La Liga News: Barcelona dismiss Ibra Agent’s claim of AC Milan transfer coming by
Barcelona have at last condemned the statements and actions of their star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent Mino Raiola, while also announcing that the transfer deal leading to their world class Swedish player Ibra’s departure to AC Milan is far from happening.
Over the summers, Raiola has quite literally given the media tools to fabricate all kinds of stories about the forward and of course, the unforgiving and ruthless faces of journalism have taken full advantage of that.
Raiola’s statements such as “put into question the honor and moral integrity of our coach Josep Guardiola” and “affected the relationship between the coach and the player and as a result, the willingness of the player to fulfill his obligations”, have certainly continued to degrade the persona of the player in public.
Recently, the agent stated that Ibra would stay at Camp Nou despite declarations by Barcelona and AC Milan officials that the deal was on the verge of being signed. Raiola said that the deal was far from being signed and whatever the Barcelona manager, Guardiola had informed was unlikely to happen.
The Catalans have responded to his statements saying, “The declarations are a flagrant breach of contract which Raiola's company has with the club for representation and management”. Officials from Blaugrana added, “Our legal department is therefore considering the possibility of rescinding this contract and the cessation of the annual payment Raiola's company receives from the club as part of this agreement”.
They also said, “Once the department has reached its conclusions and taking into consideration how this matter develops, the club will take any measures it considers necessary”.
Earlier, Raiola had at first informed the media that the 28-year-old striker wasn’t leaving Barcelona but, only 48 hours later, he changed his statement by saying that AC Milan have finalized all matters with Barcelona and all that remained was the signing of the papers and the medical examination.
After a meeting with Barcelona officials and also the Devils’ vice president, Adriano Galliani, he had commented on the transfer process saying, “The baby is almost born. We are at eight months”.
The Rossoneri CEO, Gallinai had exclaimed that AC Milan were extremely interested in signing the Swede and his salary and other matter like insurance had already been handled. All that remained was some smaller transfer issues. He had even stated that although the Italian club will be taking Ibra on loan for now, they will assess his performance during the season and will probably propose a transfer bid for him.
The former Inter Milan star has been linked with a transfer to some heavy football powerhouses this season including his previous clubs like Juventus. He is also a wanted man at the Eastlands where Manchester City are willing to pay a lot of money for him but so are many other clubs.
Starting from Malmo FF, Ibra proceeded to Ajax and from there, he was signed by Juventus and then by Inter Milan. Now for the past few weeks, the Swedish international is expected to join AC Milan. The main reason for this deal is to allow Ibra more time off the bench and into the field, a chance that would have been hard to obtain at Camp Nou where a star studded side is already facing problems regarding giving time to other players on the team.
Ibra was taken in by the Spanish Giants on 40 million Euros and therefore Barcelona have been unwilling to let go off him but in the end, it is expected a deal might be signed on the 31stof August. The date for transfer window closure is right upon the clubs.
The general speculation is that if a transfer deal is signed then Ibra will be playing for the Serie A club with a contract for the next 4 years. It is expected that the matter will show much more clarity on Sunday.
Earlier in the week, AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allergi had also informed that he had a chat with Ibra in which the latter had uttered that he was looking forward to join Milan.
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