As FC Barcelona ushers in a new era under President Sandro Rosell, it’s puzzling how the club has dealt with the media regarding its lack of exposure in the US via Barça TV and its nonexistent or unavailable online Barça TV service. Additionally, the club’s lack of action against other media outlets fabricating stories and painting the club and its players in a bad image is disheartening. Why do we have to rely on just Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter to stick up for the club and not threaten legal action itself against the Daily Express and Marca? This is a new era and this is a great time to usher in new changes and take advantage of promoting the club when it is considered one of the greatest in the world. Opportunity is knocking, so will the club answer?

This is the question most Barça fans are asking these days. With all the rumors surrounding the team and after Saturday's defeat against Sevilla in the first official game of this season, there are a lot of voices concerned with Guardiola's apparent decision to refuse signing any new players for this season and face all competitions with only 19 players plus the kids from the academy, is it too risky? too arrogant?

I would argue here that Guardiola is 99% right in his decision, and due to the current circumstances Barça does not need to sign anybody else except for a holding midfielder. 

It looks like Guardiola only asked for one single player to reinforce the team this season after signing David Villa, and this player was Cesc Fàbregas, it is an obvious choice since Cesc is a player who first developed as a player in La Masia, is a true Barça fan (even a "socio") and would make a perfect match with the existing midfield (Keita, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets), he could also one day replace Xavi as our leader in the midfield, since the man from Terrassa is already 30 years old, finally Cesc is used to playing alongside Barça players in the Spanish national team.

Long before the club won their three UEFA Champions league trophies in the last 20 years, the club’s first European ever UEFA trophy was the discontinued Cup Winners’ Cup. It is true that Barça had won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on three separate occasions, those trophies were not under the affiliation of UEFA at the time.  The club would win a total of 4 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups. The first cup was won in 1979 followed by winning a second one in 1982 with the final taking place in the Camp Nou that year. The third cup was won in 1989 during Cruyff’s second season as manager of FC Barcelona. May 14, 1997 is the date that FC Barcelona won their fourth and final Cup Winners’ Cup after they defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the Feyenoord Stadion in Rotterdam. Ronaldo’s penalty in the 37^th minute was the only goal of the game. The manager that day was the legendary English manager Bobby Robson who would only manage Barcelona for the 1996-1997 season with Jose Mourinho by his side as his assistant. 13 years have since passed and the cup was abolished by UEFA following the 1989-1999 season.  We now look at where life took  the players and coaches after their time at the club had come to an end.

 The Cesc transfer saga has been a theme before, during and after the World Cup and while Arsenal seem not interested in making this transfer happen. However, that hasn’t stopped players from piping in with their views and comments. Former president Laporta submitted a bid for Cesc, a current VP of the club mentioned the Cesc transfer during the election campaign, and the players have not stopped commenting about it even after Arsenal’s manager Wenger came out and said he is not for sale. If this deal is to happen, perhaps it’s for the best if everyone just kept their mouth shut and not make matters worse. The only one who should be talking is Cesc and he hasn’t yet.

FC Barcelona head coach Josep "Pep" Guardiola, has been forced by the World Cup to start this preseason without 10 of his players: Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Pedro, Busquets, Alves and Villa.  All of them are enjoying their well deserved vacation time after an exhausting season followed by the World Cup in South Africa.

And while all the players are joining the team in the next weeks, Guardiola has called up 17 players from FC Barcelona B (the reserves) who will be doing the initial pre-season with the first team. These are the profiles of some of the most promising players among these 17:

This upcoming football season brings us a double dose of Blaugrana teams playing on the same weekend. Luis Enrique led the youthful Barça Atlètic, now known again as Barça B, to La Segunda for the first time since the late 90’s. The season, his side will face clubs that Guardiola and the first team know so well and can say were responsible for getting them relegated. With Barcelona focused on facing the likes of Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla and Real Madrid, Barça B will be facing the likes of Real Betis, Celta Vigo, and Numancia along with recently relegated Xerex and Tenerife. Can fans keep up with both teams in the upcoming season?

Even with the arrival of David Villa and the ripening of Pedro and Bojan, it would be premature for Barcelona to sell Ibrahimovic this summer. Another treble push will require a strong stable of strikers and considering that Barça fields them three at a time, Guardiola will need at least two capable back-ups with starter potential.

All signs point to Thierry Henry’s departure, meaning Pep is left with Messi, Villa, Ibra, Pedro, Bojan and Jeffren to chose from. Quickly, choose the best five. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

Jeffren is sixth on that list, no? The Venezuelan has shown that the conveyor belt of talent between La Masia and the Camp Nou is well oiled and running strong; but coming off a season in which he scored his first two professional goals, the 22 year-old may not be ready to fill in full time yet.

Considering that Messi and Villa’s summer will be consumed by that pesky World Cup, concerns over fatigue and injury are very real and Guardiola will need ample coverage. Ibrahimovic, Pedro and Bojan have proven they can start on a championship team. Jeffren has not.

David Villa’s unveiling last Friday did not mark the introduction of a new player to the team; it also marked the introduction of the team’s new kits for next season. The kits will be released next month and were met with mixed reviews. The home shirt kept the usual red and blue stripes with a yellow trim while the away shirt was green that was reminiscent of the shirts the team wore when Kappa provided the kits for the Dream team and Robson’s team. There is also a horizontal stripe across the chest with the Blaugrana colors. Both kits had the UNICEF logo on the shirt again and even more impressive was that these Nike Dri-Fit shirts were contrived from recycled plastic bottles which is a great idea but the overall reactions of the fans across the web has been mixed.