FC Barcelona Players – Alexander Hleb
Alexander Hleb is of course known among UK football fans due to his time at Arsenal, during which time Sky expert Andy Gray described him as one of the “most skilled players” in the Premier League. Born in Minsk, Belarus in 1981, Hleb, whose brother is also an international footballer, initially made a name for himself in the Bundesliga with FC Stuttgart, whom he signed from his first club, FC Bate Borisov, at the age of nineteen. with whom he had just won the Belarusian national league. Arsenal signed a player who had already played 172 games for Stuttgart in the first team, scoring 19 goals in total.
By the time Hleb joined Arsenal in 2005, he had already been voted Belarusian Player of the Year three times (he has added two more awards since then) and became respected at Arsenal for his versatility, energy and ability to fit into the fluidity of the team. . passing style of play. In his first season in North London, Hleb started 40 league games and scored 3 goals, numbers he repeated the following season.
It was during the 2007/08 season when rumors began to link Hleb with a signing for Barcelona; stories that gained momentum after a particularly impressive performance against AC Milan in the Champions League. The “or no?” Saga He kept the press busy until July, when the player signed for Barça in a deal valued at around £ 11.8 million. During his time at Arsenal, Hleb made a total of 130 appearances, scoring 11 goals.
Alexander Hleb barely had the most promising start to his career with his new club, sustaining a series of injuries during the preseason that significantly interrupted his progress. Towards the end of the year, however, he was beginning to become a regular in the squad and to show signs of being able to integrate with the agile and fast midfielders who were already at the club.
Internationally, Hleb made his substitute debut in a loss to Wales in 2001. His full debut followed, along with his first international goal, against Hungary the following April and he has been a regular with the team ever since – captaining the team since August 2007.
It’s easy to see why Barcelona signed Alexander Hleb; He fits their mold of being skillful, adaptable and agile, with the ability to contribute the occasional goal and generally a keen positional sense and career awareness of forward players. He should be a valuable addition to the team, and his wife should certainly have an impact on the local media; In August 2008, Alexander married Anastasia, a topless singer. To be precise, Anastasia Kosenkova was a member of the Belarusian girl band Topless.