تحدث رئيس نادي برشلونة السابق جوسيب ماريا بارتوميو، في رسالة جديدة له بعد تسريب العقد الخاص بنجم الفريق ليونيل ميسي.

وكانت تقارير إسبانية أمس الأول قد سربت العقد الحالي بـ ميسي في برشلونة، حيث كشفت راتبه الفلكي في الكامب نو (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).

وتسبب ذلك الأمر في حالة من الغضب الشديد داخل أروقة برشلونة، وتوجيه أصابع الاتهام إلى مجلس الإدارة السابق.

ورفض بارتوميو الإدلاء بتصريحات صحفية عن ذلك الأمر، واكتفى بتوجيه رسالة لأحد البرامج بقناة “TV3” الإسبانية (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).

وأصر بارتوميو على الابتعاد عن أي تصريحات صحفية، ولكنه وجه رسالة جديدة أطول من سابقتها نشرتها صحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو” الإسبانية.

وقال بارتوميو في رسالته: “أسمع بعض وسائل الإعلام تلمح إلى قيام أحد أفراد مجلس الإدارة المنتهى ولايته أو أنا بتسريب عقد ليونيل ميسي، هذا أمر خاطىء تمامًا، هذه قضية خطيرة للغاية، من غير القانوني الكشف عن العقود الاحترافية”.

وأضاف: “الأمر سينتهي باللجوء إلى المحكمة لأن برشلونة وميسي لا يمكنهما قبول هذه الجريمة وأن تمر دون عقاب، لا أعرف من المسؤول عن ذلك، في الواقع هناك 4 أو 5 أفراد في النادي لديهم حق الوصول إلى تلك العقود، وكذلك المحامون الذين شاركوا في المفاوضات، ولدى رابطة الليجا نسخة كذلك”.

وواصل: “اتهام ميسي بالتسبب في متاعب مالية لـ برشلونة هو أمر مؤذِ وخبيث، إنه يستحق المبالغ التي يتقاضاها لأنه يحقق للنادي أكثر من ذلك، سواء من خلال مساهماته الرياضية أو التجارية، ويستطيع برشلونة أن يدفع هذه الأموال لـ ميسي وجميع اللاعبين الآخرين لولا أزمة فيروس كورونا”.

وتابع: “في الواقع، عندما تم التوقيع على هذا العقد في نوفمبر 2017، لم يكن أحد يستطيع تخيل جائحة ستحدث في عام 2020، من المؤكد أن الوباء يسبب أزمة للعديد من الكيانات والمنظمات والشركات حول العالم، وكانت كرة القدم الخاسر الأكبر”.

واستكمل: “لكن برشلونة سيخرج بشكل جيد من تلك الأزمة لأن هناك ما يكفي من القرارات الجيدة لحل الموقف، على الرغم من الوباء ما زلنا النادي الأول في العالم، لهذا السبب في الصيف الماضي استمرت الأولوية للمشروع الرياضي، ولم نقبل عروض بيع لاعبين مثل فاتي وبيدري وترينكاو مقابل مبالغ ضخمة”.

وأردف: “النادي لديه أصول أخرى غير رياضية من شأنها أن تساعد في التغلب على الأزمة الاقتصادية بسبب الوباء، أفضل شيء في هذه الأشهر الماضية هو رؤية أن كومان يقوم بعمل جيد للغاية، حيث نفذ كل ما تم الاتفاق عليه عند التعاقد معه، لدينا فريق من الشباب الموهوبين للغاية، مع لاعبين ذوي خبرة حققوا نجاحات كبيرة ومع أفضل لاعب في العالم (ميسي)، لدينا حاضر رياضي جيد ومستقبل أفضل”.

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Manchester United have been busy in the transfer market in recent days, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s move from Crystal Palace all but confirmed. Today’s United transfer roundup includes an update in the pursuit of a Premier League ace, news on a 21-year-old midfielder and a battle to sign a Bundesliga youngster.

Aubameyang boost

Manchester United have been handed a boost in their reported pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang according to Tuttosport. The Italian outlet is reporting that the Gabonese striker has said yes to a potential move to Old Trafford.

Longstaff update

According to the Metro, United are willing to stretch their £25m valuation of Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff in an attempt to sign the midfielder this summer, with the club’s hierarchy believing that Rafa Benitez’s departure from the North East side has helped their chances.

United and City to battle for Bundesliga youngster

The Sun is reporting that United are to battle it out with Manchester City in order to sign Hoffenheim youngster Ilay Elmkies. West Ham are reportedly also interested in the 19-year-old who could end up leaving for training compensation in a year.

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Friday’s Liverpool transfer roundup shed light on an enquiry made for a Dutch superstar, Bundesliga interest in a young striker and comments from Jurgen Klopp on the club’s transfer policy. Today’s edition shares an offer made for a former Anfield star, eyes on a Russian forward and a Championship club after a young Reds goalkeeper.

Liverpool lodge Coutinho bid

Calcio Mercato is reporting that Liverpool have made an offer to take Philippe Coutinho back to Merseyside. Klopp and co have tabled a two-year loan bid to FC Barcelona, with an option to then purchase the Brazilian for £88m. The 27-year-old has apparently accepted the proposal.

Reds eye Chalov

Liverpool have entered the race to sign CSKA Moscow’s Fedor Chalov according to The Mirror. They have a lot of competition for his signature, though, with Manchester City, Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund also mentioned. The 21-year-old scored 17 goals for the Russian outfit last term.

Huddersfield favourites for Grabara

According to journalist Alan Nixon, Huddersfield Town are “red-hot favourites” to sign goalkeeper Kamil Grabara. The deal mentioned is of a loan variety. The 20-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan with Danish side Aarhus GF.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Tottenham Hotspur have completed the signing of Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon, the club have confirmed.

What’s the word?

The France international has signed a contract at the club until 2025 and becomes the club’s record signing.

Lyon also confirmed the midfielder’s departure on Tuesday and revealed the finances of the deal; Spurs have paid €60m (£53.7m) plus €10m (£8.9m) in add-ons.

The deal comfortably surpasses the £42m paid to Ajax to sign Davinson Sanchez in 2017.

Ndombele becomes Spurs’ second signing of the summer after they also confirmed a deal to sign Jack Clarke from Leeds United on Tuesday. He has been loaned back to the Championship club.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

A statement of major intent

Ndombele is a huge signing for the club.

Reports suggest that Mauricio Pochettino placed the France international at the top of his summer wishlist and chairman Daniel Levy has delivered.

Paying over £50m for one player was unthinkable for Spurs just a couple of years ago and now they have a genuinely elite central midfielder.

He replaces Mousa Dembele at a stroke and also sends a message that this Spurs team, that reached the Champions League final last season, is here to stay.

Pochettino, surely, will be thrilled.

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According to reports in Turkey, via The Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa are showing an interest in Galatasaray defender Christian Luyindama.

Indeed, The Birmingham Mail have cited reports in Turkey when claiming that a £10.7m offer has been made for Luyindama.

That said, Aksam, via Sport Witness, have since written that whilst there is no offer currently on the table, Galatasaray would be open to a discussion.

The 25-year-old has only just completed a move to the Turkish giants following a loan spell last season.

Luyindama, who is a DR Congo international, largely operates as a defender, although he has also played in central midfield during his career.

Watch Aston Villa Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Villa have already made a number of defensive signings this summer and therefore it would be somewhat of a surprise if Luyindama arrived.

The Villa fans have been on social media offering their views on the latest developments and a selection of their reaction can be seen below:

After an encouraging end to the season, Ralph Hasenhuttl now has some decisions to make.

Undoubtedly, Southampton’s form significantly picked up upon the Austrian taking charge as Tom Prentki writes in the Telegraph, but they will certainly need to freshen up to maintain or even improve on their upwards trajectory. Indeed, the last few years have been that bad for fans on the South Coast, who have watched their side fall from one of the most exciting projects in English football to relegation battlers.

To that end, one player the former RB Leipzig boss must decide on is Charlie Austin. After a report £4 million move from QPR via BBC Sport in  January 2016, the former Swindon ace has largely failed to build on his once impressive reputation, one that saw him called up into the international scene by Roy Hodgson in 2015.

At the time, the Englishman looked a natural goalscorer in his first Premier League season with QPR, scoring an impressive 18 league goals and assisting another seven, and although the London club were eventually relegated that campaign, Austin appeared to be a striker who could score goals at the top level.

In fact, in his three-and-a-half Premier League seasons with Southampton since, Austin has just the missing a whopping 26 games in the 2016/17 season and 18 the year after.

Obviously, he managed just WhoScored), so it’s fair to say his involvement was limited. So, with a manager famed for his high-pressing, high-intensity tactics as emphasised by Total Football Analysis, it doesn’t appear to be an overly natural fit.

Where Austin failed to impress, though, others stood up and took their chances. Both Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse chipped in with their fair share of goals with nine and seven respectively.

At 29-years-old, Austin has a TransferMarkt valuation of £7.2 million, perhaps a reasonable sum for a player of such little significance in recent times. A sale of that amount would represent close to a 100% profit and would provide the Saints with some additional funds for a player who could actually compete.

With Aston Villa rumoured by the Sun to be interested in Austin earlier this month, the Saints could command the sort of fee the aforementioned analysts value him at, and it’d be decent business considering his impact on proceedings last season.

Southampton fans, would you keep persisting with Austin? Or is his time at the club now done? Comment below! 

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

One of the longest transfer sagas this summer has been that of Harry Maguire’s potential departure to Manchester United.

Earlier this month, they bid £80m for the central defender before it was reported that the transfer was imminent.

Also in the headlines has been Lewis Dunk who has been touted as a possible replacement for the Foxes in a £45m deal.

If the two transfers go through, they’d be huge for all clubs involved, yet Leicester could be forced into making a big change to their play.

Watch Leicester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

On the chalkboard

One of Maguire’s and Leicester’s favoured routes to goal in the past has been from set-pieces.

The centre-back scored against Sweden at the World Cup from a set-play whilst he’s popped up with a further three strikes from these situations in the last two years for Leicester.

Per Understat, he’s scored five times from corners and free-kicks in the Premier League alone throughout his career.

As can be seen below, Maguire likes to drift towards the penalty spot from Leicester’s set-plays, scoring twice and also hitting the post in those sorts of areas.

However, if they land Dunk this summer, this form of attack and route to goal may have to be changed.

According to Understat, the 27-year-old Brighton man scored twice from set plays in 2018/19 but his impact came far closer to the goal.

In fact, his effectiveness in the same place as Maguire was hugely limited, missing all but one of his shots from positions between the six-yard area and the edge of the box.

As a result, if Dunk arrives and Maguire leaves, Brendan Rodgers could find himself instructing his set-piece takers into playing the ball into a different area.

If you think the rumoured £80m for Harry Maguire is too much, check out how much his potential replacement will cost in the video below…

Both of the former’s goals last term came from closer than six-yards out, meaning it may be preferable for Leicester to have in-swinging corners towards the back and front posts.

Not only could Leicester’s defence be changed if they sign Dunk, but so could their attack.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Vincent Janssen has been the latest victim of Tottenham Hotspur’s striker curse.

The club have allowed the Netherlands international to leave, with Janssen linking up with Mexican side Monterrey.

It could be regarded as a step down for a Premier League striker but he’s been nothing short of terrible in north London.

The Netherlands international was a hot prospect when he arrived at Spurs for a fee of £17m. He had scored 32 goals in 49 games for AZ Alkmaar and, really, looked to be an odds-on bet to provide excellent support for Harry Kane.

In 42 games for Spurs, though, he scored six times.

Compare Janssen with the club’s most recent three striker signings, excluding the Dutchman: Fernando Llorente, Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Llorente netted 13 goals in 66 outings, Soldado scored 16 in 76 and Adebayor, after making his move permanent following an initial loan spell, scored 25 in 91.

Perhaps Kane is actually sucking the life-force out of these players.

Indeed, since his debut in 2011/12, when he played 90 minutes in a Europa League encounter against Hearts, he has scored 164 goals in 253 games.

The quartet of Janssen, Soldado, Adebayor and Llorente made a combined 275 appearances and scored 60 goals. That’s less than half of Kane’s tally alone.

Kane averages a goal every 0.6 games, or one in two, while the other four averaged a goal every 0.2 games or one in five.

Perhaps it is merely that the England captain, who has also scored 22 goals in 39 games internationally, is a goalscoring phenomenon, a genuinely world-class striker who is at the very height of his profession. That is probably true.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And perhaps it is also that Spurs have absolutely lucked out with the development of the 25-year-old because they are frankly atrocious at buying strikers. That can be true too.

Janssen is yet another example of this.

He can score goals and he did, in the Netherlands, but at Spurs, his form deserted him.

He has the ability to resuscitate his career and he will hope to do just that in Mexico.

He is the latest victim of Spurs’ striker crisis; the club had better thank their lucky stars they have Kane on their books.

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There are no transfers to speak of yet at Arsenal, as Unai Emery continues to work with his measly transfer budget. And today’s Gunners transfer roundup is all about outgoings. It includes the potential departure of a 21-year-old, the shock news about a star striker and Turkish interest in an international centre-back.

Bielik wants move

According to the Sun, Polish defender Krystian Bielik wants a move away from the Emirates Stadium this summer. The Poland U21 player reportedly believes he has no chance of first-team football with Arsenal next season, and therefore prefers to leave.

Aubameyang “says yes” to United

Italian outlet Tuttosport is reporting that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has “said yes” to a move to Manchester United this summer. United were reportedly planning a £70m bid for the former Borussia Dortmund striker, and it now appears that the Gabonese would be open to the switch.

Fenerbahce after Mustafi

Fenerbahce want Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi according to Turkish outlet Aksam. Mustafi, who joined the club from Valencia in 2016, is on the Super Lig club’s radar, and Fenerbahce will reportedly make an official move in the coming days.

قرر نادي وادي دجلة تغيير مديره الفني بعد إقالة القبرصي نيكوديموس بابافاسيليو، عقب الخسارة من الجونة في الجولة التاسعة من بطولة الدوري المصري.

ويحتل وادي دجلة المركز الأخير في جدول ترتيب المسابقة في الوقت الحالي برصيد 7 نقاط فقط، حيث خاض 10 مباريات فاز في واحدة وخسر 5 وتعادل في 4 مباريات أخرى.

وقام النادي قبل 3 أيام بالإعلان عن مدير فني مفاجئ بتعيين التشيلي ماريو سالاس، لقيادة الفريق في المرحلة المقبلة ومحاولة العودة إلى المسار الصحيح لما له من خبرات تدريبية كبيرة.

اقرأ أيضًا.. محمد شريف: رحلت عن الأهلي بسبب لاسارتي

وتواصل “btolat.com” مع مدرب الأهلي السابق، مارتن لاسارتي، للحديث عن تعيين سالاس كمدرب في وادي دجلة خاصة وأن الأوروجوياني لديه خبرة في الدوري التشيلي ويعرف قدرات المدرب الجديد.

وقال لاسارتي: “سعيد للغاية من أجل ماريو بعد هذه الخطوة”.

وتابع مدرب الأهلي السابق: “سالاس مدرب عظيم يمتلك عقلية الفوز وفاز بالدوري التشيلي من قبل مع نادي أونيفرسيداد كاتوليكا وقدم معهم أداءً رائعًا”.

وأضاف في النهاية: “سالاس مدرب جيدًا جدًا وسيساعد وادي دجلة في العودة للمسار الصحيح رغم صعوبة موقفه في الدوري المصري”. من هو ماريو سالاس مدرب وادي دجلة الجديد؟!

سبق له اللعب في نادي إيفرتون كخط وسط مدافع في الفترة من 1987 وحتى 1993، أما عن مسيرته التدريبية فقد درب فرق قوية في تشيلي مثل كولو كولو وأونيفرسيداد كاتوليكا.

فاز بالدوري التشيلي عام 2016 مع أونيفرسيداد كاتوليكا وكأس السوبر في نفس العام، بالإضافة إلى تتويجه ببطولة الدوري في بيرو مع فريق سبورتنج كريستال عام 2018.

دعونا نرحب بالمدير الفني الجديد التشيلي ماريو سالاس 🤝
Welcome Our New Coach
Mario Salas pic.twitter.com/ttPYbZ2bPu — Wadi Degla FC (@wadideglafc) February 1, 2021