Luciano Vietto

Razor said:

Nolito said he rejected Barca himself. He knew he had a bigger chance to play regularly for City, which wasn't going to be the case at Batca.

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Or, that call never came or simply stalled because the board wouldn't pay the fee

FCBarca said:

Or, that call never came or simply stalled because the board wouldn't pay the fee

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Lucho always admired Nolito, there is no doubt about that. I don't think the board had anything to do with this, but the player's decision himself. Besides, the club is looking for a #9 who could do the job when Suarez is not there. Nolito definitely isn't that guy.

Razor said:

Lucho always admired Nolito, there is no doubt about that. I don't think the board had anything to do with this, but the player's decision himself. Besides, the club is looking for a #9 who could do the job when Suarez is not there. Nolito definitely isn't that guy.

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The money/age factor played a role and until City entered into the picture good chance the board was hoping to pressure Celta Vigo into getting him at a reduced fee

The big problem last year is that Sandro & Munir were often asked to play as wingers and failed miserably, understandably. What hurt Barcelona the most wasn't the inability to cover for Suarez who was always available but the inability to create any width out wide when Neymar wasn't available. It'll be the same issue this season when defenses sit back in banks of 4, wouldn't matter if it was Lewandowski subbing for Suarez - must have width

Sure there is still a big question mark regarding the wings when Neymar and even Messi are not there. But Denis Suarez might help a bit to fill that gap. For the CF position though, I don't believe Munir is in anyway up to the task. So I believe the team is in need of a CF backup more than a winger now.

We're talking tweaks really or covering for injuries since MSN will play the majority of the time. Will Denis Suarez really provide that wide option we'd hope for? I'm not sure since he's not a natural winger to start with. Munir is not an ideal backup for Suarez but talented. Ideally it should be an attacker that can create space or demand defenses to double - I don't think that rotation player is in the squad. A CF who could draw double marking isn't necessarily going to open up space against 2 banks of 4 but a wide player can break the lines and force them to shift which is why winger >> striker. But Lucho decides, of course.

Stric said:

Well, sure, and obviously that's what the forum is for - commenting on current events in the club, and that's all fine and dandy. But I don't see why someone should be worried about whether we paid 25+20 or 35+15 or whatever (as long as it's not something horrific like over 100 million). These are not figures that will endanger the financial wellbeing of the club. Or to put it differently, I don't see why we as supporters should care more about the exact figure than we should about whether the player will be good. Too often I see stuff along the lines of "if we can get him under ___M, I'll be happy". I mean, what's in it for you? You'll be happy if he plays well, and you'll be sad if he doesn't. Whether the club paid 25 or 35 million for the player shouldn't be of much importance to you when you're watching him play.

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Obviously you don't care about 10 million euros and that's fine, but that doesn't mean you can tell everyone else they shouldn't care about that amount of money. As I said before, people are very invested in their clubs, and buying a new player is not an exact science. It's all about risk versus reward. Fans want the maximum benefit for the minimum cost, and we all have vastly different opinions about players. Go and have a look in the threads about Bravo and ter Stegen. Those are Barcelona players who we all presumably watch on a regular basis, and yet some fans have polar opposite opinions about them. So, why would you expect there to be anything close to a consensus when it comes to potential signings?

Fans look at how much we've spent on the likes of Henrique, Song, or Afellay for example, they add it up and say we could have gotten a great player for this amount. Vermaelen was obviously a high risk transfer, and maybe fans would have been okay with risking €5M on him. But they weren't happy about spending €15M. That's €10M that in their mind could have gone towards filling another position. No-one likes to feel cheated, and small amounts add up. Look at the Douglas thread to see how a relatively low-cost signing created a lot of angst.

So, like I said, I think it's perfectly normal for fans to care about how much we're spending on players. Even when we're only talking about small sums of money.

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No question he's a talented player, will be very interested to see how he does under Sampaoli - always was going to get more minutes elsewhere, so good on him

Scored two goals vs Espanyol tonight

he wants playing time. sevilla is good for him

Sevilla went Barca mode yesterday.. Also scoring 6 in the first round of La Liga..

Even if he improves this year, I have a feeling he'll never be starting material for Barcelona

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Not surprised that Valencia is interested in him. He already played well under Marcelino in Villarreal. Would probably also work out well with Zaza alongside him as he's better as 2nd striker than playing alone upfront.

I'm really interested how that new Valencia will look. There are some very interesting players linked to them and they already have players worth watching like Soler, Gaya (and if he's sold another young LB Lato will probably take his place) and Santi Mina (didn't really show too much in Valencia so far but I like him from his Celta days).