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The Mexican national team and defender Rafael Marquez received Spanish citizenship on Friday, "freeing up" a very valuable non-European Union citizen spot in the Catalonia super-club.
According to the regulations of the Spanish Football Federation, top league clubs can have only three players without European Union citizenship. Besides R. Marquez, "Barcelona" has two more: Brazilian Ronaldinho and Cameroonian Samuel Eto'o.
"This is good news, as now we can acquire another player, but we don't intend to rush," said Barcelona's head coach Frank Rijkaard at a press conference.
Since strikers S. Eto'o, Lionel Messi, and Javier Saviola have suffered long-term injuries, it is said that during the winter transfer window, "Barcelona" will seek to acquire a forward. However, there is also talk about another possibility: registering the leader of the youth team, highly regarded Mexican Giovanni dos Santos, into the main team.
Like R. Marquez, G. Dos Santos, who holds Mexican nationality, made his debut in the main "Barcelona" squad this summer. In a friendly match, the Catalan club defeated Denmark's "AGF Aarhus" 3-0, and the seventeen-year-old Mexican, nicknamed "G2S," scored the first goal of the match.
On Saturday, "Barcelona" will play a Spanish league match against "Villarreal". In addition to the three mentioned forwards, Catalonia's super-club will also be without R. Marquez and Thiago Motta. The defender suffered a minor shin injury, while T. Motta is ill.
