Barca Transfers and Rumors

[MTL_Barca]

So many players have to leave soon, it's actually amazing how much the board fucked up these past few years.

Just by age we need to axe/phase out Pique, Busquets, Alba, Suarez, Vidal, Rakitic and at some point Messi as well.

Then there is Semedo who is alright but i'm not exactly excited about giving him an improved long-term contract, then Umtiti who has the physical condition of a 60 year old, potentially Firpo as well who hasn't shown much this far, Griezmann who offers litte to nothing and is too old to be the center of the team in post Messi era, Dembele who needs to stay healthy to even be an option going forward and of course pointless signing Braithwaite.

That's almost the entire squad

Having players like Puig, Ansu, Araujo (and hopefully more) succeed is probably the only hope to somehow do this more or less successfully because there is just no way to replace all these players with new, expensive, signings. Also next big signings have to hit, club can't afford more flops and the team desperately needs some new key players.

 

[SeloBarca]

Are there any young talents ~22 for each position that havent been snatched yet?
Tonali, Camavinga, Szoboszlai, Karamoko Dembele, Garcia.
Houssem Aouar. Upamecano
Atal is 24

 

[mc_lovin]

Upamecano, Garcia, Guimaraes and Lautaro are the interesting players for me. Would be more than happy with Garcia and one of the others.

 

[FCBfan22]

If we need the change of mentality, we need to change the coach and at least 50% of players in each part of the field in the starting 11.

Defense:
Keep: Lenglet
Sell, with no questions: Pique, Alba
Sell, if a good offer comes, otherwise keep: Semedo, Umtiti

Midfield:
Keep: FDJ
Keep, but as bench players: Roberto, Busi
Sell, no questions asked. Rakitić, Vidal, Coutinho
Bring back from loan as a bench player with decent minutes: Alena

Attack:
Keep: Messi, Fati, Dembele (there will be no decent offers with injury record like this)
Sell, no questions asked: Suarez, Braithwaite
Sell if a good offer arrives: Griezmann

So, this year I would sell, no matter what: Pique, Alba, Vidal, Rakitić, Coutinho, Suarez, Braithwaite. That's 4-5 outfield starters, and that should help mentality a bit, plus appointing new coach.

Sign: 1 CB, 1 LB, 1 CM (FDJ at DM, we can survive with Pjanić for 1 season) and a ST if possible (otherwise play Fati there). Plus promote 2-3 players. So, who would you sign/promote?

 

[Messi983]

I know everyone wants to just bring young talents and see who will stick but am I the only one who think instead of looking to bring 3-4 more U23 players (to add them to Fati, Puig, Araujo, Pedri, Trincao and possibly Garcia this would basically be half of the team who would need to get regular minutes at their age to develop) we should add a player or two in/entering their prime years. Obviously there are many other factors than just the age that matter in decision making process but if I'd build a "new" team I'd want to have some balance in that age department like:

- 3-4 "experienced" players (29-32), so let's say Messi, Pjanić, Griezmann, Pique/Alba
- 4-5 players in their prime years (24-28), we currently have MATS (28), Roberto (28), Semedo (26) and Lenglet (25) in this age group. Semedo might leave (he could be replaced with Cancelo who's the same age though) and Roberto should be just a versatile squad player imo.
- 3-4 younger (U23) players. FDJ is the only established starter from that group right now but could be joined by Puig/Pedri, Fati/Trincao and/or Araujo/Garcia eventually in a year or two.

So I wouldn't mind looking at players like Alaba (28) or Telles (27) - both on expiring contracts - as a competiton/hopefully replacement for Alba. Or use crisis at Valencia and try to sign Gaya (25) or Kondogbia (27). Someone like Sabitzer (26) with his versatility could also be useful. And even Depay (26) - yeah, I know he has flopped at United and more importantly, he's coming off a serious injury - with just one year left on his contract could also come into consideration as he can cover both LW and ST positions. And he wouldn't really get too much ahead of Fati's development the same way big money signing like Neymar would.

We don't just need to improve starting XI but we need a better overall depth/quality of the team. So even if those players wouldn't establish themselves as longterm starters they could still improve the team in general and be a bridge-gap solutions until we find someone better/younger in their positions to take over.

I was mostly looking at players whose contracts are expiring over the next two years (or who are in a difficult situation like Valencia currently) at the positions of need (it's not like we couldn't do with an improvement almost everywhere though) so there are surely some other players I didn't mentioned who could also fall into that category and be available relatively cheaply this or next year.

 

[FCBfan22]

IMO, the most important thing is to sell most influental Amigos. Suarez and Pique. That is a must. Without that, no matter who we sign, we will slowly get back to same old.

 

[Messi983]

Pique is not that big of a problem imo.

Suarez should be the first one gone and Busi demoted to a backup role (as we won't be able to sell him).

 

[messi2140]

With the type of managers Barca are rumoured to appoint ( Kluivert/Pimienta/Henry) , they will never put Busquets on the bench. Him and Suarez shoud be the first to get sold.

Busquets is already sending signed t shirts to everyone that's rumoured to take the Barca job as we speak.

 

[Porque]

Pique is not that big of a problem imo.

Certainly not on the pitch, although he was the one that looked the most physically tired in the CL games. I picked up on this from about the 20 minute against Napoli. Good knows what his diet and training regime was like in between the close of LaLiga and the CL re-start.

But I am starting to think he is the key politicians outside the pitch. Extremely influential and helped the club secure the deal with Rakuten, publicly on camera went against the opinion of Valverde about the club going out, and building his business career with powerful sports deals like the SuperCopa.

I think if there is anyone who is the spokes person of the amigos direct to Bartomeu, it is him.

 

[stk93]

promote/keep
todibo, araujo, cucurella, monchu, puig, alena(?), fati

sell
alba, pique, umtiti, semedo, rakitic, vidal, coutinho, busq, suarez, braithwaite, griezmann (??)

buy
garcia, ricardo pereira, ndidi, boga/guedes/rashica (quick left winger but not expensive), malen. i like angelino aswel but only if we sell firpo

 

[FCBfan22]

I'm pretty certain Pique is a problem off the pitch. IMO him and Suarez are the core of the Amigos. That's why I want them gone ASAP. Plus his head is not at football completely.

He can speak, whatever he wants. Pack your bags and go.

 

[Judoman]

If we need the change of mentality, we need to change the coach and at least 50% of players in each part of the field in the starting 11.

Defense:
Keep: Lenglet
Sell, with no questions: Pique, Alba
Sell, if a good offer comes, otherwise keep: Semedo, Umtiti

Midfield:
Keep: FDJ
Keep, but as bench players: Roberto, Busi
Sell, no questions asked. Rakitić, Vidal, Coutinho
Bring back from loan as a bench player with decent minutes: Alena

Attack:
Keep: Messi, Fati, Dembele (there will be no decent offers with injury record like this)
Sell, no questions asked: Suarez, Braithwaite
Sell if a good offer arrives: Griezmann

So, this year I would sell, no matter what: Pique, Alba, Vidal, Rakitić, Coutinho, Suarez, Braithwaite. That's 4-5 outfield starters, and that should help mentality a bit, plus appointing new coach.

Sign: 1 CB, 1 LB, 1 CM (FDJ at DM, we can survive with Pjanić for 1 season) and a ST if possible (otherwise play Fati there). Plus promote 2-3 players. So, who would you sign/promote?

No.1 priority and necessity is changing the board/presidente. It all starts from the top.

Than, no. 2 priority is finding a good coach with modern approach to the game and players development.

All the rest will follow including destroying the club the amigos.

It's a disgrace to this club that a goat player wasn't able to play under a WC coach for more than 4 years.

We need wc talent in defense asap and i would also sell Busquets. The guy is on massive salary and pretty much useless in the modern game.

Also the next coach should play Messi as an "icing on the cake" role not as a main playmaker and main scorer. If he keeps the "everything goes through Messi" approach things will remain the same.
Barca game was incredibly predictable all these years, especially since Neymar left. He was the last player who was able to create something on his own.

 

[Toecrusher]

Max 1-2 players more will come. We are broke and no one wants our deadwood.

All this major squad rejuvenation talk is just wishful thinking.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Max 1-2 players more will come. We are broke and no one wants our deadwood.

All this major squad rejuvenation talk is just wishful thinking.

Exactly. I don't think we will make almost any changes for the next season. It will be write off. Start from fresh page after Barto is gone.

 

[Trafalgar]

I really hope Monchu, Moriba, De la Fuente, Collado and Akieme will be good enough for the first team like Riqui and Fati next year cause we really need to go back to our roots ... paying 140m for a player should be a RM or Q$G thing, that's not who we are ...