Irish_Cules
New member
I haven't been impressed with Inigo Martinez since the U21 championship. Bartra impressed much more than him in that tournament and he hasn't looked great for Sociedad whenever I've watched them over the last while.
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JamDav1982
Senior Member
Inigo Martinez is massively over rated it seems.
Decent enough player and with some potential but far away from being good enough for this Barca team. He struggles with movement it seems to me.
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
Who would suggest? When it comes to centerbacks, the only other names that come to mind are Laporte, Musacchio, Benatia, Mangala, or Otamendi. Balanta and Doria are too much of a risk at the moment, and Zouma seems to have his heart set on Chelsea.
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
Our squad needs renovation but in a smart kind of way. Some members (barcanuck) have been right to mention that we don't have the same strength that we did a few years ago with players like Eto'o, Toure, etc. and now our team as a whole lacks edge in our game. The thing is, we don't need to rely too heavily on transfers to bring it back.
Bartra and Pique as our CB pairing for the future is as strong as it needs to be, if we do transfer a CB it should be for depth and rotation (maybe Mathieu since he can also play LB). Pique has re-cemented himself as one of the top CB's under Tata, and he still is improving. Bartra is very promising and already reliable.
Midfield is the only place I think we need a big transfer in. Gundogan would give us the energy and steel we need to be a ruthless attacking team. He isn't a Barca system player yet but he surely can adapt and what he adds in terms of defensive workrate, attacking mindset, and overall quality can really push us towards becoming that unstoppable force we once were. Overall we'd have Cesc, Iniesta, Xavi (who'll slowly phase out), Gundogan, and Busquets for starting quality which is very deep. Rafinha and Suarez will have to compete to see which one leaves, Roberto I believe will be fringed.
Up front, Deulofeu has that hunger and drive to score and attack as a dynamic forward. Slot him in at RW and we'll have no complacency in attack that is often complained about with Pedro/Alexis. With his strong shot and insane dribbling ability, he isn't going to be a simply "support Messi" type player.
Bartra and Pique as our CB pairing for the future is as strong as it needs to be, if we do transfer a CB it should be for depth and rotation (maybe Mathieu since he can also play LB). Pique has re-cemented himself as one of the top CB's under Tata, and he still is improving. Bartra is very promising and already reliable.
Midfield is the only place I think we need a big transfer in. Gundogan would give us the energy and steel we need to be a ruthless attacking team. He isn't a Barca system player yet but he surely can adapt and what he adds in terms of defensive workrate, attacking mindset, and overall quality can really push us towards becoming that unstoppable force we once were. Overall we'd have Cesc, Iniesta, Xavi (who'll slowly phase out), Gundogan, and Busquets for starting quality which is very deep. Rafinha and Suarez will have to compete to see which one leaves, Roberto I believe will be fringed.
Up front, Deulofeu has that hunger and drive to score and attack as a dynamic forward. Slot him in at RW and we'll have no complacency in attack that is often complained about with Pedro/Alexis. With his strong shot and insane dribbling ability, he isn't going to be a simply "support Messi" type player.
Don't forget we need to integrate one of our many true #9 prospects into the mix.
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
Puyol is on the verge of retiring, and Mascherano will soon be 30. I think we can still use a centerback who wouldn't just be for depth. This is where I would say get Laporte. He's been a massive player in defense for Athletic Bilbao this season and he's also played leftback several games. But since his buyout is so high, we should try to nab Musacchio if he doesn't renew for that rumored 50 million buyout. If all else fails, we can get Mathieu.
I think Rafa could be a very good player in the midfield. He has the finesse of a typical Barca midfielder, but, as he showed against RM, he has the strength to rough it up a little too.
Roberto, too, could be a key player in the future. If only he could get his confidence back up to what we saw in that preseason game against Bayern.
As another poster mentioned, we should also go a long way to integrate at least one of our many number 9 prospects (i.e. Munir, Dongou, Sandro, or Sanabria (if he stays)).
One area that I noticed that you didn't mention is our fullbacks. While at lb we are covered with Alba, Adriano, and Grimaldo coming up, rightback is still a problem area. Alves is old and Montoya doesn't yet seem ready.
If Alves leaves, we'd need to either give Montoya the starting position and get a backup or get someone who can be a starter until Montoya is ready. Carlos Martinez, Hector Bellerin, Danilo, and de Sciglio are a couple players who come to mind.
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Yep I like him also . Put him in the midde with Messi and Neymar working around him ...
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
What? Mangala plays defense. Center back not center forward.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Mangala is a CB.
ZenI
Professor Balthazar
I'm still worried about our bench, Song doesn't provide good enough cover and Montoya is not convincing me. We also need a #9, Dongou is of course far from good enough and probably never will be. If we could just buy a DM that could also play box-to-box / CM - we could even splash some cash on a player like that because he would get minutes both on DM and CM + we could ship Song of who clearly is not cut out to play for us. But we will have to wait and see, maybe Xavi won't be with us next season or maybe he will accept a backup position?
abual3bed1
New member
Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague says Liverpool are just one of the clubs after Barcelona attacker Cristian Tello, who will be 'one of the transfer stories of the summer'. Guillem expects Barcelona to listen to offers for both Tello and Alexis Sanchez.
Semi-Neutral
Sir Alupp Heynrguson
He also expects us to lose the league because "the structure of the side continues to rely too heavily on the individual quality of certain players at the expense of the team collective." So I'm not too worried about that particular rumor...
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