Hleb to Barcelona

Filed in archive La Liga on July 16, 2008

Arsenal's Alexander Hleb has finally completed his move to Barcelona for a fee believed to be around £11.8million.

The twenty-seven year old Belarus midfielder completed a successful medical in Barcelona on Wednesday and went on to describe his move to the Camp Nou as "a dream".

"I love this team," said Hleb. "I will give my best and I want to win everything with Barca."

The fact that Hleb was going to join his former team-mate Flamini in leaving the Emirates was never in doubt although at one stage it did look as though he may head to Inter rather than Barcelona.

Hleb's has said that he was "mentally tired" of the combination of living in London and playing top-level football. I'm not entirely sure how living in and playing for Barcelona will be any easier!

He joined Arsenal in 2005 after the club paid Bundesliga side Stuttgart £11.2million for his services. He has shown flashes of why clubs are prepared to pay so much money for him but has never really shown the level of brilliance that one might reasonably expect for a player of his value.

Maybe he will show what he is really capable of once he settles in at Barcelona.