Monday, 25 February 2013

Manchester City Nou joke: Barca chief in cheeky 'poaching' dig at Arsenal and ... - Mirror.co.uk

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has blasted Manchester City and Arsenal for trying to poach their top stars and best youngsters.

Rosell accused the two English giants of attempting to destabilise Barca players, with City's latest target being Spanish World Cup winner Sergio Busquets.

The comments are likely to be met with some amusement as the Nou Camp club spent years apparently tapping up transfers targets, such as Arsenal captains Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry, and also signed Alex Song from the Gunners this summer after a very public pursuit.

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure moved from Barcelona to Eastlands in 2010 for a staggering £24million, and City are now eyeing Busquets as a signing for next summer.

Rosell, talking at a club forum event, said: "City are now doing at first team what Arsenal have been doing at academy: call players and offer them lots of money.

"We are the best in the world, so other clubs want to emulate our success at every level and with every policy. They want to repeat our success and cause us to lose. But we will remain calm and focused on ourselves.

"Busquets is the last try from City and in the past we have had the same situation for Messi, Valdes, Xavi and Puyol. But they have all stayed and this is the power and force of Barca.

"Some clubs have asked about Messi, but Leo personally has refused to negotiate."

Rosell also claimed that Germany's Bundesliga is the best example of a well-run league rather than the Premier League, aiming another dig at English football.

He added: "Barca has never received an offer from a sheikh. La Liga needs to mirror the view of the Bundesliga and not the way the Premier League and some of their clubs function."

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