OBENG Football Updates

🚨🎙️| Gabriel Jesus: “I’m really excited to be here. It’s been two tough years, but I’m ready for this great club”

🎙️| Gabriel Jesus: “I knew that by doing things right, anything could happen. I’ve always worked hard and respected everything at Arsenal. A week ago I got the call and it was a huge thrill.”

🎙️| Gabriel Jesus responds about his injuries: “After the knee injury and being out for almost a year, it’s been tough. My knee is no longer an issue, I’ve recovered well. Physically, my whole body is good”

🎙️| Jesus: “All I can do is thank Deco, Flick, and the president for the trust they’ve placed in me.”

🎙️| Gabriel Jesus: “I haven’t spoken with Flick about tactics yet. I don’t think I came to improve things because they’re already damn great. I came to help”.

🎙️| Gabriel Jesus: “I spoke with Raphinha and Cancelo when I already knew I was coming. Great players have passed through Barça, I’ve explained many times that as a kid I used to skip school to watch Barça in the Champions League”.

🎙️| Gabriel Jesus: “I’ve taken a pay cut to be here, but for me the important thing is to be able to play for Barça. It’s a possibility I wasn’t expecting a month ago. For me, it’s a matter of God.”

🚨Anthony Gordon on the difference between playing in La Liga and the premier league following Barcelona win over Rayo Vallecano.

🗣️ “I’m not going to sit here and pretend the Premier League isn’t intense — it is. It’s basketball with a football. Relentless running, duels everywhere, long throws, corners, referees letting you kick lumps out of each other. That’s why a lot of English lads think it’s the best league in the world. They’re used to chaos.

Here it’s different. Rayo sat in and tried to make it ugly, the way a lot of mid-table Premier League sides do. Difference is we didn’t just launch it or wait for a set-piece. We moved them, Pedri found the pockets, Lamine and the boys created the overloads, and we broke them down with actual football. That’s the part a lot of people back home don’t want to hear.

In England you can hide behind intensity. You can have a bad touch and still win the next duel because the ref won’t blow. Here if your first touch is sloppy or your positioning is lazy, you’re exposed. The spaces are tighter, the decisions have to be quicker and cleaner. My pace works even better because the movement around me actually creates the space instead of everyone just sprinting in straight lines.

I loved the Premier League, it made me. But this is a different level of football intelligence. Some of those teams in England would get cooked trying to play this way every week. They wouldn’t have the patience or the quality in midfield. That’s not a dig — it’s just what I’ve seen in three games. Proper football still lives here.”

This is really good .....no words for him

Rodri is coming to Barcelona confirmed. Wooow whatba transfer window.

🚨 𝗠𝗔𝗝𝗢𝗥 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Ferran Torres to PSG, HERE WE GO!

€50M transfer fee.

🚨 DEAL CLOSING IN! Barcelona and Manchester City have moved much closer to an agreement over the last few hours! The club is willing to finalize a deal worth around €65m fixed + bonuses. 💰🔵🔴

More updates to follow—stay tuned! ⏳

🗞️ — Víctor Navarro

🚨 | 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍: Barça have set a €15–20M asking price for Héctor Fort. The full-back has accepted his departure and prefers a permanent transfer, with the Premier League his favoured destination. []

I don’t know what Deco’s plan is, honestly, but this is starting to worry me.

It’s August 13th. Our first league game is literally less than 10 days away, and we’re still waiting on a striker. Rodri isn’t done. We haven’t even moved for a CB. Heck, we haven’t even closed the Cancelo deal yet. We are running out of time

This isn’t July anymore. We’re in mid-August.

I’m genuinely stressed out, man.

🚨🎖️ | Guille Fernández is expected to leave Barça this summer despite impressing in preseason. The initial plan was to renew him for 4–5 years before sending him on loan, but Flick does not see a place for him in the first team. He has offers from Newcastle and other Spanish teans. []

🚨🚨Julián feels betrayed… Simeone closes the door as the Argentine turns to Atlético’s management

The Julián Álvarez situation has escalated further following the conversation he had with Diego Simeone on Wednesday morning before training.

Julián had waited two days to speak with the coach and reiterate his desire to leave Atlético Madrid and join Barcelona.

However, the conversation did not go as the Argentine forward had hoped.

Simeone stood firmly behind Atlético’s decision not to sell Julián and did not leave any room to discuss the possibility of helping him leave.

This response reportedly caused significant anger within Julián’s camp, who feel that Simeone has let the player down.

Julián had believed that the coach could be the person capable of convincing Atlético’s management to change its position, especially given the major role Simeone previously played in convincing him to join the club.

The forward reportedly left the brief conversation extremely frustrated, with Simeone’s main message being that he is counting on him for next season and will try to help him develop as a player.

Julián’s camp believes that the coach did not take the player’s wishes and feelings into consideration.

The player is now feeling increasing pressure as time passes without any movement that would allow formal negotiations with Barcelona to begin.

Julián and his camp believe that his relationship with Simeone had been built on a strong level of trust since he joined Atlético from England.

They also believe there had previously been an understanding that he would be allowed to leave if a good offer that satisfied the club arrived.

That trust has begun to erode after Simeone fully aligned himself with Atlético’s position.

The player’s camp feels that Simeone has chosen to distance himself from the situation and leave the responsibility entirely with the club’s management rather than trying to intervene on Julián’s behalf.

Julián had viewed Simeone as almost the only person capable of influencing Atlético’s decision-makers and convincing them to open the door to a different scenario.

After the latest conversation, that route now appears to be completely closed.

Julián will not give up on his desire to move to Barcelona and will continue pushing for an exit.

The next step will be to wait for Miguel Ángel Gil Marín to return so that Julián can speak with him face-to-face.

Julián and his camp insist that Gil Marín had previously promised to facilitate his departure this summer if the right conditions were met.

However, they now believe he has backed away from that promise and is determined to keep the player at Atlético at all costs.

The upcoming meeting with Gil Marín could be one of Julián’s final attempts to open the door to a move to Barcelona.

[🗞️ DiarioSport]