David Luiz

[Flavia]

Thiago Silva and Pique almost play identically

No, they don't. Silva is far superior to Pique, and by much. But if you think they are similar, I don't think there's much to discuss. Luiz is not the right cb for Barça. And I say this based more on what I've seen from him with the nt than chelsea. He hardly plays cb for chelsea lately. Pique and Luiz are both airheads. Who could complement Pique nicely is Silva. Pique needs someone who can be more focused than he is, not someone who's even worse at it.

 

[antonnn]

Well your opening bid is rumoured to be £25m, and I'm expecting that to be rejected. An overall deal for Luiz will probably cost you £30m(including bonuses and whatever) unless Mourinho is keen to get rid of him sooner rather than later. At the end of the day he's trying to fund purchases players he wants to bring in, so don't be expecting us to just sell for whatever price because to buy big, we need to sell big, and to get us a good striker we'll need to spend a lot.

 

[Die Bayern]

Well your opening bid is rumoured to be £25m, and I'm expecting that to be rejected. An overall deal for Luiz will probably cost you £30m(including bonuses and whatever) unless Mourinho is keen to get rid of him sooner rather than later. At the end of the day he's trying to fund purchases players he wants to bring in, so don't be expecting us to just sell for whatever price because to buy big, we need to sell big, and to get us a good striker we'll need to spend a lot.

That and the fact that Mourinho definitely won't sell a player to Barca on the cheap.

 

[Howes]

Well your opening bid is rumoured to be £25m, and I'm expecting that to be rejected. An overall deal for Luiz will probably cost you £30m(including bonuses and whatever) unless Mourinho is keen to get rid of him sooner rather than later. At the end of the day he's trying to fund purchases players he wants to bring in, so don't be expecting us to just sell for whatever price because to buy big, we need to sell big, and to get us a good striker we'll need to spend a lot.

I think Luiz is the player Barcelona need, but I'd hate to see them held to ransom by Chelsea. The worry for Barcelona is who else is interested, I read a while ago that PSG were interested but that's seemed to cool off recently. If Barcelona are the only team interested and with Chelsea wanting a striker, I think a deal under £25mil is possible

 

[Ghost]

He is seriously not that good. Why are we after him?

 

[Catorce]

Benatia or Mangala. No Luiz or Hummels, please.

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Benatia and Mangala aren't bad long-term options but at the exact moment, they are still a little raw and loose. Its a big jump from playing in Serie A and the Portuguese league to La Liga and Champions League and they'd both need at least a season or two to get truly comfortable. That leaves us with only Pique, Mascherano and maybe Bartra whom we can rely on to play composed.

While both are great prospects, we need someone who can immediately start more than ever which is why a big name will be the first CB. Luiz and Mangala would be my preference but only Luiz seems to be the only thing materializing in the media at the moment.

Also Flavia, you decided to focus on the fact that I thought Silva and Pique play identically. I wasn't saying Pique was on the same level as Thiago Silva, he isn't. While I wouldn't say he's miles ahead of Pique, I think a lot of it has to do with his maturity and age. He is more focused and disciplined than Pique but other than that, their overall approach to defending is very similar. That's what I was comparing, their approaches to defending, that contrast nicely with Luiz's approach.

I'm just hoping having Luiz next to him will force Pique to be more responsible and add some maturity to his game. In my opinion, that concentrated focus at all times is all that is lacking from Pique's game at the moment and that's something that can come with time. With Puyi gone now I am hopeful that Pique will begin to phase out the airheadedness and replace it with the attentiveness his mentor always tried to instill in him.

 

[Catorce]

Benatia is 26 and has quite some experience in Serie A. In that sense I don't see him having that many troubles compared to someone younger like Mangala who comes from a smaller league. The fact that Luiz is a 'big name' doesn't matter, that makes him no less prone to needing adjustment time. Secondly, he is just too much like Pique. I believe - everyone can disagree of course - that Mangala and Benatia complement Pique and Bartra way more than Luiz, and add to that the fact that both Luiz and Pique are a bit of looseheads. They need a raw stopper next to both, that complements their abilities the most. The board seems to be focussed on getting a well-known player here but that won't help us out. I see us missing out on Mangala like we did on Javi Martinez and Thiago Silva.

One possibility I can think of why the board wants Luiz is because he is a Nike man and he's Brazilian. Otherwise, I'd take benatia and Mangala over Luiz all day.

 

[Howes]

Mangala was in talks with Man City in January and will be again come Summer. Barcelona won't be able to pay his £35mil. Be fair, Porto have a history of producing players who do well after leaving.

I'm kind of curious about Balanta, he seems like a physical no nonsense defender, who I'd love to see replace Puyol. I'm just not sure he's experienced, enough. He'd be a gamble,

 

[DonAK]

Well, if we get Luiz then we just gotta support him and desperately hope that he does well. Especially considering we're most likely gonna pay out €30-35m for him

 

[Catorce]

Mangala was in talks with Man City in January and will be again come Summer. Barcelona won't be able to pay his £35mil. Be fair, Porto have a history of producing players who do well after leaving.

I'm kind of curious about Balanta, he seems like a physical no nonsense defender, who I'd love to see replace Puyol. I'm just not sure he's experienced, enough. He'd be a gamble,

If we can pay 57+ million for Neymar, 10M for a 17 year old talent (Halilovic), we can definitely shell out 40M for a CB.

 

[Howes]

I've watched Mangala play a few times and he looked great, but the figures round him are crazy, and Barcelona are not going to win a pissing contest with City over a £40mil defender. Barcelona aren't been linked to him, it's only premier leauge he's linked with.

 

[Duke]

Benatia or Mangala. No Luiz or Hummels, please.

This!!

Mourinho will sell Luiz to finance buying Mangala. Why don't we just buy Mangala then? It seems Mourinho know how to buy and develop world class defenders!

 

[Duke]

I've watched Mangala play a few times and he looked great, but the figures round him are crazy, and Barcelona are not going to win a pissing contest with City over a £40mil defender. Barcelona aren't been linked to him, it's only premier leauge he's linked with.

he has been linked with Barcelona for over a year now, but you know how our sporting director Zubizarreta handle this usually. He is waiting for everyone to bid for Mangala so the price goes way up then he make a bid, our offer of course get rejected and then he complains that the player is too expensive!

 

[instinct]

No chance that we are going to get him this summer. He already said last season that it is up to the clubs to decide and won't sell him to us. And if he does, not under 45m and this is too much for Luiz even though it'd be interesting to see him at Barca.