Barca flavour is desperately sought at Newcastle United as revival exercise continues.


FC Barcelona's Portuguese star, Deco Anderson tops the wish-list produced by Newcastle coach, Kevin Keegan, after the coach made a return to the Magpies technical bench. Deco was on the cards of the English Premiership clubside during last summer's transfer pursuits, and billionaire owner Mike Ashley is ready to wave his cash magic wand and have Keegan's wishes granted, and this promise of cash has spurred Keegan on. The Newcastle wish list includes Tottenham's Jermain Defoe, Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge, Celtic's Scott Brown, Bayern's Daniel van Buyten and Manchester United's Wes Brown among others.


Deco, who is no doubt a great player by any standards, has not been able to tie down a regular place in FC Barcelona due to a combination of injury and other top players in same position, and the Magpies want to cash in on this to succeed in their bid this time after attempts to open talks with the Brazilian born Portuguese international failed to yield result last August. Now the Barca star is back from injury and fully fit, much to the delight of FC Barcelona - and Newcastle United.

New signing Jose Pinto is all geared up for action with the Catalan giants.


The Celta Vigo safe hands is happy with the chance to wear his gloves and stand between the goal posts defending FC Barcelona. Pinto said in his first interview that:

I will be totally committed and I have a really strong desire to give everything that i can to help win a trophy. I am a hard worker and I have come with the dream of repaying the faith that the club have put in me.

The 32 year-old also spoke about Barca's No. 1 keeper, Victor Valdes. Read the full interview below:


Exclusive Interview With Jose Manuel Pinto.

Jose Manuel Pinto gets the nod as FC Barcelona take decision on Jorquera's replacement.



The Celta Vigo keeper has long been associated with the Catalan giants after the initial list of Santi Cañizares, Sander Westerveld and even Jens Lehmann was not producing any likely replacement for injured Albert Jorquera. The safe hands, who has also featured regularly in top rated matches over the past years will be jetting to Camp Nou for a medical, after which, if successful, will earn him a six month loan deal with FC Barcelona. The agreement will have an option of conversion to full time keeper status in the event that reserve keeper Albert Jorquera doesn't recover from his injury during the summer transfer season. Pinto is expected to provide adequate cover for first choice at Barca, Victor Valdes, and the Celta Vigo keeper who is top form, will also not be a bad bet to fill in Valdes gloves when the need arises, even if the occassion is not a Copa del Rey encounter. Jorquera was the top choice for Copa del Rey matches as well as Copa Catalunya and other tournaments, while Valdes is the first choice for the La Liga and Champions League matches.


Both Valdes and Pinto are expected to compliment each other very much, as the 32 year old Pinto prepares to become a member of the Blaugrana family, a thing he may not have thought could be possible this year.

Chelsea FC striker Didier Drogba has made it open that he wants to leave the English Premeirship and play in Spain. Now the Ivorien has taken his desires another step further.


The Stamford Bridge hitman is away with his country Cote 'd Ivoire who are favourites to win the African Nations Cup taking place in Ghana. Drogba is interested in playing with Samuel Eto'o the player who he inherited the African Best Player Award from. The latest comments by Didier Drogba suggest that the Chelsea striker is madly in love with FC Barcelona, as the lion of Africa targets a date with the Blaugrana. Drogba hailed Eto'o and signified a dep desire to pair the Cameroonian striker in an unnamed clubside. Drogba said:

If any striker in the world were offered the chance to play next to Samuel, he’d tell you that would be inspirational. I love his style, he’s unbelievably quick and has a killer instinct in front of goal.

Eto'o had in the past, acknowledged that playing with Didier Drogba in the same team will be a great experience. With Drogba saying he wants to play in Spain, what's the next deal ?

In the face of rising rumours of his exit, Zambrotta speaks up.



The Barca defender has been linked to a move back to Italy in order to pitch tent with Juve rivals, AC Milan. Zambrotta was even linked with a return to his old club Juventus, but Berlusconi, Milan's President was reportedly more keen on having the Italian national team ace. However, Gianluca Zambrotta is not as keen as Berlusconi in the transfer issue. The hardworking defender is eager to win titles, but not with AC Milan. Zambrotta wants to do this with FC Barcelona. He says:

I am just thinking about helping the Barca and winning as many titles as possible. I have a contract here until 2010 and I feel fine at this club and don’t want to think about what might happen in the future.

Going on further to praise FC Barcelona, Zam said:

The team did a good job against Múrcia. We had the right attitude, we put on the right pressure and things worked out well in attack. I was pleased with my performance personally, especially because my cross led to the first goal although it was important for me that things went well from the team. You give it 110 per cent whenever you get your chance. The players that haven’t played much this season were very keen to play and gave it their all and that shows what a good squad we have. I think the team is fine in a fitness sense. It is normal for us to find the going tough when we play games every three days but at this stage of the competition the team is doing well

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Zambrotta was alert to the new happenings as Thierry Henry is rapidly transforming to his old self after a stint with the magical hands of the FC Barcelona medical team in which micro-attention was paid to the French man's injury and recovery by Dr. Pruna and the rest of the medical team. Zambrotta praised Henry:

We are happy because Thierry Henry is back to his best. He had a great game against Murcia and it is important for him to be at the right level. But we didn’t only base our attack around Henry, this team has great forwards like Bojan, Giovani, Messi and Ronaldinho, when he’s back.