Robert on signings and Valverde

[Barcaman]

Barca sports director spoke about the new coach Ernesto Valverde and touched the topic of new signings:

Robert:

On signings:

"The squad will be strengthened with players in the positions we need."

"The main difficulty for us is the greatness of our club, since many players do not want to come because they know that they will play little."

"We are happy and satisfied with the signings of last season because we think that this year they will take a very important step in their careers. Players need time to adjust because it is not easy. Also, they are still young."

On Valverde:

"When we started the search for a new coach, the name of Valverde was very clear. He's a coach who already knew the club, who had been a player, a person who already had a great experience, but above all great knowledge."

"What we value most about him was his knowledge. He's been on a lot of teams and he's done a good job. In the last four years in Athletic has always managed to enter Europe and I think now was the time to bring it here."

"We always want to win and win by playing good. Those are the two conditions that can not be separated. This is one of the things that have made us special in the world."

"People want to see us play whether they are Barca fans or not, thanks to our style, our way of playing and understanding football. Ernesto fits that profile".

"When a new coach comes, he needs time. We need results, of course, but we must also evaluate the work behind the scenes. I am very excited and calm, sure that Valverde is a great choice."

"Villarreal were the only team to have dismissed him, but I have the information on why this happened, a small difference. This says a lot about him. He is a very loyal person, very close, and above all, very calm. That is very important for being in charge of Barca."

 

[Icarium]

"The main difficulty for us is the greatness of our club, since many players do not want to come because they know that they will play little."

"We are happy and satisfied with the signings of last season because we think that this year they will take a very important step in their careers. Players need time to adjust because it is not easy. Also, they are still young."

This basically confirms we are not signing any world class player nor players who can immediately start for the club. Gomes will stay for sure. We will probably sign Deulofeu and some fringe players. Sell Mathieu and maybe Arda. We are pretty much screwed this season.

 

[Hardy]

our Adriano Galliani

 

[Windhook]

He talks about players who will get to play little in matches, thus leading me to think Robert is probably signing some striker.

Basically no Verratti, no Dembele or any equivalent player transfer will be the end of his time in Barcelona, presumably also Barto's.

 

[Messi983]

This basically confirms we are not signing any world class player nor players who can immediately start for the club. Gomes will stay for sure. We will probably sign Deulofeu and some fringe players. Sell Mathieu and maybe Arda. We are pretty much screwed this season.

How did you get that out of what he said? Worldclass players know they would start here so they wouldn't have problems accepting our offer. It's more of a problem for younger not totally proven players who wants to play but we can't guarantee them minutes. I think he probably thought the most about Deulofeu when talking about that for our targets this season but he also had in mind all forwards that rejected us last summer because they know they wouldn't play much behind MSN. This won't change unless Valverde plans to (also) use 4-2-3-1 but I think we won't have problems to convince Dembele to join us this time if we can reach a deal with Dortmund.

It's obvious players we brought last season will get another chance under different coach/system and I'm ok with that. I would only consider selling if we'll get a "can't refuse offers" for anyone of them but that's hard to believe.

I'm in minority here but I have total faith in Robert. I won't blame him if we won't get Verratti because that's really not up to us but more on Verratti convincing PSG to let him go if that's his true intention. If they don't want to sell then there is nothing we can do but I think we'll be willing to pay 100M or more to get him if they will show intention to sell. I think we'll pay whatever it takes to get Dembele if we can't get Verratti but first we'll take a wait and see approach to see what happens with Marco when PSG will start their preseason and he'll talk with Nasser personally. I'm usually against long transfer sagas but Verratti is worth waiting for. At the same time I still think we are working on alternatives if we won't be able to convince PSG and we have a deadline when we'll move on from him (at least for this summer) to other easier attainable targets (which would be a downgrade from Verratti but could still improve us a lot). I don't think we have money to get both Verratti and Dembele alongside RB so I don't expect that to happen.

 

[Icarium]

After wasting 30M on Paco? Another striker, if that is true oh god Robert is a total failure. Please sack him.

How did you get that out of what he said? Worldclass players know they would start here so they wouldn't have problems accepting our offer. It's more of a problem for younger not totally proven players who wants to play but we can't guarantee them minutes. I think he probably thought the most about Deulofeu when talking about that for our targets this season but he also had in mind all forwards that rejected us last summer because they know they wouldn't play much behind MSN. This won't change unless Valverde plans to (also) use 4-2-3-1 but I think we won't have problems to convince Dembele to join us this time if we can reach a deal with Dortmund.

It's obvious players we brought last season will get another chance under different coach/system and I'm ok with that. I would only consider selling if we'll get a "can't refuse offers" for anyone of them but that's hard to believe.

I'm in minority here but I have total faith in Robert. I won't blame him if we won't get Verratti because that's really not up to us but more on Verratti convincing PSG to let him go if that's his true intention. If they don't want to sell then there is nothing we can do but I think we'll be willing to pay 100M or more to get him if they will show intention to sell. I think we'll pay whatever it takes to get Dembele if we can't get Verratti but first we'll take a wait and see approach to see what happens with Marco when PSG will start their preseason and he'll talk with Nasser personally. I'm usually against long transfer sagas but Verratti is worth waiting for. At the same time I still think we are working on alternatives if we won't be able to convince PSG and we have a deadline when we'll move on from him (at least for this summer) to other easier attainable targets (which would be a downgrade from Verratti but could still improve us a lot). I don't think we have money to get both Verratti and Dembele alongside RB so I don't expect that to happen.

He admits that signing players is difficult because of their limited playing team, meaning he is looking to buy squad players not starters. This means we will not try to sign Verratti or Dembele. He is probably talking about Deulofeu only and that is scary. We need a midfielder who is good enough to start for us, anything less is a huge disappointment.

 

[Richard.H]

So this basically confirms this transfer window will be shit. Can't wait until the upcoming Tata season.

 

[Arkk]

"We are happy and satisfied with the signings of last season because we think that this year they will take a very important step in their careers. Players need time to adjust because it is not easy. Also, they are still young."

we are truly fucked

 

[AISSIMED]

It's getting borring the dekay in signing really great players, no news on Coutinho pursuite, no advancement in Verrary case, promises not taken seriously and time is running. Barca will end up like last season, shopping for cheap and second hand players like the most disappointing mathiew and alikes. Poor VALVERDE, he should expect hard times to build a strong team in midfield and defense. Honestly I gave up on barca board and director, their wrongdoing hurt la masia and the legacy if barca despite having MSN to save their assssssss

 

[Barcaman]

It's getting borring the dekay in signing really great players, no news on Coutinho pursuite, no advancement in Verrary case, promises not taken seriously and time is running. Barca will end up like last season, shopping for cheap and second hand players like the most disappointing mathiew and alikes. Poor VALVERDE, he should expect hard times to build a strong team in midfield and defense. Honestly I gave up on barca board and director, their wrongdoing hurt la masia and the legacy if barca despite having MSN to save their assssssss

Patience. I don't we can announce anyone anyway before July 1.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

The Transfer window isn´t even open yet.After a dissapointing season i atleast expect one big singning from them to please the fans.

 

[Centauri B]

"We are happy and satisfied with the signings of last season because we think that this year they will take a very important step in their careers. Players need time to adjust because it is not easy. Also, they are still young."

we are truly fucked

He is no football analyst, he is a team official and has no other choice than being extremely diplomatic. Do you want him to say that our signings have been utter garbage and should be offloaded asap? What would an honest appraisal on Robert's part mean for a) Their resale value and b) For their morale?

So this basically confirms this transfer window will be shit. Can't wait until the upcoming Tata season.

No. What he is saying, is that any player who is not a bona fide superstar, fears to come to Barcelona, because they know they will be warming the bench. This means, that for all but the super-elite of players, Barca is not such an attractive destination, which totally makes sense.

 

[dakt]

"The main difficulty for us is the greatness of our club, since many players do not want to come because they know that they will play little."

Why is this less of a problem for them(players) when RM is in question? And RM also has some great/key players on lower wages than we do.
This is just fucked up. Every year we have to stretch our self financially to address ever increasing wage demands. This is not a sustainable system.
To "lower" graded players policy must be "take it or leave it". Lio is obviously irreplaceable, but the likes of Arda, Gomes, Rafinha etc. even MAtS if you are not happy with your millions, milk someone else.
Why you came here? Do you know what Barca is?

 

[JerseyAddict]

This is not a sustainable system.
To "lower" graded players policy must be "take it or leave it". Lio is obviously irreplaceable, but the likes of Arda, Gomes, Rafinha etc. even MAtS if you are not happy with your millions, milk someone else.
Why you came here? Do you know what Barca is?

exactly. What you have proved in Barça? What will you give? Benchwarmer? Pass to Messi? Don't want to sign this wage? Here you go on the stands for 1-2 years.