24 - Thomas Vermaelen

[khaled_a_d]

i dont understand how we would let mascherano go.. small details like this are the difference between an amazing season and a good season. verma is injury prone and the champions league is such a tense competition with high risk of card accumulation, let alone injury possibilities. so in the case of the former or the latter we will have no defenders left to replace either pique or umtiti. i.see.no reason why.not holding him until summer. if its money.give him a loyalty.bonus. if its the world cup.then thats.not.barcelona`s problem.

I think there is a problem in your keyboard
Anyway, Mascherano is the kind of player who earned the right to decide when he leaves, he already wanted out in 2016 and the club refused. For a player like him who has gave everything to the club in the past 7.5 years, playing in a position he didn't play before. I would say he earned that right.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

i dont understand how we would let mascherano go.. small details like this are the difference between an amazing season and a good season. verma is injury prone and the champions league is such a tense competition with high risk of card accumulation, let alone injury possibilities. so in the case of the former or the latter we will have no defenders left to replace either pique or umtiti. i.see.no reason why.not holding him until summer. if its money.give him a loyalty.bonus. if its the world cup.then thats.not.barcelona`s problem.

Masch is a legend and it would be bad way to treat him, but yes.. We are in very tough spot and If Verm is out for the season, we can't just rely on guy who just joined the team.

That would solve playing time issues for Masch. He would get playing time for sure.

 

[Nothanks]

I fully agree that letting mascherano is necessary because he asked and he's been a good servant to us

but i really wonder why he really wants to push to leave in January, surely whichever chinese club wants him can come for him in the summer?
mascherano even if playing a much smaller role here has a great chance on winning the CL and is already guaranteed a league cup.. i mean even as a money situation just the bonuses of winning cups outweighs leaving now... no?
i find it odd

 

[Kohe321]

Regardless of Mascherano having earned the right to leave when he wants, the game tonight reminded us that without him we're basically rolling the dice in every game. Having just a fragile player like Vermaelen as the sole replacement for Umtiti will be extremely volatile, especially when the season starts ramping up in intensity in spring.

 

[jairzinho]

He wants to leave now so he can get playing time before the world cup.

 

[God Serena]

Regardless of Mascherano having earned the right to leave when he wants, the game tonight reminded us that without him we're basically rolling the dice in every game. Having just a fragile player like Vermaelen as the sole replacement for Umtiti will be extremely volatile, especially when the season starts ramping up in intensity in spring.

Didn't we just sign a 6'7 CB who's supposed to be the best defender in all of Brazil and Colombia's best defensive talent? I feel like we did but the way I see people talking about our CB situation it's as if he's just some Barca B player and isn't worth mentioning.

 

[Nothanks]

He wants to leave now so he can get playing time before the world cup.

I mean yeah but no one is going to displace him from that terrible argentina squad, not like he has a lot of competition.

 

[Joan]

I mean yeah but no one is going to displace him from that terrible argentina squad, not like he has a lot of competition.

He wants to help Messi win it?

 

[Nothanks]

playing a rotational role here > chinese league despite consistent minutes
if it's money he'll get more with our bonuses of winning leagues and potential cl

playing here he has less chances of injury so he can go to his uncontested position in argentina

to me just doesn't make sense.. unless the deal was a one time thing and they told him now or never then i'd understand

 

[Barcaman]

Don't think it's about WC. He will play for Argentina whether he plays 1 or 20 games until then.
If he stays, with our point cushion, he would play enough and stay fresh. Perfect scenario for him.

He probably already made up his mind about January move though and that's that.

 

[Raketa10]

Vermaelen was overplayed in the last 1,5 months. He has been involved in almost all of Barca's last 13 matches. That's around 1.000 minutes in basically one month. For a player who has spent last 2 years in the stands, on the bench or in the hospital that's way too much so it's no surprise this has happened. If Masche was fit for the game against Espanyol this might have been avoided.

Regarding Masche, if a player doesn't want to be here anymore we should not force him. Masche has deserved right to choose whether he wants to stay or leave. We have Mina and if Vermaelen's injury is something like Umtiti's (one month out) than I see no problem but if Vermaelen suffered serious injury than we better hope Mina is up to the task or this might ruin our CL chances.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

People shouldn't forget that Masche has been quite injury prone lately. Might not be the reliable help some see in him.

 

[Raketa10]

People shouldn't forget that Masche has been quite injury prone lately. Might not be the reliable help some see in him.

Exactly! And I would add that in the last month Vermaelen was far better than Masche was this entire season.

 

[Nothanks]

I mean just to clarify i'm not saying Mascherano should stay against his will I'm more or less confused by his decision to leave.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

Out 2-3 weeks according to MD.

Not bad.