Barca Transfers and Rumors

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LABarcaFan

New member
vuji_31 said:
Sangare looks little bit too much clumsy.

Camavinga is already expensive af.

We need CM not CDM.
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None of them is good for Barcelona and yes, they are pricy.

vuji_31 said:
What do you think beside those french talents that will not go to Barcelona , who do you think Barcelona will try to get in midlefield?
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We don't need any midfielder. At least not this summer. FDJ, Messi and A.Melo are going to be the starters with Busy, S.Roberto and R.Puig as their subs. We need upgrade at the back line and at the front.
 
L

LABarcaFan

New member
French outlet "Le10Sport" has material about PSV Eindhoven striker Donyell Malen. He left Arsenal for PSV in 2017 for just 500,000 euro. Now, Arsenal are working on bringing back the forward but the buy-out clause of 60 mil has cooled their ambitions. Barcelona can pay that amount and get the 21 y.o. striker, who can also play as LW or RW. Malen is right footed. He has scored 17 goals with 9 assists in all competitions this season.

Dutch outlet "Voetbal4U" now reports that AZ Alkmaar have set an asking price of 20 mil. for their 19 y.0. central forward Myron Boadu, who is in Barcelona's radar for a new signing this summer.

The site "sofifa.com/player/212187..." is stating that the release clause of FC Augsburg's left back Philipp Max is 19.5 million euro. He is 25 y.o. and his contract expire in 2022.

As per "futballnews.com" David Alaba's release clause is worth about 65 million euro. Barcelona and Real M. are interested from the Austrian international.
 
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gregorrin10

Senior Member
LABarcaFan said:
We don't need any midfielder. At least not this summer. FDJ, Messi and A.Melo are going to be the starters with Busy, S.Roberto and R.Puig as their subs. We need upgrade at the back line and at the front.
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I would actually love that. We keep saying how we need a more attacking midfielder with creativity and great passing to complement FDJ and Arthur, and no one is thinking Messi could do that? Cause in terms of creativity and great passing, you simply can't do better than Messi. I can only think of one other player who could at least match what Messi does, and that is KDB, who is next to impossible to get. Every other option is worse. And yes, a CM should play a little bit of defense, so in Messi's case his lack of playing defense is a problem, but it's still better than him keep taking up that spot in the attack, and then keep coming back to midfield anyway, as he's basically playing as a CM already for us every game, but because he's technically starting in attack, we then have no one on the wings. And we don't have Dani Alves anymore, who could command that whole right side by himself and even play as a RW at times, when Messi would move to the center (midfield or attack), so we need a real RW. Hopefully Dembele or Trincao can become that.

Moving Messi to midfield can free up that attacking spot for a real winger to come in and wreak havoc in opponents defenses with making frequent runs and taking the defenders's attention away from Messi, who was always gonna be moving to midfield once his pace is gone, why not do it now, when he has a perfect cover in FDJ and Arthur both being more solid defensively and thus covering for him not playing defense.

Need to sell Coutinho (horrible personality and simply no determination to make it here or at any other top club at this point, kinda like Arda when we bought him). And buy a new exciting winger (or give Trincao a real chance next year) and get him in there alongside Dembele, if he can hopefully stay fit, with Ansu there as cover. Or if we go another way, since we also need a new permanent '9' (and we probably can't afford to get a winger and a 9 in the same year), get that this summer, and put both Dembele and Fati together on the wings for next season, Dembele on the right, and Fati on the left, with Trincao as cover for Dembele. And if he doesn't stay fit next year too, then cut our losses with him on election year, and give the starting RW spot to Trincao, or if even he doesn't work out, we at least wait for the new Board to bring in a replacement winger of their choice that summer, if while also giving more responsibility to Fati, as he'll also be 19 and could be ready to take over the starting spot on the left permanently by that time. This is why we should've kept Malcom, he was the perfect yin to Dembele's yang, a different winger, who would be getting loads of playing time now that Dembele is out, and we'd only need a new 9, not a new winger too. And yes, we're getting Trincao now, and he does look solid and he can hopefully make that RW spot his own in a few years, if Dembele can't stay fit, but I still would've liked to see Malcom still here, as he also had that great personality and you could see he really loved the club and playing here, and he could've been our new Pedro, explosive pace with helping defenders and covering for Messi's lack of defending, and we'd have an actual existing threat on RW. Well, hopefully Dembele/Trincao can become that now.
 
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Andresito

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Messi as a CAM is non-existent. Having Messi centrally means 4-4-2 and nothing else. A CAM needs to take responsibility in defense if we are to have wingers pushing up. Messi can't play the classic CAM role in a 4-2-3-1, it's too offensive.

We absolutely can have Messi together with another striker, but that puts a whole lot of responsibility on the LM and RM, we can't have lazy undisciplined players there. And it puts even more pressure on them considering we don't have a single midfielder whose strength is defending. This means the team needs to work as a unit in defense which equals a good manager and disciplined and motivated players.
 
L

LABarcaFan

New member
gregorrin10 said:
I would actually love that. We keep saying how we need a more attacking midfielder with creativity and great passing to complement FDJ and Arthur, and no one is thinking Messi could do that? Cause in terms of creativity and great passing, you simply can't do better than Messi. I can only think of one other player who could at least match what Messi does, and that is KDB, who is next to impossible to get. Every other option is worse. And yes, a CM should play a little bit of defense, so in Messi's case his lack of playing defense is a problem, but it's still better than him keep taking up that spot in the attack, and then keep coming back to midfield anyway, as he's basically playing as a CM already for us every game, but because he's technically starting in attack, we then have no one on the wings. And we don't have Dani Alves anymore, who could command that whole right side by himself and even play as a RW at times, when Messi would move to the center (midfield or attack), so we need a real RW. Hopefully Dembele or Trincao can become that.

Moving Messi to midfield can free up that attacking spot for a real winger to come in and wreak havoc in opponents defenses with making frequent runs and taking the defenders's attention away from Messi, who was always gonna be moving to midfield once his pace is gone, why not do it now, when he has a perfect cover in FDJ and Arthur both being more solid defensively and thus covering for him not playing defense.

Need to sell Coutinho (horrible personality and simply no determination to make it here or at any other top club at this point, kinda like Arda when we bought him). And buy a new exciting winger (or give Trincao a real chance next year) and get him in there alongside Dembele, if he can hopefully stay fit, with Ansu there as cover. Or if we go another way, since we also need a new permanent '9' (and we probably can't afford to get a winger and a 9 in the same year), get that this summer, and put both Dembele and Fati together on the wings for next season, Dembele on the right, and Fati on the left, with Trincao as cover for Dembele. And if he doesn't stay fit next year too, then cut our losses with him on election year, and give the starting RW spot to Trincao, or if even he doesn't work out, we at least wait for the new Board to bring in a replacement winger of their choice that summer, if while also giving more responsibility to Fati, as he'll also be 19 and could be ready to take over the starting spot on the left permanently by that time. This is why we should've kept Malcom, he was the perfect yin to Dembele's yang, a different winger, who would be getting loads of playing time now that Dembele is out, and we'd only need a new 9, not a new winger too. And yes, we're getting Trincao now, and he does look solid and he can hopefully make that RW spot his own in a few years, if Dembele can't stay fit, but I still would've liked to see Malcom still here, as he also had that great personality and you could see he really loved the club and playing here, and he could've been our new Pedro, explosive pace with helping defenders and covering for Messi's lack of defending, and we'd have an actual existing threat on RW. Well, hopefully Dembele/Trincao can become that now.
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I agree with whatever you say. The truth is that until Messi is still playing, we can not have a real play-maker. In his first 2-3 years in Barcelona he was playing at the right wing and had very successful performances. When Iniesta quit playing for us, Messi took over as attacking midfielder.And he will play there till the end of his career.
I don't know why, but I have the feeling that Trincao will make the right wing his permanent position for many years. No doubts in my mind that Dembele is a better choice, but he can not stay healthy. If we wait another year, his market value will drop drastically and no other club will even think to sign him. For that reason it is very important that we sell him this summer, till we can get some money.

Our team has two major problems, the defense and the offence. Messi is still our main scorer, but he is getting older and can not cover all holes in the front line. He need some help there. We need to find solid left winger. The experiment with Griezmann did not work. A.Fati is still too young. You are right, in 2 years he may became our permanent left winger and I would love that, but for now, we need one. We also need one young central forward, who can convert Messis passes into goals on a regular basis. These are our needs at the front line.

The other major problem of this squad is the defense. If I am the manager I'll let Pique, Umtiti, Alba and Firpo go right a way. We need two solid central defenders and younger and proven left back. So that makes like 5 new players for the starting XI and I doubt our board will address all the needs this summer. If there was any possibility and hope for that, this COVID-19 tragedy killed many opporunities for us to rebuild. So it will be more realistic if we address this off season our need at the back and then, in 2021 with a new board and president we can work on upgrading of our front line.
 
L

LABarcaFan

New member
Andresito said:
Messi as a CAM is non-existent. Having Messi centrally means 4-4-2 and nothing else. A CAM needs to take responsibility in defense if we are to have wingers pushing up. Messi can't play the classic CAM role in a 4-2-3-1, it's too offensive.

We absolutely can have Messi together with another striker, but that puts a whole lot of responsibility on the LM and RM, we can't have lazy undisciplined players there. And it puts even more pressure on them considering we don't have a single midfielder whose strength is defending. This means the team needs to work as a unit in defense which equals a good manager and disciplined and motivated players.
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I have to disagree with you about Messi.He is our attacking midfielder, who creates the situations in the opponents box. And that is the only position he can play at this moment. I already explained that he is no longer right winger, because he has lost his dribbling skills and speed.As an AM ( not central ) he can save his legs for quite longer time and use his imagination, excellent vision of the game and still perfect passing to be useful for this team.
F. de Jong and A. Melo are our central midfielders who will have to take more defensive duties when is needed. Messi was not playing any defense when he was 17 y.o. so it is not possible to ask him to do it at this age. It just won't happen. Maybe if you are the manager, you will take him out of the starting XI because he does not play any D, but I will not do that. He is a legend. The best ever player in the soccer world. Lets let him play the way he thinks is more useful for the team.
And finally, I was not referring to 4-4-2 system with Messi as AM. The more modern and suitable with the players we have would be 4 - 2 - 3 - 1.The 2 CM are FDJ and Melo at right and left. Then we can have Trincao as a RW and someone as a LW and Messi will play as an attacking midfielder, just behind the striker. That, in my opinion is the best system for Barcelona.
 
RIZALDINHO

RIZALDINHO

Member
we should try to sign bernando silva, martinez, kimmch and sane instead of neymar (maybe not better) but a lot cheaper to buy.
 
L

LABarcaFan

New member
Andresito said:
Messi as a CAM is non-existent. Having Messi centrally means 4-4-2 and nothing else. A CAM needs to take responsibility in defense if we are to have wingers pushing up. Messi can't play the classic CAM role in a 4-2-3-1, it's too offensive.

We absolutely can have Messi together with another striker, but that puts a whole lot of responsibility on the LM and RM, we can't have lazy undisciplined players there. And it puts even more pressure on them considering we don't have a single midfielder whose strength is defending. This means the team needs to work as a unit in defense which equals a good manager and disciplined and motivated players.
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One more explanation regarding your post.

The attacking midfielder is a position in the football where the responsibilities of that player are to create opportunity for the forwards and to be a treat as well. The attacking midfielder is also called - THE PLAY-MAKER. And no play-maker ever has being asked to play defense. Pele, Maradona, Platini e.t.c. were all attacking midfielders and none of them has ever played any defense. That is the duty of the central defenders. When you have the luxury of having the best player in the World who is the best scorer in Europe in the last decade and creates endless situations for goal every single game, you don't ask that player to play defense. Especially not at his current age.You can ask FDJ, Melo, Busy, S.Roberto to play better defense or you replace them with someone who does that. The best system for this Barca team is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1.
 
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stk93

New member
LABarcaFan said:
One more explanation regarding your post.

The attacking midfielder is a position in the football where the responsibilities of that player are to create opportunity for the forwards and to be a treat as well. The attacking midfielder is also called - THE PLAY-MAKER. And no play-maker ever has being asked to play defense. Pele, Maradona, Platini e.t.c. were all attacking midfielders and none of them has ever played any defense. That is the duty of the central defenders. When you have the luxury of having the best player in the World who is the best scorer in Europe in the last decade and creates endless situations for goal every single game, you don't ask that player to play defense. Especially not at his current age.You can ask FDJ, Melo, Busy, S.Roberto to play better defense or you replace them with someone who does that. The best system for this Barca team is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1.
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i will say best system is 433 with messi f9 but with quick wingers who cuts inside but also help defence aswel like salah, mane, werner, gnabry, sterling. wingers who score and make alot of runs but mark leftbacks on defence also
my english is terrible, sorry for that
best barca version play like that, real 3ucl plays like that and liverpool/city aswell
 
serghei

serghei

Senior Member
LABarcaFan said:
One more explanation regarding your post.

The attacking midfielder is a position in the football where the responsibilities of that player are to create opportunity for the forwards and to be a treat as well. The attacking midfielder is also called - THE PLAY-MAKER. And no play-maker ever has being asked to play defense. Pele, Maradona, Platini e.t.c. were all attacking midfielders and none of them has ever played any defense. That is the duty of the central defenders. When you have the luxury of having the best player in the World who is the best scorer in Europe in the last decade and creates endless situations for goal every single game, you don't ask that player to play defense. Especially not at his current age.You can ask FDJ, Melo, Busy, S.Roberto to play better defense or you replace them with someone who does that. The best system for this Barca team is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1.
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The problem with Messi in the last years is not that he doesn't do defense, is that he doesn't move off the ball in the offensive phase. And that is a key attribute for a CAM. If you play in the middle, in zones where usually the body count is high (many players of the opposition roam around you), and you don't move left, right, in pockets of space to receive, you mark yourself out of the game. Which is what happened with Roma, with Atletico repeatedly in CL, with PSG, with Juve. And so on. More or less every game away we've been battered in all these years.

Off the ball movement is a flaw in Messi's game, probably the biggest. It reduces the amount of time he can be found with passes, and also reduces the types of passes he can be found with. That is not the problem of the passer, it's the problem of the receiver. Messi's in this case.

Also, offensive teams should use pressing as main weapon of defense. And for this, you need attacking players who can press. Meaning they are young, energetic, and hungry. Messi, Suarez, are old, quite lazy, and not motivated anymore.
 
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khaled_a_d

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
LABarcaFan said:
One more explanation regarding your post.

The attacking midfielder is a position in the football where the responsibilities of that player are to create opportunity for the forwards and to be a treat as well. The attacking midfielder is also called - THE PLAY-MAKER. And no play-maker ever has being asked to play defense. Pele, Maradona, Platini e.t.c. were all attacking midfielders and none of them has ever played any defense. That is the duty of the central defenders. When you have the luxury of having the best player in the World who is the best scorer in Europe in the last decade and creates endless situations for goal every single game, you don't ask that player to play defense. Especially not at his current age.You can ask FDJ, Melo, Busy, S.Roberto to play better defense or you replace them with someone who does that. The best system for this Barca team is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1.
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This definition of AM is outdated, pure AM/ no10 doesn't cut it in modern footbzall for almost a decade and half. They have to be dynamic and even getting more involved in defensive duties, just like Deco/Iniesta/Kaka. That is why player like Riquelme never made it in top club, and why RM was more succesfull when they sold Ozil than when he was there.
Never mind Messi himself isn't pure AM either, when he tries to be play maker he take the ball too deep which cripple midfield, and he loves to room freely between the lines in order to score. He is a hyprid of deep-lying playmaker and SS. except that he doesn't put pressure on opponents enough on either ends.

Also

And no play-maker ever has being asked to play defense. That is the duty of the central defenders.
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That is the anti-modern game and anti-Michels/Cruyff which Barca have been loyal to for long time.
 
serghei

serghei

Senior Member
khaled_a_d said:
This definition of AM is outdated, pure AM/ no10 doesn't cut it in modern footbzall for almost a decade and half. They have to be dynamic and even getting more involved in defensive duties, just like Deco/Iniesta/Kaka. That is why player like Riquelme never made it in top club, and why RM was more succesfull when they sold Ozil than when he was there.
Never mind Messi himself isn't pure AM either, when he tries to be play maker he take the ball too deep which cripple midfield, and he loves to room freely between the lines in order to score. He is a hyprid of deep-lying playmaker and SS. except that he doesn't put pressure on opponents enough on either ends.

Also


That is the anti-modern game and anti-Michels/Cruyff which Barca have been loyal to for long time.
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Top comment.
 
serghei

serghei

Senior Member
There is a point, around mid to late 00's, when Barcelona really started to dominate football, and when teams have started to set up more and more with a very 'uneven' defense structure compared to before.

If you watch the 2000-2008 period, defensive setups were stretched relatively even, to block the center, and the wings with the same dedication and personnel, because there were no teams back then with the midfield arsenal of late 00's and early 10's Barcelona. To make them say... oh, wait a minute I can't set up like that because these players would cut through my midfield easily. So teams started to drastically change the amount of men they put in midfield, fortifying it with 5-6-7-8 players, even if this meant sacrificing men to protect the wings. So all teams we played against tried to achieve compactness in the middle, inviting us to bypass it by going wide (especially to Abidal's side, rather than Alvessi side).

They basically abandoned a balanced defense setup that would make it easier for them to counter with, for a fortified defense system that was focused mainly on protecting the space in front the 16m area - that became priority 0 with little concern for what happened when they won the ball back. This is why, when opposing teams got in possession, they were in quite a defensive-agglomerated shape, and thus they had tremendous trouble finding proper ways to keep the ball and put together a dangerous counter. Because it is hard to produce a solid counter when your defense-attack transitional shape is all busted up because you went ultra-defensive. Because the way you defend can make it easier or harder to attack in the first 5-6 seconds after getting in possession. Pep knew that teams traded a better transition shape for more coverage in defense (explainable, because a good transition shape is worthless if your defense is penetrated, since transition happens only if a defense is successful), and the 6 seconds rule meant we put in serious effort to use this agglomerated defense against them.

But the increased midfield density we faced affected the players who used to receive the ball rather easily in central channels without doing much. And those were the no10s. The less Messi moves to receive the ball, the more dependent he is of either genius service, or fuck-ups from the defending team. We lack both genius players of the caliber of Iniesta, Xavi, and also it is a lot less likely for top teams to defend with numbers and leave gaps, than it is for Eibar and Valladolid.
 
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