The Hard Tackle brings to you all the major transfer news and headlines related to La Liga giants FC Barcelona.
No Luis Enrique contract talks till April 2017 – Bartomeu
Barcelona have settled the future of a number of their star players in their squad over the past year with the latest being that of Neymar and Luis Suarez. The South-American duo pledged their long-term future to the club signing a contract up keeping them at the Camp Nou up until 2021.
However, when the future of boss Luis Enrique was brought up, the Barcelona hierarchy led by President Josep Bartomeu has maintained that there will be no talk of the same at least till the month of April next year. The board is pleased with the progress the former Celta Vigo boss has made with the Catalans in his two and half year stay at the club and they would love to see Enrique stay on for the foreseeable future.
The Blaugrana boss’s contract expires next summer and with the 46-year-old expressing no desire of moving anywhere else it was reported that he would complete the necessary formalities very soon. However, Bartomeu has swatted aside such claims stating that he and the manager have an agreement regarding contract talks being conducted in April. He elaborated that the management is very pleased with the boss and they will stick with him regardless of how the Catalan giants’ season progresses through the ensuing 5 months.
In an interview to beIN sports, the President was quoted as saying,”Our desire is that Luis Enrique continues in the job, but we’ve agreed with him that until April we will not talk about next season. Even if [Barca] didn’t win any titles [this season], he’s the manager we want. There will be time to talk.”
Since pre-season, Enrique has religiously avoided commenting on his future at the club and that may be in part due to his agreement with Bartomeu. Having enjoyed an immensely successful two and a half years at the club since taking over in 2014 securing eight trophies, few people will want to see the back of the former Barcelona and Real Madrid player and the least of all, President Bartomeu himself.
Victor Moses – A surprise right back target for Barcelona?
Barcelona have severely suffered in the absence of an attack-minded right-back like Dani Alves whose summer departure to Juventus left a gaping hole to fill for Luis Enrique. And if the past four months are any evidence, Aleix Vidal has done enough to probably earn his ticket out of the club in the January transfer window after a string of poor performances has seen the former Sevilla full-back fall out of favour with the manager.
La Masia product Sergi Roberto is currently taking care of the right-back duties and while he brings a certain level of intelligence to his style of play, he lacks the attacking verve and penetrability to make runs on the flanks that his predecessor did so effortlessly. In light of his side’s deficiencies in right-back, Enrique & co are now reportedly turning to Victor Moses, of all people, as an unlikely solution to that problem, according to Sport.
The Nigerian has plied his trade in the wing-back role this season for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in a 3-4-3 formation that has worked wonders for the Blues. A natural winger, Moses has partially curbed his attacking instinct and has improved his defensive work rate to emerge as an almost indispensable option in right wing-back for Chelsea. Dani Alves with his high attacking work rate quite often operated similarly to that of Moses and that is why the club see the 25-year-old as an unlikely choice as a reinforcement in full-back.
The Blaugrana were long linked with Hector Bellerin but their pursuit was dealt a cruel blow after the Spaniard signed a contract extension with the Gunners keeping him at the Emirates till 2021. Apart from the Premier League stars Barcelona have also been linked with Valencia’s Joao Cancelo, Juventus’ Stephan Lichtsteiner and Southampton’s Cedric Soares.
Suarez urges Messi to sign new contract
Barcelona’s murderous forward Luis Suarez recently signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club till 2021. The forward expressed his delight over his new deal with the Blaugrana, but has since urged Lionel Messi to put pen to paper on a new contract as soon as possible, saying he needs the Argentine and Neymar alongside him to be ‘completely’ happy.
Barcelona announced an agreement with the Uruguay international on Thursday, extending his career at the Nou Camp for the next five campaigns. A stunning buy-out clause of €200m was inserted to ward off potential suitors. Suarez is the latest Barcelona star to ink a new long-term deal at the Nou Camp after Neymar, Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano all committed their futures to the club.
However, Lionel Messi is yet to join his fellow MSN members in the new contract gang, despite his current deal expiring at the end of next season. Some reports in Spain suggest that the renewals of Suarez and Neymar will help convince the Argentine due to the strong bond between the trio. Speaking about it the striker said,” My renewal isn’t a message to Lionel Messi – he’s old enough to know what is good for him. My happiness will be complete only if Messi renews his contract as well.”
The former Liverpool striker further shared his thoughts on why he felt his team-mate deserved the Ballon D’Or over Cristiano Ronaldo simply because he was the best player on the planet. He was quoted as saying,”Everyone has their own criteria. But I think Leo deserves to win it every year because of what he gives to football. He’s the best.”