Who was the more useful/necessary/valuable purchase?

[Raed]

I think Mascherano and David Villa have both played an integral part of your team, but whose purchase has served the club's needs more and whose absence would be felt more, and if you were to do without one of them, who'd you keep?
Group all your answers into one name.

 

[Edman]

I'm a fan of Mascherano. Villa is great but barça is currently lacking more in defense than they are in offense.

 

[gingerless]

mascherano for me. without him to cover for us back when he first came we wouldn't have won anything last season and with the injuries this season it's the same story. he is our best defender this season (arguably best player bar messi). his consistency puts him above villa too as he performs on a high level every single game. for villa i feel we should have gotten him the year we got ibra (how much were valencia asking for?) even if he cost over 50m it would've been a better deal. he's been playing with an injury for a while since last year so his form was never going to be great but i have faith that he'll be back stronger than ever, well rested and be on top of his game once again. imo his injury will put things in perspective for him and he'll stop being reluctant to do things he otherwise would (see the valencia villa taking on his man, shooting when he feels like it). so yeah, villa to make an epic comeback and play his best season to date with us hopefully.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Mascherano for sure. Not that Villa hasn't been instrumental to our success, because he has, just that Mascherano has had that much more of an impact for our success so far.

1) Injury free
2) Drama free
3) Genius footballing mind
4) Played superbly where and when we needed him during injury spells
5) That tackle on Rooney in the CL was the sickest shit I've ever seen in my life

 

[adil_909]

whoever picks villa clearly hasn't watched any games and is just going on player reputation

 

[Bilal Khan]

Villa Because Villa!!




I agree because Im kind of a Villa-fan boy... I got biased when I voted for Villa! Mashcerano has been more important but I dont wanna see Villa leave the club!

 

[Meitux]

mascherano,i agree we need david because he really is a big goal scorer but at the moment that villa is unavailable and with pique's poor form he seems more important and has been transformed to a really good center back

 

[Edman]

Also, this

 

[mixer]

mascherano,i agree

THIS

 

[Clockwise]

whoever picks villa clearly hasn't watched any games and is just going on player reputation

wrong. generalizing like there's no tomorrow, Adil.

I went with Villa, and that was not because of being a fanboy or anything. It is a very though question indeed, Raed. the fact is that Villa and Mascherano have both had super instrumental impacts on our success. Villa has scored some super important goals that has actually kept us in a competition while our defense has lacked consistency in those times. Masch has also been nothing short of a gem for our defense, always responding when called upon. But I'll go with Villa in the end I think, He has played a little bigger part in my honest opinion. his great goals in the league that saved us some important goals that kept Real Madrid at bay, the goal against Arsenal in the first leg that practically saved us the CL, the assist in the second arsenal game for Xavi's goal that got us to the next round, the goal in CL final that killed MU off, the wonder goal in super copa that got us back into the game while we were terribly unfit against a RM that were efficient like a machine, the freekick goal against Milan that was ,again, extremely important to tip the aggregate in our favor and got us the first place in the group. he has been giving his all while being injured and kept his mentality intact and strong while being under heavy criticism, never even hinted about his carrying a serious injury while playing to save the club's stance and because Pep wanted so, tolerated all the criticisms in a state of pure class. kept delivering and working hard for our attack. his absence has been very noticeable this season.specially that he used to step it up when the situation got though. these were just some of the things from the top of my head, but Villa has been a great player for us.
However all the points said about Monster Masch are absolutely true aswell. grrrrr, Raed and your evil question

 

[abual3bed1]

Both are great in their area .. I voted for Villa because I waited for him for years to be a Blaugrana

 

[Tezemery]

Masch and its not even close, Villa hasnt reached even half of what i expected of him yet but i still have faith he will come good next season.

 

[mitkoa7x]

Villa has been great but nowhere near what he normally is, Mascherano on the other hand has exceeded all my expectations

 

[Birdy]

Very tough Raed

 

[Aryagorn]

I was against both the transfers because, as is well known now, Masch isn't well suited for our mid field and I had my doubts about Villa transfer (Both because he isn't really as well-suited to our LF role as was Henry and because he was too costly for his age)... But I was more against Masch transfer than I was against Villa


Turns out that Masch becomes one of the best signings of Pep's era!!