Will Barca sell Alves?

[Aryagorn]

Does Bartra count?

We cannot rely on just Pique, an ageing-injury-prone Puyi and a make-shift Masch for experience at CB position... We do need another centre-half anyway. It's better if it's a versatile one so that Montoya and Bartra both of them get to play now & then and gain the first team experience.

Montoya, CB/RB, Pique, Puyi, Masch, Bartra, Alba & Adriano... That's about 8 defenders and it looks fine to me. Bartra would be the understudy at CB position for the coming seasons, gain experience and hopefully become a starting material in future. Montya could rotate with Alves replacement and realise his potential, etc.

 

[GiantKiller]

We cannot rely on just Pique, an ageing-injury-prone Puyi and a make-shift Masch for experience at CB position... We do need another centre-half anyway. It's better if it's a versatile one so that Montoya and Bartra both of them get to play now & then and gain the first team experience.

Montoya, CB/RB, Pique, Puyi, Masch, Bartra, Alba & Adriano... That's about 8 defenders and it looks fine to me. Bartra would be the understudy at CB position for the coming seasons, gain experience and hopefully become a starting material in future. Montya could rotate with Alves replacement and realise his potential, etc.

I wouldn't put the 'ageing-injury-prone' label on Cap'n so soon. The way he battled with Falcao showed that he still has it left in him and as for injuries, his last two were absolute freak accidents. Also, why do people still consider Masch as a make-shift CB? He's fully converted to a CB now guys, get over it. He was very good last season and the worst thing, apart from injuries, that could happen to a learning CB is a drop in form. This is understandable considering the fact that he had a couple of newbies playing alongside him in Song and Adriano.

So my point is that Bartra needs to be promoted up the order so that he get an almost constant flow of minutes. This way we wouldn't be relying on Puyol so much and I feel that both Bartra and Masch can do well playing alongside each other if preseason was anything to go by.

So, the 4 CBs we have look fine to me. As for Alves, I think we should first see how his performances will be when he gets game time to ascertain his future with the club.

 

[oz187]

If Abidal recovers I could see a case being made for selling him and using the money to invest in a central defender since then we would have 4 full backs.

That's not gonna happen.

What? Abidal recovering or selling Dani to help fund a CB?

 

[Flavia]

What? Abidal recovering or selling Dani to help fund a CB?

Both. I dont think abidal will be back to play many games. but if he was, he can play cb and the cb problems would be solved. Losing Abidal is what hurt the defense the most. And with alba now, it would be best to play abi at cb.