Defender for next season?

[Cruijffista]

I keep on hearing the name Daniel Agger pop in the rumor mill. I think he's a more realistic option than Javi Martinez is at this point.

 

[jlim632]

If I had a choice, I will re-sign Yaya Toure. He has signal his interest to return to Barca one day. He will be a good DM/DC. I won't wait for Abidal to come back. For him to find fitness and form again even if he recovers will take more than a season. I believe his career is over for now. But just to produce an inspirational story for everyone, I feel he will play a few games towards the end of next season.

Yaya for the win

 

[Meitux]

If I had a choice, I will re-sign Yaya Toure. He has signal his interest to return to Barca one day. He will be a good DM/DC. I won't wait for Abidal to come back. For him to find fitness and form again even if he recovers will take more than a season. I believe his career is over for now. But just to produce an inspirational story for everyone, I feel he will play a few games towards the end of next season.

Yaya for the win

it would be great but i see toure now playing more like a central midfielder and attacking sometimes and i never see him playing center back like he played in barcelona cause its not need now actually

 

[Arachnid]

I like Agger. He's got about two years left, so he'd cost around 15 mil. Also, at 27, he's experienced enough to avoid the mistakes a younger CB like Bartra would make, but hardly at the end of his career.

 

[Cruijffista]

http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20120...l-15-millones-prensa-inglesa_54330984864.html

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/inglaterra-dan-por-hecho-fichaje-agger-2164281

If this goes down, I like the move. Good defender for a reasonable price and will allow the club to bring along Bartra.

 

[Meitux]

yeah i agree agger is one of the best choices and possible to sign him

 

[Puyol the wall]

He wouldn't cost too much, a very sensible option indeed.

 

[Trickykid]

If I had a choice, I will re-sign Yaya Toure. He has signal his interest to return to Barca one day. He will be a good DM/DC. I won't wait for Abidal to come back. For him to find fitness and form again even if he recovers will take more than a season. I believe his career is over for now. But just to produce an inspirational story for everyone, I feel he will play a few games towards the end of next season.

Yaya for the win

What exactly has changed since he left us? He'd still not be a starter, and besides, his skills are wasted as a defender or even as DM.

Regarding the Agger rumour; I'd love to see him at Barca, as I believe he'd be the perfect fit. He's leaps and bounds ahead of Martinez as a defender, and if the 15 mio price tag is true, it's really a no-brainer. However, I'd hate for him not to be a regular, especially now that he's approaching his best years.

 

[Arachnid]

I'd hate for him not to be a regular, especially now that he's approaching his best years.

With his injury record, not having to rely on him for every match is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[khaled_a_d]

The more and more I think about it, considering how the market looks right now as far as quality CBs being available, we might be better advised to just continue signing quality players for our B team in order to boost our youth ranks for the future. I have yet to hear anything to tune of Abidal retiring and although he won't be likely to return to play for us until October or November, whenever he becomes available again, we could use him as the deputy CB. I see him as being a perfect #4 CB for us behind Masch and he could be our #2 LB to come on for Jordi Alba as a sub. Meanwhile, this would keep enough room in the squad to test out Barta and Fontas more in smaller La Liga games or CdR games and see if they have the quality to step up and be the long term replacement for Puyol. If not, then next summer we could devote all of our funds to signing a CB like Martinez or Hummels who will both be cheaper.

The leftover money we have now could then be used to resign Romeu to be our #2 defending midfielder behind Busquets (if we don't decide to push Masch back up as a DM) and we buy a cheap striker to be our Henrik Larsson like super-sub. I am kinda interested in Nelson Oliveria bc I see a lot of potential in that kid, plus he wouldn't be more than 10 million but an Adrian could be suffice as well.

Man,that isn't even the best case scenario for Abidal.IF he Just missed the whole next season he will be considered way ahead of schedule ,Abidal Career with FCB is 99% over ,if he ever come back it will be probably for the MLS or Qatar league ,to get some money with less pressure

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Sorry guys, I'm not sipping the Agger kool-aid on this one. We need a player who can be a long term replacement for Puyol in about 2 years time. The first thing I question is whether or not he has the technical skills required to mesh well with our style of play. While he is a great tackler and reader of the game, he isn't the fleetest of foot and I don't think he is that great with the ball at his feet which is what he will be doing a majority of the time since we dominate possession and everyone touches the ball. Technical skill isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Agger and is something that ever player of Barca needs from Valdes all the way up to Messi. Particularly when we consider that he will only be playing a handful of games anyway since he will be behind Pique, Puyol and Mascherano, I'd rather give extra time to develop Barta, who seems to be coming into his own this preseason and keep the 15 mil for next season.

Considering the debt that we have accumulated over the past seasons, every euro we spend needs to be as frugal as possible with the intent on gaining the biggest return we can on our investment. If we are going to buy a CB this year, I don't want us to half-ass it by buying a player who simply won't play that much for us when we can buy someone who is younger and can be a superstar in the future later. If Barta doesn't quite shape up to be what we hoped, we can always buy a deputy CB in January. But I'd rather we just keep our 15 million and use that to buy a high caliber, young CB like Hummels, Martinez or David Luiz next season than hastily buy a CB who won't be a great fit for us. Let him stay at Liverpool where he is much better suited as a player and let him play for a club that sincerely needs him.

We are FC Barcelona, we put our youth first and then we buy when necessary. We don't hoard players that we won't use and ruin their careers like Real Madrid.

 

[Trickykid]

Sorry guys, I'm not sipping the Agger kool-aid on this one. We need a player who can be a long term replacement for Puyol in about 2 years time. The first thing I question is whether or not he has the technical skills required to mesh well with our style of play. While he is a great tackler and reader of the game, he isn't the fleetest of foot and I don't think he is that great with the ball at his feet which is what he will be doing a majority of the time since we dominate possession and everyone touches the ball. Technical skill isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Agger and is something that ever player of Barca needs from Valdes all the way up to Messi. Particularly when we consider that he will only be playing a handful of games anyway since he will be behind Pique, Puyol and Mascherano, I'd rather give extra time to develop Barta, who seems to be coming into his own this preseason and keep the 15 mil for next season.

Considering the debt that we have accumulated over the past seasons, every euro we spend needs to be as frugal as possible with the intent on gaining the biggest return we can on our investment. If we are going to buy a CB this year, I don't want us to half-ass it by buying a player who simply won't play that much for us when we can buy someone who is younger and can be a superstar in the future later. If Barta doesn't quite shape up to be what we hoped, we can always buy a deputy CB in January. But I'd rather we just keep our 15 million and use that to buy a high caliber, young CB like Hummels, Martinez or David Luiz next season than hastily buy a CB who won't be a great fit for us. Let him stay at Liverpool where he is much better suited as a player and let him play for a club that sincerely needs him.

We are FC Barcelona, we put our youth first and then we buy when necessary. We don't hoard players that we won't use and ruin their careers like Real Madrid.

I really do agree that we aren't in such dire need of a new defender as many seem to think, but I couldn't disagree more with your assessment of Agger.
He is more than decent with the ball at his feet, and is great at building up play from the back. Actually I doubt I could name more than a handful of players who are better at that than Agger - especially at that fairly affordable price range.
Even if you were right, I still don't think it should completely disqualify him for playing in our defense. Look at Masch and Puyi especially; neither are brilliant at what you claim to the most important trait for any player who wears the blaugrana. I don't think we need to debate their succes at Barca?

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

I don't want people to think that I am ragging on Agger. He is a very solid defender and I wouldn't be up in arms if we signed him. I just feel like for that money we spend on him, we could get Martinez or Hummels next season who are younger and will last longer for us than perhaps Agger will. Plus with a player being in his prime years, he is going to want regular playing time and that's something he isn't guaranteed to have at Barca. I want to give Barta a real chance to prove himself personally, we gave Pique a chance when Marquez went down and I think Barta deserves that chance as well. Like I said, if he doesn't work out, we always have January.

 

[Arachnid]

I don't want people to think that I am ragging on Agger. He is a very solid defender and I wouldn't be up in arms if we signed him. I just feel like for that money we spend on him, we could get Martinez or Hummels next season who are younger and will last longer for us than perhaps Agger will. Plus with a player being in his prime years, he is going to want regular playing time and that's something he isn't guaranteed to have at Barca. I want to give Barta a real chance to prove himself personally, we gave Pique a chance when Marquez went down and I think Barta deserves that chance as well. Like I said, if he doesn't work out, we always have January.

Yeah... only in this league one point may mean the whole thing. And winter transfers tend to be way harder. Sure, Piqué took over from Marquez... but he had a Marquez to compete with him for the post. Bartra, as I said before, is two injuries away from being the only option. That's just insane.

Martinez will never be the next Puyol. He's not even a particularly strong CB, ffs. I don't get the obsession with the man.

 

[KluivertsBoots]

I'd take Dejan Lovren (Lyon) or Dede (Vasco da Gama). Lovren can play any position in defense and is just gifted all-around. Fits the profile perfectly. Dede would add incredible physical capacity. Barca has been linked with Lovren, but not with Dede. Dede has been tabbed as Thiago Silva's replacement at Milan.