Former Barca Players II - from Assulin to Zambrotta

Xavi won yet another cup with Al Sadd, the Qatar Cup which is sort of a supercup played by the top 4 teams in the Qatar Stars League - his 5th trophy since winning this same competition last year. The only thing left is the league title, which he'll most likely get next week if Al Sadd win their next game. It's been a year of total domination for Xavi's Al Sadd as they've been streets ahead of everyone else all season...

 

Great but i don't think anyone would rate his Qatar career seriously.

 

Sandro scored for Huesca, vs Eibar today.



@ 6:27

 

Not even mention he played out of his favourite position. How many players will accept it like him???

 

Apparently Ronaldo Fenomeno 's former agent Giovanni blame Barca for that Ronaldo transfer to Inter Milan. Does anyone know that in detail???

 

In 2018 Joan Gaspart (former Barcelona Vice-president) gave an interview where he talked about the Ronaldo situation from the club's point of view.
So I've taken the quotes I found from that interview and combined them with the recent statements made by Giovanni Branchini (Ronaldo's former agent).
I don't know it this will solve anything but it's interesting to compare the two versions.

Branchini:
"There were several days of negotiations with the Barcelona lawyer and their vice president Joan Gaspart."

Gaspart:
"Ronaldo wanted to stay at Barcelona. He was happy and wanted to extend. We had even typed the contract in front of the player and his two agents."

Branchini:
"One night we 'kidnapped' Ronaldo from the hotel in Barcelona and we went to my partner Carlo Pallavicino's house. We had a meeting where if Barcelona had presented us a clean contract, we would have signed it. If not, what do we do? There was a small dossier with teams like Lazio, Inter and Rangers."

Gaspart:
"We understandably decided to go out to eat and celebrate Ronaldo's extension, and then return to the office and sign the agreement that was made. That was a mistake because if we hadn't gone out to eat and signed the agreement at the time we made it, Ronaldo would have stayed at Barcelona.”

Branchini:
"We shook hands with the Barcelona coaches, I asked permission to make a phone call and I called (then-Inter president Massimo) Moratti telling him that we have reached an agreement with Barcelona.

Gaspart:
“At the time, we didn't pay much attention to the consultant's absence. When he returned, he apologized, drank coffee, we continued as before, then we went to the office to sign the contract,"

Branchini:
"There was a press conference where Barcelona announced the agreement, but unfortunately the things that we had said did not correspond (to what they said).

Gaspart:
"From the first moment we entered President Josep Lluis Núñez's office, the advisers began to put obstacles in our way. They told Ronaldo to go home and they would call him to sign."

Branchini:
"We did not want to go down a path that would endanger the future of the most important player in the world. We had to get into fights that did not concern him."
"We had nothing against the renewal with Barcelona, but we did not want image rights contracts and complicated situations."
"If you want a TV channel to pay part of the contract, that's fine, as long as you pay us taxes."

Gaspart:
"When we were able to renegotiate the five points requested, they found a sixth point, which we had also resolved, and then a seventh."

Branchini:
"The difference that they underestimated was the clause, which was decisive."
"At the beginning I thought it was a misunderstanding, then lost my temper. I looked at the partners and said, 'Gentlemen, we are leaving. Given this insult to our intelligence there is no reason to expose Ronaldo to this humiliation'."

Gaspart:
“Through tears, Ronaldo told me he was sorry but his advisers had a much better deal than ours and it was better for all parties to go to another club to make a lot more money.”
"We disagreed and I flew to FIFA in Zurich to make a complaint against Inter."

But in the end FIFA did not stop the transfer from going through. But they did increase the transfer fee.

Gaspart:
“It was clear this was going to happen. FIFA agreed with Barcelona and Inter had to pay another 7 million euros."

After Ronaldo had agreed to an extension reportedly to be for 10 years, Barcelona president Josep Lluis Núñez publicly announced that “Ronaldo is now Barcelona’s forever.”
The following day Núñez announced that negotiations had broken down.
A few days later, Ronaldo signed with Inter.

Gaspart:
"I personally told Moratti that what he did was not right because he knew that we negotiated and actually already agreed. He's always denied that we came to an agreement, but that's a lie."

Five years later, in 2002 after having helped Brazil win the World Cup, Ronaldo finally left Inter for Real Madrid.

Gaspart, who by now was Barcelona president:
"Ronaldo told me he would go for Barcelona if we outdid the offer of Real Madrid or leveled it, but it was an enormous offer and we couldn't make such a big investment for a player who left the club that way.”

(I may be missing a few quotes but these are the ones I could find.)

 

I'm biased but I tend to believe Gaspart was more truthful in his interview. And I hate the guy.
But yeah, we'll likely never get the full details of how it all went down.

If the option to bring Ronaldo back in 2002 was there I'm glad Barca didn't sign him. And I'm not saying this on hindsight. When a player leaves under controversial circumstances I'd rather he not return irregardless of how talented he is..But that's just me.

 

Inter fans used to hate him, call him traitor so i think his agent words don't weight much to me.

 

Ronaldinho seems to be addicted to alcohol, especially after his mom just passed away.

 

I was going to put this in the Other Teams thread but I felt it's more appropriate here since it concerns former Barca players.

Let's expose the Spanish newspaper Marca for those of you who are unfamiliar for Real Madrid's biggest propaganda machine... pic.twitter.com/oDa8qTBXSU

— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) March 21, 2021

 

Lmao. Marca’s credibility is 0 at this point. Now let’s hope the same pattern continues with Haaland or Mbappe.

 

Tello with the 1-1 goal for Betis vs Atletico today.

3:20

 

Sandro scored the 1-0 winner for Huesca vs Bilbao yesterday



1:15

 

Both

 

For me, the most artistic solo effort Barca goal ever scored and that includes Messi v Getafe (the Maradona v England replication).

Koeman v Sampdoria remains my all-time personal favorite due to its significance and because it was a hell of a rocket blast past Pagliuca who was guarding that post.

 

18 years ago.
A watershed moment in the club's history.
(B&W image has me wondering if @35mmMessiah took this photo. )