Do you want Gameiro?

We won't get anyone else of his quality who will be willing to be on the bench regularly and for only 20 million. If there was a 23 year old with his quality he would cost 40 million and he wouldn't be happy to be just a squad player.

I can't think of another who we could get for that price with Gameiro's ability, experience and willingness to be a back-up. It would also give the La Masia kids a couple of years to develop.

ebc_99 said:

We won't get anyone else of his quality who will be willing to be on the bench regularly and for only 20 million. If there was a 23 year old with his quality he would cost 40 million and he wouldn't be happy to be just a squad player.

I can't think of another who we could get for that price with Gameiro's ability, experience and willingness to be a back-up. It would also give the La Masia kids a couple of years to develop.

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It's not just 20 million though is it? It includes Halilovic with a buyback of 10 million?

So 30 million then.

Alik said:

It's not just 20 million though is it? It includes Halilovic with a buyback of 10 million?

So 30 million then.

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Honestly that's fine.. Let Halilovic develop at a better club that Gijon and we get a quality proven player to interchange with MSN.

Teams like Bayern have Gotze, Ribery, Coman on the bench even Madrid have Jese, James, Vasquez which are levels above Munir and Sandro.. Our bench is a joke at the moment and has cost us this season.

Yes, loan another youngster to Sevilla. They get loads of opportunities there.

With the Starting XI having an average age of over 29, and a struggle coming up to finance the Camp Nou redevelopment without letting it affect the various sporting sections, this would be the best time to bring in some fresh blood, but instead it looks like we're gonna keep signing oldies.

Good luck replacing 70% of the squad in 2018/2019 with no money left.

God knows what guys like are paid for. He attends hundreds of games, can he not find one player like Coman that is young, good enough to rotate with the front three? The guy's done damn well rotating with the likes of Robben, Costa, Muller.

Nothing against Gameiro btw. Just think his fee is steep for someone that's a short fix.

We cannot keep doing this all the time, it will catch up soon and badly too.

DonAK said:

God knows what guys like are paid for. He attends hundreds of games, can he not find one player like Coman that is young, good enough to rotate with the front three?

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I don't know exactly what is current position Braida holds into the club ,the last I know he was part of 4 man transfer committee we had after firing Zubi .now we have a new sporting director .not sure if he is a board member or what
But I know this ,we have a coach with Lucho and new sporting director in Robert .with those 2 names we can know one thing .Braida isn't the decision maker

That is very important to understand .people keep talking trash about our scouting ,while people forget how every La Masia player was actually scouted by the club b4 joining.
Bojan Sr. who once was a club scout once talked about his job at Barca ,saying he highly recommended signing both Varane & Courtois when they were at Lens & Genk at 2010 but Zubi decided against it .for all what we know every prospect we missed might have been suggested by the club scouts but wasn't approved by the decision makers in the club .

So whatever Braida position ,he isn't the current decision maker ,he isn't the one to blame or talk about his role in the club .whether he is a superstar scout (best guess tbh),an assistant to the sporting director ,a consultant ,a guy who is just there to help with his relationship with agents. he isn't the guy to hold responsibility .he could suggest us the best players but he isn't the one who would sign them .

Robert is the guy ,he is actually having his 1st summer in the club .so I won't be quick to judge .It was said he worked in Atletico which sounds good considering their track in getting talents .and many rumours about the club interest to sign many young players for the future (aged between 16-18) .so we will see how he is gonna operate next summer

DonAK said:

With the Starting XI having an average age of over 29, and a struggle coming up to finance the Camp Nou redevelopment without letting it affect the various sporting sections, this would be the best time to bring in some fresh blood, but instead it looks like we're gonna keep signing oldies.

Good luck replacing 70% of the squad in 2018/2019 with no money left.

God knows what guys like are paid for. He attends hundreds of games, can he not find one player like Coman that is young, good enough to rotate with the front three? The guy's done damn well rotating with the likes of Robben, Costa, Muller.

Nothing against Gameiro btw. Just think his fee is steep for someone that's a short fix.

We cannot keep doing this all the time, it will catch up soon and badly too.

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Lets follow this thought -- by the summer of 2018, 2 seasons away, who will need to be replaced in the starting lineup?

Mascherano - likely this summer, a new CB is the perogative.
Dani Alves - likely 2017, or arguably already have his successors in Vidal and Roberto, both relatively young.
Iniesta - likely to be our 'big' signing of 2017, or maybe it will be one of the younger guys.

Soooo....who else? Suarez? Maybe, and even then, that would be our 'big' signing of 2018 summer, someone like Dybala.

Pique/Busquets/Alba/Rakitic will all be pushing on by then, but only Pique would be over 30. And with the right conditioning, he'll still have years in him.

Now, along with our 'big' summer signings every year (this is guessing we only sign ONE big summer signing), we need to be adding one or 2 younger guys every summer, and for my money we're on course to do that this summer at least. Also, in 2 years, who knows what squad status Samp/Tarin/Palencia/Lee/Paik/Alena/Halil etc. will have.


In summation -- I don't think we're in nearly in as bad shape as some people suggest. There was always gonna be some fallout from hasty decisions from the transfer ban and a failing La Masia, but I don't think we're far off getting it right again.