Official: FC Barcelona and Stoke City Agree Deal for Bojan Krkic ~ Fc BarceLona News

الثلاثاء، 22 يوليو 2014

Official: FC Barcelona and Stoke City Agree Deal for Bojan Krkic

It is official: Bojan Krkic is no longer a FC Barcelona player, as the former Blaugrana striker will join Premier League's Stoke City next season, the club announced on Tuesday. Stoke also confirmed the news.

Bojan will sign a four-year contract with the Potters, for an undisclosed fee. Barça will also get a part of a future transfer deal whenever Stoke decides to sell him.

Here's a part of Barça's statement on the transfer:

"After spending nearly his entire footballing life at FC Barcelona, Bojan Krkic says goodbye to his Club. The Catalan forward, who was always one step ahead of his age in terms of skill and quality, leaves the Club with the distinction of being the all-time highest scorer in the Barça youth system. His tally from all his years at La Masia exceeds the 400-goal mark. He also performed well when he shared the senior side dressing room with some of the best forwards on the planet. First he vied for a starting spot with Eto’o, and then with Ibrahimovic and Leo Messi. During his four seasons on the first team (2007-2011), he scored a total of 26 goals."

Stoke Chief Exectuive, Tony Scholes, had this to say regarding the deal:

"We are delighted to have signed such a richly talented and exciting player, who is still only 23.

"A number of other clubs had expressed an interest in him but Bojan believes joining Stoke City will benefit his career and we have no doubts he will prove to be a wonderful addition to our squad.

"The signing of Bojan, along with the other players we have recruited ahead of the new season, underlines the progress we are making as a Club."

Source: StokeCityFC.com

City's manager Mark Hughes is excited with the news:

"Anyone who knows European football will be aware of him as a player and the fact that he sees his future at Stoke City is really exciting and an endorsement of the Club itself.

"He's desperate to prove himself in the Premier League and we're pleased to be able to offer him that platform.

"The time he spends with the squad in Germany will help him settle in and will give myself and the coaches the chance to take a good look at him."

Source: StokeCityFC.com

The 23-year-old made his debut as a Blaugrana at the age of 17, and impressed everyone with his goalscoring skills. Quickly, comparisons with Lionel Messi were made, and he showed a lot of promise to be a great player moving forward. Unfortunately, some injuries and coaching changes led to him eventually dropping out of Barça's normal rotation, and his time on the field became rarer and rarer as time went on. After floating around Europe, including stops at AC Milan, AS Roma and Ajax, he's now definitely going away.

Bojan will now travel to Germany to meet his newest teammates and start his preseason training sessions. We wish him all the best!