Brazilian left back defender Maxwell has today been presented as new player of Barcelona. Maxwell spoke at a press conference about the transfer:"This is one of my dreams come true, a dream I already had for a long time. I'm sorry that I cannot express myself in Catalan, but I will make sure to learn the language quickly.
This is one of the happiest days in my life. I join one of the strongest squads in Europe and I hope to be able to help the team to get as far as possible in all competitions. From the moment the chance to come here was there, I was very open for it to happen and I told my agent to reach an agreement.
Everybody knows that I'm arriving to replace Sylvinho but I nevertheless hope to be able to play regularly. I think the competition with Abidal will be good for the team. The way this team plays is spectacular. Last season, thye played great games. I have the advantage to have experience with Dutch football, which is very similar. I hope to be able to adapt quickly to the style wanted by the coach."
Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain explained the transfer: "We took a series of decisions. The first one was not to renew the contract of Sylvinho, because we thought we should strengthen the position. We worked on several options and Maxwell was one of them.
Maxwell is Brazilian but his first team in Europe was Ajax, a club with a similar philosophy as ours. Later he joined Inter Milan, a top team. I'm sure he will help us. It's a quality player with a great technique. The duration of the contract is four years plus an option for one more year and the buyout clause is 50 million euro."
Je me'appelle Samuel Said,
Welcome
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 10:23
FCBlaugrana Said,
"This is one of my dreams come true, a dream I already had for a long time. I'm sorry that I cannot express myself in Catalan, but I will make sure to learn the language quickly."
This is where Hleb failed.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 10:23
Harshawardhan Said,
welcome aboard Maxwell!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 10:33
Anurag Said,
Welcome, Maxwell.
Is he wearing the number 16?
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 10:43
Barca4Ever Said,
I havent seen him play alot,is he good enough to take Abidals place ?
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 10:46
Anurag Said,
Well, barca4ever, lets put it like this - with maxwell in our team, both our flanks are attacking threats. which is why i think he and alves wont start together very often.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:02
barca nike Said,
Maxwell will wear number 17 because from the pictures he is sittingon the #17 chair
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:12
pep Said,
He has not yet been awarded a shirt number. That will happen later depending on the other transfers.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:16
barca nike Said,
i no pep but i think he will
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:17
barca nike Said,
Eto's agent said that they are happy to negotiate with a big team like Inter and an agreement should be reached face to face and not by cell phone
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:17
Anonymous Said,
@Barca Nike
Dude, please say you have some proof of that and not* just trying to raise our hope.... PLEASE
SORRY
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:20
Anonymous Said,
@Barca Nike
Dude, please say you have some proof of that and just trying to raise our hope.... PLEASE
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:20
Anonymous Said,
laporta has confirmed the ibra agreement, and has not ruled out the purchase of david villa
imagine if we buy both...:D *dreamy stare that usually appears when i look at emma watson*
:P
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:21
Anonymous Said,
@above
I would love to have them both but don't you think it's like having a time bomb under your *ss which might explode any time :p
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:23
barca nike Said,
Anonymous its on an arabic website not everyone knows how to read the language
here it is:
http://www.forcabarca.com/vb/showthread.php?t=288013
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:23
Knives Out Said,
Welcome Maxwell :)
Hope you entertain us with your football and win us more matches!
Also, please give that lazy Abidal a serious run for his money.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:25
refter Said,
How would an Arab website know, seriously... Better find a Spanish source for stories.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:25
barca nike Said,
the arabic website writes the news based on the spanish sources
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:27
koko=barca Said,
Pep can you provide a video from the presentation.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:31
Anonymous Said,
http://www.marca.com/2009/07/17/futbol/equipos/barcelona/1247850223.html
The Spanish Source.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:31
Anonymous Said,
Video is on the main page of sport.es
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:33
Anonymous Said,
@Barca4Ever ,
Maxwell is much better technically than Abidal . I'm sure if it is based on talent and ability Abidal will lose to Maxwell every time . Besides Abidal tends to be a total "dumb ass" sometimes giving away costly free kicks and penalties and earning himself too many stupid red cards !!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:36
Anonymous Said,
http://sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=630204&idseccio_PK=803
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:36
Anonymous Said,
This is the translation of Laporta's comments. Read:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://sport.es/default.asp%3Fidpublicacio_PK%3D44%26idioma%3DCAS%26idnoticia_PK%3D630204%26idseccio_PK%3D803
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:38
aydink-1 Said,
Welcome in the dream team.
Hope he settle down well and give his best years to us!!!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:41
Messa Said,
More pictures here guys
http://barcelista.blogspot.com/2009/07/weekly-pick-maxwell.html
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 11:49
Anonymous Said,
Those two red cards at the end of the season which Abidal got was certainly not stupid from Abidal. It was stupid from the ref. Abidal is a very good left back, strong and fast, I don't think there are anyone in the world better than him defensively.
Maxwell is quite opposite, but I think dutch Gio did well for us and when such a player can do so well for us at left back, then certainly Maxwell is going to be great for us. Perhaps Alves need to hold back more sometimes though, but it makes us more unpredictable to know that we can attack down both flanks.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 12:08
NouBarca Said,
Good to see peeps call Abidal names and think pep is silly enough to play 2-1-5-3 formation
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 12:12
Marc4barca Said,
ok the red card in the cl final surely looked like abidal didn't touch him but abidal said in an interview that he felled the player what can we about it, insult him and tell him he is wrong, if he said he fouled him then he fouled him. as for the second one against villareal, it was a penalty but one that is not usually given, you will see these things from a Spanish referees they are whistle happy. abidal falls asleep on the corners but then again most barca players do, he doesn't produce anything in attack which really doesn't matter since alves does his thing on the right and he is inconsistent but there is no doubt if abidal has a good game he is the best lb at defending but we don't see that to often. both of them will get equally amount of playing time to me.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 12:17
Brandon Said,
Maxwell to be number 17? He is sitting on that number in the dressing room.
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 12:50
Anonymous Said,
i hope he plays good, ive never seen him play before, but what he said is true. the competition between him and abidal will be good for the team.
oh and there is a misspelled word in the article, it says thye instead of they its in the fourth paragraph
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 13:03
Xaviniesta Said,
hope he also works the shirt and not just kiss it. welcome maxwell!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 13:23
Labinot Said,
First signing of Barca,good,it's not badd!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 16:00
peter Said,
Very nice to see Maxwell in the Barca shirt! One of my favorite defenders. This is going to be a really good season!
Posted on 17 July 2009 at 23:57