Paulinho

[DonAK]

Nah I don't believe it, the only sane explanation would be that he is back-up for Busi since we suffered a lot last season with Gomes there.

Okay.

 

[denn]

He's coming...

 

[serghei]

Well, we shouldn't overreact according to a few guys.

Let's sell Roberto now and sign Ramires.

Just burn this team down.

Even so, Valverde still has a great team on his hands. I don't think that Rakitic is anything but a good midfielder, that Verratti is better than Busquets or some shit like that, which has been said here. I also don't think we should act as if Iniesta is a grandpa. He is 33 and Modric will soon be 32. Iniesta having a good season is still possible if he stays uninjured. We shouldn't count him totally out.

So, yea, I'd say many are overreacting. Doesn't make signing this 29 years old Brazilian from China a good business though.

Valverde might promote Alena and he might click faster than some other young players. You never know. Maybe Roberto will play great as a CM, who knows? Maybe Gomes (if he is not sold) will actually play well. That's not exactly out of the question either, no matter how many say he is a lamp post or whatever.

 

[DonAK]

Even so, Valverde still has a great team on his hands. I don't think Rakitic is anything but a good midfielder, that Verratti is better than Busquets or some shit like that. I also don't think we should act as if Iniesta is a grandpa. He is 33 and Modric will soon be 32. Iniesta having a good season is still possible if he stays uninjured.

So, yea, I'd say many are overreacting. Doesn't make signing this 29 years old brazilian from China a good business though.

Not overreacting missing out on every midfielder in the World and loading the team with more crap that will be hard to get rid of.

Not going to be an apologist for short term thinking and retarded signings just because we have some great players. You're not helping those great players, the club or the future of the team with this crap, so no, it's not overreacting.

 

[Jombi]

Even so, Valverde still has a great team on his hands. I don't think that Rakitic is anything but a good midfielder, that Verratti is better than Busquets or some shit like that, which has been said here. I also don't think we should act as if Iniesta is a grandpa. He is 33 and Modric will soon be 32. Iniesta having a good season is still possible if he stays uninjured. We shouldn't count him totally out.

So, yea, I'd say many are overreacting. Doesn't make signing this 29 years old Brazilian from China a good business though.

Our bench is razor thin and Iniesta, Suarez, Messi and Pique have all passed 30. Do we have a pipeline of players ready to take over from these players? Iniesta is nowhere near his former level. It has nothing to do with injuries. Its just the reality. Modric might soon be 32, but Madrid have prepared well for that, as Modric is the only player older than 25 they have signed in the past 7 or 8 years I can remember. They almost always buy younger than 25. Players they can keep for a long time and offer value in the market. They do it every year. That's why Mbappe is a typical RM signing. Aubameyang is not a player RM would go after. Too old.

 

[Raketa10]

We're idiots if we sign this dude. We need a starting midfielder, not another back-up. Back-up to what exactly?

If we sign this mediocre player than we just have to give up on this team. If they really do that, than I don't give a f... about our next season. If he comes we are FC Clownvile and nothing more.

While Real is trying to sign Mbappe we are going after a dude from China. I am trully disgusted. They are light years ahead of us, and few years ago they were nowhere near us.

Barto has ruined this club beyond repair together with idiots who voted for him.

 

[serghei]

Not overreacting missing out on every midfielder in the World and loading the team with more crap that will be hard to get rid of.

Not going to be an apologist for short term thinking and retarded signings just because we have some great players. You're not helping those great players, the club or the future of the team with this crap, so no, it's not overreacting.

I think we should focus more on La Masia. I mean, is this Ceballos kid more talented than Alena, or it's simply the result of him having played more games at a high level (La Liga)? Let's just promote Alena and give him game time. A smart manager can do that and still bag wins in the league. So, no to Paulinho, no to Lima or players like that, who add no real plus value, and also stop our young players from evolving.

It's either you sign young world class players, which is the ideal scenario (Verratti is an example, Coutinho other example), or you at least sign older, but great players (like Suarez for example). If you can't do either of those two things, just insist more on La Masia. The last thing you should do is sign payers who are mature (over 28) but still not nearly good enough. Because that's just a dead end.

 

[serghei]

Our bench is razor thin and Iniesta, Suarez, Messi and Pique have all passed 30. Do we have a pipeline of players ready to take over from these players? Iniesta is nowhere near his former level. It has nothing to do with injuries. Its just the reality. Modric might soon be 32, but Madrid have prepared well for that, as Modric is the only player older than 25 they have signed in the past 7 or 8 years I can remember. They almost always buy younger than 25. Players they can keep for a long time and offer value in the market. They do it every year. That's why Mbappe is a typical RM signing. Aubameyang is not a player RM would go after. Too old.

Benzema is 30. Modric is 31. Ramos is 31. Kroos is almost 28. Ronaldo is 33 almost. Marcelo is 29. The great teams usually have mature first 11s. That's how it works. Great payers at 22-23 years old are extremely rare.

A lot of Madrid's star players are just as old as ours, or even older.

 

[Jombi]

I think we should focus more on La Masia. I mean, is this Ceballos kid more talented than Alena, or it's simply the result of him having played more games at a high level (La Liga)? Let's just promote Alena and give him game time. So, no to Paulinho, no to Lima or players like that, who add no real plus value, and also stop our young players from evolving.

It's either you sign young world class players, who is the ideal scenario (Verratti), or you at least sign older, but great players (like Suarez for example). If you can't do that, just insist more on La Masia. The last thing you should do is sign payers who are mature (over 28) but still not nearly good enough.

Or simply do what reasonable clubs always do. Sign the best players younger than 25 from the biggest leagues who have yet to join a rich club. More signings like Umtiti. Less signings like Vermaelen and Arda.

 

[Jombi]

Benzema is 30. Modric is 31. Ramos is 31. Kroos is almost 28. Ronaldo is 33 almost. Marcelo is 29.

They have prepared well for all of that. They are not in a crisis situation as they have a pipeline of great younger players waiting in the wings. Kroos is 27 by the way. He was signed as a 24 year old for 25m euros. Notice how all of these players were signed when they were younger than 25, except Modric. Marcelo was signed as a 19 year old for 6m euros. Ramos was signed as an 18 year old. They've kept these players for a decade. Thats real value right there.

 

[serghei]

Or simply do what reasonable clubs always do. Sign the best players younger than 25 from the biggest leagues who have yet to join a rich club. More signings like Umtiti. Less signings like Vermaelen and Arda.

But, the issue with this is that very few 22-23 years old players are such an improvement on the talents that we can bring through La Masia, that it is worth paying 70m. for them. Young Neymar was like that for example.

I tell you right now that I'd rather give more chances to our younger players like Alena, than to splash 80m. for Naby Keita for instance. I mean, first we need to see our talent in action to say that they are not good enough. I liked what I saw from Alena in the little time that he played. Same goes from Marlon. So I expect Valverde to see those good signs and for us to start producing young talent again.

Yea, it's true that we're probably not going to see another Xavi or Iniesta very soon, but another truth is that talent is also carressed and nurtured. You also need to do your best to develop these players. Nobody is born a great player.

 

[Jombi]

Benzema is 30. Modric is 31. Ramos is 31. Kroos is almost 28. Ronaldo is 33 almost. Marcelo is 29. The great teams usually have mature first 11s. That's how it works. Great payers at 22-23 years old are extremely rare.

A lot of Madrid's star players are just as old as ours, or even older.

Madrid dont sign 28 year olds. They sign them when they are much younger than that. It doesnt mean that their team is 22 years old on average. It just means that the SIGNINGS are that age on average.

 

[JamDav1982]

They have prepared well for all of that. They are not in a crisis situation as they have a pipeline of great younger players waiting in the wings. Kroos is 27 by the way. He was signed as a 24 year old for 25m euros. Notice how all of these players were signed when they were younger than 25, except Modric. Marcelo was signed as a 19 year old for 6m euros. Ramos was signed as an 18 year old. They've kept these players for a decade. Thats real value right there.

They dont have replacements for those players, they have some good back ups but no one anywhere near Ronaldo let alone Modric, Ramos or Marcelo.

Could list plenty of shit signings by Real in the last decade as well.

 

[DonAK]

I think we should focus more on La Masia. I mean, is this Ceballos kid more talented than Alena, or it's simply the result of him having played more games at a high level (La Liga)? Let's just promote Alena and give him game time. A smart manager can do that and still bag wins in the league. So, no to Paulinho, no to Lima or players like that, who add no real plus value, and also stop our young players from evolving.

It's either you sign young world class players, which is the ideal scenario (Verratti is an example, Coutinho other example), or you at least sign older, but great players (like Suarez for example). If you can't do either of those two things, just insist more on La Masia. The last thing you should do is sign payers who are mature (over 28) but still not nearly good enough. Because that's just a dead end.

You're trying to act like the situation is all well by suggesting this and suggesting that, knowing full well that Alena will NOT get promoted, and you're the one who keep advocating for the club and how they should not force players out, so what do you suggest really? That we keep our deadweight and fit in Alena in the team how exactly? If you didn't know which I'm sure you do, we cannot keep a squad of over 25 players and Alena cannot play more than a certain amount of games until he's locked to the 1st team and won't be able to play for Barca B.

If we sign Paulinho and keep Arda, Gomes, Denis and Rafinha, there's no way Alena gets a substantial amount of minutes.

No matter how great Valverde is when it comes to youth players, he'll be under immense pressure to win right away.

They dont have replacements for those players, they have some good back ups but no one anywhere near Ronaldo let alone Modric, Ramos or Marcelo.

Could list plenty of shit signings by Real in the last decade as well.

Could you list Barca's shit signings too while you're at it? Stop trying to change the topic here.

List the Real Madrid squad position-by-position and compare that to ours and you'll see the difference in the quality of back-ups while we keep signing more trash or have players who don't seem to have a future at the club, but players we nonetheless are hell bent on keeping at any cost.

You guys don't even want to see the problem here.

If Barca keep signing players like Paulinho who will be difficult to offload later, how exactly do you see us signing proper players in the next 2-3 years when we have a 600m project starting next year?

If we have a good transfer window now, we'll be one step closer to renewing the squad gradually, but instead of that, we're going 10 steps back.

 

[Raketa10]

So we never tried to sign B. Silva who was sold for resonable price considering today's market but we will fight for Paulihno. This club is so broken...