According to reports in Spain, we have made a £4 million bid for Thiago with a buy-back option for the Catalan giants. The player made 12 appearances for them last season, scoring twice, with him due recently being made a full Barca player. He has also been part of a successfull Spanish youth side, who have reached the final of the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.
I really hope that these rumours are true and that we do get him. He is obviously a player of some promise, and will hopefully turn out to be a classy full-back. My only concern would be his readiness to step straight into a Premier League team, however in terms of helping Thiago to reach the neccesary physical levels, Steinsson will be an excellent mentor.
All round, its probably the most exciting transfer we've been linked with this summer imo.
Thiago
posted on 10/6/11
Full back? If this is Thiago Alcantara then I'm pretty sure he's a centre mid. I don't know much about him but I know that he's pretty good on Football Manager, and ridiculous as it may sound, the guys working for them don't often get it wrong. After a little browse on Wikipedia though I see he is only 5' 7" and for a centre mid that leaves him open to being shoved off the ball easily, but perhaps he would fit the Wilshere role which I would love to see.
Even if this isn't true, it's nice to be linked to players like this rather than the likes of Jerome and just makes you feel a bit more reassured about what's going on behind the scenes.
posted on 10/6/11
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3277/la-liga/2011/06/06/2520244/thiago-alcantara-will-not-leave-barcelona-to-join-arsenal
posted on 10/6/11
Well, he is a CM. Claiming he was a full-back was a little embarassing.
posted on 12/6/11
Guess Blake could mentor, as we don't have any Expirenced CM'S. I heard somewhere that Blake could play In CM!