Thiago Alcantara won’t quit FC Barcelona says father

Manchester United and Arsenal target, 21 year old Thiago Alcantara says he won’t be quitting FC Barcelona according to the midfielder’s father.

Alcantara has been in Arsenal’s sights for some time as has a move to the Premier league and just lately Man Utd have joined the hunt. Thiago was linked with the Cesc Fabregás saga last year and was offered as collateral before Barca paid out the £35 Million to land the Catalan who wanted to move back home after a near fruitless campaign at the North London club.

Thiago is quite rightly frustrated with his possibilities of getting a first team place behind the likes of Xavi and Fabregás and italian clubs have also shown some interest in the Spanish international midfielder.

However, according to Thiago’s father, former Brazil player Mazinho, his son will still be a Blaugrana at the end of the August transfer window.

Mazinho, speaking to Com Radio had this to say:

“There has not been any offer for Thiago,” he said.

“He has a contract with the club until 2015 and I hope that he will stay at the club for many years and retire there.

“Everyone treats Thiago very well at Barca. In a couple of weeks, he will resume full training. It will not take him long to return to play.

“He worked hard during his holiday to be at the Olympic Games, so it is normal that he was sad when he learned he could not play in the tournament.”

As with all transfer rumors, we can take Thiago’s father’s words with a pinch of salt. In the end, if a player wants first team football then there’s no club on this earth that will hold him, including Barcelona.

How many clubs have held on to promising youngsters only for them to sit on the bench and get disillusioned with the game and wanting out? Far too many to count, I fear. Just look at the case of Sergio Canales who went to Real Madrid from Racing Santander in 2010.

The poor guy hardly got any games as he was unable to shift any of the Real midfielders out of the way. In the end Canales went to Valencia on loan and a full transfer was finalized along with team mate Fernando Gago on 19th July 2012.

So if Alcantara is offered a first team place in the Premier League or Italian Serie A I think he should take it and not let a good offer go begging as he may not get the chance again.