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Saviola to join Monaco on loan
Barcelona's Argentine forward Javier Saviola will play on loan at French Ligue 1 side Monaco this season, the Spanish club has announced on their website. Saviola, a member of Argentina's gold medal winning squad at the Olympics, confirmed the transfer to last season's Champions League runners-up after obtaining dual-Spanish nationality on Monday to give him the status of a European Union player. "It's a matter of great joy to gain the new nationality but now another club is waiting and I hope to be happy on the pitch," the 22-year-old told reporters. "I want to leave on the best terms. I hope to return to a club where I've enjoyed a lot of happiness." The popular Argentine will be moving in the opposite direction to Ludovic Giuly, who joined Barca from Monaco over the close season and scored on his league debut in a 2-0 win over Racing Santander on Sunday. Saviola joined Barcelona from River Plate for US$28 million in July 2001, shortly after scoring 11 goals and leading Argentina to victory in the World Youth Cup. He was still only a teenager when he arrived at the Nou Camp but he proved well capable of dealing with the pressure of his huge transfer fee, scoring 17 league goals in his first campaign and adding another 27 over the next two years. His partnership with Patrick Kluivert proved unable to bring the club a major trophy, however, and Barca president Joan Laporta opted to make wholesale changes over the close season. Kluivert left on a free transfer to Newcastle United and Marc Overmars retired but the signings of Henrik Larsson, Samuel Eto'o, Giuly and Deco left Saviola low down the pecking order for forwards. The Argentine will now hope to follow the lead of Spanish international Fernando Morientes, who went on to triumph on loan at Monaco after being forced out of Real Madrid this time last year and subsequently won back his place. |
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