Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[BBZ8800]

Why? You of all people should know that Reus has no place in this barca. At least pogba can be adjusted a little.

Where would he play?

I would personally as a coach want slightly more rotations from Msn trio.
If we would have Msn+Reus for 3 attacking positions:
We will play:
-- 38 La Liga matches this Season
-- 6 group stage CL matches + 7 knockout CL matches if we reach the final=13 matches
-- European supercup, 2 matches of Spanish supercup
-- a few matches on a club's world cup
-- 10-ish matches in a Spanish cup

So, if we won't have ANY injuries to Msn trio, this year alone we will have 66+ official matches to play.
If on every match we have 3 spots available in attack, that is around 200-ish spots available over Season.
If MSN would each play 60 matches and get benched in only 6 in the whole Season, Reus would play 20-ish matches in a Season.
-- if any from MSN trio would play 55 matches and get rested 11-12 times, Reus would have 35 matches in this Season
-- if any from MSN trio would play 50 matches and get rested/rotated 16 times, Reus would play 50 matches (lol!)

That scenario above is WITHOUT any single injury or red cards.
Imagine Messi or Ney get injured for 3 Months. We are screwed then, aren't we?

I am dreaming, but still...
If we assume that MSN need to play almost 66-70 matches per Season without a rest and that they will NEVER get injured (and that they will get mad if we rest them in 5-10-15 matches), then we can't buy anyone.
But if they are professionals who can get rotated sometimes, if they will get tired eventually, and if they will get injured, then a dream about 4 world class forwards isn't that "crazy".

I know that this scenario is highly unlikely, but I am just sayin'...

We had 5 forwards for 3 positions in 2006: Ronnie, Etoo, Larsson, Guily, Messi + Ezquerro
And we survived.

 

[Topolino]

Got to agree with BBZ. MSN nees to be rotated and Sandro/Munir isn't the anwser - they need developing but not the - you are our last hope style of game time.
We need someone who can play any of the front 3 positions and be good at them and for that Reus is a good match - heck, he could maybe play as an AM too.
Reus has a bad injury record tho so we should think about someone else too.

 

[DonAK]

The problem with that is that there's a limit on how much you can rotate the front three and Reus being the player he is, definitely would not agree to play second fiddle, a rotation option.

 

[Flavia]

The problem with that is that there's a limit on how much you can rotate the front three and Reus being the player he is, definitely would not agree to play second fiddle, a rotation option.

Pretty much. Reus has no place here anymore.

 

[Topolino]

Ofcourse he wouldn't. But he would force Neymar to train/play a lot harder - same goes to Suarez.
He's a player who has immense abilities and he just got injured before his country won the WC and after that had a bad season with BVB. He would give his all to prove himself. That's why I'd like him here.

 

[DonAK]

I don't disagree with you, that he'd bring fierce competition and got great abilities, but eventually we'd be in the same situation where one of our players would look to leave to get a regular starting place. It's incredibly difficult to keep like-like players and keep them happy. We need to look at players who are very good, but not at that level, or players who are playing at a good level and got lots of potential and are okay with being depth options as long as they play for Barca/until they develop to a WC or close to WC level.

 

[BBZ8800]

The problem with that is that there's a limit on how much you can rotate the front three and Reus being the player he is, definitely would not agree to play second fiddle, a rotation option.

I will say that MSN trio is slightly spoiled, some fans may get offended, but that's true.
I mean, I adore Messi, but he is annoying when he has to play every single crappy home match after international matches (in order to break all possible records of goals scored).
Ney could also get benched/rotated from time to time.
Suarez looks like a guy who is the least spoiled out of our front three (in terms of not getting angry if he had to get rested sometimes).

Our teams/players were much more flexible in the past:
Our 2007-08 team:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_FC_Barcelona_season

Over the whole season, look how many matches our attackers played:
-- Bojan Krkic 48 matches (lol)
-- Henry 47 matches
-- Messi 40 matches
-- Gudjohnsen 37 matches
-- Etoo 28 matches
-- Ronnie 26 matches
-- even Ezquerro played 6 matches
-- so, yes, we had some injuries (Ronnie and Etoo), and still ALL 6 (!!) forwards played huge amount of matches

Or in the midfield, CMs (433 formation, the same as today):
-- Cm Xavi 54 matches
-- Cm Iniesta 49 matches
-- Cm-Fw Gudjohnsen was sometimes used here, 37 matches
-- Cm Deco 29 matches
-- Dcm Yaya 38 matches
-- Dcm Edmilson 15 matches

If you get my point, we had Ronnie, Etoo, Henry, Messi, Bojan and Gudjohnsen, and they were ALL rotated.
We had Xavi, Deco, Iniesta and Gudjohnsen for 2 spots as central midfielders, and they were all rotated.

So, my question is: why do MSN need to be holy cows who can't be rotated from time to time?
-- again, if we play 66 matches and if MSN play 50 matches, that is still 3 out 4 matches played.

Ronnie back then was something like CR7 today.
Etoo back then was like Suarez and Benzema today.
Messi was, well=a young Messi, the goat.
Bojan was the most hyped player in Barca's history.
Henry was like Reus/Bale/Hazard today, except that he was older.
Gudjohnsen was like Mandzukic or a similar type of a player today.

So, we had an insane level of quality (and depth) and everybody managed to play.
Then you look at those 6 attackers who were rotated (in less matches than today, because we didn't reach CL final, we didn't play supercups, we din't play club's world cup etc), and today we have 3 guys who will have to play 66+ matches in a Season.

I want to say: we are licking too much MSN's ass.
Ronnie-Etoo-young Messi was equally as strong trio as the current MSN, plus we had one Henry, Gudi and Bojan looking for a lot of matches...

So, why were rotations possible back then, but MSN is untouchable today?
I don't like that too much.

 

[Flavia]

MSN will still start all the important matches, rotation or not. A player of Reus caliber won't come to Barça to be in the bench on those games. Pedro left because of that.

 

[anguy]

I
Our teams/players were much more flexible in the past:
Our 2007-08 team:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_FC_Barcelona_season

Over the whole season, look how many matches our attackers played:
-- Bojan Krkic 48 matches (lol)
-- Henry 47 matches
-- Messi 40 matches
-- Gudjohnsen 37 matches
-- Etoo 28 matches
-- Ronnie 26 matches
-- even Ezquerro played 6 matches
-- so, yes, we had some injuries (Ronnie and Etoo), and still ALL 6 (!!) forwards played huge amount of matches

Or in the midfield, CMs (433 formation, the same as today):
-- Cm Xavi 54 matches
-- Cm Iniesta 49 matches
-- Cm-Fw Gudjohnsen was sometimes used here, 37 matches
-- Cm Deco 29 matches
-- Dcm Yaya 38 matches
-- Dcm Edmilson 15 matches

If you get my point, we had Ronnie, Etoo, Henry, Messi, Bojan and Gudjohnsen, and they were ALL rotated.
We had Xavi, Deco, Iniesta and Gudjohnsen for 2 spots as central midfielders, and they were all rotated.

So, my question is: why do MSN need to be holy cows who can't be rotated from time to time?
-- again, if we play 66 matches and if MSN play 50 matches, that is still 3 out 4 matches played.

Ronnie back then was something like CR7 today.
Etoo back then was like Suarez and Benzema today.
Messi was, well=a young Messi, the goat.
Bojan was the most hyped player in Barca's history.
Henry was like Reus/Bale/Hazard today, except that he was older.
Gudjohnsen was like Mandzukic or a similar type of a player today.

Ronaldinho was poor in that season, he left afterwards. Henry was nothing special either (he was much better in 2008-2009). Krkic was hyped, but still just a talented teenager. Of our forwards in that season only Etoo and Messi were really good, so there's no surprise that coach rotated. Anyway let's not forget that with that rotation we ended 3rd in league with 67 POINTS behind weak Real and ... FUCKING VILLAREAL. Rijkaard was fired. So I would not use the example from 2007-2008 for anything.

 

[ATLBarcaFan]

Is Reus capable of playing as an attacking mid?

 

[Luftstalag14]

Is Reus capable of playing as an attacking mid?

Nope. He thrives on the wings, especially LW.

 

[Zincubus]

De Bruyne just got bought for 80M. A couple of seasons down the line, 80M for a player like Pogba will start looking normal.

Not that I'm a fan.

Wasn't he released for free or something by Chelsea a year or so ago ??

 

[BBZ8800]

Ronaldinho was poor in that season, he left afterwards. Henry was nothing special either (he was much better in 2008-2009). Krkic was hyped, but still just a talented teenager. Of our forwards in that season only Etoo and Messi were really good, so there's no surprise that coach rotated. Anyway let's not forget that with that rotation we ended 3rd in league with 67 POINTS behind weak Real and ... FUCKING VILLAREAL. Rijkaard was fired. So I would not use the example from 2007-2008 for anything.

It is easy to be smart regarding that season, today, 8 years later.

It was 2007'.
Only 12 Months earlier, we won a CL.
Ronnie was the best player in the world.
You say: Ronnie was poor in that Season.

Who knows, maybe Messi will be crap in this season, you can't predict it now in August.
Etoo was one of 2-3 best Cfs in the world. For me personally, Drogba and Etoo were the best in the world.
Messi was Messi.
Henry, lol, he was the best player in EPL like for a decade. Multiply current Hazard with 5x to get Henry from 2007 when we bought him.
In the current market, that 29 years old Henry would cost 60-70 Millions.

We can argue whether we need or don't the 4th Cf, but I am not entering insane debates how MSN is by far the best trio which Barca ever had or which football world has ever seen.
Ronnie-Etoo-young Messi from 2006 or 2007, I just don't see in which universe that attacking trio was inferior to the current MSN.
Ronnie was better than Neymar, Suarez isn't better than Etoo on his prime.
Messi is Messi, even though he has more experience (but less pace) today.

The point of my previous post was that we had similar MSN's in the past, and we survived with 4, or even with 5 awesome players.

But today, times are different.
Youngsters like Pogba are asking 12 Millions as a starting wages in Barca, and you can't bench/rotate your key players because they will get sad.
Ok, fine.

 

[Co0ter]

It is easy to be smart regarding that season, today, 8 years later.

It was 2007'.
Only 12 Months earlier, we won a CL.
Ronnie was the best player in the world.
You say: Ronnie was poor in that Season.

Who knows, maybe Messi will be crap in this season, you can't predict it now in August.
Etoo was one of 2-3 best Cfs in the world. For me personally, Drogba and Etoo were the best in the world.
Messi was Messi.
Henry, lol, he was the best player in EPL like for a decade. Multiply current Hazard with 5x to get Henry from 2007 when we bought him.
In the current market, that 29 years old Henry would cost 60-70 Millions.

We can argue whether we need or don't the 4th Cf, but I am not entering insane debates how MSN is by far the best trio which Barca ever had or which football world has ever seen.
Ronnie-Etoo-young Messi from 2006 or 2007, I just don't see in which universe that attacking trio was inferior to the current MSN.
Ronnie was better than Neymar, Suarez isn't better than Etoo on his prime.
Messi is Messi, even though he has more experience (but less pace) today.

The point of my previous post was that we had similar MSN's in the past, and we survived with 4, or even with 5 awesome players.

But today, times are different.
Youngsters like Pogba are asking 12 Millions as a starting wages in Barca, and you can't bench/rotate your key players because they will get sad.
Ok, fine.

I can agree with you that Lucho should stand firm and rotate MSN a bit more. Like you said, even considering if there are no injuries, if you bench them each only a handful of times it opens up a ton of playing time for a 4th forward. The key thing like someone else mentioned is players with enough quality to actually be that 4th forward (while maintaining the overall quality MSN has) don't want to be in that role and they know MSN will start most of the crucial big games.

If Reus, Hazard and other quality players would accept that role, I'm all for it. They won't though...unless we are very, very...very lucky.

 

[Stric]

Whatever happened to Lamela? Has he been any good at Tottenham? I don't really follow the Premier League.

Also, Pedro leaving means we're fucked. Sandro and Munir are not players that you can count on, and your forwards are among the most likely to be subbed in games, even excluding rotation and injuries. I can't even fathom how we let ourselves come to this. MSN + Sandro and Munir, that's just laughable. At this point I'd happily bring Tello back, that says a lot. Hell, I'd probably take Bojan back, too.