Latest news with #Remiro
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Barcelona initiate talks with veteran La Liga goalkeeper for 2026 move
Barcelona's evolving strategy to reshape their goalkeeping department has taken a fresh twist. According to a new report from SPORT, the Catalan giants are laying the groundwork to sign Real Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro in 2026, when his release clause will drop significantly from its current €70 million value. Advertisement The interest is so severe that initial talks between the parties have already taken place. While Joan Garcia remains the immediate and preferred long-term heir to Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the club is also thinking beyond the short-term extension of Wojciech Szczesny. The Polish goalkeeper has agreed to stay on for one more season, but with his contract only running until 2026 (at best), Barça are exploring the next layer of succession in goal. A change in plan Barcelona's initial goalkeeping roadmap, put together by sporting director Deco, was designed to be gradual. However, the unexpected need for rapid decisions has disrupted that approach. Advertisement Whether due to Ter Stegen's uncertain future or an accelerating transfer market, the club now finds itself forced to rethink timelines and personnel choices. Alex Remiro is back on Barcelona's radar. (Photo by) Even Hansi Flick has been vocal about the value of listening to seasoned staff and Jose Ramon de la Fuente, the long-time goalkeeping coach's endorsement of Remiro signals that this interest is very serious. Why Remiro? Remiro brings with him plenty of La Liga experience and consistency. Now 30, he is at the ideal age for a goalkeeper and has been a key figure for Real Sociedad over multiple seasons. While his current release clause is prohibitively high, it will be significantly reduced in 2026, a key detail that Barcelona are clearly watching closely. Advertisement The club believes that pairing an experienced, proven goalkeeper like Remiro with a younger option would offer balance and security as they prepare for life after both Ter Stegen and Szczesny. Adding urgency to the matter is external interest. Reports of Premier League side Aston Villa keeping tabs on Remiro have reached Barcelona's offices, prompting Deco to fast-track early conversations. While nothing has been finalised, the fact that contact has gone beyond mere scouting suggests Barça are keen to get ahead of the competition before Remiro's value on the market rises again.
The Guardian
06-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Real Sociedad's Alex Remiro: ‘With United it feels like something always goes wrong'
Sometimes it's the detail that stays with you. Alex Remiro can't remember the brand, but he can still see the colour, the way they looked, how much he liked them. 'When I was a kid, if you became a goalkeeper it was because you were an Iker Casillas fan, because you were the biggest, or because no one else wanted to do it,' he says. Or because one day in Cascante, Navarre, a friend turns up with a pair of gloves: brand new, grey and very, very cool. 'I was like: 'Hey, let me have a go.' I went in goal and, well, I never left again.' Now he is a European champion with Spain; a Copa del Rey winner with Real Sociedad, their first trophy in 34 years, albeit one won in an empty stadium and a year late, a sadness to the celebration they had to have without the fans and with a single family member each; and no one in La Liga has kept more clean sheets this season. And the way he tells it, that's thanks in part to Manchester United, their opponents on Thursday, and the team who taught la Real a lesson. Literally, he says. There have been a lot of those along the way and a lot to pass on too, Remiro eloquently discussing mental health and the project he has put together to try to guide a new generation of players and their parents. Having joined Athletic at 14, he went on loan in the second division, first at Levante, where he felt 'sunk', a 'brat' sent to see a psychologist, and then at Huesca. He was 23 and less than 24 hours from his debut at Athletic, 'sitting in a room like this, still sweaty, still in my gloves', when he was told to sign a contract or forget it. He summoned the courage to stand firm and sit out an entire season before heading to rivals Real Sociedad. There, he won the first all-Basque Copa del Rey final, the biggest game in any of their lives. Six weeks earlier in Turin, in pandemic-hit 2021, when Manchester United beat la Real 4-0, 'things changed' he says, easing into a chair. It is the morning before la Real face United again, a third meeting in five years, and the morning after Arsenal put seven past PSV, two of his mates scoring, which brings a smile. 'I had the Madrid derby on the telly and the other game on the iPad, watching Meri [Mikel Merino],' Remiro says, and then he starts laughing. 'Playing up front! It's not normal. Although I reckon you're more surprised than we are here. He's so strong, so smart, and when you know when to move, which I think is innate, you can score goals. Meri watches a lot of football, focuses on everything and his dad was a forward. He's sharp. Put a cross into the box, and it's very likely he will get a head on it. As for Martin [Ødegaard], he came here, showed his level, and it was a pity when he went back to Madrid and didn't really get the chance, because the level he is showing at Arsenal is hyper-high. He's a total superstar.' You say that 4-0 in 2021 against United changed things? Yes, they overran us so clearly; the difference was huge. We could compete in terms of play but physically they were better than us in everything. It finished 4-0 but it could have been seven or eight. We were awful. And watching them it was like: 'Bloody hell, this is …' It was: 'Wow!' Why? The difference shouldn't have been that big. It shouldn't. But the reality is that you encounter teams that are very strong. From that game, from that loss, we started to place more stress on the duels. Football has moved in that direction too: it's more physical. We could feel it that day, playing. But it's everyone: the manager, the club, everyone. There was a realisation that we had to adapt if we wanted to keep competing in Europe. How did you apply that change? Strength work, gym, speed. It affects me too, even as a goalkeeper. I now weight much more than when we lost to United. I'm 84.5 kilos now. I would have been 81 then. And when I came to la Real 78. Are you watching United now? Yes. For work and because I like to. I feel like the same is happening to them as happens to us, a bit. They have players with huge potential but they don't seem to quite find the solution to be the team they once were, to be higher up. Maybe they need a run of five, six, seven games winning, but something always happens. I like the new coach, I like his ideas – I liked Erik ten Hag too – but it feels like something always goes wrong. Who stood out for you when you were younger? When I started playing as a goalkeeper one of my idols was David de Gea. De Gea's videos? I've seen all of them. Absolutely all of them. I liked his reactions, how intuitive he is. I didn't really understand the end. The year out. He was their best player and I didn't understand why he left … I liked watching Ronaldo too, and David Silva. What did you think when Silva came here? That blew my mind. What a player. Pff. Touched by a magic wand. Incredible. As good as Xavi or Iniesta, or even better. Each in their own way, with their own qualities, but he was in the top one. No doubt. A world champion, a European champion. He came here and you might think: 'He's old now.' But no: he was the one that most put his foot in in training, who most wanted to win, who was the smartest. What differences do you see between the Premier league and La Liga? Football is more attractive there, there are more chances, games are 'broken' more. Goalkeepers are not as protected – and I think that's good. You do?! Here, a lot of the time they give fouls that aren't. I think referees have to let it go a bit more. I'm not saying go Ben White to Vicario, no, hahaha! But there can be more contact, more duels. But it's a cultural thing, a context. In general, the game is stopped more here. We talk about it in the dressing room. There are referees who do our league games and then you see them in Europe and they're letting it all go. And you think: 'Bloody hell, great, but do it here too.' In Spain, there's more of a tendency to see a conspiracy? And the agenda is dominated by the big two. It's always Barcelona this, Madrid that … I think those are excuses, that people don't want to see the play. Also, I don't want to believe that happens. [A genuine conspiracy] would be very heavy, it would take away the meaning of it all. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion On the inside, do you sometimes think: this isn't the way it should be? The way you left Athletic can't have been easy, for example: it was an early and very blunt view of football as a business, of the pressure applied … It's a bit shit inside sometimes, yes. The things that happen, the exposure, the criticism. And, yes, it's a business, but that time was also about the way it happened, the human treatment. It didn't sit well with me. I was young and I thought: 'I can't accept this.' I'm sorry, I can't sign it. I risked a lot and I left a lot behind. By then you had already started to see a psychologist. When I went to Levante. I played four games. And I was dreadful. I let in stupid goals. I played four games and never again. I was sunk, destroyed. I had never done mental work, and my agent said: 'Go and see Mar [Rovira]. She's been a pro basketball player, she has worked with people in motor racing, football.' That first session, she said I was a niñato [a brat, a little boy, spoiled]. And were you? I was. Totally. I was a brat. Why? 'It's not my fault. It's the coach. That guy is terrible. He's got something against me.' Excuses, all of it. I was a niñato. But I'm from Navarra, I'm stubborn, and I knew I had to work through it. I found a way, tools. I now go into games stable, calm. In matches I talk a lot – and it's more for me than them. You have tried to share some of these lessons through a social project focused on the care and development of young players. Where does that idea come from? From everything I have lived through, my development in football, the things I have seen. I've wanted to do something ever since I arrived in San Sebastián, when I felt I had the maturity to speak to kids. Kids in football are under so much pressure. Parents have a big percentage of the blame in terms of the expectations they load on to them when what they should be doing is enjoying it. Did you feel that pressure as a kid? My own parents only ever wanted me to be well behaved and have fun but I have seen all sorts. I went to see my cousin play in our local town and it was incredible. The things parents do: shouting at referees, teammates, opponents, their own kids. I have seen parents stand behind the goal and tell them what to do, every move: I wouldn't ever, ever do that. Some see their kids as their way out of poverty. We're losing sight of what this is supposed to be. It's hard enough to make it and they certainly won't like that. And, beyond making it or not, there's a person. Kids take hits, failure, disappointment. Parents have to be there to support them, look after them, not oblige them. That's why we do the talks and sessions with parents above all. We send invites to local clubs. You send the invite and every kid at the club and their parents can go. There's a handful of parents there and more at the bar, looking at us thinking: 'What the hell is he doing here?!' But that does bring them in and I try to be there. And the sessions are aimed at the parents too. The first session, we take the parents back to when they were kids: put yourself back in school, playing – any game, not just football – and now imagine I'm making demands of you, pressuring you all the time. You're learning English. Could you have done this in English? I would probably have had to prepare it a bit, but I think so. I'm studying Euskera at the moment. But I have been doing English for five or six years: I would like to do some of the project sessions in English. When Spain won the Euros this summer, you were the only player not to play a minute … David Raya got the chance in the third group game against Albania but you didn't. I don't want people to pity me. I felt great doing things that way. All 25 players there are starters for their clubs, and it's only seven games. And in my view it was already quite something that the coach gave David [Raya] the chance to play. I understood him, his explanation. He wanted to respect the competition, what it means to play for Spain at a Euros. If David was going to play that game, he deserved to play the 95 minutes.
Al Etihad
05-03-2025
- Sport
- Al Etihad
Barcelona reclaim top spot with 4-0 win over 10-man Sociedad
2 Mar 2025 23:49 London (PA Media/dpa)Barcelona returned to the top of LaLiga with a 4-0 rout of 10-man Real Sociedad on had assumed top spot on Saturday after city rivals Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat at Real Betis. But Barca had no such issues at home to their mid-table opponents, once they had Aritz Elustondo sent off in only the 17th was an element of contention about the dismissal after Robert Lewandowski's clip over the top had sent Dani Olmo off on a foot race with the Sociedad pair tangled 15 yards inside the visitors' half and the Barcelona midfielder tumbled to floor, prompting referee Alejandro Quintero to immediately brandish the red card, despite the apparent proximity of Javi made the task even more daunting for Sociedad, who since 1995 have lost on every league visit to Barcelona bar one, and they buckled under the pressure, twice conceding two goals in five minutes in either Gerard Martin may have scored his first career goal for the opener but the real genius was provided by 17-year-old star Lamine the ball out on the right, the teenager beat his two markers, with the chop back onto his left foot close to the byline and leaving Lopez on his opened up the space for him to roll a pass inside to Olmo, who cleverly spotted Martin running in at the far post and scooped a cross for the left-back to volley home. A 25th-minute Raphinha corner was cleared only to the edge of the penalty area where Olmo was lurking. He fired back the shot which Marc Casado, half trying to get out of the way, half trying to turn his body to into a position to control the ball, managed to deflect past Alex Remiro from the penalty spot. Pedri and Olmo were both denied by Remiro before half-time but Sociedad's resistance did not last much into the second half before Barca struck twice in quick succession again. Lewandowski's flicked near-post header was kept out by the goalkeeper's left foot on the line but the ball bounced up kindly for Ronald Araujo to nod in from five yards in the 56th minute. The centre-back then inadvertently turned provider as he took aim from 28 yards. With Remiro committed to the dive to his right, Lewandowski's cute touch with the outside of his right boot inside the penalty area gave the goalkeeper no chance.
