AXA Barça has come to an agreement for the transfer of North American Gay Neal until the end of the season. The club also has the right to an additional season. The player arrived on Monday and will have to pass a medical test before being presented.
This 1.93 guard, born in Aberdeen (Maryland) on March 11, 1964 and raised at the University of
Townson, comes to AXA FC Barcelona from Turkish side Pinar Karsikaya. He has just helped the modest
Turkish club to the top six places in the domestic league. The clear leader of the Izmir based
side, Gary Neal is keen to show Barcelona the same kind of potential he showed in his college days
and in his first experience on this side of the pond.
Versatile
Gary Neal is remarkably versatile. In the USA he is what is known as a
'Combo guard', as he can play as a point or shooting guard, like such players of the calibre of
Allen Iverson (Denver Nuggets) or Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards). Gary Neal has a class throw
and has the physique to finessing off plays and also take plenty of rebounds. He is also an
intelligent player when it comes to picking the right option, and is just the kind of inspiration
Barça needs when creating plays.
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Second North American
AXA FC Barcelona still has one place free for a non-EU player. Alex Acker is the only player
classed as a foreigner, which means the club could bring in yet another non-community player
without having to modify the roster.
The current squad now has four players that qualify for Spain (Jordi Trias, Fran Vázquez,
Roger Grimau and Albert Moncasi), five Europeans (Gianluca Basile, Denis Marconato, Jaka Lakovic,
Ersan Ilyasova and Mario Kasun), and one non-EU player (Alex Acker). Pepe Sánchez, despite being an
Argentina international, has dual nationality (Spanish and Argentinian).