24 - Thomas Vermaelen

[Mitchell1978]

He wasn't even starting ahead of Daniel van Buyten in the World Cup and now we're paying 15-20 mil for him?

normally he would but he was injured and lacked matchfitness

 

[linetty]

Deal on Vermaelen is not yet done, teams still talking, but Barcelona expect to close it in the coming days, possibly this weekend. [rac1]

 

[Tomchin]

Deal on Vermaelen is not yet done, teams still talking, but Barcelona expect to close it in the coming days, possibly this weekend. [rac1]

Who knows, maybe he'll fail his medical arty1:

 

[Richard.H]

What will his wages look like you guys think? I hope it's not more than 2 mill a year

 

[GoobiePls]

I don't think he'd go from 1 bench to the other and trade in a lot of wages. He was on 85K/week at Arsenal, so something around that.

 

[MagIX]

We have a big problem in defense for years, everyone see it, everyone knows it. Of course you must not be a soccer expert to note that, even those who do not understand a shit of soccer has noticed that, even a blind man would see this problem. In the soccer world, everyone knows that Barcelona has a big problem in defense for years.
Then why, why our board does not put this on priority 1 ?
The situation is so absurd and surreal that we reached the point of being happy that at least we bought a defender, who cares who he is.

Our management has to go home.
End of story

Dat big name centre back Dat immense defensive improvement Dat cheap transfer fee

Glad they kept they promised... poor signing. I'm not entertained.

 

[Hamzah]

They bought the best defenders available. What do you want?

 

[Tomchin]

We have a big problem in defense for years, everyone see it, everyone knows it. Of course you must not be a soccer expert to note that, even those who do not understand a shit of soccer has noticed that, even a blind man would see this problem. In the soccer world, everyone knows that Barcelona has a big problem in defense for years.
Then why, why our board does not put this on priority 1 ?

Because very few CBs fit the "Barca profile" (or so I've heard)

 

[mazp]

They bought the best defenders available. What do you want?

That's debatable.

 

[Tomchin]

They bought the best defenders available. What do you want?

Agreed about that Mathieu was the best option for backup CB, but Vermaelen the best option to be our starting CB? Regardless of his quality, how can a player with such an injury-record be considered the best option available?

 

[Hamzah]

Well they will both fight for lcb and whoever is best will take the spot.

 

[mazp]

Laporte/Balanta and either Hummels/Benatia/I.Martinez would have been my list. Instead we wasted half the summer annoying PSG for nothing.

 

[Chainsaw]

Because very few CBs fit the "Barca profile" (or so I've heard)

Very few players fit the "Barca profile" as some say.

 

[Hamzah]

Hummels and Benatia not available from what I know. Laporte is 45m plus. Martinez and Balanta are worse than Verm and Mathieu.

 

[Tomchin]

Laporte/Balanta and either Hummels/Benatia/I.Martinez would have been my list. Instead we wasted half the summer annoying PSG for nothing.

It's weird that we didn't make a move for Balanta indeed. I know he's third-party owned, but Valencia only payed 6,5M if I remember correctly, so his full price is probably not more than 15M?