Arthur

[Catta]

I hope we don't get him, he doesn't seem anything special, and for that price we can get Torreira who is for me an even bigger talent and already has European experience. Or just save the money and spend it on Coutinho a proven world class player. A midfield of Coutinho, Busi, Roberto with Iniesta, Paulinho and some la masia prospects as backups is good enough to win us the CL.

 

[Barcaman]

From what I understand he wouldn't come cheap so there really is no point. Not a fan on breaking bank on Coutinho either but that seems a better option between two.

 

[xXKonan]

MD says, we want to sign him and leave him on loan at Griemo until the summer.

But if we can't get Coutinho this winter we could advance the arrival of Arthur this winter.

 

[Messi983]

MD says, we want to sign him and leave him on loan at Griemo until the summer.

But if we can't get Coutinho this winter we could advance the arrival of Arthur this winter.

Don't think this makes much sense unless Gremio will considerably drop his price (for like 10-15M) for having him on loan for 6 months but don't see this happening.

Or if we won't have a non EU spot for him (if Mina and Coutinho will both come) but we think Coutinho can get Italian passport soon (or maybe Mina or Arthur can get one, that's a possibility too). In that case I'd prefer to loan Arthur to La Liga team so he'd adapt to European football.

But it's MD so it's most likely just BS again.

 

[Aryagorn]

Don't see the point in getting Coutinho in the winter considering he's cup-tied and we have a good lead in the league too - Mind you it's not even feasible.

Arthur makes much more sense now than in the summer citing the very same reasons from above. He would probably need much more time to settle down (so, getting him now would at east make him ready for next season) and would not be cup-tied and hence could be of some use in the CL (if hopefully he instantly starts performing well)

Stupid MD is stupid

 

[SeloBarca]

Reason to sign Arthur in winter is becouse hes still kinda "under the radar"
Probably not as many that are ready to fork up the money needed for Coutinho as we are.

So, tie up Arthur asap, and make a deal for Coutinho for summer.
Griezmann seems to really want to play with us aswell so that can wait until summer imo.

 

[DonAK]

MD claim that we still want to sort out a deal for Coutinho for the summer as he might get even more expensive if he has a good WC.

That should be the target here. Strike a deal for him to come after the WC. It's in everyone's benefit. Coutinho will have a peace of mind and Liverpool and Barcelona can properly plan for the rest of the summer.

 

[draconifire]

I don't know if I would want him here if he costs 40mil. That's a fairly large amount for a player who is playing Brazil for his whole career, was almost invisible year or even half a year back, takes up a Non-EU spot and is 21 years old. If he was a 40mil player in the making, he would have been snagged by other scouts well before, or atleast their would have been a fuss around him.

 

[Gnidrologist]

I hope we don't get him, he doesn't seem anything special, and for that price we can get Torreira

Very few youngsters seem anything special these days, but Arthur fits the profile of player we need - midfield controller. Torreira looks like new Gattuso. Obv., i can only judge from few video comps i see.

 

[Catta]

Very few youngsters seem anything special these days, but Arthur fits the profile of player we need - midfield controller. Torreira looks like new Gattuso. Obv., i can only judge from few video comps i see.

You should watch Torreira more, he is nothing like Gattuso. You say very few youngsters seem anything special, but also very few command a fee of 50 mil. That kind of price should be payed for a really special youngster, or a first team player. Not some 21 year old guy from Brazil that nobody heard about one year ago. He's just another flavor of the month transfer, I hope we pass on him if we can not get him for around 15 mil. Two years ago there were talks many clubs wanted the lima guy from brazil, where is he now, i fear the same will happen to arthur. Also we should stop looking for a midfield controller, because there will never be a player that can replicate what Xavi was doing. We can have a successful midfield with other type of players and still keep the Barca way of playing.

 

[BBZ8800]

You should watch Torreira more, he is nothing like Gattuso. You say very few youngsters seem anything special, but also very few command a fee of 50 mil. That kind of price should be payed for a really special youngster, or a first team player. Not some 21 year old guy from Brazil that nobody heard about one year ago. He's just another flavor of the month transfer, I hope we pass on him if we can not get him for around 15 mil. Two years ago there were talks many clubs wanted the lima guy from brazil, where is he now, i fear the same will happen to arthur. Also we should stop looking for a midfield controller, because there will never be a player that can replicate what Xavi was doing. We can have a successful midfield with other type of players and still keep the Barca way of playing.

Also, remember Gerson, the new Pogba.

He didn't turn into the next Pogba, lol.
His price was also high. 20m back then is like 40m today.

A hot prospect with a high price who turned into nothing.
Guys will reply now in hindsight and say: yes, but Gerson was not as good as Arthur.

That happens all the time.
All former La masia guys who failed weren't as good as a current hyped La masia kid (who will also probably fail).
The same, all other former targets "weren't as special and as good as the current flavor of the month."

This guy is different. This one is worth a shot.
The same shit over and over all the time.

 

[Barcaman]

It's not same shit. Stop painting everyone with same brush. Plenty of us who are not convinced with Arthur.

Mina is cheap and worth a gamble at 10mil. though. Don't think anyone here expects him to be world class either.

 

[BBZ8800]

It's not same shit. Stop painting everyone with same brush. Plenty of us who are not convinced with Arthur.

About Arthur, you can't neglect a history (and we can't say: our boards or scouts were stupid back then).
These are ALL Barca's signings since 2000 when a young player came STRAIGHT from South America (zero CL/senior NT/La Liga experience/Europe experience) to Barca:

2002: midfielder Fabio Rochemback, age 19, huge fail
2002: CF Saviola, age 19, never reached high expectations to be one future leaders of Barca (price 100M+ in a current market)
2002: winger Geovanni Deiberson, age 21, extremely expensive fail (something like 80-100M today)
2003: Cam Riquelme, age 24, fail
2003: fullback Sorin, age 26, mostly fail
2008: defender Henrique, age 21, no comment
2009: Cf Keirrison, age 20, no comment
2014: Rb Douglas, age 24, no comment
Can I add Marlon here?

2002: Gk Bonano, aged 31

So, I looked even back in 90s, to see whether we had more success:
1998: Cb Pellegrino, age 27, loaned for one season, we didn't buy him after that

It seems that the last successful transfer of a player coming straight from South America was from Giovanni (not Geovanni from early 00s) in 1996'.
So, basically in the last 20+ years, only 2 players straight from SA made it at Barca: Neymar (the best young player in the world back then) and Geovanni in 1996.

So, people here are often making jokes how Arsenal players are always a fail when we buy them.
Or how Valencia's players are also a fail.
On the other hand, our record with players coming STRAIGHT from South America is worse than a record with Arsenal's or Valencia's players.

The only "pro" for buying Arthur is a hope that according to numbers, sooner or later, one day we'll hit a gem (from the 1st or 21st attempt, though).
Instead of paying 40-50M for unproven Arthur, it would be wiser to pay 50-80M for some midfielder who played well in Europe for 2-3 years.

 

[serghei]

About Arthur, you can't neglect a history (and we can't say: our boards or scouts were stupid back then).
These are ALL Barca's signings since 2000 when a young player came STRAIGHT from South America (zero CL/senior NT/La Liga experience/Europe experience) to Barca:

2002: midfielder Fabio Rochemback, age 19, huge fail
2002: CF Saviola, age 19, never reached high expectations to be one future leaders of Barca (price 100M+ in a current market)
2002: winger Geovanni Deiberson, age 21, extremely expensive fail (something like 80-100M today)
2003: Cam Riquelme, age 24, fail
2003: fullback Sorin, age 26, mostly fail
2008: defender Henrique, age 21, no comment
2009: Cf Keirrison, age 20, no comment
2014: Rb Douglas, age 24, no comment
Can I add Marlon here?

2002: Gk Bonano, aged 31

Where do you got those numbers from? They're hilarious. Not every 19-20 years old player costs over 100m. City got Jesus for 30m last year and he was the best Brazilian prospect since Neymar.

 

[JamDav1982]

Why are likes of Sorin and Riquelme on there?

Dont even come close to the crietria of no intl/european experience etc.

Just about the worst thing the club could do is stop looking to markets such as Brazil as not got it correct in the past.

Not saying go for Arthur but BBZ you put far too much emphasis in the past to claim it shows patterns for the future.