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Does Barcelona pay their players to speculate in the transfer market?

Darsei Canhasi

Transfer rumours usually start from speculation. The stronger the speculation the more credible the rumour is considered. Nowadays with all the speculation coming from the social networks, the football lovers have no idea whether to believe numerous sources.

A well-founded and credible rumour is considered the praise or the comment from a player towards a player of another team. No better team than Barcelona FC is in this regard.

First of all I would like to make things clear: I have nothing against Barca as a team. Interestingly, during the recent times I noticed a strange and seemingly organized pattern of events that truly affected the transfer market. Below I will try to explain and convince you that Barcelona players are paid or encouraged by the team directors to speculate on certain players that are actually being followed closely.

On 20^th of August 2012 Alexander Song secured his move from Arsenal to Barcelona. Having two more years left at his contract with Arsenal, Song’s transfer was unexpected and completed within days. It could be said that the transfer was a good piece of business for Barcelona, regardless of the problems that Song is believed to have had in the pre-season with Arsenal.

But way before Song to Barcelona rumours started, Busquets told ESPN on the 3^rd of August: “Song is a very good player – young, a hard worker, with lots of physical power”. How Busquets could know about a potential bid coming from his team towards Song?

As I said earlier, Song to Barca was one of those cases when negotiations wrapped up quickly and thinking that a bid was in place when Busquets spoke to ESPN would be misleading. Five days later Iniesta was the next player to comment about Song. Among other things, Iniesta said: “If he comes it would be because he has the qualities to play here, there is little doubt about that, and we’d welcome him.“ Two days after Iniesta, Pique is quoted: “We are open to his arrival,“ he added. “If he comes, and from what I have read he could do, we would love to have him.” I wonder who the writer of the paper Pique read is.

Barca’s first transfer of the last summer was Jordi Alba from Valencia, occurring on the 28th of June. Starting from the middle of May, four Barca players praised Alba (not surprisingly).

• Adriano broke the deadlock on the 18th of May, about 40 days before Alba was officially unveiled. ”I really like Jordi Alba as a footballer, he is a very good player, very good defensively…If Barca sign him, he would be welcome.”

• David Villa was the next one, on the 6th of June: “He’s one of the people I get along best with and he has had a spectacular career and it is not only Barcelona that would want him, but every team.”

• Pique two days later: “He’s an amazing player, he surprised me. He’s flying in our training sessions, he’s small but very fast. He knows how to attack and defend.”

• Pedro, 6 days before the transfer happened: “Let’s hope Barca sign Alba.“

Alexis Sanchez is another high-profile purchase of Barca in the recent years. (Un) Luckily, he could not escape the speculations from Barca players. My research findings say that Xavi and Mesi spoke publicly about Sanchez. The transfer was completed on the 20^th of July and Xavi with Messi got public about it on 7^th and 16^th of July respectively. “He is an outstanding player and it would be an extraordinary transfer if we manage to sign him” – said Xavi.

Was Pepe Reina paid from Barca to put the shirt to CescFabregas? On the other hand, here is the latest news: Pique said that Cesc will not leave on loan in January. How many spokesmen do they have? One thing is for sure, these claims truly impact the transfer market.

This kind of speculation is an easy way to make a player unsettled and Barcelona is doing this in a professional manner. Whether those are directed from someone inside the club or whether speculators are paid to do this, it remains a mystery.