/ 12 January 2004

‘Pitbull’ moves to Barcelona

Dutch international Edgar Davids has joined FC Barcelona from Italian powerhouse Juventus for the rest of the season, the team said Monday in a statement on their website.

Barcelona said Davids will be officially welcomed on Monday evening, subject to his passing a medical earlier in the day and the club receiving written consent from Juventus.

”He is a champion, a player with experience and great strength as he has shown in the past in the ranks of Ajax, Milan and Juventus,” Barcelona technical secretary Txiki Begiristain was quoted as saying by Spanish news agency Efe.

The Catalan club said they will hold first option on extending Davids’s contract beyond June.

”We may decide that he should stay longer than six months. If he has offers from other clubs, we have the right to bargain,” Begiristain said.

Davids and his agent, Robert Geerlings, finalised the deal with Barcelona president Joan Laporta on Sunday, shortly after the Catalan team beat Zaragoza 3-0 in the Spanish league.

Barcelona gave no details of the midfielder’s salary, but news reports said he will receive €1,2-million euros.

Davids, who joined Juventus since 1997, is under contract until the end of June, but was given clearance last week to discuss the move to Barcelona.

The Suriname-born midfielder, who has appeared 59 times for The Netherlands, has had tense relations with Juventus coach Marcello Lippi this season and has regularly been relegated to the bench.

Barcelona, who have not won a major trophy in the past four years, hope Davids’s arrival will galvanise the team, who are having another irregular season. Barca are in seventh place in the 20-team first division, 16 points behind leader Valencia.

Nicknamed ”the pitbull” due to his tenacious style, Davids won the Champions League with Ajax and the Dutch league three times.

With Juventus, he gained three Italian league winners’ medals.

Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard gave his backing to Davids’s signing last week, saying ”all the top teams would always say yes to signing Davids”.

Begiristain said Davids will be free to play for Barcelona once the club receives clearance from Uefa. He said he could make his debut against Levante in a second-leg match of the third round of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, or in next weekend’s league match against Athletic de Bilbao.

Davids, who is easily recognised for the protective glasses he wears during games after undergoing operations for glaucoma, was sent home during the 1996 European Championship after falling out with coach Guus Hiddink. In 2001, he was suspended for four months for failing a doping test. — Sapa-AP

On the net: www.fcbarcelona.com