Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[ManusXavi]

He won't get along with Messi and Neymar. We need a striker that will accept he's on the latter stages of his career.

I see....

 

[Trickykid]

Agreed. If we are in for Van Persie, we are in because he is a striker who can play a game on short notice, at this stage of his career. You don't need to build his confidence like you would do with an unexperienced forward. He has experience at playing important matches and as a result of that, he doesn't get intimidated. Experience never goes away, and players like RVP don't need the time to get used to playing at a high-level, because he's done it plenty of times in his career already.

It's the exact reason why Larsson was bought. He was considered finished, but he showed that a top footballer can still decide games without being as consistent as in his better days. So, for me we need to buy a player like RVP, who will understand that he will have a limited role, but who will also be able to step in on short notice and get the job done.

If Suarez gets injured we are exposed. Messi at CF doesn't work anymore. He himself said he needs a no9. Van Persie would be exactly the player who could step in for Suarez. We don't have that now.

Buy 1 CF, 1 CB and 1 CM. And a LB if possible. And make sure the CM has a high passing ability and can also provide defensive work. Someone that does tackiling, passes great, and runs a lot. Verratti would really be ideal in our current setup. He is the only one that thicks all the boxes.

Larsson wasn't considered finished at all back when we bought him. He was fairly old, yeah, but with the skill set he possessed, age really didn't matter too much.

But yeah, aside from that I agree with you and [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]. A seasoned, proven goal scorer would do us a world of good.

 

[serghei]

Larsson wasn't considered finished at all back when we bought him. He was fairly old, yeah, but with the skill set he possessed, age really didn't matter too much.

But yeah, aside from that I agree with you and [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]. A seasoned, proven goal scorer would do us a world of good.

I wouldn't say RVP is finished either then. He's 32, not 38. It's kind of hard for him to get pumped up by playing in Turkey and in the current Nederlands NT. A move to Barca would be in his best interest as well, even if he won't be a starter. A season has many games. And you just never know with these injuries. You might start the season thinking you'll be lucky to play 15 games, and at the end of the season, looking back, to see that you've played double that.

 

[Trickykid]

I wouldn't say RVP is finished either then. He's 32, not 38.

Me neither, which is why I'd be perfectly fine with Van Persie, if he'd come on reasonable wages.

 

[serghei]

Me neither, which is why I'd be perfectly fine with Van Persie, if he'd come on reasonable wages.

 

[Icarium]

Please no Van Persie.. I hate him.

 

[serghei]

Please no Van Persie.. I hate him.

Who then? Someone else, who has proven something at CF in his career so far.

 

[beautifulgame]

Out of what we been linked with Berardi would be the good shout. Other even younger guys are Gabriel Jesus, Ponce, and Gabigol Barbosa. Pato is a good choice for me if we want someone cheap who has plenty of experience, has his prime years ahead of him and would sit on the bench. Heard rumblings also about a younger polish striker but haven't seen him play. Anyone know him?

 

[raki]

We missed out on Drogba on 2012. Hhe could have been of great use.

 

[LordLichtenstein]

In which scenario do you see a "natural" CF getting any playing time with us?

 

[serghei]

In which scenario do you see a "natural" CF getting any playing time with us?

Resting Suarez, or him being injured/suspended. Or switching the system, a more dramatic and unlikely measure. Say if both Messi and Neymar are to be rested, injured or suspended, a 4-4-2 (diamond or normal) with Suarez and Van Persie up front is not bad at all.

 

[LordLichtenstein]

Resting Suarez, or him being injured/suspended. Or switching the system, a more dramatic and unlikely measure. Say if both Messi and Neymar are to be rested, injured or suspended, a 4-4-2 (diamond or normal) with Suarez and Van Persie up front is not bad at all.

If Suárez needs resting, Messi OR Neymar will take up his place for that one match.

Lucho would never switch to a 4-4-2.

 

[BBZ8800]

Larsson wasn't considered finished at all back when we bought him. He was fairly old, yeah, but with the skill set he possessed, age really didn't matter too much.

But yeah, aside from that I agree with you and [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]. A seasoned, proven goal scorer would do us a world of good.

But, imo, there is one thing to consider about that part how Larsson wasn't finished and how VPersie is finished.

Back then in 2004, internet was in the beginnings, compared to today.
For example, I didn't read any of Barca's forums back then, and I used to read websites (every morning):
1. El Mundo deportivo
2. Sport
3. Marca
4. As
5. FC Barcelona official page
6. and random football sites back then like, Goal, uk.sports.yahoo.com, tribalfootball.com etc

I want to say:
= today everyone has internet, everyone has access and today every fan in the world has "an opinion"
-- we have official forums, like this one, 1000s of Facebook pages with millions of comments each day etc

For example, my "opinion" about Barca and any player in the world (in 2004) was based only on:
1. me, watching games on a TV
2. reading about players in newspapers and on 3-4 biggest footy websites
3. talking with 4-5 real life friends about football

For example, back then, I thought that Guily is an ok player.
He wasn't the best, but he was a good player for our system back then.
When I started to read this forum, I have realized that people are more or less making jokes about Guily, as if he is some kind of a worst footballer ever.
Further, Oleguer. Ok, I knew that is not the best and the smartest player ever, but I was personally satisfied with him, and I more or less loved the guy in majority of matches.
5-10 years later, I came here, and I realized that on forums and on youtube, Oleguer is hailed as one of the worst and dumbest players ever :/
Further, about youngsters, back then (if you didn't live in Spain), you couldn't know too much about Barca B.
So, I knew only about young Messi, Bojan, and 2-3 defenders back then, because there were articles about them in Mundo Deportivo and on FcBarcelona, official website.

I want to say: today we are arguing whether players like Grimaldo, Adama and similar should play.
Back then, you probably would have never heard about Grimaldo.
About Adama, you would know only that he is sold to Aston Villa, as a promising youngster.

What I am trying to say:
-- Larsson, back then, I knew him for years from Celtic and Sweden
-- and he was hailed as the killer in the box
-- but, since we didn't have forums and Facebooks back then, who knows what Celtic's fans or fans who watched him more regularly thought about him
-- maybe he was also already on a decline, and maybe guys who followed him every week in Celtic back then, used to say: he is awesome, even though he is past his prime, and he lost a lot of his pace...

You see, today, every person can watch VPersie's games from Turkey.
We have twitter news about him.
We can see how unmotivated he is before matches when they are warming up etc.

Ok, Larsson wasn't that kind of a guy, but even if he was exactly the same as VPersie, we wouldn't know these information back then.

So, I don't agree with comparisons: Larsson wasn't finished and VPersie is.
Those were different times, with very small amount of information.
If you get my point...

This is why I am cautious when people talk about how good is Grimaldo, how bad is VPersie etc.
Today, when everything is accessible to everyone, it is much easier to create a finished player out of someone (VPersie), and to create an internet/youtube sensation from more or less any decent youngster from our team.

 

[serghei]

If Suárez needs resting, Messi OR Neymar will take up his place for that one match.

Lucho would never switch to a 4-4-2.

Both are unnatural solutions. Messi at CF will be worse than at RW and someone like Vidal or Rafinha are not good solutions either to replace Messi in the right. So Messi as CF is not a good option, he is too valuable at RW and AM to be moved from there. Neymar as well, he is playing like a genius at LW and he should stay there, he's beginning to build a legacy at Barca in that position, so he should not move. No. IMO, the simple solution is the best. You don't change everything at 180 degrees just because Suarez can't play. You buy a sub for Suarez and everything remains the same. Van Persie or other "9" will have to try his best to do what Suarez does. Make space for others, fight-off defenders and make the most of his chances to score.

 

[LordLichtenstein]

Both are unnatural solutions. Messi at CF will be worse than at RW and someone like Vidal or Rafinha are not good solutions either to replace Messi in the right. So Messi as CF is not a good option, he is too valuable at RW and AM to be moved from there. Neymar as well, he is playing like a genius at LW and he should stay there, he's beginning to build a legacy at Barca in that position, so he should not move. No. IMO, the simple solution is the best. You don't change everything at 180 degrees just because Suarez can't play. You buy a sub for Suarez and everything remains the same. Van Persie or other "9" will have to try his best to do what Suarez does. Make space for others, fight-off defenders and make the most of his chances to score.

But what good will that do? I mean, Van Persie will get less than 500 minutes per season, should his only role in our team be a sub for Suárez. He will have next to 0 match fitness everytime he comes on. That won't do us any good.