Barcilliant
Senior Member
Lol@ Ivanovic. I wanted him four years ago but Mascherano is better at rb now.
Barca Transfers and Rumors
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Messi983
Senior Member
It doesn't make much sense to me buying a veteran in January and then Cancelo next summer. Whoever we bring in in January will need time to adapt to our team/system and that will probably take until the end of the season, even if he's an experienced player like Liechtsteiner or Srna. None of them has played in La Liga before and they most likely don't speak Spanish. Second, they are cup-tied. Why do we need them if they can't play in CL if Roberto is injured/suspended? And last, for someone like Srna who has spent more than a decade in Ukraine, why would he even accept our offer if he'd know that he'd only be here for 6 months and that in a backup role for Roberto? Yes, we could give him 18-months contract and have Srna, Cancelo and Roberto for RB position next season. In that case Roberto would probably again play some games in midfield (most likely as backup to Busquets) but I think it's time for him to stick to one position. I believe he's shown enough so far at RB that we should keep him there despite some costly mistakes in recent games.
If Cancelo is really our long-term target then I say go for him in January. I'm not his biggest fan and I wouldn't buy him but if Robert and/or Lucho have selected him as our future RB then just buy him now. He'll also need time to adapt but he'll be here more than just 6 months. Let him play in easier home games until the end of the season when we'll rest Roberto. Let him adapt to the team so we could fully count on him from the start of next season instead of him having adaptation period then. And if he'll show good performances from the start he can possibly also play in CL this season if needed as he wouldn't be cup-tied. Yes, money could be obstacle after 120M we spend in summer but I think we can afford to buy him now. If not I'd just give a chance to Palencia and Nili as Roberto backup until the end of the season. Maybe one of them will surprise and we wouldn't need to buy new RB at all. But knowing Lucho that's unlikely to happen.
That said, I'd prefer someone like Jony Castro who has 15M buyout clause IIRC over spending 30M or more for Cancelo. I already wanted him in summer because he can play both RB and LB positions. Had we signed him instead of Digne (and that's nothing against the Frenchman because I like him so far) we would have more options now when Vidal will be gone and we could be looking for RB or LB depending on where Castro would fit in better.
If Cancelo is really our long-term target then I say go for him in January. I'm not his biggest fan and I wouldn't buy him but if Robert and/or Lucho have selected him as our future RB then just buy him now. He'll also need time to adapt but he'll be here more than just 6 months. Let him play in easier home games until the end of the season when we'll rest Roberto. Let him adapt to the team so we could fully count on him from the start of next season instead of him having adaptation period then. And if he'll show good performances from the start he can possibly also play in CL this season if needed as he wouldn't be cup-tied. Yes, money could be obstacle after 120M we spend in summer but I think we can afford to buy him now. If not I'd just give a chance to Palencia and Nili as Roberto backup until the end of the season. Maybe one of them will surprise and we wouldn't need to buy new RB at all. But knowing Lucho that's unlikely to happen.
That said, I'd prefer someone like Jony Castro who has 15M buyout clause IIRC over spending 30M or more for Cancelo. I already wanted him in summer because he can play both RB and LB positions. Had we signed him instead of Digne (and that's nothing against the Frenchman because I like him so far) we would have more options now when Vidal will be gone and we could be looking for RB or LB depending on where Castro would fit in better.
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Raketa10
Senior Member
I agree with you it is smarter to push for Cancelo in January if he is our main target since this veterans would need time to adapt. If we would not have any use of them for first 6 months I do not see any sense of signing them at all. Liechtsteiner and Srna are not cup-tied though but as you mentioned every new player needs time to adapt so buying 33 or 34 years old player and waiting 6 months for him to adapt is tremendously stupid.
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Messi983
Senior Member
Ah, I forgot that Shakhtar is not in CL this season and I wasn't aware that Juve didn't even register Liechtsteiner for CL so you're right that both could play for us.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
If we go for either Srna or Liechtsteiner it means we are
1-Still not sure about who is our top target for RB and feel we need time to assess them before spending some big money
2- We aren't 100% about S.Roberto as starting RB and again feel we need to get more time so that we don't found ourselves spending on back up RB when we need a starting one
3-We believe that we can't get our target in January,his club won't sell until the summer.
So basically the whole idea is to give the club a second option now but still buy ourselves time to get a good one in summer.
Masche will play as RB in the CL if Roberto is out anyway. We are not gonna start someone who just joined in the middle of the season.
Our attention should be focused on Fabinho. Either in January or more likely in the summer. A real quality versatile player is what we need. Not more dead weights.
Our attention should be focused on Fabinho. Either in January or more likely in the summer. A real quality versatile player is what we need. Not more dead weights.
Raketa10
Senior Member
Whatever the reason is we should not give Srna or Liechtsteiner more than 6 months contract. If we are forced to go for one of those two it should be just to cover RB position until summer.
Raketa10
Senior Member
One more reason to go for Cancelo in January.
On the other hand I totally understand Srna, why would he agree on 6 months contract when he will for sure be able to play for another 18 months in Shakhtar.
If we won't be able to sign Cancelo or any other long term RB solution in January we will be forced to pay one extra year to either Srna or Lichtsteiner and that is just throwing money out of the window! What a stupid decision we made by not signing a proper RB in summer!!!
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Don't know what we're worrying about .....everyone else seems to think that Sergi R is already a brilliant RB and will only get better .....despite being a liability in the two previous ( vital ) games ...
Don't know what we're worrying about .....everyone else seems to think that Sergi R is already a brilliant RB and will only get better .....despite being a liability in the two previous ( vital ) games ...
Tell us who is better than Roberto then? Bellerin? Dont make us laugh.
God Serena
New member
If we could find Roberto as a hidden gem for RB we can find someone else out there. The way people talk about him you'd swear he's the next Cafu or something but he's really just a CM filling in as RB.
Raketa10
Senior Member
They are just throwing names of every single older RB as a short term solution. We really need to focus on our long term target and forget this short term nonsense.
For example if we are sure Cancelo is our choice we should risk and buy him immediately. He'll just become more and more expensive with every good game he plays and same goes for Bellerin. We will end up paying 60m for RB.
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