Barcelona Sign Kevin-Prince Boateng in Surprise Loan Move

Kevin-Prince Boateng has signed for Catalan giants Barcelona from Serie A side Sassuolo until the end of the season.

First Ghanaian to play for Barcelona

Barcelona have agreed a loan deal with Sassuolo for forward Boateng for the remainder of the 2018/19 campaign, with an option to make the move permanent for €8m in the summer.

According to online sportsbook news, the move marks the first time a Ghanaian player has put on the Blaugrana shirt, but it remains to be seen how he will line-up alongside Messi, Suarez and co. in the starting 11.

“I am very happy. It’s a big honour for me to be here and have the possibility to play for this great club,” said the 31-year-old. “For every kid who starts to play football it’s a big dream to play for a club like Barcelona, for every football player and especially for me, it’s a big dream come true.”

“I will try to give everything for this club. Everybody knows the way I play, they know my strengths, but I just want to put everything on and try to help the club.”

Following the announcement of the move to the Nou Camp, some Barcelona fans took to social media to vent their anger and frustration towards the forward, over an old video of Boateng saying that he’d prefer to play for Real Madrid over Barcelona, where he ever given the chance.

But Boateng was quick to dismiss the video as something insignificant from his past, while reassuring the Blaugrana support that his allegiance lies with Barcelona as he’ll be looking to score against their arch-rivals in the upcoming El Clasico.

“My pro-Real Madrid video from the past? It’s old stuff, I’m very focused on Barca, […] I’ll be hoping to score in the Clasico at the Bernabeu.”

The European journeyman

Boateng has gone through huge oscillations in his career so far, both in terms of his personal form and when it comes to the stature of the clubs he has played for, online sportsbooks in Germany. After being promoted from Hertha Berlin’s youth academy, Boateng played only two season the for the senior side before being shipped out to the Premier League where he had short spells with Tottenham and Portsmouth, while also going out on loan to Borussia Dortmund in between the two sides.

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In the summer of 2010, he signed a deal with Genoa from the Serie A, but was immediately loaned out to giants AC Milan in what later become a co-ownership deal. San Siro became the place where Boateng first experienced success, after they clinched the Serie A title in 2010/11 and the Supercoppa Italiana in 2011.

After three seasons with the Rossoneri, the forward flirted the idea of re-joining Dortmund, but instead opted for Schalke – much to then BVB boss Jurgen Klopp’s surprise. Disputes and lack of form meant he would stay with the Gelsenkirchen side for only two seasons, before returning to AC Milan for a single season, before once again being on the move, only this time to Spanish minnows Las Palmas – a club that hails from the Canary Islands.

During his only season in La Liga, Boateng managed to score 10 goals in 28 games, which he’ll be looking to add to in his second time around, only now with the Catalan powerhouse. A year back in Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt saw the forward collect his third piece of silverware as they defeated Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal last season, but that stint was again short lived as he was transferred to Sassuolo before his move to Barcelona.