Matthijs de Ligt

[Gnidrologist]

He had Mbappe in his pocked all game long. He's a juggeranaut already in what for others would be tender age. And very Barca friendly CB style wise. Definitely would be as important asset as De Jong for us. I would go all out for them and worry about CF afterwards. We definitely have people, who can score, but cementing the foundations is more important now.

 

[DonAK]

He had Mbappe in his pocked all game long. He's a juggeranaut already in what for others would be tender age. And very Barca friendly CB style wise. Definitely would be as important asset as De Jong for us. I would go all out for them and worry about CF afterwards. We definitely have people, who can score, but cementing the foundations is more important now.

If Dembele's attitude and discipline remains a problem they could sell him and buy a striker too, especially if Coutinho is going to play as a LW full-time.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Seems like a plan as things currently go, but can we expect such common sense form the club?

 

[raki]

He had Mbappe in his pocked all game long. He's a juggeranaut already in what for others would be tender age. And very Barca friendly CB style wise. Definitely would be as important asset as De Jong for us. I would go all out for them and worry about CF afterwards. We definitely have people, who can score, but cementing the foundations is more important now.

Againt Portugal he owned Bustiano. He should be the #1 target. Rght now. Agree a fee right now.

 

[El Barcelona]

Againt Portugal he owned Bustiano. He should be the #1 target. Rght now. Agree a fee right now.

This. He is a freak in his position and 19years old. Can't see someone better to sign than him.

 

[soul24rage]

he's a higher priority than De Jong for me, even though I would love to have both of them. I think to get both of them, we will have to sell someone like rakitic or dembele so that we still have some money to save to buy a WC striker when Suarez eventually leaves, which is going to be really expensive

 

[raskolnikov]

he's a higher priority than De Jong for me, even though I would love to have both of them. I think to get both of them, we will have to sell someone like rakitic or dembele so that we still have some money to save to buy a WC striker when Suarez eventually leaves, which is going to be really expensive

Then we sell both Rakitic and Dembele and play Messi as cf when Suarez is rested. But a cf the year after.

 

[Raketa10]

De Ligt is far from finished product. At the moment if I had to choose one I would prefer De Jong but I hope we sign both of them.

he's a higher priority than De Jong for me, even though I would love to have both of them. I think to get both of them, we will have to sell someone like rakitic or dembele so that we still have some money to save to buy a WC striker when Suarez eventually leaves, which is going to be really expensive

I like Rakitic very much but honestly I see no problem in selling him next summer. He will be 31 and it's our last chance to cash on him. I also doubt he will be able to keep this level for more that 2 years so I would probably sell. I just hope we won't sign Rabiot! Buying both De Jong and De Ligt is investing in future while signing Rabiot is investing in another problematic player.

 

[MTL_Barca]

De Ligt is far from finished product. At the moment if I had to choose one I would prefer De Jong but I hope we sign both of them.



I like Rakitic very much but honestly I see no problem in selling him next summer. He will be 31 and it's our last chance to cash on him. I also doubt he will be able to keep this level for more that 2 years so I would probably sell. I just hope we won't sign Rabiot! Buying both De Jong and De Ligt is investing in future while signing Rabiot is investing in another problematic player.

I think if we sell Rakitic then signing Rabiot could at least make sense. Because without Rakitic we could still sign De Jong too and wouldn't even really lose money in the process. We would have the more experienced Rabiot as a short term replacement and then have De Jong a long with it.

If we keep Rakitic and get Rabiot there wouldn't be room for De Jong and i really hope we don't miss out on the kid

 

[Raketa10]

I think if we sell Rakitic then signing Rabiot could at least make sense. Because without Rakitic we could still sign De Jong too and wouldn't even really lose money in the process. We would have the more experienced Rabiot as a short term replacement and then have De Jong a long with it.

If we keep Rakitic and get Rabiot there wouldn't be room for De Jong and i really hope we don't miss out on the kid

Look if we sign De Jong he needs to play all of the time in order to fully to develop. And that won't be possible with Rabiot here. I have a feeling that we are considering Rabiot only because he will be able to join us for free.

 

[soul24rage]

I like Rakitic very much but honestly I see no problem in selling him next summer. He will be 31 and it's our last chance to cash on him. I also doubt he will be able to keep this level for more that 2 years so I would probably sell. I just hope we won't sign Rabiot! Buying both De Jong and De Ligt is investing in future while signing Rabiot is investing in another problematic player.

I also think we will have to sell a midfielder if we want to get De Jong. There's rumours that Wague will be promoted to first team and move Bob to midfield. If that is true, we will have a midfield of Arthur, Busi, Rakitic, Vidal, Alena, Bob, not to mention Puig and maybe O. Busi while selling Rafinha and Denis. That's too many midfielders and like you, I think Rakitic will be the most likely to bring the most money and common sense for Barca's long term transition. As much as I don't like them, I think PSG are the most likely to buy him as they need a DM. Hope we can get as much money from them as we still have leverage with Rakitic's contract running till 2021. And also NO to Rabiot.

 

[Raketa10]

I also think we will have to sell a midfielder if we want to get De Jong. There's rumours that Wague will be promoted to first team and move Bob to midfield. If that is true, we will have a midfield of Arthur, Busi, Rakitic, Vidal, Alena, Bob, not to mention Puig and maybe O. Busi while selling Rafinha and Denis. That's too many midfielders and like you, I think Rakitic will be the most likely to bring the most money and common sense for Barca's long term transition. As much as I don't like them, I think PSG are the most likely to buy him as they need a DM. Hope we can get as much money from them as we still have leverage with Rakitic's contract running till 2021. And also NO to Rabiot.

Roberto would't bring any additional value to our midfield so I hope they won't move him to midfield and "solve" our problem in that way. He is just an average squad player who is very versatile but doesn't excel in any position. De Jong is light years ahead of him talent wise.

 

[Joan]

The club's not selling Rakitić unless Vidal proves to be responsible enough (which he's not yet). We're not selling a midfielder upon whom we can count on only to bring a youngster (who's still a gamble) to replace him. Last season Iniesta retired, we brought Coutinho early. Didn't work out well, but that was the plan. Right now, we can count on Busquets and Rakitić in the midfield. Arthur's been good but it's early to tell. Pogba or some other established name is another discussion, though. Rakitić out, De Jong in - never happening.

 

[Raketa10]

The club's not selling Rakitić unless Vidal proves to be responsible enough (which he's not yet). We're not selling a midfielder upon whom we can count on only to bring a youngster (who's still a gamble) to replace him. Last season Iniesta retired, we brought Coutinho early. Didn't work out well, but that was the plan. Right now, we can count on Busquets and Rakitić in the midfield. Arthur's been good but it's early to tell. Pogba or some other established name is another discussion, though. Rakitić out, De Jong in - never happening.

Vidal can't replace Rakitic in any way. They are totally different players not to mention Rakitic is younger and better at the moment. Vidal was a replacement for Paulinho so there is no way he becomes a starter next year at 32. If you look at that way the only player who can replace Rakitic is a 100+ mil player (Pogba, Eriksen or some other highly expensive player) and that won't and should not happen! We need to take a risk or in two years our midfield will be to old. We took a risk with Arthur and IMHO he is doing great so why not do the same with Dutchman who clearly has our DNA? If there is a midfielder worth the risk it's De Jong.

That being said our board will probably go for Rabiot because he'll become a free agent in the summer and IMHO that's just wrong.

 

[Joan]

Vidal can't replace Rakitic in any way. They are totally different players not to mention Rakitic is younger and better at the moment. Vidal was a replacement for Paulinho so there is no way he becomes a starter next year at 32 years of age. If you look at that way than only player who can replace Rakitic is a 100 mil player (Pogba) and that won't and should not happen! We need to take a risk or in two years our midfield will be to old. We took a risk with Arthur and IMHO he is doing great so why not do the same with De Jong?

That being said our board will probably go for Rabiot because he'll become a free agent in the summer.

It's not the same as with Arthur. When we signed Arthur, he was supposed to be a first sub-option (alongside Vidal) while our midfield trio was thought to be Coutinho Busquets Rakitić, as at the beginning of the season. Didn't work out well (due to various factors, Dembele not giving what the team needed as a LW, Couts not being comfortable with his role and Arthur performing, mostly). If you sell Rakitic and bring De Jong to replace him, that's an enormous gamble. Might work out for us (as it seems it's going to be the case with Arthur) or fail. And then we wouldn't have a reliable midfielder. Not to say that trio would severely lack experience. I can see us take another path: buy both De Jong/someone else and Rabiot. More chances that one of them will be good enough. I'd rather keep Ivan. Or, as I said earlier, Vidal becomes reliable enough to take the spot if De Jong/new midifelder fails. But that's basically a transition I described. Masche Umtiti, Iniesta Coutinho, De Jong/Rabiot/someone else Rakitic and so on. It's Barca's modus operandi.