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Jombi

New member
One reason why he'd make sense is that Dortmund wont be in the Champions League next season. With other targets that have been mentioned, the prospect of joining us in January would be tarnished by the fact that if they stayed on loan at another club they wouldnt be able to play Champions League football for the first half of the season or if they did then they wouldnt be able to play in the competition with Barca for the knockout stages. Gundogan wouldnt be faced with that problem.

That's true. It is one of the benefits of Gundogan. Although Kovacic from Inter and Allan from Udinese will not be CL tied next season either.
 

Bran the Greenseer

Well-known member
Sweet, works out perfectly imo, the first half of the season the youngsters get their time to shine, then he comes in and we'll have a proven midfielder who won't be cup tied. It would take a while for him to get used to playing for us but if we play well by the time its CL semis time he should be fine and if not he'll be pretty cheap and maybe hopefully one of the youngsters would have impressed enough by then so we'll have options.
 
F

forcabarca

Guest
Really liked him at Dortmund in the previous seasons, he will fit in nicely at Barca. (hopefully his back is fine & not a Vermaelen case again :p)
 

Jombi

New member
At least we would have money left to get a couple of proper backup players for the full back and forward positions if we can get Gundogan cheaply. I'd really like us to sign Kovacic as well though, as there are some question marks over Gundogan.
 
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Co0ter

Senior Member
Not sure why people want to spread out so much money on multiple players instead of buying people who are most likely to make our team BETTER. Look at the Suarez signing.

Gundogan had a major back injury and hasn't been the same since. He isn't nearly as good as he used to be. We have MNS with Pedro on the bench and multiple youngsters who are gladly capable of sitting on the bench all season long, which is exactly what they are going to do if our front three stay remotely healthy. Do people think players like Vietto, Felipe Anderson and Dybala are going to want to sit on the bench all season? Waste of money.

Xavi is gone, Iniesta hasn't been at his best for years. We need someone to replace him, someone who can make the current starting 11 better and is fit for our current tactics. Is Gundogan in his current form going to take Iniesta's position to the next level? No, he is not...

I rather spend the money on someone promising like Pogba or Kovacic....at least they will immediately still be good and have the chance of becoming much, much better. Gundogan doesn't have that chance, even at his best a few seasons ago he isn't the ideal type of player or play Iniesta's current role. He can't attack the way Kovacic and Pogba can. If you buy a star like Gundogan, then there is pressure to play him. He will not be a good choice for Iniesta's position and he will then be competing for Rakitic's position. Why mess with something that works? Rakitic has proven himself.

We need a STARTING midfielder for next season and maybe....maybe another midfielder who doesn't mind not starting regularly and is a squad player (why not have Samper fill that limited role).

The only position we need to worry about is RB, and with Dani staying we have time to carefully plan and determine who his successor will be.
 
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StarLord

New member
Not sure why people want to spread out so much money on multiple players instead of buying people who are most likely to make our team BETTER. Look at the Suarez signing.

Gundogan had a major back injury and hasn't been the same since. He isn't nearly as good as he used to be. We have MNS with Pedro on the bench and multiple youngsters who are gladly capable of sitting on the bench all season long, which is exactly what they are going to do if our front three stay remotely healthy. Do people think players like Vietto, Felipe Anderson and Dybala are going to want to sit on the bench all season? Waste of money.

Xavi is gone, Iniesta hasn't been at his best for years. We need someone to replace him, someone who can make the current starting 11 better and is fit for our current tactics. Is Gundogan in his current form going to take Iniesta's position to the next level? No, he is not...

I rather spend the money on someone promising like Pogba or Kovacic....at least they will immediately still be good and have the chance of becoming much, much better. Gundogan doesn't have that chance, even at his best a few seasons ago he isn't the ideal type of player or play Iniesta's current role. He can't attack the way Kovacic and Pogba can.

We need a STARTING midfielder for next season and maybe....maybe another midfielder who doesn't mind not starting regularly and is a squad player (why not have Samper fill that limited role).

The only position we need to worry about is RB, and with Dani staying we have time to carefully plan and determine who his successor will be.

This post is 100% correct.

Gundogan will not make our team better. Only Pogba, Kovacic and Verratti can do that. Unless I am missing someone else too. Koke?
 

Jombi

New member
Xavi is a big loss. We need to replace him, and there are still question marks over Samper. We can buy another midfielder in addition to Kovacic who would be more of an Iniesta replacement. Whether that other midfielder is Gundogan, Allan from Udinese or even Granit Xhaka remains to be seen.

Two long term injuries on MSN and we are screwed up front. We need another backup in addition to Pedro IMO, ideally someone who can play multiple positions up front to increase their playing time.

I dont think Pogba will make our team better. Iniesta is still better than him, but more importantly Pogba isnt really the type we need. He loses the ball too much and is technically questionable.
 

Co0ter

Senior Member
Xavi is a big loss. We need to replace him, and there are still question marks over Samper. We can buy another midfielder in addition to Kovacic who would be more of an Iniesta replacement. Whether that other midfielder is Gundogan, Allan from Udinese or even Granit Xhaka remains to be seen.

Two long term injuries on MSN and we are screwed up front. We need another backup in addition to Pedro IMO, ideally someone who can play multiple positions up front to increase their playing time.

I dont think Pogba will make our team better. Iniesta is still better than him, but more importantly Pogba isnt really the type we need. He loses the ball too much and is technically questionable.

Say we buy Kovacic as a starter....That is Kovacic, Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta and Rafinha....then Gundogan/Alan/Granit.....? All three of those players will want to START. Not be rotation players or sit around waiting for one of the starters to get hurt.

Same with all those young strikers I mentioned....it's just not realistic. They know they can start and get high wages at most major teams around the world.

The biggest mistake we have made is "fixing" things when they are not broken. We win the CL in Pep's first season....we trade Eto'o and bring in Ibra....We win the CL with MVP.....We buy Sanchez, a young talent who WANTS TO START immediately and Cesc who was also a young STARTER who never even played in our midfield and was forced into our attack, fucking everything up.

We are having a fantastic season and our players are playing very well together. Honestly our biggest weakness has been Iniesta. He has been declining for years now and he isn't best suited for the way Lucho has designed the LM position for us. The only other position needing reinforcement immediately is RB, and after the GREAT season (didn't start too great though) Alves had for us, and him staying a little longer....we have time to make sure we buy the right player to replace him.
 

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