Home / Soccer Fans / Absurd Rumor of the Day: Iniesta to Manchester City

 

According to Yahoo! Sports, Ballon D’Or front-runner and  World Cup champion Andres Iniesta  may be out the Catalan door and stepping onto the Eastlands ground in the January or summer transfer window. A couple of things surprisingly do add up in this move:

– Barcelona sit in $575 million of debt, a number that the board is desperate to reduce or eliminate all together (as evidenced by their 5-year, $150 million shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation).

-Iniesta’s value will never be higher again and he will likely secure an $80-$100 million price tag, a fee that Manchester City will gladly put on the table to secure their man (as evidenced by their ridiculous transfers over the past couple campaigns). The English club have virtually unlimited resources and would be willing to offer Iniesta nearly any size wage packet.

These are somewhat fair points. However, the jig is up here. There are many ways which the club can make money off of transfers without selling one of the best players in the world. Take Dani Alves. The Brazilian wing back has 18 months left on his deal and would be an asset on almost any team. He would garner a decent size transfer fee, especially with his links to Manchester City in the past few weeks. With the addition of Adriano and Barcelona B players to a thin squad, Alves seems replaceable. If Alves becomes indispensable, 20-year-old starlet Bojan Krkic is another viable option for sale. With the stunning form of Pedro over the past year, Bojan has been forced to limited cameo appearances off the bench late in games already decided. With his talent, the Spaniard would love to get some reliable and quality minutes with a club. Amazingly, Manchester City will be linked with prying away the youngster and with the inevitable departure of Tevez and Adebayor at the Eastlands, the club will be looking to find a quality replacement to build around in the future. Bojan, Balotelli, and Jo as a three pronged attack will be a nice compromise with the club’s captain more than likely showing himself the door.

Bottom line: Pep Guardiola is not Arsene Wenger. He will not sell players at the height of their value just to cash in on the player. Barcelona play the most attractive football on the planet thanks to Iniesta and company and Guardiola would be a fool to let such a talented player walk. Did anyone ever ask whether Iniesta wants to leave the best club in the world? Think about that…throw this rumor in the trash, along with a bunch more in the future.

 

About the author: cbehrens

 

 

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