A Barça Blog

Name: Francesc Fàbregas i Soler Date of birth: 04/05/1987 Nationality: Spanish Position: Midfielder Number: 4 Background: Fàbregas was born in Arenys de Mar, Barcelona and was raised as a huge Barcelona fan. He went to his first match at the age of nine months with his grandfather. Fàbregas began playing football for a club named CE Mataró. Before too long Barcelona's youth academy had noticed Fàbregas and signed him part time to their academy. Fàbregas' first coach, Señor Blai, used to attempt to hide Fàbregas from Barcelona but this did not work for too long and Fàbregas was soon signed on a full term contract. At La Masia Fàbregas first met his current team mates Gerard Piqué and Lionel Messi. Many believe this is when the legendary chemistry of the current Barça squad was formed. Fàbregas continued to impress at La Masia but was not selected for Barcelona's first team. So when English club Arsenal offered to sign him to their academy Fàbregas accepted. Aft...

The Daily Mirror have reported that Barcelona are preparing a summer move for Tottenham winger Gareth Bale, but unusually for only £25 million. According to the reports Pep Guardiola has discussed the possibility of strengthening the left side of his team. Guardiola has short listed three potential summer moves, including Jordi Alba of Valencia and Thiago Silva of AC Milan. Bale tops the list though and Barça are preparing a range of offer options if Spurs reject their £25 million offer. Some of these deals include a player plus cash deal which could see out of favour players such as Seydou Keita and Maxwell heading to White Hart Lane. Although a reluctant Redknapp will not be willing to lose his star player for a fee as small as £25 million no matter which Barça reserve player is offered as part of the deal. Barça will have to raise funds if they really want the Welsh winger. If you look at how much Tottenham valued their Croation midfielder Modric last summer, I can't see h...

Name: David Villa Sánchez Nickname: El Guaje (The Kid) Date of birth: 03/12/1981 Nationality: Spanish Position: Striker Number: 7 Background: Born in a small village in northern Spain, Villa suffered a fracture to his femur at a young age. For most this would be a sign to give up on football but after making a full recovery Villa developed his strength in both his legs and thus became ambidextrous. This gave Villa his edge and after a hard struggle he was signed for Sporting de Gijón. Villa was a huge success scoring 25 goals in two seasons. He had cemented his place in the first team. With the success at Sporting de Gijón, more and more big clubs had started sniffing around the then 22 year old Villa. Villa is well known for being a relentless hard worker and described by his Sporting de Gijón manager, Pepe Acebal, as having an "unrivalled work capacity" he completed his transfer from the Segunda División side to Real Zaragoza. Spending little time settling i...

There have been reports circulating that Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie is a transfer target for Pep Guardiola. This news comes after striker turned left winger David Villa had his season ended early from a broken tibia during Barça's recent clash in The FIFA Club World Cup. Van Persie would be joining a long list of attackers including their €26 million summer signing Alexis Sánchez, recently returning Pedro, new starlet Isaac Cuenca and of course the irreplaceable Lionel Messi. From Arsenal's end, Van Persie has 18 months left on his current contract and has yet to enter extension talks. But with a goal to game ratio of 1.03, Arsenal are keen to keep hold of their talisman. Even though Van Persie is keeping coy about his future, I can't see Barça as one of Van Persie's main targets. No matter how much Cesc sells it to him, for a man to go from a club where you are the star player to just another number would be a bizarre move. Also those noisy neighbours fro...

Hello and welcome to the introduction to my new blog, A Barça Blog. My name is Sam Cooper and I am currently 16 years of age. I have started this blog as I am aiming to become a football journalist and see this as a great way to get started. For many years I have been a huge admirer of FC Barcelona, from the way they have created a new style of football to their impressive off-the-field conduct. My blog will cover all of the big stories coming from Barça in the last week. I will be giving my views and thoughts but will also be asking for your feedback! So please if you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to email me at samcooper07@gmail.com. Hope you enjoy, Sam Cooper