Messi983
Senior Member
I like your posts they are very thought-throughWhat you are saying is right, but I will add something: Players for our 'long-term-future' doesn't have to sit on our bench. If we began making more deals like Vallejo in Zaragoza or Kranevitter in River Plate or someone like that, that would be very healthy. We have done that in midfield with Suarez and Halilovic, but needs to follow this strategy even more - and actually in most other areas of the field as well. If this happens, a 29-year old Nolito or a Gameiro would not be the end of the world, but without such supplementary signings we have too few options in the future.
Thanks.
Maybe you missed it but I mentioned in some of my previous posts here that I'd continue to do what we've done with Denis and Alen and continue to bring in younger players to let them develop in Barça B before loaning them out for a season or two. I would concentrate on smaller La Liga clubs because there is a lot of unpolished talent there and they all have buyout clauses, some of them are probably also pretty low or their clubs have to sell because they need money (this could change in 3 or 4 years with new TV money so we should probably be quick with that). Second option I think we should research is try to "steal back" La Liga talents that EPL and maybe some other clubs have poached over the last years and are somehow forgotten or overlooked in their academies. I guess there are other players like Denis who are maybe considering returning home to Spain if they feel they won't make it to their current club first team soon. We could offer them some more time to develop. Yes, we'd probably need to be lucky to get another player like Denis (at least what he seems to be, he still needs to prove himself here) but it's worth at least to think about that. And last but not least. Continue to scout all other European non-top 5 leagues, South America, Africa and other continents for every possible talent we could find. I don't believe our scouting is really as bad as general perception here is. It's just that over the last 10-15 years we had a luxury to enjoy the best generation of La Masia we ever had. Times have changed and now we need a bit more of outside help but we should still continue to get as much talent of all ages to and through La Masia. We'll probably never get new Messi or Xavi but we could get a lot of players like Pique, Roberto, Rafinha,.. who could save us a lot of money and continue to bring success. Just have some faith. I can respect different opinions but I'm always sad when I read that some people are already giving up on Rafinha and Suarez (yes, he's not exactly La Masia product but I still consider him as one of ours) and think they'll never be good enough to be starters here.
Yes, I think we are good enough covered at both wingers positions with players you mentioned and Vidal could also play RW sometimes if we keep Alves. Lucho loves Rafinha and he'll find a way to get him on the field just like he did with Roberto. I think he'll like Denis too. As I already mentioned a couple of times with the way MSN is working (and with Lucho obviously being affraid to sub either of them, especially Ney and Messi) I don't believe investing a big money into a young forward and then let him root on the bench for the next few years would be a smart decision.
I know some people here would be elated if we'd buy 3 or 4 18-19 years old wonderkids but what would that help us short term (if Lucho wouldn't trust them to play in important games if needed) and longterm (if their development would be stalled because they wouldn't play regularly)? Yes, we'd be a younger team on paper but not necessary better. This is real life, not FM. And yes, I like to buy all the possible talents I could get there as well, I just try to be more realistic in real life.
That's why I understand our interest in Gameiro. Of course we could maybe find someone cheaper and/or younger but based on our past experience with Sevilla players I think he would turn out to be another good, if not great transfer. Would anyone still complain if we get him and he helps us to win another 2 CL titles over the next 4 years? Most likely, because we are Barça fans and always have to complain about something
but personally I would be perfectly happy with him. And I believe he's the kind of player that could help us getting trophies. I'd be ok with Tarin or another Barça B player (Borja Lopez trained with first team yesterday, so maybe Lucho likes him) as our 5th CB. Similar to what I said about young forwards I think our 5th CB wouldn't get anywhere near the minutes he needs to develop. Adapting to the club and training alongside some of the best players in the world is great, but at the end of the day I believe you can improve the most if you play every week, even at smaller club. So I prefer to either use one of the current B team players or buy young CB for Barça B and let him train with first team occasionaly and get him a chance to play if needed. Another option is to buy a LB/RB like Jony Castro who could also play as CB.
Of course, that doesn't mean I'm against buying a "developing" CB. In contrast, I totally support that idea and have already mentioned Jorge Mere who could be interesting (there are of course more players like him out there). But in his case I prefer to loan him back to Sporting if they stay in Primera or to another La Liga team to let him develop. He'd get around 6-8 times more minutes there as a starter than here as our 5th CB option.
I like Pogba but I just don't think we can afford another 200M+ investment (transfer fee+salary) at this time. It's better to try and find "a new" Pogba who's cheaper and more available. Maybe someone like Bazoer?
