Barca Let Albertini Go

By European Football
July 14 2005

Barcelona has decided no to extend Demetrio Albertini’s contract. The player has no offers so far and may be thinking about retirement. Also, former Liverpool defender Mauricio Pellegrino has joined promoted Spanish team Alavés; and Flavio Conceicao was bought by Panathinaikos from Galatasaray.

Demetrio Albertini has been told by Barcelona that his contract was not going to be extended. It expired on 30 June and he had joined the team last January. The 34-year-old midfielder is now a free agent and in case he didn’t receive any offers soon he would meditate retiring. The former Milan and Atlético de Madrid player was brought under request from trainer Frank Rijkaard, who played with him in Milan and praised Albertini’s role in the dressing room, despite not playing a lot.

Also, Saviola has not been included in the list for medical checkings, which is a clear sign that he will not continue to play for Barcelona.

Argentine defender Mauricio Pellegrino has joined Alavés. Liverpool, the last team where he played for 6 months, had let him go free. The player stated:

“I want to extend my career as much as possible; Alavés is the perfect team to achieve this, and I am going to prove that I can still play well and do great things for this team.”

Alavés president Piterman also said:

“Pellegrino is very experienced, has played in many important teams, in the best tournaments and has won a lot of them.”

Greek media have found their new star. The Brazilian veteran midfielder Flavio Conceicao has joined Panathinaikos and will sign a three-year contract receiving 1.5 million euros. The former Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund player was bought from Galatasaray for a fee of 500.000 euros. Negotiations were long and tough and the story was a main header in Greek papers.