Martin Braithwaite trained with Barcelona on Friday for the first time since his fast-track move from Leganes. Barcelona on Thursday had confirmed the signing of Danish forward Braithwaite, capitalising on a La Liga rule to bolster their squad. Barcelona, without Ousmane Dembele for the rest of the season, took advantage of a rule that allows Spanish clubs in the top two divisions to buy from another league side outside the transfer window if they lose a player to injury for more than five months. "My ambition has always been to play at this level and when you persevere and you are positive, things end up happening," Braithwaite had said after signing his contract. "I am very happy to be here because, as a footballer, it is one of the greatest things that can happen to you to play for the best club in the world." The Catalans signed Braithwaite after paying the Dane's €18 million (Dh71m) buy-out clause. Barcelona play Eibar in the La Liga on Saturday. Earlier, Lionel Messi demanded some calm in the Barcelona camp after a series of setbacks. Since the beginning of the year, Barcelona lost the Spanish Super Cup, were eliminated from the Copa del Rey, and conceded the lead in the league to Real Madrid. Moreover, Quique Setien replaced Ernesto Valverde as manager while striker Luis Suárez was ruled out for several weeks and Dembele for the remainder of the season. “We have only had problem after problem since January. What we need is some calm and to think about football, to think about the games, and to try to improve,” Messi told daily Mundo Deportivo. “At least we need to isolate ourselves from the noise because, if not, there are going to be complicated months ahead. … We must be patient and hopefully we can turn this around.”
