Sunday 8 June 2008

Hleb looks to be next

With the transfer of Dani Alves almost finalized, all Spanish and Catalan media agree that Arsenal midfielder and Belarus international Alexander Hleb (27) is the next transfer target of Barcelona.

Over the last couple of weeks Barcelona gave priority to negotiations on the transfers of Cáceres and Alves. From today on, the Barcelona officials will focus all their attention on the talks with Arsenal. Catalan sports papers Sport and El Mundo Deportivo both claim the transfer fee is expected to be around 15 million euro°.

Barcelona already reached an agreement with the player (read more
here). Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Hleb, whose contract with Arsenal expires next year, will sign a four-year contract earning 3 million euro a year.

Although Hleb seemed to be close to Inter Milan, the appointment of José Mourinho as new Inter manager seems to have cancelled the transfer. Earlier this week Hleb's agent Uli Ferber confirmed to British sports website BBC Sport that Hleb had met with Barcelona representatives to talk about a transfer (read more
here): "We have had talks with Barcelona but nothing has been signed."

The agent added that the decision on the future of the Belarussian midfielder will probably be made when Hleb returns from his honeymoon vacation this week.


Read more:
Deal with Hleb
Deal with Arsenal on Hleb close
Wenger wants Toure to replace Vieira

7 comments:

pep said...

15 million euro =

24 million us dollar
12 million british pound

Anonymous said...

good deal; good player.

Anonymous said...

He's a good team player, with a phenomenal work rate but I don't know if he's a perfect fit for Barcelona's style of play? He's more of a "dirty work" kind of player, but he lacks the flair and scoring touch that Barcelona needs in that upfront midfielder role. Plus I think it would be a mistake to play him at the wing because he's just not quick enough. I just hope he can link up better with Iniesta than Xavi can because that partnership has failed so far. For whatever reason when Xavi and Iniesta are in the lineup they never seem to be on the same page.

Anonymous said...

Is the guy above me a freak(sorry for the strong words...i get too pasionate sometimes)...Which football have u watched with Hleb playing? No flair? I disagree. and what's wrong with an attacking midfielder with a bit of agressiveness? To me it builds and all-round player and a very strong team...i mean look at Chelsea (ok...i may get some bashing for this but i'm sure many coaches around the world would agree with me)....I honestly want a strong team. All the finesse or flair in the world has got us (FC BARCELONA) nothing in the last 2years and it hurts my heart (i'm a die-hard fan). I really dont care who or what you blame it on; Let's try to win something first before we decide we dont want our attackers defending or doing dirty work.....By the way, as i said before, the guy above needs to watch a bit more football, not just Barca games. Hleb has alot of flair....I mean just as recently as in the Champions League match(in '08...yes that recent) versus Liverpool when he dribbled like 4 or 5 guys and was unlucky not to get a penalty, and besides that he gets lots of penetration....By the way, i think Ronaldinho needs to realize that no one is above the club...it's a team game, if u cant fit in and work hard to be in the starting 11, then u wont be there.....and if u cant take ur supporting role on the bench and work hard to improve and gain a start well....i'll let u leave. And as a professional athlete u must always stay fit and imoprove your skills ...i mean it's your job...your body is like your tools...anyway i'm out
DIE_HARD

Anonymous said...

not quick enough?!!!! I'm bemused...i agree with the guy above. Hleb is a great player, just underated. I mean he plays in the premiership, they are all about speed. Week in and week out with Arsenal he's always running, and i've seen him outrun guys on the wing many times....VIVA BARCA!!!!

Anonymous said...

I guess the two previous commentators didn't understand the point I was trying to make in regards to Hleb. I've never said he was a bad player. On the contrary I think he's a very underrated player. He runs himself into the ground almost every game and his passing skills are underrated. One of my biggest concerns though is that he's not much of a scoring threat. And YES I DO watch EPL games and as far as "die hard" goes you can't be anymore "die hard" than being born and raised in Barcelona can you? So with all due respect I don't think you can consider yourself "more" of a "die hard" fan than me!..and what was one of Barca's main flaws especially towards the end of last season? not being able to score! Hello! and Hleb has shown, that with all his skills notwithstanding he's not a player who's going to put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis! And there are a lot more people on here who are opposed to signing him than me! I would very much welcome him, but (if Barcelona is thinking of deploying him as a midfielder) I'd rather have Moutinho instead. That's just my opinion.

harees said...

we need david silva because he is the best replacement for ronaldinho and a striker benzema and he will be the best replacement for ronaldinho

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