Earlier this week, Barcelona managed to convince Xavi Hernandez to stay on as head coach for another season. It’s believed that one of the big incentives daggled over the 44-year-old’s head was the possible return to La Liga’s 1:1 rule, which would allow spending without any Financial Fair Play restrictions. Ig story Balde. pic.twitter.com/AOtS9bEqfZ — barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 27, 2024 Over the last few months, Barcelona have made moves towards reaching their goal, and there is a positive feeling that they can get it done before the summer. However, they aren’t there yet, and more in ..read more

Real Madrid will go into Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in good spirits, having won 1-0 against Real Sociedad on Friday night. A heavily-rotated side played that match, so Los Blancos’ regulars will be well-rested for the trip to Bavaria. It means that Ancelotti should be able to play his strongest line-up, aside from the suspended Dani Carvajal, without any problems. Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo Goes would be included in this, and although they missed the match against La Real due to discomfort and illness respectively, both have now re ..read more

It was a sad day for Barcelona when Sergio Busquets departed the club last summer after 15 years in the first team. Throughout that period, he was ever-present as the pivot in a midfield three, and there’s no doubt that his absence has been felt, with his “replacement” Oriol Romeu massively struggling. It has meant that Andreas Christensen has often played in midfield, although Barcelona are close to rectifying the situation by signing Guido Rodriguez. On top of this, another top-level defensive midfielder could also arrive in the summer. In terms of La Masia pivots, the most promising is Marc ..read more

Mason Greenwood has been a big hit at Getafe ever since he arrived last summer on a season-long loan from Manchester United. The 22-year-old has six goals and five assists in 27 appearances for Los Azulones. Because of his form at Getafe, Greenwood’s future has been the subject of speculation over the last few months. Manchester United are yet to decide whether to keep, sell or loan him, but Jose Bordalas has all-but confirmed that his intention is to keep the English winger for another season, as he told the media (via Marca). “We haven’t spoken about it yet. He’s in the same situation as the ..read more

Valencia are well-known for their excellent academy set-up, and many believe that Javi Guerra is one of the best players to emerge in recent years. The 20-year-old is having a fine season with Los Che, having broken into the first team at the back-end of the 2022-23 campaign. Guerra is a top talent, and Valencia are fully aware of this. They have shielded him with a €100m release clause, although that hasn’t stopped clubs registering their interest. According to exclusive information from CaughtOffside, Arsenal are the latest club to show an interest, joining the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Ma ..read more

Earlier this week, Xavi Hernandez opted to stay on as head coach of Barcelona, despite stating on many occasions since January that he would be stepping down in the summer. Joan Laporta and Deco pushed hard to retain the 44-year-old’s services, and highlighted his use of youth players as being a big reason for him to remain in the position. The likes of Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez have flourished since being handed their first team debuts at Barcelona, but according to Sport, another whose career could stagnate by Xavi staying is Mikayil Faye. In recent weeks, Barcelona have con ..read more

Under the stewardship of Marcelino Garcia Toral, Villarreal have had a very good second half of the season, and they will hope to take that momentum into the 2024-25 campaign, as they aim to be back in serious contention for the European places. Signings will be needed to help with this, and they’ve already made advances in this department. With the futures of Etienne Capoue and Frances Coquelin in doubt, Villarreal have needed to tie down a new central midfielder for next season. They have now managed to do so, with La Minute OM (via MD) reporting that an agreement has been reached to sign Ma ..read more

Barcelona were lauded last summer when they completed a late double swoop for Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix, who arrived on loan from Manchester City and Atletico Madrid respectively. However, neither player has had a particularly good season. Guido Rodríguez on a free – your honest thoughts? pic.twitter.com/0YNJRzgpIw — barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 27, 2024 Despite this, it appeared likely that Barcelona would try to re-sign both players, ideally on loan because permanent deals are out of the question because of their financial woes. However, Xavi Hernandez’s decision to stay on as head ..read more

It’s been a slow start to life at Barcelona for Vitor Roque, who has found minutes hard to come by since he joined from Athletico Paranaense during the winter. He has started just twice in La Liga (vs Celta Vigo and Cadiz), and has barely been used off the bench by head coach Xavi Hernandez. Roque has not been entrusted to play in any of Barcelona’s big matches by Xavi. He didn’t play a single minute in El Clasico, and that was also the case for the Champions League matches, as he was not called upon against Napoli or Paris Saint-Germain. He also didn’t feature from the bench against Athletic ..read more

Florentino Perez almost always attends Real Madrid matches, as is his duty as president. However, he ended up missing Friday night’s victory over Real Sociedad, as instead of being in Donostia-San Sebastian, he was in Dallas. Perez was a VIP guest of the Dallas Mavericks, who were in NBA play-off action against the Los Angeles Clippers at the American Airlines Center. He was especially there to see Luka Doncic, one of the best players in the NBA, who was in action for the Mavericks. Doncic is a diehard Real Madrid, and he actually started out at the club’s basketball team in 2015, before trans ..read more