Gremio’s Arthur on his move to Barça | Sport
Arthur: “At Gremio I played as defensive midfielder, in a double pivote but as the more creative player and as an interior… sometimes I’m asked where I prefer to play. I say I don’t have a defined position, it depends on how the team plays. It will be up to the Barça coach to decide.”
“I am young. I need to get better in the area. There are other things I can improve, too. People praise my passing, but every day after training I work on improving it. I’ve not reached perfection, so I have to keep working hard.” More here.
Deulofeu: It will be very difficult to return to Barcelona | Marca
“The way I see it, it will be very difficult to return to Barcelona,” he acknowledged to Esports COPE. “Much of the blame is mine because, in the end, I’m the one who didn’t show my true level. I believe in myself more than anyone, but I admit that I wasn’t regular.”
“I agreed to leave because I hadn’t played for a month and a half and it wasn’t working out,” he continued. “I want to play and be happy, I don’t like being on the bench like most players, but I told the coach when I left on loan: ‘a lot of the fault is mine because you have given me the opportunities I wanted.'” More here.
Napoli president dreaming of Barcelona’s Denis Suarez | Sport
Barcelona’s Denis Suarez is one of Napoli’s top targets for next season. The Italian club’s president, Aurelio De Laurentis, is a huge fan of the midfielders style and knowing his struggle for minutes at Camp Nou wants to take him to Serie A.
Both president De Laurentis and coach Maurizio Sarri agree that he would be a great signing. However, they don’t know how easy it will be to do a deal. More here.
Griezmann unwelcome, Jason Pettigrove and Iniesta’s future | The Barcelona Podcast
Inside FC Barcelona’s Global Football Empire | Fortune
The suburbs stretching west of Barcelona are dark and quiet on a recent evening. But on one brightly lit hillside, floodlights illuminate perfectly manicured fields, showing a blur of color and action. About 125 boys, some as young as 11, race back and forth across the grass, kicking footballs in a complex choreography of attack and defense.
If this were any other suburb, it might be a regular after-school sports activity. But these are no ordinary kids. In their sweatpants and jerseys, they are here for one purpose: to break into the exceedingly rarefied global industry of top-flight football (or soccer, to use the American word). More here.
Cesc: ‘I had to defend against him and you know he’s going to the left, and he does, but he still makes me fall to the floor.”It would have been phenomenal if Leo had played for Spain, we would have won more titles, but he always felt very Argentina and I think it was the perfect decision to play for his country. When everyone lauds him for what he does, it doesn’t seem normal to me that in [Argentina] they criticise him so much. I can’t understand it because it’s where he should be valued the most.’
Griezmann unwelcome, Jason Pettigrove and Iniesta’s future | The Barcelona Podcast
