1 - Victor Valdes

[DonAndres]

Don't understand why many people are saying that being a goalkeper in Barca is hard....it is hard for any keeper in any top club see Casillas, the guy is the best keeper they ever produced, one of the best goalies in history and many fans have turned their backs at him and he hasn't even ruined games the way Valdes did with his ocasional brainfarts(especially in crucial CLASICOS ffs). If anything Valdes has a stronf fanbase of cules that stick with him no matter what, any keeper on any other top club would have been destroyed by fans after some of the mistakes Valdes commited. Valdes is a great keeper, thanks to him for all the memories, especially the 06 CL final. Good luck on his next endeavor. Like somebody mentioned before, he was a great keeper for our system but there are certainly better keepers out there. Now Barca needs to do what any top club does in this kind of situations: spend big on a proven goalkeeper. Not commit the same mistakes of signing keepers with "good promise", or playing a canterano just for the sake of it

Barcelona would not make the same move as any top club. The way Barcelona plays is so different and unique from every other club that you can't simply buy a great player off the market and stick him in and expect him to do good. Especially for goalkeepers. He has to be relatively young (otherwise what's the point), has to be good at passing, has to distribute the ball confidently and well, and has to be a good shot stopper too. There are really no available proven goalkeepers who can fulfill all of those needs. Signing a young goalkeeper with some of those traits is the best option right now. He can train with Barcelona to develop into a top class sweeper keeper. There are no youth players who really have enough talent yet to make it in the first team (replacing Valdes with Oier would be horrible). Although Barcelona definitely will not spend big on a proven goalkeeper unless that keeper fits the Barcelona style (which there are none in the world right now).

 

[Richard.H]

Don't worry guys, Pinto will come to rescue:

 

[ricknattery]

Barcelona would not make the same move as any top club. The way Barcelona plays is so different and unique from every other club that you can't simply buy a great player off the market and stick him in and expect him to do good. Especially for goalkeepers. He has to be relatively young (otherwise what's the point), has to be good at passing, has to distribute the ball confidently and well, and has to be a good shot stopper too. There are really no available proven goalkeepers who can fulfill all of those needs. Signing a young goalkeeper with some of those traits is the best option right now. He can train with Barcelona to develop into a top class sweeper keeper. There are no youth players who really have enough talent yet to make it in the first team (replacing Valdes with Oier would be horrible). Although Barcelona definitely will not spend big on a proven goalkeeper unless that keeper fits the Barcelona style (which there are none in the world right now).

Of course the guy at least needs to be able to kick a ball, that's obvious
Casillas is terrible with his feet, yet Spain is one of the best national teams in history displaying tiki-taka football and being extremely succesfull at it.
First thing necessary for a goalkeeper is his ability to stop shots and to defend corners and set pieces, the tiki-taka part of his game is also overrated(Casillas says hello). Valdes was confident at playing with his feet because he trained every day that part of his game, and you can perfectly teach that to any keeper with just decent ability with his feet. It's not like Valdes was Xavi with the passing game.
Barca has had bad experiences because of not making good choices when they signed a keeper, nothing else. Valdes was by far the best in recent history, but he should consider himself lucky he has a team in front of him that is a footbal and goal machine. Neuer, Lloris, stergen, stekelenburg, guaita could provide a similar performance perhaps even better

 

[khaled_a_d]

Barcelona would not make the same move as any top club. The way Barcelona plays is so different and unique from every other club that you can't simply buy a great player off the market and stick him in and expect him to do good. Especially for goalkeepers. He has to be relatively young (otherwise what's the point), has to be good at passing, has to distribute the ball confidently and well, and has to be a good shot stopper too. There are really no available proven goalkeepers who can fulfill all of those needs. Signing a young goalkeeper with some of those traits is the best option right now. He can train with Barcelona to develop into a top class sweeper keeper. There are no youth players who really have enough talent yet to make it in the first team (replacing Valdes with Oier would be horrible). Although Barcelona definitely will not spend big on a proven goalkeeper unless that keeper fits the Barcelona style (which there are none in the world right now).

You need to rethink about the priorities here ,Being a good stopper is by far the most important thing in GK

 

[DonAndres]

Of course the guy at least needs to be able to kick a ball, that's obvious
Casillas is terrible with his feet, yet Spain is one of the best national teams in history displaying tiki-taka football and being extremely succesfull at it.
First thing necessary for a goalkeeper is his ability to stop shots and to defend corners and set pieces, the tiki-taka part of his game is also overrated(Casillas says hello). Valdes was confident at playing with his feet because he trained every day that part of his game, and you can perfectly teach that to any keeper with just decent ability with his feet. It's not like Valdes was Xavi with the passing game.
Barca has had bad experiences because of not making good choices when they signed a keeper, nothing else. Valdes was by far the best in recent history, but he should consider himself lucky he has a team in front of him that is a footbal and goal machine. Neuer, Lloris, stergen, stekelenburg, guaita could provide a similar performance perhaps even better

Spain don't play pure tiki taka, they play more possession and buildup play oriented (i know it sounds the same but there is a difference). Barcelona play a different defensive style which incorporates the goalkeeper playing as the last man. They need him to be great at passing and confident at it at the very least. The hard part of finding a replacement for Valdes is incorporating everything that Barcelona needs. Young age+high potential+shot stopping ability+availability+passing skills+similar language (which is why ter Stegen or Neuer wouldn't make it. There would be far too much miscommunication between the GK and the back line which has cost us a lot in the past). All these things in one is pretty picky which is why it's hard to replace Valdes. So based off of all those parameters Neuer, Lloris, ter Stegen, and maybe Stekelenburg are all ruled out. This leaves Guaita or De Gea. I still think De Gea is the best option. Especially considering his language which would make him more comfortable and more vocal with his back line than he is at United. Plus it takes some time to build that chemistry with teammates that makes you know their every movement and tendency so that the play is fluent.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Anyone here know what his wages are? He could be doing a Rooney and threatening to leave for higher wages.

If he does go perhaps he might follow Pep to Bayern.

7.5M ,one of the highest for GKs in the world with Buffon/Cech/Casillas and in the team(I think Villa has same wages )
Unless we asked him to take a discount (doubtful) ,he will never get same amount of money he is making with Barca

 

[Richard.H]

To be fair, where the hell could Valdes go if he decides to leave Barca? I don't think any top club would want him. He's not a special keeper by any means...

 

[ricknattery]

Spain don't play pure tiki taka, they play more possession and buildup play oriented (i know it sounds the same but there is a difference). Barcelona play a different defensive style which incorporates the goalkeeper playing as the last man. They need him to be great at passing and confident at it at the very least. The hard part of finding a replacement for Valdes is incorporating everything that Barcelona needs. Young age+high potential+shot stopping ability+availability+passing skills+similar language (which is why ter Stegen or Neuer wouldn't make it. There would be far too much miscommunication between the GK and the back line which has cost us a lot in the past). All these things in one is pretty picky which is why it's hard to replace Valdes. So based off of all those parameters Neuer, Lloris, ter Stegen, and maybe Stekelenburg are all ruled out. This leaves Guaita or De Gea. I still think De Gea is the best option. Especially considering his language which would make him more comfortable and more vocal with his back line than he is at United. Plus it takes some time to build that chemistry with teammates that makes you know their every movement and tendency so that the play is fluent.

Or you could be overrating Valdes, because like I said before he is no Xavi with his passing skill, even Puyol learned how to play tiki-taka, and he was not good at all at it in the early stages of his career. Plus since the brainfart he had in Bernabeu after 30 seconds of the game in Liga(a game we ended up winning 1-3) he has lost a lot fo his confidence in big games(a quality you mention is valued in a Barca goalie).He has not been the same. He used to have Ronaldo in his pocket now he has scored from virtually every chance he has had(something like 7 goals in last 6 matches: a record) and add more brainfarts to that. His confidence is shattered, perhaps he himself acknowledges this
Now about his replacement. It's not like Valdes had the whole package, we might not find a keeper that satisfies all the requisites, but that doesn't mean he cannot function at Barca, top keepers are top keepers for a reason, they are great stoppers, confident and with great tolerance to criticism(otherwise they wouldnt make it that far). It will be hard like with any position but this one I believe shouldn't be the one with more drama within it. To be honest any Barca fan would agree that if there is any position we have a margin of getting better is at goalkeeping, Victor was great, but there was margin for improvement. I would worry when the time comes and we have to replace: Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Busquets, Puyol, those guys give you almost no margin to be better(Messi actually gives you no margin as he sets the bar in a new level constantly), they are actually the best that exist in their respective positions. Valdes although important can be replaced, not easy but it is not impossible

 

[Meitux]

good luck to Victor,we are keeping the positives this team has achieved with him these years

 

[Aryagorn]

so he would be sold in summer?

 

[Doobs]

Yeah, Zubi will make a statement soon that should clear things up.

 

[Aryagorn]

I hope there's a swap involving Neuer on the cards

 

[Doobs]

In our dreams? Yes.

 

[SoMa]

Anyone here know what his wages are? He could be doing a Rooney and threatening to leave for higher wages.

Absolutely, and positively, not.

 

[Aryagorn]

In our dreams? Yes.

Pep could do a with Bayern board...