Virgil van Dijk

[BBZ8800]

How can you even use a name like Marlon in this situation? The guy was just a dirt cheap Barca B signing who no one with a brain counted on being a coming superstar. Thats a far cry from signing top quality young defenders from Bundesliga, France, Italy or Spain. You were against the signings of both Umtiti and Neymar. Who would you have made us chase instead? John Terry? And just because our ability to find value in the market has been truly dreadful, doesnt mean we cant improve.

I was always against Neymar.
I have no idea how did you made up this part that I didn't want Umtiti?

In general I don't like young players because the success rate is tragically low for a team like Barca.
About Umtiti and a summer of 22 last year, my estimation was that 0-1 or max 2 out of them will turn out as playable players. I didn't know (and that is THE POINT with young players, more or less NO ONE knows which one out of 5 youngsters will turn into something. You have to buy 5 of them and 1 will turn into something. But you CAN'T say before buying them: THIS ONE will turn into something. This is my point which I am repeating all the time. And you and some others come and use a hindsight and say: we should have bought Eriksen and others. Lol. Yes, it is easy to say now. In that moment there were 10 Eriksens around. And only 1 out of those 10 have made it.) which one of them will make it.
Umtiti has made it, Denis, Gomes, Paco, Digne proved a point about 1/4 or 1/5 success ratio.
And no, we didn't buy all of them to be squad players.

About Marlon, a lot of posters with 1000s of posts used to write during last spring and summer, how Marlon should be our 3rd or 4th Cb.
When we wanted Martinez, 10s of guys used to write: we don't need him or other CBs. We have Marlon (lel).

I always wanted to reply: wtf are you guys talking about, but it seems some will never learn.

So, a reminder for a future, for guys who have some expectations about Mina, don't hold your breath.
We would need to buy 4 Minas in the same time, to be somewhat "safe" that 1 out of those 4 cloned Minas will turn into a level of a 4th Cb.

Just go and read any topic on other players part of a forum, you can read crazy stuff like: buy Mina, Arthur and similar and we are "set" for the future.
Yeah. More likely, we are set to buy another 5 new youngsters next summer when we'll see that these 2 suck hard.

 

[Xaviniesta]

The fact that Bayern Munich - a club that has consistently been part of the European elite - has 41 million euros as the maximum they've ever spent on a signing should tell us a lot about how we can and should go about our business in this mad market.

Bayern owns the Bundesliga. All the top talents in Germany go there...

 

[Jombi]

Bayern owns the Bundesliga. All the top talents in Germany go there...

You are living in the past. The money is not there anymore. Keita is gone. So is Sane. So is De Bruyne. Dembele. Draxler. And the list goes on.

 

[Xaviniesta]

You are living in the past. The money is not there anymore. Keita is gone. So is Sane. So is De Bruyne. Dembele. Draxler. And the list goes on.

That doesn't change the fact that Bayern owned the Bundesliga so they didn't have to spend much back then.

Edit: Didn't they just take Sule and Rudy from Hoffenheim?

 

[Jombi]

I was always against Neymar.
I have no idea how did you made up this part that I didn't want Umtiti?

In general I don't like young players because the success rate is tragically low for a team like Barca.
About Umtiti and a summer of 22 last year, my estimation was that 0-1 or max 2 out of them will turn out as playable players. I didn't know (and that is THE POINT with young players, more or less NO ONE knows which one out of 5 youngsters will turn into something. You have to buy 5 of them and 1 will turn into something. But you CAN'T say before buying them: THIS ONE will turn into something. This is my point which I am repeating all the time. And you and some others come and use a hindsight and say: we should have bought Eriksen and others. Lol. Yes, it is easy to say now. In that moment there were 10 Eriksens around. And only 1 out of those 10 have made it.) which one of them will make it.
Umtiti has made it, Denis, Gomes, Paco, Digne proved a point about 1/4 or 1/5 success ratio.
And no, we didn't buy all of them to be squad players.

About Marlon, a lot of posters with 1000s of posts used to write during last spring and summer, how Marlon should be our 3rd or 4th Cb.
When we wanted Martinez, 10s of guys used to write: we don't need him or other CBs. We have Marlon (lel).

I always wanted to reply: wtf are you guys talking about, but it seems some will never learn.

So, a reminder for a future, for guys who have some expectations about Mina, don't hold your breath.
We would need to buy 4 Minas in the same time, to be somewhat "safe" that 1 out of those 4 cloned Minas will turn into a level of a 4th Cb.

Just go and read any topic on other players part of a forum, you can read crazy stuff like: buy Mina, Arthur and similar and we are "set" for the future.
Yeah. More likely, we are set to buy another 5 new youngsters next summer when we'll see that these 2 suck hard.

You always argue against any player younger than 25, with the same arguments about Halilovic and Chygrynskiy. You want these superstars from rich clubs who are older than 25, but times are changing and we need to sign players younger than 25, top quality from the best leagues in the world who do not yet still play for rich clubs. No, that doesnt mean Marlon. I have no idea why he is even brought up. The guy was a Barca B signing.

 

[Neeraj]

Bayern owns the Bundesliga. All the top talents in Germany go there...

While I agree with that, they seem to have done a good job with non german players too.

 

[Jombi]

That doesn't change the fact that Bayern owned the Bundesliga so they didn't have to spend much back then.

Edit: Didn't they just take Sule and Rudy from Hoffenheim?

Back then? Prices have skyrocketed in the past 4-5 years and will continue to do so. They do not own the Bundesliga. I dont even know what that means. Its not like some super rich team offered 100m for their targets but Bayern got the player for 30m. The best players in the Bundesliga now are likely to leave the league. They simply had a lot of money back then before the English clubs and PSG could spend big.

 

[JamDav1982]

Those are amazing signings for 135mil.

It is but Liverpool have also spent around 150m on other attacking players - Benteke, Maskovic, Aspas, Balotelli, Borini, Ings, Origi etc.

Liverpool can more of that scatter gun approach as there is not the same pressure on them to win.

Same reason when people say 'hire the scouts of Port/Benfica' etc. It makes no sense as the type of players and what is expected of them is completely different.

Barca have not been nearly as bad in the market as a lot of people make out and try to hold up Real as some shining example.

 

[Xaviniesta]

Back then? Prices have skyrocketed in the past 4-5 years and will continue to do so. They do not own the Bundesliga. I dont even know what that means. Its not like some super rich team offered 100m for their targets but Bayern got the player for 30m. The best players in the Bundesliga now are likely to leave the league. They simply had a lot of money back then before the English clubs and PSG could spend big.

They still hoard German talent. You can't deny that. Like I said, they already took Sule and Rudy. Most likely will get Goretzka too.

 

[Jombi]

They still hoard German talent. You can't deny that. Like I said, they already took Sule and Rudy. Most likely will get Goretzka too.

Rudy is almost 28 years old. The definition of youngster and talent is constantly changing it seems. They do not hoard anything. They simply sign the players they think offer value in the market. And if players in the Bundesliga see that other foreign clubs can offer top notch wages, they will seek to go there. And they do. As De Bruyne, Dembele, Draxler, Sane, Keita etc show.

 

[Xaviniesta]

Rudy is almost 28 years old. The definition of youngster and talent is constantly changing it seems. They do not hoard anything. They simply sign the players they think offer value in the market. And if players in the Bundesliga see that other foreign clubs can offer top notch wages, they will seek to go there. And they do. As De Bruyne, Dembele, Draxler, Sane, Keita etc show.

I wasn't talking about youngsters specifically, you're just twisting words now. No point arguing with you if you seem to ignore the fact they took one of Germany's best defenders just THIS summer.

Edit: BTW, in the past "4-5 years", they manage to take Hummels, Kimmich, Lewa, Rode, Gotze, Sule, Rudy, and even Kirchoff

Won't be long before we see Werner and Goretzka there

 

[Jombi]

I wasn't talking about youngsters specifically, you're just twisting words now. No point arguing with you if you seem to ignore the fact they took one of Germany's best defenders just THIS summer.

You started by saying that "Bayern owns the Bundesliga. All the top talents in Germany go there..."

Now you say that ONE talented defender went to Bayern. Thats a big difference. I notice that you claim they "take" them, and not sign them. I dont know why you have that impression. Bayern sign players like all other clubs. And these days, its incredibly hard to compete against the money in other clubs.

 

[DonAK]

While I agree with that, they seem to have done a good job with non german players too.

There was a long period in the 2000s where Bayern were shit. Not winning the league or even making top 3 and getting humiliated in the CL. Then they had a golden generation of their own coming through their academy. They're going to change their policy now as they have to follow the other teams in Europe, the trend to remain competitive unless they're happy winning their league that got no viable contender.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

You started by saying that "Bayern owns the Bundesliga. All the top talents in Germany go there..."

Now you say that ONE talented defender went to Bayern. Thats a big difference. I notice that you claim they "take" them, and not sign them. I dont know why you have that impression. Bayern sign players like all other clubs. And these days, its incredibly hard to compete against the money in other clubs.

Both of you are right somehow. Bayern is the biggest club in Germany and there always will be players that will prefer to stay in Germany instead of another league. Germany has one of the best youths in world football and therefore they are in a good position to get the best talents quite cheap.

Let's see how they do their job in replacing Robben and Ribery. Those two were great signings and they relied 7 or 8 seasons on them which is not common in today's football. I don't see Coman performing on the level required. I'm not sure if James will do on the wing. You don't get players on the level of Robben and Ribery for cheap in today's market.
Getting Draxler or Carrasco for a decent price would be typical Bayern signings though.

 

[Jombi]

Both of you are right somehow. Bayern is the biggest club in Germany and there always will be players that will prefer to stay in Germany instead of another league. Germany has one of the best youths in world football and therefore they are in a good position to get the best talents quite cheap.

Let's see how they do their job in replacing Robben and Ribery. Those two were great signings and they relied 7 or 8 seasons on them which is not common in today's football. I don't see Coman performing on the level required. I'm not sure if James will do on the wing. You don't get players on the level of Robben and Ribery for cheap in today's market.
Getting Draxler or Carrasco for a decent price would be typical Bayern signings though.

The guy claimed he was not talking about youngsters though, but any player in Germany, regardless of age. Like Rudy. I just dont see it at all. I certainly dont think they can count on players wanting to stay in Germany. Countless players who have dominated Bundesliga go abroad these days. Bayern counted on their immense power and wealth in the past. When it comes to signing talented 15 years olds from Germany, I have no idea. Thats a very different thing.

They are probably going to go after Leon Bailey from Leverkusen. The guy is blowing up the Bundesliga at the moment and is only 20 years old. But if they get alot of competition from abroad, they are not likely to be able to get him.