FC Barcelona News: 18 October 2011; Fontas Extends, Abidal Wants to Renew Contract, Barça Extend Mediapro Deal

A lot of contract talks surrounded FC Barcelona in the last 24 hours. Despite not playing much Andreu Fontas extended his contract with the club until 2015 and rose his buyout clause by €40 million. Eric Abidal also talked about his contract negotiations and revealed he wishes to retire in a Blaugrana shirt. Barca also extended their broadcast contract with multimedia communications group Mediapro. In Barca unrelated news it is worth mentioning Sid Lowe's brilliant write-up on the surprising Levante.

Barcelona counting on Messi against Viktoria Plzen - SI.com
Barcelona is counting on Lionel Messi to maintain his excellent scoring form when it hosts Czech champion Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League. Messi's pair of goals in a 3-0 victory over Racing Santander on Saturday took the Argentina striker's season tally to 16 and kept the Spanish champions top of the league.

Mediapro extends Barcelona broadcast deal " Soccerex
The Spanish Mediapro agency has extended its contract for another year with Spanish La Liga champions Barcelona until the end of the 2014-15 season, in a deal worth an additional €10 million per campaign. The deal also includes taking over the management of Barca TV, the club’s television channel, until June 2015, which has estimated running costs of about €6 million per year.

Fontàs signs on till 2015 | FCBarcelona.cat
Andreu Fontàs is a central defender with plenty of future ahead of him and the Club has recognised that by extending his contract until 30th June 2015. The new deal, signed this morning at the Club offices, extends his contract from 2013 and the buyout clause from 30 to 70 million Euros.

Barcelona's Andreu Fontas determined to prove his worth after signing contract extension - Goal.com
Barcelona defender Andreu Fontas has voiced his satisfaction with his recent contract extension and says he is determined to prove his worth at Camp Nou. The 21-year-old signed a new deal which will tie him to the club until the summer of 2015 on Monday, and he can hardly wait to attempt to secure a regular place in the Champions League holders starting XI.

Abidal certain of renewal agreement | FCBarcelona.cat
The last time Éric Abidal gave a press conference, he spoke very sincerely about his contract situation. He made it clear that he wanted to get back to the same level of fitness that he showed before his liver tumour operation before negotiating his future at FC Barcelona. On Monday, Abidal was in front of the media again and said "I’m perfectly healthy and I’m trying to show that on the pitch".

Xavi makes his best goal scoring start to a season | FCBarcelona.cat
Xavi has scored a total of 41 goals in his 390 league games for the team, with his best season the 2007/08 campaign under Frank Rijkaard, when he scored seven times. Since the arrival of Pep Guardiola as coach, Xavi has scored 6 goals in the treble winning season, 3 in the next two seasons and his 3 so far this year – his best ever start to a year.

Unbeaten for 427 minutes | FCBarcelona.cat
Barça have kept four consecutive clean sheets in Europe and Spain, which is the ideal reflection of the way that it is not just stunning attacking football, but also tight defending that have made the team so effective under Pep Guardiola.

Malaga keeping tabs on Barcelona duo Martin Montoya & Marc Bartra - report - Goal.com
Malaga are closely monitoring Barcelona youngsters Martin Montoya and Marc Bartra with a view to adding the defenders to their squad on free transfers at the end of the 2011-12 campaign, Sport reports.The pair have contracts with the Camp Nou side which run until the summer of 2012, and negotiations regarding new deals have have been unsuccessful to date.

FIFA to introduce rewards, match-fixer amnesty - ESPN
FIFA will offer financial rewards and amnesty for information on match-fixing and other corruption in soccer. "This is new ground for sport," Chris Eaton, the organization's security chief, said Monday. "I'm afraid criminals have changed the nature of sport."

Red-hot Higuain not guaranteed starter - Yahoo! Eurosport
The Argentina striker, who missed most of the second half of last season with a back injury, netted his third hat-trick in two weeks in Saturday's 4-1 La Liga win at home to Real Betis and is making a strong case for a regular starting spot ahead of former Lyon forward Karim Benzema.

Branca not joining Real | News
In an unprecedented move at the end of last season, the Spanish giants gave their coach almost complete control over team affairs by parting company with director general Jorge Valdano. Since then, reports have surfaced to suggest Madrid could seek to reintroduce a position between Mourinho and the board by trying to tempt Branca away from Inter.

Perotti facing a month out | LFP
Sevilla player Diego Perotti faces time off after falling injured in the first half of the weekend meeting with Sporting. The Argentinean underwent tests on Monday which revealed a Grade II tear to his left hamstring muscle and provisionally, will be out of action for the next four weeks.

Levante are back and this time they're ready to take on the world | Sid Lowe | guardian.co.uk
They're back. The Expendables – bigger, better and older than ever before. And this is their toughest mission yet. First it was promotion. Then it was survival. Now it's the leadership. A bunch of old friends, a motley crew of has-beens and never-really-weres, vaguely familiar faces from a distant and not especially glorious past, thrown together on the cheap for one last job, the most audacious heist of them all.

AC Milan close in on Betis midfielder Fabio Lopes - Goal.com
The Portugal Under-18 international has had a trial with the Serie A champions and it is believed he has caught the eye of the Italian outfit. Fabio Lopes has already passed a medical with AC Milan, who are now locked in talks with Betis with a view to signing the midfielder.

Betis youngster sidelined | Real Betis
Reported Manchester United target Alvaro Vadillo could be out of action for six months after suffering a ligament injury during Real Betis' 4-1 defeat by Real Madrid at the weekend. The 17-year-old wideman will undergo tests on his right knee to determine the damage after a challenge with Sergio Ramos saw him limp off at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

Osasuna's Masoud Shojaei could miss rest of La Liga season due to a third operation on injured left foot - Goal.com
Osasuna midfielder Masoud Shojaei could be spending more time on the sidelines after it was confirmed that his injured left foot requires surgery for the third time in six months. According to the chief doctor at his Spanish club, the affected area of the bone has not attached back as expected, which calls for another surgery to correct the problem.