Barcelona – Thomas Vermaelen

Thomas Vermaelen: Lionel Messi is better than ‘world-class’ Eden Hazard

Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen has said that Lionel Messi is on a different level to Eden Hazard despite the latter becoming the go-to player in the Chelsea ranks. The former Arsenal man is set to return to London this week when the Catalan giants face-off against the Blues in the Champions League round of 16 first-leg.

In an interview with The Guardian, the experienced centre-back was asked to compare the individual abilities of Hazard and Messi. Though he initially admitted that there are similarities in their style of play, the 32-year-old stressed it is difficult to place him into the calibre of Messi, who has five Ballon d’Or titles to his name.
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Ernesto Valverde calm over Antoine Griezmann speculation

Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde refused to discuss the possibility of signing Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann in the New Year. The Catalans had been hot on the trail of both Philippe Coutinho and Angel di Maria during the dying stages of the summer transfer window, but a deal could not materialise for either player.

Ahead of the Leganes clash, Valverde admired the qualities of Griezmann and revealed that the club have not closed the door on pursuing fresh recruits in January, he said: “Griezmann is a great player, one of the names being talked about but for now I have the players that I have. In the future, we will see. Of course, the club, like all clubs, is open to doing business in the January window, even though we’re happy with what we already have. We’re not going to close the door on anything.”
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THOMAS VERMAELEN WEDS LOVER AMID CAREER ISSUES

Former Barcelona star Thomas Vermaelen had wedded his lover Wag Polly Parsons.

The former Arsenal defender wed the lingerie model and TV presenter. Vermaelen used to see Dutch model Aimee van Ommen while Polly was engaged to Sid Owen before meeting the player at a party organized by Robin van Persie.

The 31-year old spent five years at the Emirates before agreeing to a move to Barcelona in 2014. Injuries have plagued his career and after time at AS Roma, the player might not have much left of his career.

Nou Camp are set to make him the first player off as new coach Ernesto Velverde works on the squad. The flop was linked with Premier League side Watford FC but now he is likely to join Turkish side Besiktas.The deal is believed to be around £4.5 million compared to the sum Barca paid the Gunners for him three years back. Continue reading THOMAS VERMAELEN WEDS LOVER AMID CAREER ISSUES

What next for Thomas Vermaelen?

After an underwhelming loan season with AS Roma, Thomas Vermaelen is going to be heading back to Spanish side Barcelona come the end od the 2016/17 season, and no-one quite knows what the future holds for him.

On August 8 of 2016, Thomas Vermaelen decided to pen a 1 year long loan deal with AS Roma and the Italian club had the option of extending this deal further – but depending on whether or not Thomas Vermaelen performs at a consistently high level and was able to impress the head chiefs of AS Roma.

Unfortunately for the Belgian defender, instead of having an impressive season, it was more like a disappointing and mediocre season as Thomas Vermaelen missed out on 17 matches due to injuries which continue to hamper his playing career. Understandably, Roma chose not to extend the contract of Vermaelen and he is now expected to make a return to his parent club, Barcelona. Continue reading What next for Thomas Vermaelen?

Vermaelen wants to play again

Thomas Vermaelen said that he is desperate to play regularly and that he wants to win his place back in the first team.

The Roma defender stated that he has been enjoying a poor season so far where he has suffered numerous injuries, but he feels that he is getting better.

The former Arsenal player said that there is nothing worst for a footballer to find your teammates enjoying themselves on the pitch while you are watching from the stand. He stated that he is a competitive player and that he always wants to be on the pitch fighting for his team.

Indeed Thomas Vermaelen has suffered many injuries ever since he made a move to Roma and he feels that it is high time that he gets a good run in the team. Continue reading Vermaelen wants to play again

Roberto Martinez Expects Key Contribution from Thomas Vermaelen

Belgian national team boss Roberto Martinez expects injury prone defender Thomas Vermaelen to play a key role for Roma this season.

Vermaelen’s career has been hit hard by injuries over the last five years. When he moved at Arsenal as a highly talented player from Ajax back in 2009, Vermaelen was regarded as one of the best centre backs in the world. He became so influential in the Arsenal team that he was even made is the captain of the gunners just a few years after his arrival. However, things became especially poor for the player when he suffered his first major injury in the 2010-11 campaign.

An Achilles tendon injury was blamed as the reason for the player managing only five appearances throughout the campaign. However, not many expected that this poor injury record to continue since the player had never encountered such a major problem previously in his career. It turned out to be a recurring issue with Vermaelen only managing 21 appearances in all competitions in his final season at the club. Continue reading Roberto Martinez Expects Key Contribution from Thomas Vermaelen

Marc Wilmots laid the blame on the makeshift defence

Belgian manager Marc Wilmots laid the blame on the makeshift defence for the loss against Wales in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals.

Belgium had a great opportunity to reach the semifinals of the competition and that this golden generation can perform when it matters the most. Questions have been raised about the mental strength of the golden generation, which features the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, and Thomas Vermaelen. The latter has missed majority of the campaign and it was not surprising to see him unable to feature at the Euro 2016 due to injury.

Wilmots was sceptical about the availability of Vermaelen for the tournament, but Belgium were handed major injury blows just prior to the Euro 2016. The likes of Manchester City captain and defender Vincent Kompany’s failed to make it to the tournament was one of the biggest blows. Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen was yet another injury casualty but midway through the campaign. All these injuries – especially in the defence – forced Wilmots to field a makeshift defence against one of the surprising teams of Euro 2016 – Wales. A 3-1 defeat – despite taking an early lead through Nainggolan – saw Belgium exit the tournament with Wilmots blaming the defence as a major reason.
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YOUTUBE TO BROADCAST SPAIN’S TOP TIER

Popualar video streaming company, Youtube has signed a deal to broadcast top tier football games in spain. YouTube has built on its live sports offerings after agreeing a free-to-air broadcast deal with Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP). A number of games from the LFP World Challenge, Spain’s top-tier football pre-season tour, will be shown on the online video platform later this summer. As well as the live games YouTube will also offer a number of highlights packages and behind the scenes content from the tour.

The broadcasts will include games featuring Real Sociedad and SD Eibar, who will embark on a North American pre-season tour and RCD Espanyol who are due to visit Bolivia as part of their summer plans. YouTube will show a number of fixtures including San Jose Earthquakes against Real Sociedad, Philadelphia Fury against Eibar and Club Blooming against Espanyol, among others.

The LFP World Challenge is part of a wider campaign set up between the Government of Spain, Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP), the country’s higher sports council (CSD), and the Spanish institute of foreign trade (ICEX) to promote La Liga and Spain in general. The news comes just days after BT Sport, which holds the exclusive UK broadcast rights to the Champions League and Europa League, announced that it would show the final of each tournament for free on YouTube.

YouTube’s ambitions to strengthen its foothold in live sports streaming extend beyond just football however, the Google-owned video service recently partnered with the NFL to offer fans some of the game’s most iconic matches for free. While YouTube has made its ambitions to stream live sport clear, it has been aided by sports broadcasters’ attempts to hold on to their audiences who are increasingly cutting cable and satellite subscriptions in favour of consuming content on digital platforms. The La Liga has also been attracting growing interest as they constantly rule the continental football tournament in the Champions League.

Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the biggest disappointments for Barcelona

Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the biggest disappointments for Barcelona ever since the Belgian international came to the club in 2014.

He arrived for a reasonably high transfer fee of €15 million, but he has managed only 21 appearances in all competitions for the club in the last two years. More worryingly, the bulk of these appearances came in the current campaign with Vermaelen spending almost the entire 2014-15 season on the sidelines. He does not seem to be completely free from injuries, as he has once again spent the last few weeks on the sidelines.

Barcelona, though, have been boosted by the potential return of the 30-year-old for the final la Liga match of the campaign.The return of Vermaelen is more important for the Belgian national team, who have been desperately unlucky with regard to injuries to their major centre backs. Only recently, the national team has received a setback in form of Vincent Kompany, who will definitely miss the Euro 2016 after yet another recurring injury. Vermaelen may be able to pick up the la Liga winner’s medal by virtue of his limited appearances, but he will be disappointed with the season nonetheless. The 30-year-old has vowed to fight on for his place at Barcelona despite his issues. Continue reading Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the biggest disappointments for Barcelona

Vermaelen talks about what makes Barcelona so dominant

Thomas Vermaelen underwent surgery in December of 2014 as he wanted to resolve his repetitive hamstring injuries and the Belgian appears to be fully fit with no injuries but even after managing to recover from his string of physical problems, he is struggling to land a spot in the starting lineup of Barcelona’s Luis Enrique.

The Belgian is mostly being utilized as a substitute player with limited playing time. Even though Vermaelen is clearly not one of the main stars of Barcelona, the experienced defender has played and trained enough with the Spanish club that he knows what are a few of the things that makes his team so strong and dominant in the world of football and Vermaelen said: ‘’The first thing I noticed here was the intensity of the pressing. The pressure is on straight away when we lose the ball. We do a lot of positioning games, focusing on getting the ball back. The pressure the players put on you is incredible, you have no time on the ball. We always do it at the start of training, it doesn’t only warm you up but it’s a training session in itself, you try to keep the ball in possession and make the guys in the middle do the pressing.’’ Continue reading Vermaelen talks about what makes Barcelona so dominant