Mehdi Benatia

[suckabov]

It's been heavily rumoured that his agent met with the club. If his agent said that Roma would demand around 40m then I can see us backing out. And if we tell the agent that he's our 2nd choice, as rumoured again, then surely his agent would convey to his client that it's better to strike a deal with another team and then hope Roma will budge and sell him. It's all assumptions as of now though.

Yeah, that could be true. We'll see though, he's not a City player yet. If they get him, I hope they bleed

 

[DonAK]

Benatia is a good defender but people on here seem to be making out the club are missing out on the second coming of Nesta/Maldini.

People are massively over rating him if they are expecting the club to pay 40m for him and presumably about 200k a week at 27.

Let the oil rich clubs who want immediate success above anything else do that.

I don't know.... maybe it could be because all CBs targets out there are overpriced anyway? And it's better to atleast get that good CB rather than going after a 20 year player with lots of potential, but who playes for an oil club who we have little chance of getting?

And maybe it's better to get that good CB instead of wasting our time and failing on that oil club CB and end up with Mathieu only and even overpaying for him? I don't know though, I could be crazy.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

Lucho will put his WHOLE trust on Pique, Bartra and Mascherano for the season.

Haha.No.We will surely get a CB.

 

[Tomchin]

I heard Roma will make a presser in the coming Saturday to talk about Benatia's situation , is there any truth in that .

Yeah, Roma will give a press-conference on Saturday (was already planned some days ago). I dont think it's specific about Benatia though.

 

[linetty]

Benatia is a good defender but people on here seem to be making out the club are missing out on the second coming of Nesta/Maldini.

People are massively over rating him if they are expecting the club to pay 40m for him and presumably about 200k a week at 27.

Let the oil rich clubs who want immediate success above anything else do that.

Best post since the whole saga started.

 

[Tomchin]

Benatia is a good defender but people on here seem to be making out the club are missing out on the second coming of Nesta/Maldini.

People are massively over rating him if they are expecting the club to pay 40m for him and presumably about 200k a week at 27.

Let the oil rich clubs who want immediate success above anything else do that.

Jamdav, every top-cb on the market is ridiculously overpriced, so which solution do you suggest: not signing anyone? Laporte, hummels, mangala, ..., none of those will be sold for a transfer-fee of a lot lower than 40m. We can thank psg and co for that, but it's the way it is.

It's the pattern of the transfer-policy of Barca that's frustrating a lot of people here: In 2012 we didnt sign T silva because he's too expensive, yet we spend the whole 2013 summer trying to sign him for psg. In 2013 barca dont want to spend 32m on marquinhos, yet in 2014 they try to sign ... Marquinhos. Do we honestly expect that psg will sell him for less than 32m???

In 2014 we desperately need a cb, lucho approves of benatia, his wage-demands are very reasonable too (unlike the 10m that t silva wanted last year), yet they're not interested anymore because the transfer-fee of 40m is too high (despite Bartomeu boasting with his 120m-budget some months ago). No need to predict who Barca will be after in the summer of 2015...

 

[Vilarrubi]

@JamDav1982 @linetty He's the best option out there at the moment for us though.. The price is steep but who else can we buy? (35M for Mathieu or 40M for Benatia?) If we go another season with Pique, Masch, Bartra I expect a season similar to last.
I think the board are actually shocked at the high price of defenders at the moment and don't want to pay up. After losing 7-0 to Bayern I think Neymar could have waited another season and we should have used those funds on defenders last season.. To think they won't spend big on defenders is shocking. Hopefully we are proved wrong and they pay up and get some much needed defenders.

 

[Cule4life]

No need to predict who Barca will be after in the summer of 2015...

The thing is this happening is actually very probable.

Barca board- the only entity where every joke targeted at them is actually true

 

[JamDav1982]

Jamdav, every top-cb on the market is ridiculously overpriced, so which solution do you suggest: not signing anyone? Laporte, hummels, mangala, ..., none of those will be sold for a transfer-fee of a lot lower than 40m. We can thank psg and co for that, but it's the way it is.

It's the pattern of the transfer-policy of Barca that's frustrating a lot of people here: In 2012 we didnt sign T silva because he's too expensive, yet we spend the whole 2013 summer trying to sign him for psg. In 2013 barca dont want to spend 32m on marquinhos, yet in 2014 they try to sign ... Marquinhos. Do we honestly expect that psg will sell him for less than 32m???

In 2014 we desperately need a cb, lucho approves of benatia, his wage-demands are very reasonable too (unlike the 10m that t silva wanted last year), yet they're not interested anymore because the transfer-fee of 40m is too high (despite Bartomeu boasting with his 120m-budget some months ago). No need to predict who Barca will be after in the summer of 2015...

I am not saying 40m is too much to pay for a defender I am saying I can understand why they are reluctant to pay 40m for a 27 year old Benatia that would probably come with 200k wages and make him one of the top paid players in the squad.

Would be much happier paying that kind of money for Hummels who is a bit younger and has more experience at the top level or Marquinhos who has 10 years at least of his best years ahead of him.

 

[Tomchin]

I am not saying 40m is too much to pay for a defender I am saying I can understand why they are reluctant to pay 40m for a 27 year old Benatia that would probably come with 200k wages and make him one of the top paid players in the squad.

No idea where you get that number from. All reports that I'm reading is that he's currently at 1,2M euro net, and that he's asking for 2,4M euro net approximately. That would make him one of the lowest paid players in the Barca-squad (afaik Alves, Xavi, Iniesta etc are at 8M net and Messi at 12M). There's always a lot of confusion between gross and net salaries though, so I can't say this with certainty. But I haven't read anything that suggests that he wants to become one of the highest paid players in the squad, so I'm curious what makes you say that.

Would be much happier paying that kind of money for Hummels who is a bit younger and has more experience at the top level

Hummels isn't asking for a move, unlike Benatia.

Marquinhos who has 10 years at least of his best years ahead of him.

I'm a big fan of the Marquinhos-signing too, but not if it's the only high-profile reinforcement at CB/RB. At such young age, it's always a risk. Caceres was brilliant at 20 years old too, we all thought he'd be our new Puyol (fast, agressive, strong tackler), yet we all know how it ended up.

 

[DonAndres]

I am not saying 40m is too much to pay for a defender I am saying I can understand why they are reluctant to pay 40m for a 27 year old Benatia that would probably come with 200k wages and make him one of the top paid players in the squad.

Would be much happier paying that kind of money for Hummels who is a bit younger and has more experience at the top level or Marquinhos who has 10 years at least of his best years ahead of him.

The wages he's rumored to be receiving in this 'agreement' with City are 4m, which doesn't even crack 80k a week. At Roma, he's on very low wages at the moment anyway. Obviously he wants more money but he's not asking for Toure levels or anything of the sort.

Benatia is an easier target to go for since he has a rift with Roma right now and reliable sources have said that his preferred destination would've been Barca. Focus on the negotiations, be progressive with them, and this whole ordeal could've been without obstacles. He fits the profile of defender we're looking for to the tee. If we need to find a younger CB for the future, we at least in the meanwhile we'd have defensive security because having Benatia buys us time to look for one in a sound manner with thorough scouting rather than panic buying.

Hummels has much closer ties to Dortmund and it'd take a far greater effort to bring him here (the entire process being without much reassurance). Marquinhos only has the potential to fill long term needs and it's really unwise to go into a crucial recovery season handing the starting CB position to a 20 year old kid with physical shortcomings (height, build).

 

[JamDav1982]

The wages he's rumored to be receiving in this 'agreement' with City are 4m, which doesn't even crack 80k a week. At Roma, he's on very low wages at the moment anyway. Obviously he wants more money but he's not asking for Toure levels or anything of the sort.

Benatia is an easier target to go for since he has a rift with Roma right now and reliable sources have said that his preferred destination would've been Barca. Focus on the negotiations, be progressive with them, and this whole ordeal could've been without obstacles. He fits the profile of defender we're looking for to the tee. If we need to find a younger CB for the future, we at least in the meanwhile we'd have defensive security because having Benatia buys us time to look for one in a sound manner with thorough scouting rather than panic buying.

Hummels has much closer ties to Dortmund and it'd take a far greater effort to bring him here (the entire process being without much reassurance). Marquinhos only has the potential to fill long term needs and it's really unwise to go into a crucial recovery season handing the starting CB position to a 20 year old kid with physical shortcomings (height, build).

Where are you seeing the rumoured wages to City? Any links?

I would be very surprised if any player that goes for 40m accepts wages of 80k a week. It doesnt make any sense.

If Benatia prefers Barca then he is in a postion to show that and not go for the most money elsewhere - other players have done that.

 

[Tomchin]

Where are you seeing the rumoured wages to City? Any links?

I would be very surprised if any player that goes for 40m accepts wages of 80k a week. It doesnt make any sense.

He's at 2M gross currently, and Roma promised him in 2013 that they'd double his wages in 2014, but apparently now they're not willing to give him that, so Benatia is upset. Those numbers are all over the internet, I'm on the road now so no time to check a source, but you can find that number on a lot of Roma-forums.

If Benatia prefers Barca then he is in a postion to show that and not go for the most money elsewhere - other players have done that.

Which players are you referring to: Cesc, Mascherano and Neymar? Not really comparable with Benatia: Cesc has Barca ADN, Mascherano was desperately to join us for several years already so willing to take a pay-cut, and Neymar earns tons of money anyway (whether it's at Barca or Madrid).

 

[DonAndres]

Where are you seeing the rumoured wages to City? Any links?

I would be very surprised if any player that goes for 40m accepts wages of 80k a week. It doesnt make any sense.

If Benatia prefers Barca then he is in a postion to show that and not go for the most money elsewhere - other players have done that.

http://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/29-05-2014/benatia-city-c-patto-segreto-80784891483.shtml

It's not orthodox wages for a player costing that much but it's whats being reported.

And also, it'd be stupid to go off the principle of 'Oh well if he wants to come here then he should come and push for the negotiations because others have'. We aren't in any high-horse position here. We don't get to test players like that. He may like Barca but that doesn't mean he's gonna start investing himself into the club when we've been rumored to not even be offering for him and instead prioritizing Marquinhos. It's our duty to push for him given the opportunity that's presented himself. He doesn't have to prove anything and offer himself to us just because he's in a position to make a choice.

If he wants to come here, then WE show that we want him here. He doesn't have to show anything and he's open to his offers, whichever club they may be.

 

[JamDav1982]

http://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/29-05-2014/benatia-city-c-patto-segreto-80784891483.shtml

It's not orthodox wages for a player costing that much but it's whats being reported.

And also, it'd be stupid to go off the principle of 'Oh well if he wants to come here then he should come and push for the negotiations because others have'. We aren't in any high-horse position here. We don't get to test players like that. He may like Barca but that doesn't mean he's gonna start investing himself into the club when we've been rumored to not even be offering for him and instead prioritizing Marquinhos. It's our duty to push for him given the opportunity that's presented himself. He doesn't have to prove anything and offer himself to us just because he's in a position to make a choice.

If he wants to come here, then WE show that we want him here. He doesn't have to show anything and he's open to his offers, whichever club they may be.

That article says that wages of 4m net have been offered which would be closer to 8m a season.

Which is over 150k a week.