Jan Vertonghen

[Edman]

Our scouts report were so positive about him. People literally wrote personal letter to us to sign him. But we were busy buying song and teaching him defending.

Frank De Boer also tried to sell him to us last year, but we wouldn't listen.

 

[rafals]

Frank De Boer also tried to sell him to us last year, but we wouldn't listen.

Why would we? We still had Pique, Puyol and Mascherano. And we still do!

 

[AnfieldEd]

I always thought Vermaelen was highly overrated. In his first season he managed to score a lot of goals which made the general opinion forget about his poor defending. He really is not Barça material, he is probably at his top now.. in a club fighting for 4th spot every season. When Arsenal turned it up a notch in the second half of the season he even lost his spot. I'm a not surprised.

Vertonghen is definitely better, but is he Barça material? I'm not sure. I don't think he has what it takes to be a starter at such a big club, but considering our poor defence this year let's just say he is easily as good as all CB's we have now He would be a great squad player to cover the LB & CB positions. Especially if Adriano leaves.

What is Barca material?

 

[0n0mat0p0eia]

because Mascherano is a DM, not a CB; we didn't need to buy Song; we should have bought Vertonghen when we could have...cheaply.

We would NOW have had 2 class DMs - Masch, and Busquets - AND a tall CB - who can also play LB!

Now we would only need an up-and-coming speedy CB who could learn his trade and step up when Puyol finishes.

INSTEAD, we are looking to spend 40mil on an injury prone 30 year-old...and MIGHT still need another CB; while we have THREE DMs



Why, why, why does Barca have this obsession that players HAVE to be able to play in more than one position; giving us Jacks of all trades, and masters of none!

 

[Galning]

What is Barca material?

This used to be the standard for our CB's

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I'm not sure what they consider to be Barça material nowadays. I guess not coming from the cantera is the only box that needs to be ticked if you want to play in our defence, or playing terrible (Piqué )

 

[AnfieldEd]

Well I say that Galning because there are many defenders currently performing better than any of the barca's defenders. So thusly there are a bigger range of defenders who could do a job for you - Vertonghen included.

 

[Galning]

Agreed, that's what I thought you meant. I think we should look for players who are as good (or could become as good) as Puyol, Marquez, etc.. instead of just looking for players who are better than our current ones. As you said there's such a big range now for players who are better at CB. Which is not that hard considering our CB backups are Song, Mascherano & Adriano .. with Puyol always injured and Piqué playing like a 14 year old.

 

[Flavia]

Agreed, that's what I thought you meant. I think we should look for players who are as good (or could become as good) as Puyol, Marquez, etc.. instead of just looking for players who are better than our current ones. As you said there's such a big range now for players who are better at CB. Which is not that hard considering our CB backups are Song, Mascherano & Adriano .. with Puyol always injured and Piqué playing like a 14 year old.

For the price he was available last summer, Barça should have gotten him, instead of Song. Now, tottenham will want too much money, and he wouldn't be such a good deal. But he is great. I really like him. Think he would do really well at Barça.

 

[Galning]

For the price he was available last summer, Barça should have gotten him, instead of Song. Now, tottenham will want too much money, and he wouldn't be such a good deal. But he is great. I really like him. Think he would do really well at Barça.

Yeah, I agree. I was just saying that he probably never will be good enough to be a starter at Barça (he's 26 already), but as a sub he is obviously way better than Adriano & Song (for the CB spot).

 

[Ghost]

I know it's not good to judge a player on a match or two but since most people on this forum don't exactly watch EPL week in and week out, I would suggest watching Tottenham's match (1st leg) against Basel in Europa league this season for those that haven't, Vertonghen was owned by Basel's winger Salah purely because the Egyptian has pace.

This guy is really, really, really slow.

 

[Catorce]

Slow? Nah. You can be outpaced in a match, but from what I've seen during his Ajax stint he wasn't that slow to be honest.

 

[Cule4life]

This guy is really, really, really slow.

Still 3x faster than Pique

 

[Piqué]

No way. Vertonghen really is slow, that is by far his biggest weakness. And not ideal for teh Barça playing style.

 

[raskolnikov]

He isnt slow man, his speed is decent not fast but definitely not slow, and more importantly his timing is great.

 

[ammarfcb]

what he lacks in speed he makes up for in timing and positioning. people on here are so eager to find the smallest flaw with any defender, any of the names mentioned would be a step up from our current defense