Memphis Depay

serghei said:

Plus that Depay would be a good option to replace Messi in the summer when his contract is up.

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For all what we know, next board will do whatever it takes to renew Messi. He has a history of tracking back from old decisions.
Also, we don't know if we will continue to play 4231 after next year, because again next board might have other plans...... Font is hell bent to bring Xavi for example, and you know for sure he will bring back 433.
You don't sign a 26 years old player, to replace someone in a year. He will demand minutes now.

serghei said:

We are stacked, but currently we're running in ideal conditions. Fati running hot, Dembele not injured, Coutinho in form. If Dembele gets injured (can happen at any point), and Coutinho drops form like he did in the past, things don't look quite as rosy.

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There are few points here:
-Trincao has been a huge surprise, and he plays in a position that Depay won't play in.
This will make Depay more of LW/SS/CF (well last 2 are more of interchangeable no 10 rotating as AM and false 9) so he doesn't add much in thatr position.

-Are we committed to Fati or not? Because if we are then no point of thing "Fati running hot" thing. We accept the good and bad with him.

-Coutinho is indeed in form, but again we have 3 players who are ready to take his place: Puig, Pedri & Griezmann. Last one will leave RW and play in his more ideal position.
Overall we have too many players, worse yet many similar players. Even worse is Depay plays in the area that is more stacked (central).

serghei said:

But I agree, only sign him if the deal is indeed too good to pass. And if we plan to rotate the players in attack, and I mean really rotate. Because Depay is not the guy to be a bench warmer.

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There is a limit for rotations, at the end teams always need a starting XI that plays majority of games otherwise they ran in the possibility of losing chemistry and players getting confused over the roles.
If Depay comes, he will take a serious minutes of one of our starting 4, and that is unlikely to be Griezmann. Either Coutinho (who needs confidence) or Fati, who seems to be our future.
Never mind, he will kill the chances of our youth players like Pedri and Trincao (since this means Girezmann to be pinned in the RW)

serghei said:

Also, sell Braithwaite.

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Less than a week in transfer window. Easier said than done.

Just goes from bad to worse , the signings if true are just ridiculous. This is another mug who should never be anywhere near the club.

messi2140 said:

There are other positions that need strengthening instead of adding another player that would most likely not fit tactically

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Fullback>CB>Striker for me. If we manage to get Garcia and Dest and can still afford Depay its a no brainer for me. Hes more physical than Griezmann and Messi. Every pure striker alternative is either not good enough (Maxi Gomez and co), washed up (Cavani and co) or too expensive (Haaland/Lautaro and co). We will most likely have the same problem next year.

mc_lovin said:

Fullback>CB>Striker for me. If we manage to get Garcia and Dest and can still afford Depay its a no brainer for me. Hes more physical than Griezmann and Messi. Every pure striker alternative is either not good enough (Maxi Gomez and co), washed up (Cavani and co) or too expensive (Haaland/Lautaro and co). We will most likely have the same problem next year.

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For me it's RB>CB>LB> and depth for the pivot position. Someone else here mentioned it , but one bad injury for FdJ or Pjanic and you are stuck with Busquets again.

Besides that , the issue for me with Depay is that he is almost exactly of the same mold as Griezmann and Messi ie. someone who likes to drop a bit deep and have the ball at his feet. Maybe if we somehow sold Griezmann Id entertain the idea of bringing in Depay , but currently it doesn't make sense. Not to mention the points @Khaled made regarding the youngsters.

messi2140 said:

For me it's RB>CB>LB> and depth for the pivot position. Someone else here mentioned it , but one bad injury for FdJ or Pjanic and you are stuck with Busquets again.

Besides that , the issue for me with Depay is that he is almost exactly of the same mold as Griezmann and Messi ie. someone who likes to drop a bit deep and have the ball at his feet. Maybe if we somehow sold Griezmann Id entertain the idea of bringing in Depay , but currently it doesn't make sense. Not to mention the points @Khaled made regarding the youngsters.

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I dont think Depay and Griezmann are similar at all. But I agree that depth for the double pivot would be more sensible than adding another forward. Then again, there are no names floating around. Depay would be opportunistic, but better than badly needing a forward+midfielder+LB next year.

Haaland should be our target, not another mediocre Dutch talent.

-------Messi/Depay/Griezmann-------

Fati/Depay/Dembele----Coutinho/Messi/Pedri------Griezmann/Trincao/Dembele/Messi


Messi/Depay/Fati/Dembele/Coutinho/Griezmann/Trincao/Pedri

It is 8 players for 4 positions. With 5 substitutions it gives the depth for the starters to give 100% for 60/70 minutes and then be substituted to keep intensity. Which is good when there are games every 3/4 days.

Koeman knows exactly what he wants out of Depay and Depay knows exactly how to play for Koeman which is a huge positive.

Depth at pivot and a RB is more important though. Then a CB if we manage to offload Todibo and/or Umtiti.

Porque said:

-------Messi/Depay/Griezmann-------

Fati/Depay/Dembele----Coutinho/Messi/Pedri------Griezmann/Trincao/Dembele/Messi


Messi/Depay/Fati/Dembele/Coutinho/Griezmann/Trincao/Pedri

It is 8 players for 4 positions. With 5 substitutions it gives the depth for the starters to give 100% for 60/70 minutes and then be substituted to keep intensity. Which is good when there are games every 3/4 days.

Koeman knows exactly what he wants out of Depay and Depay knows exactly how to play for Koeman which is a huge positive.

Depth at pivot and a RB is more important though. Then a CB if we manage to offload Todibo and/or Umtiti.

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Braithwaite is still in the squad so we already have 8, and I think 7 players for 4 positions is good when you have couple of young players in B team (Maia & Konrad) with some players in 1st team that can play in some of those positions when needed ( Roberto as RW, Puig as AM, Firpo as LW)

khaled_a_d said:

Braithwaite is still in the squad so we already have 8, and I think 7 players for 4 positions is good when you have couple of young players in B team (Maia & Konrad) with some players in 1st team that can play in some of those positions when needed ( Roberto as RW, Puig as AM, Firpo as LW)

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That's fair. I'm assuming Braithwaite will be gone even if it is a deadline day loan if Depay come.

I think there is a difference between options we can count on (the 8 above) and options in times of need (Firpo, Roberto at the wide positions, a B team player). Ideally we will be better if we can rotate with quality so it can be consistent.

Busquets can be a CB option if needed as can FdJ, but we shouldn't include that last resort option when deciding if to sign a CB or not.

serghei said:

We are stacked, but currently we're running in ideal conditions. Fati running hot, Dembele not injured, Coutinho in form. If Dembele gets injured (can happen at any point), and Coutinho drops form like he did in the past, things don't look quite as rosy.

Plus that Depay would be a good option to replace Messi in the summer when his contract is up.

But I agree, only sign him if the deal is indeed too good to pass. And if we plan to rotate the players in attack, and I mean really rotate. Because Depay is not the guy to be a bench warmer.

Also, sell Braithwaite.

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My thoughts exactly.

Dembele will get injured forever, so that leaves us with only Fati on the left.
Messi will be dead tired in 30 days due to being 33, harder training regimes by Koeman and a crowded schedule since the season started in late September.

So:
Fati
Tired Messi
Hot and cold Cou
Hot and cold Griezz
Kid Trincao

BBZ8800 said:

My thoughts exactly.

Dembele will get injured forever, so that leaves us with only Fati on the left.
Messi will be dead tired in 30 days due to being 33, harder training regimes by Koeman and a crowded schedule since the season started in late September.

So:
Fati
Tired Messi
Hot and cold Cou
Hot and cold Griezz
Kid Trincao

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So, we pay 25M for another hot and cold Depay?
While being cheap on other positions like CB & RB?
Because we will have forever injured Umtiti in CB, Old and tired Pique, Lenglet, Kid Araujo and kid garcia, who both are inferior talents to the likes of Trincao and Fati.
Sounds like a solid plan indeed.

messi2140 said:

Besides that , the issue for me with Depay is that he is almost exactly of the same mold as Griezmann and Messi ie. someone who likes to drop a bit deep and have the ball at his feet.

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You guys act as if Messi will still play 90 minutes in 55 matches per season.

No way.
Age, he will be tired soon, add some injuries, bad form.

All players in attack will be rotated.

BBZ8800 said:

My thoughts exactly.

Dembele will get injured forever, so that leaves us with only Fati on the left.
Messi will be dead tired in 30 days due to being 33, harder training regimes by Koeman and a crowded schedule since the season started in late September.

So:
Fati
Tired Messi
Hot and cold Cou
Hot and cold Griezz
Kid Trincao

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If Dembele is injured again, we could either play Cou on the left or play Konrad who Koeman really likes.

Plus Depay sucks at the wings. Depay is only going to increase the quantity and not the quality of our forward lines.

Because of our financial situation, I'd rather we save that 25 million and be in a position to be able to buy a true quality 9 like Haaland or use that money to improve our defense.

BBZ8800 said:

You guys act as if Messi will still play 90 minutes in 55 matches per season.

No way.
Age, he will be tired soon, add some injuries, bad form.

All players in attack will be rotated.

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Griezmann is the natural Messi replacement when he rests, that will be his best position.
To bring someone to take those minutes from Griezmann will be an awful decision, by the same guy who once complained we don't play Griezmann in his natural places.

khaled_a_d said:

So, we pay 25M for another hot and cold Depay?
While being cheap on other positions like CB & RB?
Because we will have forever injured Umtiti in CB, Old and tired Pique, Lenglet, Kid Araujo and kid garcia, who both are inferior talents to the likes of Trincao and Fati.
Sounds like a solid plan indeed.

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Pique is a robot in terms of being able to play for 12 Months compared to Messi.

You need CBs for a Cl.
80% of matches in La Liga are again Mickey Mouse clubs.
And your only goal in those matches is=to score 2-3 goals and win.

For example, look at our match against Villareal.
Imagine that Pique was injured and that we played a 3rd choice CB.
Would we lose points?
No.

On the other hand, imagine if Messi or Fati are injured.
Would the score be different?
Yes.

Against Mickey Mouse teams, over 38 rounds, you don't win titles by having 5 defenders but by having 5 attackers who can break the bus.

My estimation, against Mickey Mouse teams:
Home matches:
80% importance of attack
20% importance of defense

Away matches:
60% importance of attack
40% importance of defense

In a league, always the most attacking and the most technical teams win.

In a CL, other factors.