Barcelona Tracking Manchester City Striker Robinho

Manchester City striker Robinho has found himself in a tough position this summer following a satisfactory performance with Brazil national team at the World Cup. The 26-year-old is still in the dark about his imminent club future with the City manager showing no sign of including the Brazilian in his 25-men Premier League squad.

Robinho had a successful loan stint at Santos last season, but City did not extend the loan deal putting Robinho’s club future into jeopardy. He wanted to stay at Santos for another season.

City already has a number of strikers including Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tévez, Roque Santa Cruz and new signing Mario Balotelli in its squad and it seems less likely that Mancini would include Robinho in his Premier League squad.

Now, Spanish champion Barcelona is reportedly tracking Robinho, even though the club officials dismissed the reports suggesting a swap deal with City involving Robinho and Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic, who joined Barcelona from Inter Milan last summer, had a poor debut season in La Liga and has reportedly been out of favor of manager Pep Guardiola. Moreover, a number of clubs including Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus are interested in the Sweden international.

Reports out in the media suggest that Barcelona started considering Robinho as a possible replacement of Ibrahimovic whose future at Barcelona looks bleak. However, it is not yet confirmed if Guardiola would like to have someone like Robinho who failed to live up to the expectation at Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Real Madrid: Kaka Out, Ibrahimovic In?

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is now reportedly planning a swap deal with Barcelona involving Madrid midfielder Kaka and Barca striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Both the players arrived in Spain last summer and have had a poor debut season at their new destinations.

Kaka, plagued by injury and poor form last season, has reportedly been out of favor of new Madrid boss, while Ibrahimovic, following his poor run last season, has already been linked with a move to Manchester City. However, Barcelona and Ibrahimovic both have recently rejected any possibility of switching clubs this summer.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are two rivals in Spanish league and it would be interesting to see if they come to an agreement to swap their out-of-favor players. Though nothing has been revealed by either of the two clubs, there is a possibility Mourinho would like to reunite with Ibrahimovic at Madrid.

Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had his best time at Inter Milan before his move to Barcelona last season when Mourinho was at the helm of the Serie A club. So, the 28-year-old player could be fascinated to join his former mentor and get his rhythm back next season.

Earlier, reports out in the media suggested that Ibrahimovic would join City, if the Premier League side offered him a record weekly salary. However, now it seems less likely that the Swedish star would join City.

Well, it also seems less likely that Barcelona could be tempted to bring in another attacking midfielder in Kaka as they already have plenty of attacking options in hand including Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa. However, they might be tempted to secure Kaka’s service in order to get rid of underperformed Ibrahimovic after the arrival of Spanish striker David Villa from Valencia.

Real Madrid is currently looking to strengthen its attacking line up and Mourinho has already indicated that long-time captain Raul and attacking midfielder Guti are not part of his plan next season.

Overall, it looks imminent Real Madrid would add a quality striker like Ibrahimovic and an attacking midfielder like Mesut Ozil to their squad this summer.

Is Barcelona Heading for a Financial Crisis?

The new president at Barcelona football club, Sandro Rosell, took charge a few days ago. Until now, most of the media report about the club has been dealing with Barcelona’s interest to get back their DNA, Cesc Fabregas, from Arsenal. However, all of a sudden, it seems there are some reports that the club is missing the financial trouble. It is not clear whether the financial troubles are big and it can cause a serious crisis for the club in the near future.

It has been reported that recently, Barcelona were forced to get a loan from a bank of £124 million and sell Shakhtar Donetsk to ease the cash crisis. This loan and sale of the player were done to pay the salary of the players. This news was some odd because in the transfer market of this summer, Barcelona is one of the top active names. They are after many top players and they are particularly interested to buy Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas, and Javier Mascherano of Liverpool.

At this moment, it seems that it will be difficult for Barcelona to get any of these two players because Arsenal is not interested to sell Fabregas for the price of just £30 million, the amount Barcelona is willing to spend for Fabregas. On the other hand, Liverpool is also seeking a lot of money for Mascherano.

In English Premier League, in the last few years, both Liverpool and Manchester United have been suffering from financial problems. The reason is very simple. Clubs like Manchester United or Liverpool spend a lot of money on big players and then the players cannot deliver the result and as a result, the clubs cannot earn money.

In 2008-09 season, Barcelona was in unstoppable form and won almost all the trophies that it took part. On the other hand, things were not that good last season as Barcelona failed to reach even to the final of Champions League 2009-10.

It is time that Barcelona officials become serious and careful about their spending habits. Just getting some top players like Fabregas or Javier Mascherano is not enough. They have to pay the players high amount of money as salary and they have to ensure success in both Spain and Europe so that sponsorship and TV money come on a regular basis.

If the new president of Barcelona does not change some strategy regarding to spending then very soon, Barcelona will perhaps suffer the same financial problems like Manchester United.

Sandro Rosell has ruled out any financial crisis but things do not look very rosy for the club’s treasure either. 

Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal and Barcelona: Who wants What?

In the Transfer Window 2010 of European football, the biggest attraction for the media is the fate of Cesc Fabregas who is a Spanish international player and as of today, officially, is also the Captain of Arsenal Club.

Barcelona wants him desperately and Fabregas wants also go back to his home town. Arsenal is not interested to let him go.  

Well, the situation is not as easy it sounds. There are a number of factors that should be discussed.

First of all, Fabregas is bound to stay at Arsenal until 2014 because of a contract he signed in 2006. Arsenal even revised his salary after that to keep him in the club at any cost. Coach Arsene Wenger has strict policy about wages of players and the club broke this policy for Fabregas. So, the wanted of the Gunners is very clear- keep the player at any cost. He is just 23 years old but he is the most important player for the London based club.

Arsenal bosses have two kinds of opinions. The first idea is very simple and clear- Fabregas is not for sale at any price. The second idea is perhaps very mute and at least not voiced publicly- if Barcelona wants Fabregas so desperately then they should think of spending £80 million. Some of the top Arsenal officials are perhaps annoyed with the very open nature of Barcelona’s bid to get the player.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said a few days ago to a newspaper, "It's a funny way of doing business. I don't know if he will stay. I've really got little to say but we very much hope he stays with us and we're confident he will."

For Barcelona, there are three reasons to go after Fabregas. First of all, almost everyone in this Spanish club and City think that Arsene Wenger played a bad trick to ‘steal’ the player from Barcelona in 2003. It should be mentioned here that Cesc was a product of Barcelona Academy and Wenger could convince him to join Arsenal because there were too many star players at Barcelona at that time. So, everyone at Barcelona have the feeling that it is time they get back someone of their own.

Secondly, it is time of President Election at Barcelona Football Club. Both the leading candidates have announced that they would bring Cesc Fabregas. Naturally, there is a lot of noise in Barcelona that it is just a matter of time that Fabregas comes and plays with Messi.

Thirdly, it is not a secret that Fabregas wants to come back to Barcelona. So, Barcelona bosses feel that it is the right time to cash in to this matter. They think that this desire of the player will work on their side and they would not need to spend more than £35 million.

What does Cesc Faregas wants? This is now perhaps a multi million dollar question. He surely wants to go to Barcelona and he is eager to go as soon as possible. However, he also knows that money is a very important factor. Barcelona bosses are stating that they want him back but they have not offered a price yet that would turn some heads at London.

The big news of today is that Barcelona has formally placed a bid for Cesc Fabregas yesterday and Arsenal has rejected the offer.

It is now clear that the drama over Fabregas will continue for the next few days as both the clubs look desperate to get him or keep him. 

Lionel Messi Becoming World Player of the Year will Make South Asian Fans Happy

When the announcement came that Lionel Messi is the World Player of the Year, most people in South Asia were asleep and they will perhaps know tomorrow in TV news. In South Asia, there are many die hard supporters of Argentina national football team and there are also many supporters of Barcelona FC. So, they will be very happy to know that it was Messi who is now the best player in the world. The Argentine supporters will be even happier to see that there was no Brazilian footballer in the top 3 positions.

BBC reported:

He beat off competition from last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, Kaka and Andres Iniesta.

In a vote by captains and head coaches of the men's and women's national teams, Messi won 1,073 votes, Ronaldo 352, Xavi 196, Kaka 190 and Iniesta 134.

Messi becomes the first Argentine to win the award, which was inaugurated in 1991, and it completes a stunning year for the brilliant winger.

Thus, it is a sad news for Brazilian supporters. Tomorrow, football fans in South Asian cities like Dhaka and Kolkata will surely argue with this win of Messi. 

Real Madrid, Barcelona Won La Liga Matches on Saturday

Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona won their respective La Liga matches on Saturday. In fact, both the teams clinched comfortable victories thanks to their recently signed stars. Barcelona’s 2-0 win came at Getafe, while Real Madrid thrashed Espanyol 3-0 on the road.

Getafe was defending well until Ibrahimovic scored in the 65^th minute to put Barcelona ahead in the game. Barcelona’s victory was ensured when Lionel Messi scored the second in the 79^th minute.

Real Madrid dominated throughout the game against Espanyol. Midfielder Granero gave the visitors a lead after 39 minutes. Real was leading 1-0 at the half time. The lead was doubled when Guti scored in the 77^th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the third goal in the 90^th minutes after coming off the bench.

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