İlkay Gündoğan

[anguy]

We got Rakitic for 18, he had just 1 year of contract left too and was a player with similar status as Gundogan. So despite the inflation he should be our for 30. It depends on competition and whether he wants go to us, or let's say United (if they get involved).

 

[Luftstalag14]

We got Rakitic for 18, he had just 1 year of contract left too and was a player with similar status as Gundogan. So despite the inflation he should be our for 30. It depends on competition and whether he wants go to us, or let's say United (if they get involved).

Once Manchester United gets involved, the price goes astronomically high. That's my concern.

If we want him, I agree we are one of the favorites to get him, because both Real Madrid and Bayern are stacked.

 

[BenRobbins]

I think we are ok in midfield now with Bastian, Schniederlin, Herrera and Carrick for the 2 positions.

And even if we were after him he would chose barca anyways

 

[SeloBarca]

If we could get him i would be very happy. Been routing for him for years now.
Theres pretty much only Gündogan and Verratti (and ofc Messi) around that are anywhere near Xavis style of play.

If we could get him, i would consider it one of our best signings in ages.

 

[Jombi]

I'm not mocking your players, I rather found your presentations of them strange. I felt you were getting overly excited from those players and the way you quickly changed from player to player I thought you were just going for flavor of the months. First you were raving about Imbula, then a few weeks later you suggested we should sign Allan and then Lucas Lima.!

Nothing has changed, except that Imbula was bought by Porto in another bargain deal for Porto and Allan was bought by Napoli. Lucas Lima has yet to be sold but we better be quick. Porto is interested and we have to pay 100m if we want him from them.

 

[Jombi]

Yes because having a serious back problem which kept him away from physical activity means he's a lazy, overweight bum when he's most of his career been a superfit, top-class midfielder who works hard in both ends.

I am talking about the forum here. He was routinely characterized in these terms a few months ago, especially when people heard his wage demands, but now after 3 good games at the start of a new season, he's the new Xavi and we have to get him, no matter what. Mhkitaryan has looked like the new Pele lately. We need to wait and see.

 

[Alarcón]

The way Gündogan is playing right now is ridiculous. Should be our #1 target for January or summer at the latest. He is better than ever.

 

[SeloBarca]

I would love if he joined us, but with us recently buying Turan i dont know..
Gundogan Rakitic could be anice midfield. Gundogan Turan could work well together aswell.

 

[Behrox]

I'd take Gundongan for 40-45m over Pogba for 100m+. Hell even if Pogba was 50m I'll still take Illkay. #TeamGundongan

 

[anguy]

I would love if he joined us, but with us recently buying Turan i dont know..

Turan is Iniesta alternate. If Gundogan comes he'll likely play on Rakitic position. But the good thing about him is his versatility he can play LM/RM and also DM for us. If we buy him we can have thise midfied next season.

----------------Busqets/Samper------------
--Gundogan/Rakitic----------Iniesta/Turan--

plus D.Suarez or Rafinha as 5th midfielder, that's really deep, strong and balanced midfield.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Turan is Iniesta alternate. If Gundogan comes he'll likely play on Rakitic position. But the good thing about him is his versatility he can play LM/RM and also DM for us. If we buy him we can have thise midfied next season.

----------------Busqets/Samper------------
--Gundogan/Rakitic----------Iniesta/Turan--

plus D.Suarez or Rafinha as 5th midfielder, that's really deep, strong and balanced midfield.

Way too deep
You can have a player like Rafinha as 4th or 5th option .he would accept that
But Gundogan/Arda/Iniesta/Rakitic? that is just too deep for 4 proven players who the youngest will be 26 i.e in his prime
He will have plenty of bidders from EPL and I doubt we will be high on the list for him .he will arrive here with slim chance of being a starter with 3 established high profile at his position .
I have to agree with SeloBarca at this one ,I think we will need a midfielder in 2017 not 2016 when Iniesta get a bit older and become a clear bench player that won't complain about that
But for now ,If Arxa proves himself ,I think our biggest needs will be back LB and may be a CB or a attacker

 

[Alik]

Way too deep
You can have a player like Rafinha as 4th or 5th option .he would accept that
But Gundogan/Arda/Iniesta/Rakitic? that is just too deep for 4 proven players who the youngest will be 26 i.e in his prime
He will have plenty of bidders from EPL and I doubt we will be high on the list for him .he will arrive here with slim chance of being a starter with 3 established high profile at his position .
I have to agree with SeloBarca at this one ,I think we will need a midfielder in 2017 not 2016 when Iniesta get a bit older and become a clear bench player that won't complain about that
But for now ,If Arxa proves himself ,I think our biggest needs will be back LB and may be a CB or a attacker

The only problem with Iniesta is that there is no predicting what his form will be like. He has gone on for long spells for poor form in the recent past. And with that midfield, I don't think there would be clear established starters. Since they would be roughly of the same level, it would depend on their form imo.

Although, I'm not counting with Rafinha in those plans.

 

[anguy]

Way too deep
You can have a player like Rafinha as 4th or 5th option .he would accept that
But Gundogan/Arda/Iniesta/Rakitic? that is just too deep for 4 proven players who the youngest will be 26 i.e in his prime
He will have plenty of bidders from EPL and I doubt we will be high on the list for him .he will arrive here with slim chance of being a starter with 3 established high profile at his position .
I have to agree with SeloBarca at this one ,I think we will need a midfielder in 2017 not 2016 when Iniesta get a bit older and become a clear bench player that won't complain about that
But for now ,If Arxa proves himself ,I think our biggest needs will be back LB and may be a CB or a attacker

Even if Arda proves himself we need midfied organizer badly. Rakitic loses too many balls to fulfill that role. Also Iniesta and Turan have some injury problems, and especially Iniesta can decline pretty quickly with age, I don't think he'll play as long for us as Xavi did. We might need new mid year later true, but who will we buy if Gundogan is bought by some other club? There are very few options for us so far - Verratti, Gundogan are only ones who would certainly improve our team IMO. We should go after him when we have a chance and nex summer will the best moment.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

I would really like to see a midfield XI of Busquets-Gundogan-Torres, with Arda, Raki, Iniesta as backup.

Iniesta will be 32 by next season, and Arda/Raki are like Pedro in that they are quality players but are not the long term XI midfielders we're looking for. Finally, the likes of Rafinha and Denis are just not XI material, and we've got better players for depth.

My only concern is that signing Torres may end up having a negative impact on Halilovic; although I see him playing more as part of our attacking trio, rather than in midfield.

 

[BBZ8800]

Even if Arda proves himself we need midfied organizer badly. Rakitic loses too many balls to fulfill that role.

We just won a treble and have like 90% of wins percentage since January 2015'.
I personally wouldn't want Pogba here, because Rakitic would need to sit on the bench.
(Pogba+Rakitic midfield doesn't make sense. Rakitic is not a playmaker, and Pogba is a clown of a playmaker.)
About Gundogan, Rakitic+Gundogan is probably too defensive again, we need an Amc-Mc like Iniesta.
And if you want to bench Rakitic for Gundogan, again, you will win some things, and you will surely lose some skills.

Again, you Rakitic was a very important player in our revival and in our treble.
He has a nice connection on the right with Messi and Alves.

Gundogan for the future and for a rotation currently?
Well, that is a different story...

We don't need a starter right now.
(Oh, I realized now that I totally forgot about Arda in my post, huh...
We are planning new "starters" and we have no idea yet how will Arda play.
Maybe Arda-Iniesta-Rakitic(+Rafinha) will be more than enough for the next 2 seasons.

What if Arda turns out to be awesome and he kicks Iniesta from the team?
Where would we fit Gundogan then with Turan+Rakitic on their prime, while we would have Iniesta and decent Rafinha on the bench?

If Turan turns out to be awesome, we will already have too crowded midfield even only with Turan-Rakitic-Iniesta trio.
= for example, MSN trio needs to play all matches, lol.

Now, if we have Turan-Iniesta-Rakitic, they will already play only 66% of matches.
Add Rafinha into that, and they will play even less than 66%.

There is no room for another midfielder currently if Turan will turn out to be good, and if Iniesta will continue to play good.)