divided. Sporting has always been my team and Barcelona is my favourite teams amongst the top clubs.

You replaced Guardiola and we suppose you're talking with him about your teams. How is the situation of the first team?
It's a very well-organised and hard-working team with endless attacking possibilities. I'm sure they will play for the trophies this season. The doubtful start will only serve as an extra stimulation.

Read more:
Luis Enrique presented as Barcelona B coach
Barça B - Official: Joni
Luis Enrique to coach Barcelona B

Barça B - Official: Joni

Barcelona has yesterday officially announced the transfer of Sporting Gijón central defender Jonathan López "Joni" (21), who will play for Barcelona Atlètic next season. Primera división club Sporting had already officially confirmed the news on Wednesday.

Joni, who played with Sporting in the Spanish second division last season, has signed a one-year loan deal. The Spanish defender is (after Rayo, Solano, Nolito and Verdes) the fifth signing of Barcelona Atlètic this summer (read more here).

The official website of the club describes Joni as a very technical defender, not very physical but good at building up from behind. The player says he thinks to be able to adapt quickly: "The way of playing of Barcelona suits me very well, because I like to advbance up the piutch with the ball. I don't consider the move from the first to the third division as a step back because coming to Barcelona can make me progress a lot as a player."

Joni says he didn't yet talk with Barcelona Atlètic coach Luis Enique, who comes from the same region and also started his career with Sporting, but that he sees him as a very serious and demanding coach.

Read the official announcements of the other transfers of Barcelona Atlètic:
Rayo - Solano - Nolito - Verdes

Read more:
Barça B: Joni Lopez (Sporting Gijon)
Five B players stay with first team
Barça B - Friendly 2: Atlètic-Swansea 3-3

Barça B: Joni Lopez (Sporting Gijon)

Gijon local newspaper El Comercio claims that Barcelona is negotiating the transfer of Sporting Gijón central defender Joni López (21), who would join Barcelona Atlètic on a one-year loan deal.

Sporting manager Manuel Preciado would have proposed Joni to train with the first team, that will play in the primera División this season, but that he would play with third division team Sporting B if he wasn't part of the first team's squad list for the weekend. The player rejected this offer.

On Tuesday, Joni's agent Gelu Rodríguez met with Sporting officials to discuss the situation of the player and the club has accepted that the defender, who has a contract until 2010, can leave the club on loan. Barcelona would only have to pay the salary of the player.

Asturias regional newspaper La Nueva España claims that two second division clubs and a bunch of third division clubs, amongst which Barcelona Atlètic, are intersted in Joni. The player would prefer to move to a second division team. Barcelona Atlètic coach Luis Enrique would have positive scouting reports about the player.

Asturias regional newspaper La Voz de Asturias reports that Real Madrid B and a foreign club are also following Joni, whose agent has yesterday been holding further talks on the transfer to Barcelona Atlètic. Barcelona wouldn't get an option to buy the player next summer but won't have to pay Sporting a fee for the loan.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Joni prefers to join Barcelona Atlètic because Luis Enrique was his childhood idol.

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Barça B: Daniel Estrada (Real Sociedad)

Barça B: Deal with Zaragoza on Goni

Barça B: Miki Roque (Liverpool)