22 - İlkay Gündoğan

Haha, 40m euros for a guy that has 6 months left on his contract and with serious injury concerns. Worst price ever.

If he can return to his pre-injury form then he would be an excellent buy, but then at the state he is in and 40 M, this seems too far fetched.

Pathetic. Someone should sue such sites for publishing fake stuff only to make profit off unsuspecting fans

Bojan said:

Pathetic. Someone should sue such sites for publishing fake stuff only to make profit off unsuspecting fans

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It's not like Sport, EMD and other local media are much better in this regard.

At least they are not as dead certain when they publish rumor number 1001 during the season.

I don't know that site but their rumors surely look like somebody just invented them overnight for the occasion.

There's a difference. Sport and ed are actual newspaper with actual journalists
Who the feck are they? I can start such rumors here and have more credibility.

That being said Gundogan>Pogba.

Works harder, better techique and costs 3 times less, at least.

Bojan said:

There's a difference. Sport and ed are actual newspaper with actual journalists
Who the feck are they? I can start such rumors here and have more credibility.

That being said Gundogan>Pogba.

Works harder, better techique and costs 3 times less, at least.

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If we are smart, definitely 1/3 the price. I prefer Pogba, but I wont justify spending 100 million. Can't base his work rate off of yesterday since he came back from a lengthy injury, also Juventus was coached off the bat to be defensive and play for the 0-0. I think he did a great job staying disciplined in his position and defending. His few runs were impressive, although both the final balls and finishing were dreadful. In the end Gundogan probably has a better work rate, but I don't have faith in much other aspects of his game. He had an average season and even at his best, which he isn't nearly close to, he is a less good version of Xavi without any additional qualities to really make up for it. The most important thing to me is "will this player make our team better"- to me, should Gundogan start over Rakitic? No. IMO we are looking for a replacement for Iniesta, and in this current style of play that gives us a large range of options for what his position can be.

Also, I think we've done pretty good this season without a Xavi-type player, don't you all agree? Some people say Iniesta has filled Xavi's role this season, well, I'm at a loss on that one.

Ok if we are getting him for real i will have to switch to #teamgundogan# and cling to that hope that he will recover his old form, pre-injury that is

Gasgas said:

Ok if we are getting him for real i will have to switch to #teamgundogan# and cling to that hope that he will recover his old form, pre-injury that is

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There still aren't reliable source linking him with us and after Vermaelen fiasco I think the board will be very hesitant of buying players who had long term injuries. Also in the end I think that the most important thing is who Lucho wants and since he hasn't yet talked with transfer committee, there is no way of knowing it.

Ghostmaster said:

There still aren't reliable source linking him with us and after Vermaelen fiasco I think the board will be very hesitant of buying players who had long term injuries. Also in the end I think that the most important thing is who Lucho wants and since he hasn't yet talked with transfer committee, there is no way of knowing it.

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Hoping that lucho surprises us with a gem we never thought existed while we were busy with pogbas verrattis kokes and gundogans

Co0ter said:

Also, I think we've done pretty good this season without a Xavi-type player, don't you all agree?

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Actually, Barça has had excellent performances with a Xavi-type player this season- Xavi. Game looks more solid nearly every time he has stepped on the pitch, and he has helped to connect the left side island with the rest of the attack.

Bringing on a moving-pivot player, who has more speed and DM qualities, excellent vision, good passing, a good shot- seems like a huge plus to me. Not to mention he is already attuned to a fast direct style- he can move the ball quickly or hold it up.

if gundogan costs less than 40m then i say go for it.

btw pogba is a great player but if we get him we will rely on rakitic to control the midfield, something which is not guaranteed. so for our midfield combination ilkay may be the better choice.

15m should be the limit. 40m for a guy that hasnt shown anything since his serious injury and can go on a free transfer a few months later is just outrageous.

Pogba should cost 150-200m euros in that type of market.

Why are we going after Gundogan when we can get Verratti/Koke for the same price… in the form of O.Torres. He's only 2 years young than V/K, which means that if he can emulate their progress, we can have a world class CM in 2 years time; or even as early as next season, considering that both V/K had their breakout seasons 2 years ago when they were the same age as Torres.

I would prefer Gundogan to Pogba, but there's a decent chance that he may never recover his pre-injury form. So why run the risk, when we have a younger and equally talented player in Torres.

O. Torres is Verratti/Koke? Say whaaaat?

Gasgas said:

Hoping that lucho surprises us with a gem we never thought existed while we were busy with pogbas verrattis kokes and gundogans

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