Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Juvenil A central defender and defensive midfielder Oriol Romeu (16) will switch this season between Juvenil A and Barcelona Atlètic.
Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova talked in an interview with Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo about the team and the season so far.
The technical staff takes the responsability for not having signed a winger?
You have wing players but they are not on the market because Barcelona cannot transfer them. They are playing at top clubs who don't want to sell. Not every player can play at Barcelona, only four or five players can and those are already with the best clubs in the world. A new player should be really good. If that kind of transfer is not possible, we have the players from the B team who always have given a lot to the club. We're the only club who produces wingers.
The 4-3-3 system is too rigid for the players?
You can use the 4-3-3 in several ways, you can even make it look like a 4-4-2. When your centre forward drops back to midfield it's actually a 4-4-2, like we have tried once during the pre-season. What is very specific for us that we always have possession and we are always playing without any space. That's something that only happens to us, not even the other top clubs have to deal with that.
You can re-educate Messi so that he doesn't cut inside too much?
Leo is an incredible quality player. Close to the box, he's the most decisive player in the world. He has only done few training sessions with the group and you really need to have to be able to coordinate a series of movements depending on the zone where the ball is. But these are simple things and he already did that in pre-season, so there aren't problems.
Whose fault is it that Alves is not always covered when he goes forward?
The attack is not the problem. The problem arises when the centre backs and the attacking wingers are opening the pitch and the central defenders are doing the same trying to create something. When you then lose a ball, you have fifty metres in your back and the team has to reorganize quickly. Alves went forward 20 times and the Numancia left midfielder only was able to take advantage of that two times with one of his crosses leading to the goal. So you can't really say that there's a problem at the right wing because that player could make two runs. We all now that Alves always has the intention to go forward. If that wouldn't be the case, he wouldn't be the Alves we know.
You can read the first part of this interview here. Later you'll have the other parts of this interview with Vilanova talking, amongst other things, about the position of Thierry Henry and the choice between Touré and Keita.
Because Spanish second division club Zaragoza decided not to renew his contract and the defensive midfielder didn't find another club this summer, former Barcelona player Albert Celades (32) is at this moment still available on a free transfer.
Celades came through the Barcelona youth ranks and joined the first team in 1995. In the summer of 1999 the Catalan player joined Celta Vigo on a free transfer.
With Barcelona, Celades won two Spanish leagues in 1998 and 1999, two Spanish cups in 1997 and 1998, one Spanish super cup in 1996, one European cup winner's cup in 1997 and one European super cup in 1997.
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Ex-Barça: Patrick Kluivert to AZ Alkmaar
Ex-Barça: Abelardo to Sporting Gijon B
Ex-Barça: Sergio Garcia to Betis
British tabloid The Sun has put together a list of the best Premier League bargains this summer.
With Mikael Silvestre (from Manchester United to Arsenal for 850 000 euro) as number one bargain, former Barcelona players Deco and Giovani are on the list at places 3 and 7, with the following comments:
3. Deco (10 million euro)
Deco was hardly cheap but when you compare his fee to the number of expensive flops at Chelsea and beyond, he may emerge as a sharp piece of business. The Portugal midfielder has already proved himself as a matchwinner at Wigan last month and he has a track record of success.
7. Giovani (6+5 million euro)
It was not long ago that Chelsea were weighing up an eight-figure move for the Mexican, so Spurs now look like an early riser at the Christmas sales. Dos Santos is still a raw talent but if boss Juande Ramos can bring the best out of him, Barcelona may rue letting him go.
Read more:
OFFICIAL: Deco to Chelsea
OFFICIAL: Giovani to Tottenham
Asked about the chance he would be coaching Barcelona one day, former Barcelona player and assistant coach Ronald Koeman (45) said in an interview with Dutch television network EO that it would depend upon the conditions:
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