papaguy51 912 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Celtic unveil new signing Crosas Celtic have completed the signing of Barcelona midfielder Marc Crosas on a reported four-year deal. The 20-year-old was paraded at Celtic Park on Sunday prior to the Scottish champions' 1-0 SPL win over St Mirren. Celtic will pay an initial £415,000 for Crosas rising to a potential £1.6m depending on appearances. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawell told BBC Sport: "We're delighted. It's an innovative deal that benefits Celtic, Barcelona and the player." The Scottish Premier League outfit have seen off competition from Sevilla, Sporting Gijon and Sampdoria for the defensive midfielder's signature. The deal is the culmination of talks between the clubs that were first initiated four years ago by Lawwell and then manager Martin O'Neill. The complex transfer gives Barcelona the right to buy back Crosas in two years for £1.65m, with the Glasgow club retaining 25% of his worth. If the Catalan club do not take up that option, they would receive 25% of any transfer fee Celtic receive from another club. "We've tried for years, since I started here, to consummate this great relationship with Barcelona," Lawell explained. The Celtic chief revealed that Argentina forward Javier Saviola and Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma earlier refused an opportunity similar to the one Crosas has accepted. "We would have taken Quaresma and Saviola, but the players decided not to come. So, we're thrilled to resurrect it with Marc," Lawell said. "I think we've got the structure in place where we can hopefully replicate the deal for different players." Barcelona said on their website on Tuesday that they had agreed a deal "in principle" to sell Crosas to Celtic. "Barcelona has the right to 25% of any possible future transfer," the club said on their official website. Barcelona said Crosas's transfer to the SPL club included add-ons and revealed: "Also, Barcelona has an option of re-purchase at the end of the season 2009/10 for two million euros (£1.58m)." Crosas, a defensive midfielder who played for Barca in pre-season friendly victories over Dundee United and Hibernian, made his first-team debut for Barcelona two seasons ago but has only made one appearance since. Hmm is Liewell living up to his name here? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearsrus 12 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 i hope so PG, the last thing we need is them getting hold of quality youngsters, and if they do then our board need to get something done quick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaguy51 912 Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Seems like a glorified loan deal to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearsrus 12 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Seems like a glorified loan deal to me. sure does, but i hope it ends here with no more coming across, we can do without having to play against thoroughbred youngsters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMWWBK 0 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Laughable stuff, theres a fine line between being ambitious and being deluded and in Lawell's case its the latter. The last time Saviola was available was around 2006 and even then, Barca were hardly desperate to get rid of him. I doubt he would have fancied another loan move as well. Quarsema failed to settle in Spain and he said he would only consider a move back to Portugal. If i remember correctly his deal had a big part to play in the Deco transfer actually. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrshire-loyal 3 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 anither puuuuuurrrrrrreeeeee ssssssppppppeeeesssuuuuuuuuulllllllllll relationship Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluenose_72 198 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 "Also, Barcelona has an option of re-purchase at the end of the season 2009/10 for two million euros (£1.58m)." So basically if he does turn out to be a wonderkid, Barca can get him back for pennies. I wouldn't like us to do this sort of deal, but I guess I believe our club is far too big to be a feeder club. <_< Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerson 2 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Three things spring to mind here. If the players were that good why would Barca let a "Wonderkid" go for buttons at the risk of having to fork out in the future for one of their own players, whereas a loan deal would be more beneficial to both sides? Secondly, if you were a Celtic reserve and were seeing that not only were you having to compete with the first team, your fellow reserves and also whoever cannot fit into a Barcelona squad, in order to get a game, how hacked off would you be? Thirdly, Where is the glory in being Barcas feeder club if indeed this is to be the case? I thought Barca had a feeder club in the lower leagues of Spain, I would have thought they would have first dibs on any players getting farmed out? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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