FC Barcelona News: 26 July 2016; Barca Announce Record Revenue, Training Camp in England Begins

FC Barcelona close the 2015/16 season with record revenues of 679 million euros | FC Barcelona
The Board has approved the closure of the financial results for the 2015/16 season, which showed record revenues of €679million, representing a substantial increase of the figure originally budgeted for this area, with a net profit of €29million after tax.This includes the €30million euros that the club will assume in the reversal of the sale of the land of Can Rigalt.

FC Barcelona in England for six-day training camp | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona's pre-season training regimen moved north on Monday, as the team embarked on a trip to England for a six-day stay training camp at St. George's Park, about 55 km north of Birmingham.The team's flight from Barcelona-El Prat took off at 10.30am CET and landed at Birmingham Airport about two hours later, around 11.30am (GMT+1).

Messi and Arda, new additions at St. George’s Park | FC Barcelona
Leo Messi and Arda Turan have started pre-season training with the rest of the group. The inclusion of the Argentine forward and the Turkish midfielder are the two new additions to the first session at St. George’s Park.The players trained in a far more modest climate than that of Barcelona, with rain gracing the first training session at the training camp.

André Gomes to sign with FC Barcelona and be presented on Wednesday | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona's newest player, André Gomes, will sign with the team on Wednesday morning, followed by an official presentation at the Miniestadi.The 22-year-old midfielder, who won the European Championship with the Portugal national team this summer, will agree to a five-year deal.As part of the transaction, FC Barcelona will pay Gomes's former club, Valencia CF, €35m plus up to €20m more depending on the performance of both the player and the team.

Bacca Barca’s plan B? | Football Espana
Carlos Bacca features highly on Barcelona’s list of alternatives if Luciano Vietto chooses Sevilla when he leaves Atletico Madrid. Mundo Deportivo notes that Barca have a deal with Atletico for Vietto at €22m but the player is concerned about the amount of playing time he’d get at Camp Nou as he competes with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar and it’s reported Sevilla are close to getting him on loan.

FC Barcelona to face Athletic Club at San Mamés on Sunday 28 August | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona will face Athletic Club at San Mamés on Sunday 28 August at 8.15pm CET in Week 2 of La Liga, it was announced.In what will be the team’s first away match of the new campaign, Barça will take on Athletic after facing Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup and Real Betis in the league opener at Camp Nou.

Cooperation agreement between FC Barcelona and FC Servette | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona and the Swiss club Servette FC have reached an agreement that will facilitate coperation between the two clubs in the area of youth football. The agreement is a demonstration of the good level of understanding between the two European clubs.As a result of this agreement, FC Barcelona's Under-19 team has brought on Jeremy Guillemenot, a player from Servette FC.

Official: Song loaned to Rubin | Football Espana
Alex Song "hopes to make a great impact" at Rubin Kazan after completing a season-long loan from Barcelona. Song has been considered surplus to requirements by Luis Enrique since the latter's appointment in 2014, with the midfielder spending the last two seasons at West Ham United, and he will be managed by former Malaga boss Javi Gracia for the upcoming campaign.

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La Liga News: 26 July 2016; Sevilla Fined for Europa League Incident, Villarreal Sign Porto Duo

Odegaard heading to Germany | Football Espana
Martin Odegaard is expected to leave Real Madrid on loan this summer and a move to the Bundesliga looks most likely. AS notes that Odegaard’s father, Hans-Erik, is scheduled to discuss the player’s future with Los Blancos and the intention is to agree a loan deal away from Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid most important signing is their fitness coach - ESPN FC
Hired from Olympique de Lyon, Italian fitness coach Antonio Pintus has the huge task of getting Real Madrid ready for a very long season. While doing that, Pintus also has to make sure that he fights one of the squad's biggest issues during these last two seasons: the injury plague.

Zinedine Zidane must refresh his squad and rest Cristiano Ronaldo to find success at Real Madrid - ESPN FC
Zinedine Zidane's first six months as Real Madrid's first-team coach did not go too badly, as he quickly resolved issues that brought down predecessor Rafa Benitez, almost caught Barcelona in the La Liga title race, and then finished the season by beating Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final.

Liverpool, Sevilla fined for Europa League incidents - Goal.com
Liverpool and Sevilla have been hit with UEFA fines as a result of incidents that took place at the Europa League final on May 18. Jurgen Klopp's side have been fined €16,000 for an "illicit banner and the setting off of fireworks", European football's governing body said in a statement.

Sevilla, Atleti ‘agree Vietto loan’ | Football Espana
Diario de Sevilla says the Europa League holders will pay €3.5m to take Vietto for a year and a fee of €20m has also been agreed if Sevilla want to make the move permanent at the end of the loan deal, but that isn’t a binding clause.

Villarreal agree a deal with Corinthians for Alexandre Pato - reports - ESPN FC
Villarreal have reached an agreement with Brazilian side Corinthians for Alexandre Pato, according to reports. The La Liga side will pay Corinthians in the area of €3 million for 60 percent of the former Selecao man's rights.

Andres Fernandez and Jose Angel join Villarreal on loan from Porto - ESPN FC
Villarreal have signed Andres Fernandez and Jose Angel on loan from Porto for the 2016-17 season. Goalkeeper Fernandez, 29, spent the majority of his career playing for Osasuna, making over 100 senior appearances between 2007 and 2014, before moving to Porto after the Spanish side were relegated from LaLiga.

Official: Ex-Samp star to Alaves | Football Espana
Alaves have announced the signing of Serbian midfielder Nenad Krsticic following his release by Sampdoria last week. Krsticic appears to have put pen to paper on a one-year contract with Alaves and joins former Levante pair Zouhair Feddal and Deyverson plus Colombia international Daniel Torres among others in making the move to the La Liga new boys.

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Getting to Know: Arda Turan

A look into Arda Turan’s footballing career

Full name: Arda Turan
Squad No: 7
Position: Attacking midfielder
Date of birth: 30 January 1987
Place of birth: Fatih, Turkey
Height: 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight: 76 kg (168 lbs)

Arda Turan was born in the town of Fatih, in the Istambul province, Turkey. He started playing youth football at Altıntepsi Makelspor at the age of twelve, but quickly moved to join the academy of Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray. There he quickly progressed through the youth ranks before making his first team debut against Bursaspor on 22 January 2005, eight days before his 18th birthday. He made one more appearance for the first team that season before moving on loan to Manisaspor for the 2005-06 season. For the Manisa-based team he scored two goals and assisted on another two in fifteen games.

Arda returned to Galatasaray the following season and from one season to the next the midfielder started making a bigger name for himself. Each following season he appeared in more games than the one before – only an injury plagued 2010-11 season broke that trend, and goal and assist numbers started to add up as well. Arda’s spell in Turkey ended in the summer of 2011, after 197 games, 45 goals and 76 assists for Galatasaray.

On 9 August 2011, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray came to an agreement, with the Madrid-based club paying €13 million for the Turkish international, making him the most expensive Turkish footballer. Arda’s playing style made him a key member of Diego Simeone’s title winning Atletico Madrid side. Arda proved remarkably consistent over his four year spell in the Spanish capital, closing his Atletico account with 178 appearances, 22 goals and 32 assists.

On 6 July 2015, Barcelona announced the signing of the Turkish star for €34 million. Due to Barcelona’s transfer ban, Arda could not make his Barcelona debut until January 2016, making his first Barcelona the first game he was available for selection – in the Copa del Rey on 6 January, in the Catalan derby against Espanyol. Arda struggled in his debut Barcelona campaign after missing six months of competitive football, but still appeared in 25 games, scored two goals and assisted on another four.

Arda Turan has been a household name on the international circuit since the year 2002 when he made his first appearance for the Turkish U-16 team. Since then he ran out for every under-age team up to and including the U-21, altogether taking part in 73 games and scoring thirteen goals for the Turkish youth teams. Arda made his senior debut on 16 August 2006 against Luxemburg and has since then become the national team captain and one of the biggest stars of Turkish football, gathering 94 appearances, scoring 17 goals and assisting on 25.

Profile

Arda is a powerful football player that prefers to play as an attacking midfielder but also has an abundance of experience on both wing positions. Known for his attacking play, the Turkish international prides himself on his excellent technique and hard-nosed, straightforward play. He brings creativity to any teams he dresses for, especially excelling in the final third of the pitch. Despite being an attacking player, Arda is very strong defensively.

Honors

Galatasaray

• Süper Lig (1): 2007-08
• Türkiye Kupası (1): 2004-05
• Süper Kupa (1): 2008

Atletico Madrid

• La Liga (1): 2013-14
• Copa del Rey (1): 2012-13
• Supercopa de España (1): 2014
• UEFA Europa League (1): 2011-12
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 2012

Arda Turan signed a five year contract upon joining Barcelona, the first year of which has already been completed.

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Reports: Luciano Vietto set to join Sevilla, Barcelona ready to sign Kevin Gameiro

The Barça-Vietto-Gameiro love triangle just got a whole lot more complicated.

According to multiple reports in Spain, 22-year-old Argentine striker Luciano Vietto has agreed to join Sevilla on a one-year loan. The Sevillistas will pay Atlético Madrid a €3 million fee for the loan, and will have a buy option of €20 million that could be exercised next summer.

The arrival of Vietto is very likely to end Kevin Gameiro's time with Sevilla, and that's where Barcelona gets in the fun. Barça and Atlético Madrid had a deal for Vietto during the weekend, but the player ultimately decided not to be a backup to the 'MSN' trio and fight for a starting spot with Jorge Sampaoli. With Gameiro's departure now a huge possibility, both Barça and Atlético will fight to sign the French striker.

Sevilla has a formal offer of €35 million from Atleti, but Barça plan to enter the race and snatch the player before the Colchoneros complete the deal. However, given that Sevilla and Atlético just negotiated for a striker, it's very simple to think they'd do it again the next day.

This is a very risky situation for Barça. A fourth forward was a reality two days ago, with both Vietto and Gameiro very close. Now the two are likely to trade teams, and Barça will be left hanging.

Oh, dear.

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FC Barcelona Agree Deal For Swiss Wonderkid

With the majority of Cules anxiously refreshing their Twitter timelines for the latest developments regarding Barcelona's pursuit of a back-up striker, the club has quietly made another interesting move in the transfer market today, securing a year-long deal for one of Swiss football's hottest prospects. The youngster in question is Jeremy Guillemenot, a precociously talented 18 year-old centre-forward who previously plied his trade for newly promoted Servette FC.

The deal has arisen as a direct result of Barcelona's strategic partnership with the Geneva outfit, an agreement that will see the two clubs exchange ideas, and in rare cases, players at a youth level. Despite playing last season in the third tier of Swiss football, Servette FC have a strong reputation for youth development and were the only Swiss side to be invited to the UEFA Youth League in 2015-16, a competition which the Blaugrana are very much familiar with having won the inaugural edition in 2014.

Despite his tender age, Guillemenot scored six goals for the senior squad last season, helping Servette clinch promotion back into the second tier, and he doubled up by featuring for the UEFA Youth League side, scoring four goals in four appearances as Servette reached the second round, only to be eliminated by Anderlecht.

The move will see Guillemenot join up with Barcelona's Juvenil A team, currently coached by Gabri, with the opportunity to be called up as and when required into the B team, where he could feature in the Segunda B. While the deal is only a year-long at the moment, this surely represents an excellent chance for the young forward to impress, and who knows, maybe create a career at the greatest club in the world.

Good luck kid, we're rooting for you!

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FC Barcelona News: 25 July 2016; Conflicting Reports on Forward Target, Adriano Correia Set for Besiktas

RUMOURS: Barcelona agree Gameiro deal - Goal.com
Barcelona are set to sign Kevin Gameiro after reaching agreement with Sevilla, according to Spanish newspaper Sport. Luis Enrique has been searching for another striker to serve as a back-up to the trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

Transfer news: No Barcelona offer for Luciano Vietto, says Atletico Madrid's Cerezo - Goal.com
Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo insists they have not received an offer from Barcelona for Luciano Vietto. The Argentine attacker has been struggling to live up to the high expectations at the Vicente Calderon since his move from Villarreal and has been heavily linked with a move to Barca in recent weeks.

Messi returns from vacation early to join St. George’s Park training camp | FC Barcelona
Leo Messi was the big inclusion on the list of players set to travel to the St. George’s Park training camp in the United Kingdom on Monday.The Argentine has cut his holidays short by a week to prepare for the season ahead, despite having permission to remain on vacation until 1 August after competing in the Copa America.

FC Barcelona headed to England | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona's pre-season training regimen moved north on Monday, as the team embarked on a trip to England for a six-day stay training camp at St. George's Park, about 55 km north of Birmingham.The team's flight from Barcelona-El Prat took off at 10.30am CET. The two-and-a-half-hour flight is expected to land at Birmingham Airport around 11.30am (GMT+1).

A look at each of the Barça B players joining the St. George’s Park stage | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona travel to St. George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, in the United Kingdom on Monday as preparations for the new season continue.Much of the squad has yet to return from their holidays due to their commitments at the European Championships and the Copa America, apart from Leo Messi, who has cut his vacations short by a week.Therefore, Luis Enrique has called upon a number of youngsters to join the expedition.

Ten transfers from Valencia to FC Barcelona in history | FC Barcelona
The path between Valencia and FC Barcelona seems to be a comfortable transition for new transfers to the Club. The last one being André Gomes, who played for Los Che for the last two seasons. We take a look back at the nine other players who followed the same route:

The ten biggest stories from the past week on fcbarcelona.com | FC Barcelona
The first week of pre-season training for FC Barcelona was just one of a litany of highly important events that came about in Club circles during the past seven days. The ten most popular of those stories from the past week have been compiled right here for your enjoyment.

Adriano 'joining Besiktas family' | Football Espana
Outgoing Barcelona full-back Adriano says he is "now part of the Besiktas family" after passing a medical with his new club on Sunday. Adriano was due to travel with Barca to England on Monday, but he instead took a flight to Turkey, where he was greeted by Besiktas fans en masse, and the 31-year-old is looking forward to a new challenge.

Nolito: Snubbing Barca for Man City was 'the best decision' - Goal.com
Nolito says he snubbed Barcelona in favour of Manchester City and insists it is "the best decision" he could have made. The Spain forward played for Barca's B team for three years before spending a single season with the senior side, coached at the time by Pep Guardiola, but left for Benfica in search of regular playing time.

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IP UK: Brexit & The Outlook For Sports Law

Regular Barca Blaugranes blogger Ahmed Shahin has a legal-focused day job. IP UK looks at the likely impact of Brexit (Britain's decision to leave the EU) on football club transfers and sports law in general.

Sport is a multibillion-dollar global industry on a permanent growth trend. Football, that opiate of the masses, is the fastest growing sector of all. The European football market, says Deloitte, will exceed €25bn by 2017. While we may gasp at FC Barcelona's record-breaking £120m-a-year deal with Nike, and at the fact that UK television networks Sky and BT paid £5.1bn for three seasons' worth of TV rights for the beautiful game, we know next year there will be another, bigger deal and more companies vying for opportunities to promote themselves across the world. For every sport there is a new record to be broken both on and off the field.

Now Britain has decided to extract itself from the EU, sports law may well find itself at the centre of a global shake-up as clients and firms try to get to grips with the often very complicated matrix of laws, regulations and conventions that govern it. Sport touches on all areas of contentious and advisory legal services, and the weight and complexity of instructions generated by this sector as a consequence of Brexit will have most firms fighting from the back foot.

THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP EXAMPLE

As this is the world's best football fan site, it seems inappropriate to draw examples from anything other than football. The European Championship predates the UK's membership of the European Economic Community by 13 years and the creation of the EU by the Maastricht Treaty by 32 years. England first played in the tournament in 1964 without the need for economic or political union as the price of entry.

The EU has played a key role in sport since the landmark Bosman ruling in 1995. This confirmed the principle of free movement of workers in the EU and essentially enabled players to move to another club at the end of their contract without a transfer fee being paid. More than a decade later, the European Courts of Justice established primacy of EU law over sporting federations. Britain's election to leave the EU will, according to Richard Scudamore, executive chair of the UK's Premier League, change the character of the League -€” 332 players now will not meet the non-EU criteria for work permits and will therefore be unable to automatically join other clubs. Furthermore, the impact on club and individual intellectual property (IP) rights may be immeasurable.

Then there is the issue of fair play -€” Financial Fair Play (FFP), to be precise. FFP programmes, like those implemented by UEFA and the English Premier League, aim to improve the overall financial health of club football through the imposition of financial rules and restrictions. The most notable development in this area over the last five years was the roll out of UEFA's break-even requirement, attracting particular attention in legal quarters. Andrew Mercer, legal counsel at UEFA, commented, ‘All of the statistics indicate the overwhelmingly positive impact that the implementation of UEFA's FFP regulations have had on European club football. With the continued expansion and evolution of the regulations, particularly in the areas of settlement and voluntary agreements, these rules will continue to play a central role in UEFA's drive to protect the long-term viability and sustainability of European club football for years to come.'

OFFSIDE!

It would seem, however, that some rules of the ‘beautiful game', in particular transfer systems and EU law, are uneasy bedfellows. FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players are essentially a set of agreements between FIFA, UEFA and the European Commission, which allow FIFA to self-regulate transfers. The difference between football transfers and EU law is one that is regularly exploited, but not without a drawn-out contractual fight.

One can envision a set of circumstances in which a contract entered into under the assumption that we would remain part of the EU ceases, post-Brexit, to be commercially viable or at least becomes less attractive to one of the parties. The doctrines of impossibility and frustration may come to the aid of a party materially disadvantaged by a change in the law not anticipated at the time the contract was negotiated and/or executed. The law is presently unclear, and both clubs and commerce will need the assistance of experienced lawyers to navigate the next few months and years.

RULE BRITANNIA

Sport is a growth industry. Litigation, arbitration, IP, contracts, corporate and restructuring all have a role to play. Sport needs capable and innovative lawyers able to support the aims and objectives of the sector.

We are part of the global sporting and commercial world. Brexit cannot change that fact and, with or without EU membership, our services, in particular professional services, will continue to be in demand. In an increasingly globalised world, the decision of the British people (or 52% of them) to leave the EU seems peculiar, but even though the days of Empire are behind us, it may yet prove to be a boon that our time as part of a homogeneous economic bloc has come to a close. We offer the world unrivaled excellence in professional and financial services, and our independent status will allow our unique strengths to come to the fore.

Ahmed Shahin, head of research and Mark Husband, managing director, Cogence Search

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