Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde believes new signing Arturo Vidal will be a “warrior” for his new club.
The 31-year-old Chilean midfielder recently ended a three-year association with German powerhouse Bayern Munich by relocating to the Camp Nou.
Renowned for his combative style of play, Valverde is looking forward to welcoming Vidal to Catalonia, believing he’ll bring something different to Barça’s squad.
“Vidal is a warrior, he will add a lot to our squad,” he told Mundo Deportivo.
“He can bring energy to the midfield, he is someone who has a lot of fighting spirit and can increase the tempo.
“He has plenty of experience and he has played across a very high level for a number of clubs, he is someone who offers a presence and will not disappear on the field.
“Is he similar to Paulinho? Yes, in that he offers something different to what we already have. There was plenty of criticism when Paulinho joined us but he turned out to be excellent for us.
“You need different types of midfielders in your squad for all situation, we want to be flexible.”
Vidal at Bayern
After joining from Italian giants Juventus in the summer of 2015 for a reported £31.45m, Vidal would become an ever-present under three different managers: Jupp Heynckes, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola.
He’d ultimately feature across 134 matches in all competitions and was involved in 40 goals (scoring 22 himself and creating 18 more for his teammates).
Last season he featured in 22 of Bayern’s 34 league outings, missing 10 of those matches due to various knocks, most notably a serious knee injury which has kept him out of action since April.
Nevertheless he still managed six goals, two assists, an 89% pass completion rate and won 40% of his duels.
AC Milan Coach Impressed by Barca Despite Win
AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has admitted he is jealous of the way Barcelona play despite their friendly win.
The Rossoneri beat the La Liga champions 1-0 on Saturday thanks to an injury-time goal from Andre Silva in their International Champions Cup game in California.
With so many first-team regulars still out owing to their World Cup exploits, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde was forced to play a number of younger players in the match.
But despite this, Gattuso was impressed with the way their pit themselves against his Milan side.
“Even though [Barca] have players that look like kids, they touch the ball with such beauty,” he told reporters after the match (via FourFourTwo).
“It’s the actual beauty of football. It’s like poetry. It’s the kind of thing you can’t copy and paste. It’s something that takes years to do. It’s how they feel the game.
“I’m a bit jealous of Barca’s model.”
Barcelona won La Liga by 14 points last season, losing just one game, and also came out on top in the Copa del Rey. However, once again they faltered in Europe, being knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Roma despite taking a 4-1 lead into the second leg.
The Blaugrana’s next game sees them taking on Copa del Rey runners-up Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup on August 12, a one-legged affair.