Barcelona Sporting Club have hit the transfer market hard yet again with the signing of midfielder Dixon Arroyo, 31, following his time at Inter Miami where he played alongside Argentina star Lionel Messi.

“The Ecuadorian comes as a free agent and has signed a contract for the next three seasons with the Institution,” reads the yellow page.

And he adds: “Arroyo will travel to Tampa on Thursday to join the preseason work of the team led by Professor Diego López.”

And now, who can defend Emelec? Barcelona SC ignores the blue warning. Aníbal Chalá adds to the list of those who left for free during the presidency of José Pileggi

In the video of his presentation, the midfielder comments: “It’s time to show what I’m made of.” The trainings are over and it’s time to really play, because now I’m from half plus one, I’m from Idol. Barcelona is all of us plus Dixon Arroyo.”

“I felt something different compared to other teams,” says Franklin Guerra about his new challenge with Barcelona SC.

The former player of Emelec, the team for which he appeared in 189 official games and scored seven goals in five seasons, returns to the country after Inter, where he scored in 24 games in which he participated. On the field, he accumulated 1,789 minutes out of a possible 2,160.

Barcelona SC friendlies in USA will be against Sporting Cristal, New York City, opponent to be confirmed

In addition to sharing an MLS team with Messi (world champion in Qatar 2022), he was also a teammate of Spaniard Sergio Busquets, the midfield monarch in South Africa 2010 and Euro 2012; and Jordi Alba, the winning defender at Euro 2012.

Barcelona SC traveled to the USA to continue their pre-season work at the IMG Academy

Arroyo left the country for Inter after falling out with José Pileggi Véliz, the president of Emelec, who he asked to pay arrears and after failing to reach an agreement, he left the blue club as a free agent.

He followed in the footsteps of the Uruguayan Sebastián Rodríguez who went to Peñarol in December 2022; Tricolor forward Alejandro Cabeza left in October 2023 for PFC Sochi, Russia; and in the case of Aníbal Chaláj, on December 13, the blue board reported that it “appropriately exercised the purchase option for the final acquisition of Aníbal Chaláj’s federative and economic rights. In this way, the club and the player renewed the relationship until December 2026.”

But then Chalá published a letter stressing that Pileggi’s leadership was “dishonest and flawed”; and was later presented as a reinforcement of Barcelona SC for the next four years. (D)