FC Barcelona News: 14 October 2011; Piqué Closes in on Milestone, All Internationals Return

After years of having their talented youngsters poached from them, FC Barcelona are finally looking into ways to lock their promising young guns down. Players in Spain cannot sign a professional contract until they turn 17 leaving them unprotected when they are approached by foreign clubs who offer them larger paychecks. In injury related news, both Xavi and Javier might be rested against Racing Santander as a result of knocks they picked up with their national teams.

Barca look at youth issue | Sky Sports
Barcelona are actively looking to see if they can legally stop some of their best young talent departing the club. Reports in Catalunya suggest that sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta is leading the investigation into whether there is some action Barca can take in the future.

FIFA.com - Barcelona seek to avoid international hangover
Pep Guardiola's men will be expected to claim all three points at the Camp Nou, but Barcelona are usually at their most vulnerable immediately following an international break and Guardiola has considerable selection problems to contend with just now.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi & Roma's Bojan Krkic are distant cousins, investigation reveals - Goal.com
An investigation by Diari Segre has revealed that Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi and Roma forward Bojan Krkic are distant cousins.It became known last week that the Argentina international has Catalan roots and it now turns out that his great-grandfather was the brother of Bojan's great-grandfather.

Guardiola has all internationals back | FCBarcelona.cat
Pep Guardiola now has all of his players back. Leo Messi, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves and Adriano Correia were the last to arrive, having flown in from South America after representing their countries. So today was the first full training session for some time as the players prepared for Saturday’s game against Racing Santander at the Camp Nou.

Piqué, one game away from 150 appearances | FCBarcelona.cat
His first game for the first team was against Wisla Krakow on August 13, 2008, in the Champions League qualifiers. He was still only 21 and had just returned to the club after a spell at Manchester United. Piqué came on in the 77th minute as a replacement for Dani Alves. Since then, he has gone on to win a regular place in the first team line-up.

'Thiago Alcantara will be one of the five top players in the world' – former Barcelona team-mate Ruben Rochina - Goal.com
Alcantara, who was the stand-out performer for Spain in the Under-21 European Championships in the summer, has lived up to the billing with some fine displays for Barcelona this season, leading to the club handing him a new contract and inserting a buyout clause worth €90 million (£79m).

AC Milan join Paris Saint-Germain in race for Barcelona's Eric Abidal - report - Goal.com
Eric Abidal could be on his way out of Barcelona at the end of the season, and AC Milan are said to have shown an interest in signing the experienced defender, L'Equipe reports. The 32-year-old's contract with the Camp Nou side expires in the summer of 2012, but he is yet to put pen to paper on a new deal and the Serie A giants are closely monitoring the Frenchman's situation as a result.

Twelve Barça players at Euro 2012 | FCBarcelona.cat
Barça may be the team to supply the most players to the European Championship. Between Spain, France and Holland, the club has twelve players due to take part in Ukraine and Poland next summer.

Pinto would favour Prem move | Sky Sports
Jose Pinto's agent admits his client would be keen to try his luck in England if Barcelona decide to explore other goalkeeping options. Reports in Catalunya suggest Barca are keen to bring in another goalkeeper next summer.

Barcelona have looked at Brescia's Nicola Leali & know who he is, says agent - Goal.com
Barcelona have been keeping tabs on 18-year-old Brescia goalkeeper Nicola Leali, agent Graziano Battistini has told Goal.com. Reports in Spain on Thursday claimed Pep Guardiola has already sent scouts to observe the Italy Under-19 international in action.

Barcelona keeping tabs on Brescia's Bartosz Salamon - report - Goal.com
Bartosz Salamon could be on his way out of Brescia in the winter transfer window as Barcelona have shown an interest in signing the young midfielder, Sport reports. Pep Guardiola visited the Serie B side, for whom he played in 2003, during pre-season and is said to have been impressed with the 20-year-old's potential.

Atletico Madrid's Arda Turan & Antonio Lopez to miss Granada trip - Goal.com
Atletico Madrid have announced that winger Arda Turan and defender Antonio Lopez have both been ruled out of Saturday's La Liga match at Granada. The Turkish star sustained a muscle injury while on international duty earlier in the week, while Antonio Lopez has picked up an adductor problem in training.

Betis boss publishes novel - Yahoo! Eurosport
Real Betis coach Pepe Mel has an unusual way of relaxing when he is not occupied with coaching the La Liga side - writing mystery novels. The 48-year-old presented his first book 'The Liar' on Thursday, which recounts the adventures of a millionaire antiques collector who clashes with the Vatican while hunting for stolen manuscripts.recounts