The Fans Blog4

Belarusian attacker Alexander Hleb (27), who signed a four-year contract with Barcelona (read more here), has yesterday evening been officially presented as new player of Barcelona, in the presence of his agent Maurizio Gaudino and his fromer Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry.

At a press conference, Hleb showed his happiness about the transfer: "Being in Barcelona is a dream. I'm very hapy that it's reality now. I want to give everything for this club. I came here to win trophies, that's my absolute priority now. I think I can play on a lot of positions, like I have done over the last seasons at Arsenal. The coach can put me where he likes, I wouldn't even mind to play as goalkeeper."

Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola confirmed that he can use the player on several positions: "I think the player has the right profile for Barcelona: a lot of quality, a lot of technique, smart and with good movements. It's a player who knows how to play football, who understands the game. Since the first meeting with the technical department, I have always made clear he's a priority signing. He'll surprise a lot of people.

Hleb uses his both legs well and he can play on four or five positions: on both wings, as attacking midfielder and even as second striker. He's not a traditional winger, but that doesn't worry me much, I'm very calm. For a coach it's a good thing that you can count on two or three polyvalent players, like Hleb or Iniesta. They offer you a lot of tactical possibilities. I think Hleb can bring verticality to the team, but above all versatility. He'll generate a lot of team play."

Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain underlined that the club has been following Hleb for years: "It's a very polyvalent player, he'll help us to have a very complete midfield and will cause more competition in the squad. Since I arrived at Barcelona, we have been monitoring him and we already had good scouting reports from the time he played at Stuttgart.

With this transfer we lost some of the stress in and around the club, the squad is starting to get complete. We're still looking around, but with more calm now. If we sign another player it will be an attacking one. Everything is going well, the group can now start to work."


Read the complete Alexander Hleb transfer story from the first rumours until the official presentation

Look back at the presentations of Keita, Cáceres, Alves and Piqué










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