Barça's Family Problems

Thierry Henry gave a very frank press conference yesterday explaining that he is not happy in Barcelona. The reason, he stated, had nothing to do with Barça, but was because he missed his two-year-old daughter Téa. One can understand how difficult it must be; Henry said he had only seen her five times in the last eight months.

Henry's best game this season was against Murcia which coincided with a visit from Téa, so I think we can believe the importance of a player's mood if he is going to perform well. I'm afraid I can't help wondering why he came in the first place if his daughter is so important to him, and perhaps the answer lies in the well-known break up of his marriage with Nicole Merry. People who go through emotional crises tend to make hasty decisions and it's possible that Henry simply felt a need for a change of airs without thinking it through properly. In the summer of 2006 Henry turned down a move to Barça after losing the Champions League Final with Arsenal, and looking back, that also seemed like a decision taken for emotional reasons more than anything else. I'm afraid to say that while I can sympathize with him for his situation, I find his self-pity does him no favours whatsoever.

Henry is not the only player who has personal problems. It is also well known that Gianluca Zambrotta's wife has moved back to Italy because she couldn't settle in Barcelona. Zambrotta's form certainly suffered early in the season though he seems to be improving recently. I understand that Deco has also had his problems though he never speaks about them publicly.

I have no wish to spread rumours or gossip about players' private lives on this blog, but I have to say all of this started me thinking about the number of foreign players at Barça. Ronaldinho and Messi fly off to South America at every opportunity, and of course why shouldn't they? I was just wondering how easy is it to get fifteen or so players from different parts of the world and expect them to all be happy and concentrated on their job all the time. Of course it is possible that some players adapt well and their are plenty of cases of foreign players who end up living in Barcelona after leaving football. Some players might be able to stay happy and concentrated for a while, one year or two years perhaps, but then homesickness creeps in and ultimately their game suffers. In the future, Barça should take more care to find out more about a potential signing's personal situation and character before getting out the cheque book.