�It�s bad news for sporting and sentimental reasons �

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Football

07.08.2010 12:20

�It�s bad news for sporting and sentimental reasons�

David Saura (special correspondent)

With Cesc Fabregas finally committing himself to Arsenal for this season yesterday, Club Vice President Josep Maria Bartomeu spoke of his feelings about the decision: �it�s bad news for sporting and sentimental reasons�.

Sr Bartomeu insisted that he respected both Arsenal and Fabregas’ decision and also threw light on the club’s efforts to bring the Catalan player back home this summer: “we made two offers: one in June and another at the beginning of August, but Arsenal didn’t want to sell him and they didn’t accept our offers. They didn’t put a price on him, they just declared he was not for sale”.

“Reasonable offer”

Bartomeu, who explained that President Rosell had been in direct contact throughout the negotiations, explained that the offer was just less than 40 million Euros, as the club made clear in a note published on Friday: “we made a reasonable offer, a common sense amount, but they just said ‘no’. There was no mention of a counter offer. If Arsenal had wanted to sell, Cesc was more than willing”.

Matter closed for this summer

Asked if the club was disappointed at their failure to sign Cesc, Bartomeu responded: “it’s bad news for sporting and sentimental reasons. The current board found ourselves dealing with a club, Arsenal, who were angry at Barca”, he continued, though he stressed that relations between the two clubs had been repaired and he didn’t rule out another bid next summer: “what is certain is that the Cesc saga is over for this summer”.

Alternatives to Cesc

So what is the alternative to Cesc? The reporters asked Bartomeu: “first we’ll look at the B team and then we’ll take a decision. We never start from scratch; the club is always working on these things”.

International call ups

Bartomeu also expressed himself: “very surprised” at the decision to call up 7 Barca players into the Spanish squad for next week, but, “we have to accept it. I think we have enough players to be competitive on August 14th and to go out and try to win”.

Loan deals

As for the loan deals for Hleb, C�ceres and V�ctor S�nchez, who Guardiola has made clear he won’t be counting on for next season, Bartomeu explained: “we are talking to a few clubs about loaning them out. There are different options and we are looking at what is best for the club and the players”.

Photos: Miguel Ruiz-FCB.

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Messi

Josep Maria Bartomeu and Jordi Moix explained what happened with Leo Messi in Korea after the player was originally not going to figure in Wednesday’s game and finally played for 15 minutes. Bartomeu made it clear that the club had not accepted the attempts of the Korean promoter to force Messi to play for a minimum of 30 minutes, as stipulated in the contract with the organisers: “we never told Guardiola that Messi had to play. We did not give in to the organisers’ pressure on us”. Messi’s 15 minutes was not enough to avoid Barca having to pay a €200,000 penalization as he did not play the amount of time stipulated in the contract, in addition to a further €100,000 because of Xavi’s absence.

Bartomeu insisted: “the manager and his staff decide who plays – there is no commercial interest above that and it was difficult to make the organisers of the Seoul game understand that”.