Transfer rumours

[Aasim]

Plus Tits isn't doing too well and if he doesn't improve then i wouldn't mind Don Andres at LW with a Xavnny partnership.

[Yaya]

Somebody has already replied to this post. Basically, you don't want to have to many similar small players in starting 11, there has to be balance, especially against physical EPL sides in CL.

So, my list for that LW positon is:

1.Pato
2.Ribery(Real Madrid bond??, this looks highly unlikely to happen)
3.Arshavin
4.Robinho...

I'm 100% sure that Suarez, Mata or Silva wouldn't be an upgrade over Henry, or near the same level as the Frenchman.

[AnfieldEd]

Pato would cost £30m plus easily probably nearer £40m

[Plip]

Evidently according to Sport.es (which can be full of sh*t though) Mascherano has rejected Liverpool's contract renewal offer. Wonder if he's still keen on coming to Barça? (Prolly not, but media doesn't really care :P)

Eddie, any ideas on this or reasons behind the whole thing?

Edit: Seems as sport has used Daily Star as their source, hence the probability of shit-stirring by the media.

[Barca Man]

Evidently according to Sport.es (which can be full of sh*t though) Mascherano has rejected Liverpool's contract renewal offer. Wonder if he's still keen on coming to Barça? (Prolly not, but media doesn't really care :P)

Eddie, any ideas on this or reasons behind the whole thing?

Edit: Seems as sport has used Daily Star as their source, hence the probability of shit-stirring by the media.

Hope he doesn't join us, dont reckon his distribution is upto our standards. Keita/Yaya/Marquez can all play holding midfield roles and can all use the ball better

[veryfatchocobo]

Isn't Fontas a natural DM also? And of course there's Busquets. Keita isn't a holding mid though...

[Aryagorn]

I doubt if some body already mentioned but I'm wondering how would it be to have Mauro Zárate on our left flank; he's got very good close control, powerful shot, good pace & can take on defenders with ease. To put it simply I'm saying he can offer what Henry offers us on our left flank... I'm not denying that Lazio president's recent words got me into thinking about this possibility
And well he's already proven in England & Italy, so the risk factor is considerably small I guess

Posted the same thing in Robinho's page by mistake, sorry for that

[BarçAFan10]

^^good post, i agree.

[FlyLo]

I'd take him over Silva or Robinho.

[Aryagorn]

^^good post, i agree.

This is in response for your comment in Robinho's page
We were interested in him & interestingly that was during winter market!!!

I've been thinking about the different Defensive Mid-fielders that we've been discussing about & how they would fit into the squad(De Rossi, Momo Cissokho,etc) so I went into some little details

Yaya Toure :
Started all 3 CL matches, played 90+67+90=247min
was unused in 4 Liga matches, started 4 matches, came on as sub in 1 match; played 90+25+78+90+90=373 minutes
Total minutes played=620minutes

Busi :
Started none of CL matches, came on as sub in 2 of them; played 25min
Started 5 Liga matches, came on as sub in 2 matches, unused in 1 match; played 90+11+75+12+90+90+90=459minutes
Supercup, came on as sub and played 21minutes
Total minutes played=505minutes

I'm all in for a signing of some player like Hernanes who is a good Box-to-Box mid-fielder. We do have 2 very good players of that profile, The Yaya & Keiteee, only Yaya molded himself into the best DM at Barca. I wouldn’t mind an Essienesque in our team! Never!! They give a lot of options on-field, would definitely be vital parts to change our formation or tactics depending on the opposition… Agree, buying a DM would solve our issues during ACN but Keiteee & Xavi are not getting any younger. Xavi, because of his playing style, can still give 2-3 years of his best service after this season, but I don’t expect the same with Keiteee because his robust playing style demands a LOT of work-rate(remember his second goal yesterday & the praise he attracted by all of us because he seemed to have appeared all over the pitch this season!) and he’s 30 come January!!
Though bringing a world-class DM, would get The Yaya up-front and he’d be available to give those keiteeesque performances but I'm not sure we are gonna find a DM as good as The Yaya! With whom Xaviniesta can remain as assured as they are when they have The Yaya guarding them!!

However, I think that the above stats & how Busi is used in most of the Liga matches, while The Yaya in CL matches indicate Busi is well on his way to become the main DM in our system… May be we might not even consider to sign any mid-fielder during January, let alone a DM(remember here there was an article in El Mundo that signing a mid-fielder would be third priority after a winger and a RB) & judging by the way Busi is earning Guardiola’s confidence, Keita has improved his worth in the squad and the fact that both the Africans would be available for CL knock-out stage(provided they are not injured of course!) even if we do sign a mid-fielder it might as well be a cup-tied, attacking mid-fielder loan signing to ease off some pressure on Xavi(remember here we are linked with a certain Danny Miguel)
ACN is scheduled from Jan 10-31… Though it starts on 10th, they would be called well before & are gonna miss our match against Villareal, might miss match against Getafe as well due to the fatigue factors, provided both of them get to finals. Total 6 matches.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

[ZenI]

Juve and Milan are after Werder Bremens CB Naldo.

[yusuf]

i would go after zarate, cheaper option than robinho, silva or mata but pretty good down the flank

[La Furia]

Zarate would be great but Zarate and cheap don't belong in the same sentence, Lazio just spent 20M on him and he has a 60M buyout clause. I guess 30M would do it, and if we are going to spend that sort of money I'd rather it be on Zarate than Robinho.

Danny from Zenit is the latest rumor launched by Catalan press. The Portuguese midfielder is just about to recover from his cruciate ligament injury.

Danny as in Danny Alves? Do you know how confusing that would be to have Danny Alves and Dani Alves on the same team?

the top players play in spain because it's the best league to play in.

the cities are nicer, the climate is warmer, the girls are less disease and alcohol-infested, and the football is so much nicer.

This basically sums it up, though I'll also add Spain has a lower crime rate. Football aside, London has a cosmopolitanism that only maybe Paris can compare to in Europe and is of course a fun place to live, but for players with families or who don't want to spend every free night piss drunk (I've never been to a Spanish club but knowing that they are comparable to what I have seen in Argentina and Italy I would say they are more fun than British clubs, though I'm sure London has more variety) I would imagine Spain is a much nicer place to live. Plus it's culturally more comfortable for the Latino and Southern European players who are more likely to have grown up valuing skill first football, hence La Liga attracting the most technically gifted players.

[Aryagorn]

Zarate would be great but Zarate and cheap don't belong in the same sentence, Lazio just spent 20M on him and he has a 60M buyout clause. I guess 30M would do it, and if we are going to spend that sort of money I'd rather it be on Zarate than Robinho.



Danny as in Danny Alves? Do you know how confusing that would be to have Danny Alves and Dani Alves on the same team?


This basically sums it up, though I'll also add Spain has a lower crime rate. Football aside, London has a cosmopolitanism that only maybe Paris can compare to in Europe and is of course a fun place to live, but for players with families or who don't want to spend every free night piss drunk (I've never been to a Spanish club but knowing that they are comparable to what I have seen in Argentina and Italy I would say they are more fun than British clubs, though I'm sure London has more variety) I would imagine Spain is a much nicer place to live. Plus it's culturally more comfortable for the Latino and Southern European players who are more likely to have grown up valuing skill first football, hence La Liga attracting the most technically gifted players.

May be not so confusing because he would have just Danny on his back while Daniel Alves has just Alves!!! Also I heard a similar theory, Jeffren is not having Suarez on his back because Barca decided to buy Luis Suarez already and don't want to create confusion and have names as L. Suarez & J. Suarez on their backs like Madrid has M. Diarra & L. Diarra!!!
Well, you didn't have any say about what kind of mid-field signing would best suit us!!

[La Furia]

Well I'd rather spend the money on a LW than a backup for Xavi, as Xaviesta + Yaya is in my opinion the finest midfield in the world and it would be irrational to spend tons of money on a backup, especially when I trust Busquets as Yaya's backup and Keita has nice chemistry with Sergi. I wouldn't mind Hernanes but I am very anti-Cesc. Hernanes has been a disappointment since his breakout season but the talent is there, he reminds me of a Serie A type midfielder but if we are going to sign a central midfielder what I want is either someone like him who is a great passer and can also tackle or a technically skilled utility defender in the mold of Vertonghen or Kompany, who would add depth to both our backline and midfield.

For those who follow the Dutch league more closely, is there any player right now considered the heir to Cocu? That's what would be ideal, a Cocu-like player.

For the left I think Mata is the perfect successor to Henry and think he's worth spending for, but I'd be happy with Suarez or Zarate. Ribery is a Madridista and I don't trust him,