Author name: gool

The Frenkie de Jong saga has taken yet another U-turn as AS reports that Barcelona have agreed on a €20 million deal to sign Carlos Soler from Valencia. He would, in theory, replace the Dutchman, who is moving closer to Manchester United.

Reports today stated that United to offer €85 million for de Jong, including variables, which meets Barcelona’s quoted price.

Soler was linked to Barcelona a few months earlier, with rumours claiming that he would replace de Jong. However, this took a sharp right as Bernardo Silva came into the equation.

Xavi believes that Bernardo is the better for Barça, and could recreate a Xavi-Iniesta level of understanding with Pedri in midfield. This would, thereon, be complemented by Gavi, Franck Kessie, and Nico Gonzalez as rotation options.

The Soler rumours are in the fetus stage right now, and it would be far from the best idea to trust them. Especially since Frenkie de Jong does not want to leave Barcelona. A storm awaits the Camp Nou faithful.

A manager’s assessment of his squad is critical to the success of any team in the world. Not only does it pave the way to a well-constructed approach in the transfer market but also determines the tactical shortcomings heading into the new season.

According to reports from Catalunya Radio, Barcelona’s coaching staff see three major issues in the team based on the results of last season.

The first red flag noticed by the manager is the lack of creativity and talent against low-block teams. While Barcelona do not face many problems against offensive teams, they fell short time and time again when facing teams that prefer to sit back.

Xavi’s response to such a situation has usually been to stretch the play by introducing dynamic wingers. With Ousmane Dembele’s contractual situation uncertain, it remains to be seen if the club conjure alternate ways to tackle the problem.

The second problem is said to be the lack of character during matches. The Blaugranas often succumb under the pressure of an early setback in games instead of using it as a reason to push harder.

Real Madrid’s recent season can be used as the perfect example of the value of character. Despite being down and out repeatedly in the Champions League, they faced adversity and overcame it at every stage. Xavi will look to take a leaf from his rivals’ book ahead of next season.

The third deficiency in the team is said to be the lack of players with a strong physique. While the squad has abundant talent in terms of technique and finesse, very few players can boast of having a dominant figure on the field.

In recent years, the Catalans have been outclassed in Europe purely from a physicality standpoint. The humiliations against Bayern Munich and Liverpool are testament to the same.

Nico Gonzalez and Frenkie de Jong do provide a cutting edge, physically to the team, but only in bits and pieces. Franck Kessie’s signing may help them in this regard, though.

The news coming from the Catalan press confirmed Barcelona’s readiness to officially announce the first two deals in Mercato this summer in a free transfer deal.

The Catalan giant faces problems in financing deals in the current transfer market due to the accumulated debts and the strict La Liga rules regarding salaries and player registration.
According to the Spanish newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona will officially announce in the coming days the joining of Andreas Christensen and Frank Kessie, after the two parties agreed on all conditions.
The duo will join for free after their contracts with Chelsea and Milan expire, and they decide not to sign new contracts and join Barcelona.
Although the move of the Danish and Ivorian to Barcelona is not a secret for several weeks, but the official announcement was delayed for two reasons.
The newspaper stated that the first reason is that Barcelona and the players preferred to wait until the end of June and the contracts officially expire, to be announced.
The second reason behind the delay in announcing the deal, is to wait until the beginning of the new financial year on the first of July, and thus the players will be included in it, and not in the past, which is witnessing economic suffering for the club.
The newspaper pointed out that Kessie will sign a 5-year contract with Barcelona with an annual salary of 7 million euros, in addition to bonuses.
This comes a few days after the player was crowned the best player in Côte d’Ivoire, as his season with AC Milan ended after he won the Italian League title for the last season 2021-2022.
The newspaper confirmed that the shirts were printed in the blaugrana stores some time ago, in preparation for the announcement of the two deals during the next few days.
Frank Kessie played for Milan 5 seasons, since joining from Atalanta in 2017, and played 214 games and scored 36 goals in the Rossoneri shirt.

Barcelona is preparing to escalate a new Arab talent to the first team, as part of the approach to strengthening its ranks with young players adopted by Xavi Hernandez since taking over the reins of technical management.
for the Catalan club.

According to what was published by the Spanish newspaper “Sport”, the replacement for Gerard Pique, Barcelona’s central defender, will be Moroccan in the near future, and that the young Shadi Riad, 19, will be responsible for leading the defense of the Catalan team after a few seasons to come.
The Moroccan names that attract attention within the Barcelona academy are not limited to Abdel Samad Zalzouli and Elias Akhmash. There is a new gem polished within the Catalan club, and it comes to the promising player “Shadi Riad”, Barcelona defender and one of the most important talents of La Masia.
The newspaper said that the Barcelona administration is preparing to extend his contract, which ends next June, and is working on contracting him for two seasons, renewable for two additional seasons.
The 19-year-old Moroccan player, who is the central defender, joined the Catalan club in 2019 from Real Mallorca, and has a contract with the team until next June, and if he does not extend his contract, he will leave the club with a free transfer deal.
Shadi Riad, who occupies the central defense position, plays with the youth team in Barcelona, ​​​​and, at the beginning of the next season, he will join the Barcelona “B” team.
The 19-year-old is distinguished by his tall stature, high physical fitness, and great calmness in playing, and followers predict him a great future, so Barcelona does not want to waste it.
With the extension of Shadi Riad’s contract, Barcelona B team will include two Moroccan players next season, joining his compatriot Elias Akhumach.
The newspaper indicated that Riyad is expected to participate in the first team next season, not to attract the attention of Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez, given his enormous capabilities.
During last season’s competitions, the young Moroccan was content with playing 7 matches with Barcelona’s reserve in all competitions, and many expect him to be in the defense of the Catalan giant in the near future.
The Moroccan defender has high technical capabilities, especially related to the implementation of fixed balls and the exit of the ball from the back and good positioning in the offensive line, with a strong physique despite his young age.
The Catalan newspaper confirmed that the Moroccan player is highly evaluated by Barcelona’s technical management, and he is called the new “Araújo” due to the similarity between the two in the style of play.
Shadi Riad chose to play for the Moroccan national team in many age groups, as he won with the under-15 team the gold medal in the African Games in Algeria in 2018.

It seems that the Catalan club is very close to resolving the transfer of Polish international Robert Lewandowski to the Blaugrana Castle in the current summer Mercato.

The Gabonese player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Barcelona striker, has shown his willingness to make a sacrifice for Robert Lewandowski, who is approaching his association with Barca.
Lewandowski revealed more than once his desire to leave Bayern Munich and move to Barcelona in the current summer Mercato, after his relationship with the Bavarian club reached a dead end.
According to the information received by the Spanish newspaper “Sport”, which is close to Barcelona, ​​​​Aubameyang does not mind obtaining a smaller number of minutes, and moving to the alternative box in the event of a contract with Lewandowski.
Aubameyang, 33, is committed to being part of the team’s project with coach Xavi Hernandez, and will work to give everything he has in the matches he participates in.
Barcelona will be the first team in 10 years for Aubameyang to play as a substitute striker, after he used to play mainly with French Saint-Etienne, German Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal.
Aubameyang and Lewandowski previously joined Borussia Dortmund in the 2013-2014 season, before the Polish striker left for Bayern Munich.
It is noteworthy that Aubameyang joined Barcelona in the middle of last season in a free deal from Arsenal, and participated with the Catalan team in 23 games, during which he scored 13 goals and made one goal.

Spanish press reports revealed that Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva had a previous intention to join Barcelona last January.

This news comes a few days after the Catalan team’s interest in the Portuguese star, who we may see in the Blaugrana shirt next season.

According to the Catalan newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, the Portuguese international, Bernardo Silva, the average of the Manchester City field, offered himself to Barcelona, ​​​​through his client Jorge Mendes, to join the ranks of the Catalan team this summer.

The newspaper added that Silva wanted to play in the Barcelona shirt since he was a child in Benfica, and when he moved to Monaco and Manchester City, the dream kept dreaming of wearing the Blaugrana shirt.

The newspaper pointed out that Bernardo Silva watched Barcelona officials last winter in Manchester, in order to negotiate the inclusion of his former colleague Ferran Torres, and then boldly informed them that they would consider him and that he wanted to join the Blaugrana.

The newspaper confirmed that the Barcelona delegation dealt with the situation with just a joke by the Portuguese star, because his speech was short, but after a few days, a Barca official found a message on his phone from Silva telling him that he wanted to go to Barcelona and was ready to sign contracts.

His agent, Jorge Mendes, also hinted more than once that Bernardo Silva does not mind playing in Spain, which is consistent with that narrative that he would like to leave for Barcelona.

And the newspaper concluded, that this file entered into seriousness, and Jorge Mendes, the agent of Bernardo Silva, the Manchester City midfielder, Joan Laporta, Barcelona president, Deputy Rafa Yusti and sports director Matteo Alemani, informed that the Manchester City star already wants to move to Barcelona.

This comes at a time when press reports announced that the English club Manchester United agreed to acquiesce in Barcelona’s requests to agree to sell Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

United had offered 60 million euros for the midfielder, but Barcelona confirmed that it would not accept the idea of ​​selling the player for less than 80 million euros.

According to the information received by the Catalan newspaper, “Sport”, United have already offered 80 million euros to include the player to submit to the terms of the Catalan club.

De Jong is on the cusp of moving to Old Trafford, and what hinders the deal is the Dutch player’s request for a financial reward for the transfer.

So far, Barcelona does not know what its “final” financial position is in the current summer transfer market, despite the completion of some financial operations and the influx of funds.

Xavi made really good progress as Barcelona boss after taking over midway through last season, but this summer he has a lot on his plate.

His job is complicated by the mistakes of his predecessors, and one major issue about coming to a head is the return of a bunch of players from their loan spells.

The best known are Miralem Pjanic and Francisco Trincao, but there’s also Inaki Pena, Alex Collado and Rey Manaj who have had first team appearances before.

According to AS , Xavi isn’t interested in keeping any of them around long term, and the club will try its best to shift them all this summer to keep on with their pruning of the wage bill.

Pjanic will be the hardest to get rid of. He’s 32, has two years of contract left, and nobody really wants him. It’s not Xavi’s fault, but it’s Xavi’s problem now.

According to ‘L’Equipe’, the central defender is finalizing his departure to France or Italy with several options open

Finally it seems that the transfer will be the decided option to formalize the operation
Samuel Umtiti would already be close to leaving Barça . According to ‘L’Equipe’, the French central defender is already finalizing his departure from the Blaugrana team and has several options that he is studying to play next season .
His destination will be France or Italy and his environment hopes to finalize the operation before the Blaugrana club starts the preseason on July 4 so as not to have to show up for training. Umtiti practically considers his time at Barça to be over and has already accepted that he must leave because he won’t have any minutes.
His destination will be France or Italy and his environment hopes to finalize the operation before the Blaugrana club starts the preseason on July 4 so as not to have to show up for training. Umtiti practically considers his time at Barça to be over and has already accepted that he must leave because he won’t have any minutes.
The French footballer feels ready and fully restored to give a new impetus to his sports career. He believes that his knee problems have passed and he hopes to have regularity to play minutes away from the Camp Nou and be able to be reborn. In France, Olympique de Marseille and Nice had shown interest in him and last summer both Rome and Lazio were willing to bid. Fiorentina are also interested in a loan.

According to a live broadcast by DirectoGol, Xavi has a very clear idea about his starting lineup for next season, which will feature a bunch of new players. He has informed the board about the position he wants to reinforce, starting with the centre-forward.

Barcelona’s pursuit of Robert Lewandowski has been well-documented in the Spanish and German media at this point, and he is, undoubtedly, Xavi’s top-choice for that position.

The Pole has been head and shoulders above any other striker in Europe for a few seasons running now, especially in terms of the numbers. He will be assisted by Ousmane Dembele in this XI, whose contract renewal has taken an unexpected U-turn.

One of Ansu Fati or Ferran Torres round off the attack on the left-wing. Both players boast of superb off-the-ball movement, with the former an astute finisher as well.

In midfield, the least surprising participant is Pedri, who takes the left spot in the trident. Bernardo Silva is partnering him, presumably in the event that Frenkie de Jong is sold in the summer. Franck Kessie sits as the sole pivot, even though he is not one.

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Xavi’s dream XI will feature a revamped defence, too, with two of the four members of the current starting back-quartet replaced by new acquisitions.

Jordi Alba, Ronald Araujo, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen have seemingly retained their spots for next season as the left-back, right centre-back, and goalkeeper respectively.

Sergino Dest makes way for Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard’s signing is complicated at the moment, but if it does go through, he may be awarded the starting role due to his experience and defensive mettle.

Finally, Jules Kounde is seen starting over Gerard Pique. The Sevilla centre-back will be a huge signing for the club given their defensive shortcomings, and ideally, complements Araujo player.

While Kessie will arrive on a free transfer, and Azpilicueta on a very minimal fee, the rest of the new signings mentioned in this starting lineup are expected to go through a very long-drawn saga.

That said, should Barcelona be able to actually sign said players, it will make for one brilliant starting lineup.