Sergio Agüero

[Mythical Revolution]

If Barcelona sign Pato/Sergio.. etc.. That would probably be the end of Pedro. Pato/Sergio woudn't sit on the bench. Pedro's not really a 'super sub'. He's a very good player. Stop playing Football Manager.. And if Barcelona can't afford Fabregas.. How can they afford them two?

We already have 55M from Ibra's sale and Qatar sponsorship; which are enough to cover for a starting ST (Pato) and CB (Sakho), which should be our priorities IMO. Even those who do not favor bringing a starting ST acknowledge that we need at least a rotational ST so that we don't experience the same burnout rates we've witnessed this season; especially, given that next year we may be competing for 6 trophies.

Pedro is a great player, but if Eto'o was still in the team he would be a super-sub and if Pato was he would be as well. Maybe you need to stop playing FM to figure that out.

 

[Raed]

IMO Pato is our best option. We don't really need any of the super-sub options mentioned, because
1. Villa will be 30 soon. So we will eventually be looking for a replacement.
2. We already have excellent super-subs in Pedro, Bojan and Afellay.

Pato would be perfect for us; he can score, dribble and create space with his pace. And it's all about that when other teams play the parked bus strategy against us. Yes, you can force it by using a more physical striker like Drogba; but you could be more intelligent by using a player who is more like Messi.

If we get a player like Drogba or Rossi, other teams can still try to shut down Messi by putting three players and hope that they can get away with it. But that would be suicide if you apply the same strategy in a team that has both Messi & Pato; not only is P a more clinical finisher than all the other options mentioned so far, but he's equally the fastest and most skillful of them all.

If we have Pato, other teams won't be able to mark Messi the way they do now; lets say RM tries to put 2-3 players on Messi, the 1-2 extra players leave a gap that can be then exploited by Pato to either score or create more space for others, Messi, to exploit. So it would be simply a vicious cycle for other teams to try and mark us.

Someone like Rossi would be able to replicate that to the extent that Pedro can but not to Pato's level and someone like Drogba would create gaps that would go mostly unexploited as he simply doesn't fit into the team.

I am pretty sure you post is very well thought out, except your first line totally negates it. Simply because, Pedro is not a super sub, he is a starter every day of the week and twice on sunday.

The system, without him, does not hold up.

 

[Co0ter]

how fast is he? i never thought pato was the fast type, with his afro and all

Pato is extremely fast, up there with Messi. He obviously can't dribble with the ball as fast as Messi (b/c no one can) but he has about the same acceleration with probably a bit more max speed. However his max speed isn't quite as much as Ronaldo or Walcott- who are the two fastest players in my opinion.

I am pretty sure you post is very well thought out, except your first line totally negates it. Simply because, Pedro is not a super sub, he is a starter every day of the week and twice on sunday.

The system, without him, does not hold up.

I guess that depends on how you see us playing upfront. Henry-Eto'o-Messi worked out great. Eto'o scored 30 goals in La Liga and Messi scored 23-25 as well I think, 37 overall. Messi was only 21 and his finishing was still improving. There is NO DOUBT that Messi is our main striker, but he doesn't play a central role...he roams. A lot of the time it's Villa switching between LW/RW and hanging around towards the middle at the last defender. Eto'o was more central with Messi on the RW and roaming...there is a difference. The prior works great right now, but there is no reason to think that Pato replacing Eto'o in the previous system wouldn't work out just as well, if not better. Pato has the pace that Villa just doesn't have...this is why everytime we've played Villa centrally it has been a total bust.

Villa/Pedro-Pato-Messi. Villa will be 30 next season, lucky for us he's never been a player who completely relies on pace. However he's getting older and can become a rotational player. Pedro is also a team player, but although he has an intense workrate, I dont think that makes up for what Pato would bring to the table.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

I am pretty sure you post is very well thought out, except your first line totally negates it. Simply because, Pedro is not a super sub, he is a starter every day of the week and twice on sunday.

The system, without him, does not hold up.

I don't see why not. The system wouldn't have worked without Ronaldinho; but it still worked out. Why? Because we adapted it to the qualities of our players (Messi). Yes Pato would not bring the same work rate to the team; but will it collapse without that? I highly doubt it. For a starter, Pato may do less tracking back than Pedro but a defender facing Pato is less likely to go forward than if he was facing Pedro. So that's how even Pedro's qualities are partially subsumed by Pato. While Pato's qualities are not.

So far neither you nor Metaphysical have provided any answer to how we would deal with a Messi injury or a more effective way to deal with parked buses. I don't think Pedro is the answer to those. Pato is a reach, and IMO Hulk may be a more realistic option. But adopting the philosophy "if it ain't broken don't fix it" wont allow us to maintain the position that we are at now.

 

[Chainsaw]

As I said before you guys giving too much credit to Pato. For me paying over 50m for a player who is so injury prone and even when he's fit he fades in alot of matches is as worse as the Ibra deal. To me Pedro is a more effective player than Pato for Barca. What Barca mostly needs is good back-ups for the current 3 starting forwards. Instead of paying +50 for one player that won't exactly set the team on fire it's better to spend it on two or more players who can fill up the spots once the starting players are out due to injuries, tiredness and lack of form.

 

[Co0ter]

What Barca mostly needs is good back-ups for the current 3 starting forwards. Instead of paying +50 for one player that won't exactly set the team on fire it's better to spend it on two or more players who can fill up the spots once the starting players are out due to injuries, tiredness and lack of form.

What players, two or more like you said, can we buy for under 50 million to "fill up" the spots for our starting 3?! Any players we buy with that money will be a significant downgrade from our starting 3. We ALREADY HAVE Afellay and Bojan to "fill up" the spots. Why the hell do we need more. Like Revolution said, Aguero and Rossi etc wont add anything new to the team, just more fill ins. What will we do if Messi gets hurt? Who is going to score our goals? Villa is great but he'll be 30 next year and doesn't have the pace to consistently create his own chances playing for a team that holds so much possession in the enemies 1/3. Pato is the answer- he'll score goals whether or not Messi is there, just like Eto'o.

Drogba and Forlan also don't solve the problem- they are merely "differen't" options, not the solution. Drogba is 33 and Forlan will be 32 in a few weeks.

 

[Chainsaw]

So you wanna pay +50m for an injury prone party boy, who is gonna take Messi's place only IF he gets injured, and even bench Pedro for that? Affelay is not a striker and Bojan is still struggling. Therefore Villa, Messi and Pedro really didn't have good back-ups this season to take their place in the needed times. Players like Falcao, Forlan, Hulk, Drogba, Mata, Salvio and etc could come with much lower prices and be as effective as someone like Pato. My main issue with Pato is that I won't rate him as high as you do. And he's insanely overpriced!

 

[10Rivaldo]

I'm starting to wonder if Co0ter even watches Pato regularly. He's very inconsistent contrary to what he's saying, he's injury prone, his overall game is poor and he's a party boy. I mean he's only 21 and he's already divorced for his flamboyant nightlife.

Drogba and Forlan also don't solve the problem- they are merely "differen't" options, not the solution. Drogba is 33 and Forlan will be 32 in a few weeks.

That's the point. They're old, they won't complain when they spend most of their time on the bench and they'll be cheap. And they'll be gone in a year or two which means they won't hinder the development of upcoming players like Gerard and Dongou.

 

[Deco 20]

Kun is ten times the player Pato is

 

[Mythical Revolution]

I agree that paying more than 50M for Pato would be needlessly expensive considering the other options that we have. That said, I think people who say that Pato is inconsistent and injury prone should first look:
1. At his age.
2. At his statistics
3. At Messi's injuries when he was his age.

I don't know about the contract situation of Drogba//Forlan; but even if they come for free we need to take into consideration:
1. The fact that not everyone is Larsson, so they may end up not adapting to our style; especially given the limited amount of time they have to do so.
2. The fact that when Larsson came, everyone was adapting to everyone else; Eto, Deco and Giuly were all new players.
3. In our current formation I don't think that we can afford to play an immobile forward like Drogba//Forlan; unless we want to stifle Messi to accommodate them.
4. When you're playing Drogba//Forlan, you're stifling the development of our younger players without contributing to the development of another; unlike the case of playing someone like Pato, Hulk or even Rossi.

So Drogba//Forlan are not really great options, and Rossi won't add much to our team. We won't get better at breaking parked buses and we'll still be without options if Messi is injured. IMO it is not evident that we can land Pato, and I wouldn't really pay more than 45M for him; but I think he is our best option with Hulk a close second.

 

[impeh]

i think kun will end up at madrid.

 

[Valon]

Why would you want one of the most inconsistent players in the world to play for Barca.

 

[Fahrenheit]

i think kun will end up at madrid.

I swear he can't leave to Madrid in his clause?

 

[Co0ter]

So you wanna pay +50m for an injury prone party boy, who is gonna take Messi's place only IF he gets injured, and even bench Pedro for that? Affelay is not a striker and Bojan is still struggling. Therefore Villa, Messi and Pedro really didn't have good back-ups this season to take their place in the needed times. Players like Falcao, Forlan, Hulk, Drogba, Mata, Salvio and etc could come with much lower prices and be as effective as someone like Pato. My main issue with Pato is that I won't rate him as high as you do. And he's insanely overpriced!

Firstly, Messi had a lot of injuries when he was Pato's age as well. People enter their last growth spurts between 18-22 yrs old. Most importantly, like I said, Pato will score goals WITH or WITHOUT Messi, much like Eto'o could. That is the whole point of getting him in the first place- a pacey, complete STRIKER who has world-class finishing. When you think of Pato, think of Eto'o.

Half of the players you mentioned aren't even GOAL-scorers. Falcao definately is, Hulk/Rossi have had 1 good scoring season (and Rossi is primarily a winger imo). Mata isn't really a goal-scorer at all, Salvio is unproven and Drogba has only scored more than 16 goals in a season twice, not to mention he'll be 34 in a week. As for Forlan, he'll be 32 and I just don't like him.

I'm starting to wonder if Co0ter even watches Pato regularly. He's very inconsistent contrary to what he's saying, he's injury prone, his overall game is poor and he's a party boy. I mean he's only 21 and he's already divorced for his flamboyant nightlife.

I've watched almost every single Milan game the last 3 seasons, mostly b/c of Pato. He's not inconsistent actually. He's been injured a lot, and regardless of his form, he still manages to score goals. Leonardo used him primarily as a winger last season and he still scored goals. Not to mention AC Milan's midfield has ZERO creativity and he creates most of his own goals or puts himself in the right place at the right time. The rest of his game is underated, if you actually watch Milan games consistently, but he indeed has things to work on. Just don't forget HE'S NOT EVEN A YEAR OLDER THAN BOJAN....he has plenty of time to work on a few things but he's already a world-class finisher, way beyond his age.

 

[Jaguar]

We have been linked with this guy and Forlan, personally I think this guy would be brilliant at Barca, though he is costy, it's going to be interesting to see who we do buy though.