Cardoso Varela (loaned to Dinamo)

[Porque]

It's 5m out lay. 5m additional in clauses.

The additional clauses will only be paid if he makes it in the first team. So the investment only gets "expensive" if he makes it in the first team.

Closest deal to this of recent and most obvious is Pedri, which only got expensive because he made it big. But by making it big it made it cheap, as he is worth 100m in today's market now.

 

[khaled_a_d]

We can't compete with clubs like Dortmund and Ajax with talents who are in the 5-15M category, it is that simple. This has been the case since the Davinso Sanchez rumours.

Those clubs can bring players with clear plan and direction to the first team, Barca first team is just way too early and their B team is far too low.

You want to compete with those, we better buy a farm club in Eredeviese or Portuguese league.

 

[serghei]

We can't compete with clubs like Dortmund and Ajax with talents who are in the 5-15M category, it is that simple. This has been the case since the Davinso Sanchez rumours.

Those clubs can bring players with clear plan and direction to the first team, Barca first team is just way too early and their B team is far too low.

You want to compete with those, we better buy a farm club in Eredeviese or Portuguese league.

But you can push them directly in the 1st team for depth and competition for the starting position if they are good enough. I think we can, and this moment is good for that. Look at it this way, any young player at fullback with good enough level would have liked to have played CL quarters, semis, etc. instead of Martin. The issue is more finding those players and having the funds to spend decent money on them, not cheap out. At LW also. A talent like Fofana signed from Gent for 20m would have played over Fati consistent minutes this season. Players would love this possibility. I'm sure many high-profile youngsters would take a squad position at Barcelona with good potential for serious first team minutes at the highest level.

In midfield it's difficult since the club is convered there, but on the attacking positions, outside of Yamal, there is no serious youngster, so there's room in the squad for such talents to compete for at the first team directly from day one.

Surely if we approached Fofana from Gent and talked to him saying how he can compete for LW with Raphinha and then take over in 3-4 seasons, he joins us. Too much upside to turn down to join Lyon. You don't need to run all of them through Barca B if they are already well advanced in their development and capable to play at a much higher level.

 

[khaled_a_d]

But you can push them directly in the 1st team for depth and competition for the starting position if they are good enough.

Yeah, Pablo Torre is a great example of this.

Again, if you are 18-20 with that level, you better served at Dortmund and Ajax

 

[serghei]

Yeah, Pablo Torre is a great example of this.

Again, if you are 18-20 with that level, you better served at Dortmund and Ajax

Not really. Pablo Torre is a midfielder. Everyone knows midfield is the area that is best covered at the club. First let's land a top talent for 20-30m on the wing, someone from outside of Spanish football, and then we can talk about how viable or unviable is this model for us.

Think only Trincao was a serious effort in this direction in the last years, but the profile was the wrong one, as he was not a real winger.

 

[serghei]

PSG loaned Nuno Mendes from Sporting for 7m in 2022. Player delivered, they paid 40m for him. Now he's probably worth double as he's one of the best fullbacks in the world.

Loans + option to buy, here's another good option for us. But then again, you need to find the right players. If you go after players like Dest... you won't find any potential world class talent.

There's a whole lot of options you can use smartly between signing top players for 70-80m and promoting La Masia talents. We lack in this area. We mostly go for big names, or trust La Masia kids, when serious talents could be brought for not huge sums, and those players can be great enough in a very short time, ending up with clear starters for way under market value.

 

[DonAK]

PSG loaned Nuno Mendes from Sporting for 7m in 2022. Player delivered, they paid 40m for him. Now he's probably worth double as he's one of the best fullbacks in the world.

Loans + option to buy, here's another good option for us. But then again, you need to find the right players. If you go after players like Dest... you won't find any potential world class talent.

I think they loaned him to circumvent FFP. Was an obligation to buy.

They did something similar with Mbappe from Monaco.

 

[serghei]

I think they loaned him to circumvent FFP. Was an obligation to buy.

They did something similar with Mbappe from Monaco.

Mbappe was a sure thing though.

 

[serghei]

After the financial situation improves, and without us being able to sign the most elite players, because of their insane price or thei non-availability, following highly rated youngsters and paying good money for them is the ideal option. La Masia is not enough to cover all weaker positions.

For this to work you need very very competent people judging these players and making very good projections about players who are worth it, and players who aren't. Having better people in charge simply brings better chances of discovering young players who could become starters in a short time, while keeping the risk manageable in terms of finances.

PSG did this and it works for them well, much better than their previous strategy. They got their entire 3-men midfield in Fabian, Neves and Vitinha for under the price of a Wirtz or slightly more than a Bellingham. They wised up after Mbappe and Neymar transfers.

 

[serghei]

The benefit is that unless a player flops hard... you also retain options to sell them for a good fee and limit the financial costs. Much like we did with Alexis Sanchez from Udinese. Few of those types of deals for us. And too many flopped big money signings.

Also, forgot, didn't lose money on Malcom deal either. Zenit sold him to Al Hilal for 60m even I see.

 

[serghei]

The more I dig into this the more I like it. Young player we signed from non-Spanish teams that the club paid good money for in attacking positions. Sanchez, Malcom, Trincao, 3 players signed for 30-40m. Any other names I'm missing in the last 10-15 years or so?

All 3 didn't work for us.

Bought Sanchez for 26m, sold him for 42. Bought Malcom for 41, sold him for as much. Bought Trincao for 31, sold him until now for 16m, and have 50% of his future sale.

Add all 3, all 3 didn't work for us so as to keep them, and you end up with a profit. And those are, again, players that didn't prove enough to keep them. Imagine one that hits big.

You rarely lose money on young attacking players. Especially now with Saudi market being big. You can lose more money actually if you go after young players AFTER they make it at selling clubs like Dortmund, Porto etc.

 

[Joan]

Roque.

 

[serghei]

Roque.

European. There's a bigger risk if you take a player from South America to Europe and you're the first contact the player has with a completely different football world. You can bring up Arthur if you want. That Pjanic deal was a bullshit financial concoction made in Bartomeu.

But even Roque won't cost us money I think in the end.

There is no Europe based talent in an offensive position we signed for good money and lost money on. Can't think of any in decades.

 

[Joan]

But even Roque won't cost us money I think in the end.

Roque is not a bad example, also failed but we didn’t end up losing money on him.

 

[serghei]

Roque is not a bad example, also failed but we didn’t end up losing money on him.

Yes. Because if you think about it, there's many clubs out there with various ambitions who can't sign from big clubs, but have plenty of money to spend. They have to settle for interesting young (or youngish) players big clubs don't need anymore. That's one of the main markets for them.

Arsenal for example. Signed Sanchez from us on good money, signed Ozil from Madrid on good money, signed Odegaard from Madrid on good money. They saw these players playing at a high level (because high for Barca/Madrid and high for Arsenal involve a different threshold), and pulled the trigger. Funny thing is, those are some of the best buys they made in the last 10-15 years.

They lost more on Ligue 1 signings like Lacazette or Pepe, than on players they signed from us or Madrid. Even players considered surplus to requirement at the time.