FC Barcelona - Campeones de España!

Not that outrageous really. His team is about controlling space anyway and he probably have even more technical players in his team so I get what he means. Obviously he won't be that attacking or play silly Tiki Taka.

According to MD, Bruno of Villarreal is Pep's chosen one as Toure's replacement. Apparently the club have already talked to him about a move.

His buyout clause is 16m euros and he has 2 years left on his contract...and has rejected previous attempts by Villarreal to renew it. So hopefully if we do sign him it's for a reasonable sum (ie. under 10m). Decent player and at a decent age. I'd be goater with this signing.

Looks like other Barça fans don't like it though:
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/web/gen/20100721/encuesta_53967384126.html

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Ozil was in Barcelona yesterday (for a holiday with his family)

His son was wearing a Messi jersey (an Argentina one...his father must have brought it back like hunters bring back severed animal heads as souvenirs of their conquest )

http://sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=722391&idseccio_PK=803

fcb wrote:According to MD, Bruno of Villarreal is Pep's chosen one as Toure's replacement. Apparently the club have already talked to him about a move.

His buyout clause is 16m euros and he has 2 years left on his contract...and has rejected previous attempts by Villarreal to renew it. So hopefully if we do sign him it's for a reasonable sum (ie. under 10m). Decent player and at a decent age. I'd be goater with this signing.

Looks like other Barça fans don't like it though:
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/web/gen/20100721/encuesta_53967384126.html

They're idiots. I thought he did really well at the tail-end of the season, when Senna was out. He played the DM role "alongside" Ibagaza.

I don't really get the adriano signing and bruno is ok, since he will mainly play as back up an I don't see anyone else out their that we could sign.

Today MD are claiming that Mourinho wants to swap Ibrahimovic for Kaka
Not sure if they are crazy or Mourinho.

btw, I wouldn't trust their poll on Bruno too much, looks like they have some "technical issues". Yesterday a poll on "who will win La Liga" had Valencia winning by far

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I read that Guardiola now gets paid 8m euros a year according to this new contract

I think that's the 2nd highest salary in the world, about the same as Capello and only behind Mourinho.

Ok, Pep is a great manager for Barça, but I don't like this idea of paying a coach so much. He's basically in the 2nd highest tier of players. It's ridiculous. And Tito Vilanova is on 4m a year

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And some good news:
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/gen/20100722/53969627565/noticia/marquez-a-falta-de-flecos-para-cerrar-su-marcha.html

Marquez close to leaving for NY Red Bulls

But on a free transfer

NY Red Bulls really need to stop tapping up Barca players...

marquez to the red bulls, will pep buy a new defeder or promote fontas/muniesa.

I'm so happy Chygrybskiy has left as well, as i always said you can't teach pace.

Messiah wrote:marquez to the red bulls, will pep buy a new defeder or promote fontas/muniesa.

I'm so happy Chygrybskiy has left as well, as i always said you can't teach pace.

YES PLEASE!!!!!

Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

So we are still missing the DM.

I not bothered about signing another CB since we have Adriano to cover Alves, so Puyol, Milito, Pique + 1 or 2 canteranos should be able to cover the CB position. I dont think we should sign anybody even if Marquez leaves. However, if he leaves, then the DM becomes very very important...

As for Cesc... well you know that I am not too bothered as he is not that needed if Iniesta stays fit and we can rely on Thiago and JDS to play the occasional game.

I would still like to see a box to box player being signed but I very much doubt that.

So if all goes well, we should be able to spend another 10-15m on the DM and then I am happy, if we the canteranos are up for the challenge.

According to some reports, Marquez to NY Red Bulls will be announced by Monday
It's a free transfer but crucially takes a big wage earner off the books.

And according to MD, the DM signing is also close...the options are Capoue, Bruno, Kabore, or Mousa Sissoko.


So if those two happen by next week...then I guess the only pending squad matters are whether Cesc will be signed or not (like you said, basically a luxury signing since he's not desperately needed right now) and which canteranos will get promoted by Pep.

The big questionmark is basically "what is the quality of the canternanos"? Are they up for it?

Are JDS, Thiago, Fontas, Batra, Fontas and Muniesa good enogh to play at this level?

I want it to be, but I dont wnat to end up hyping canteranos just for the sake that they are from the youth team.

Yeah, they are all getting a lot of praise and seem to be the standout players from Barça Atletic, but it's an unknown whether they can make the step up without problems. For quite a few of them (esp. JDS, Thiago, and Fontas) it's getting to that "tipping point" where you need to give them some proper playing time rather than just 10 min cameos as subs, but you're also not sure if they can be relied upon as starters.

I reckon Pep may come up with another surprise promotion - first it was Busquets, then Pedro. Some talk that it may be Oriol Romeu (DM who's currently away with Spain U-19) this year.

Romeu might be a good shout..

If JDS was 15cm taller and 20 kgs heavier then I think he would be in there for sure. For me, he is still too small to make an impact.

Thiago looks good, but the competition for his position is massive.

Batra looks like he is going to get promoted for sure, due to his size, whereas Muniesa is more of a joker, but more versatile (and better on the ball, which, if Marquez is leaving, is an important factor)

I rate Muniesa highly, he has something about him which indicates he'll make it. But he's younger than Bartra and Fontas, and only just got to Atletic from the Juvenil teams, so may have to wait a bit.

Re. Thiago, one interesting thing about Spain's U-19 match against Portugal the other day was that he was playing as a slightly deeper central midfielder. He picked up the ball from Oriol (DM) and made short passes up to the attack or the wings. Didn't really run into the box that much. This could just be tactical, but if he can play a bit deeper, then it gives him more options - like you said, the furthest forward AM is going to be occupied by Iniesta and Cesc for a long time to come. But deeper in midfield, there are positions available. Thiago has also bulked up a lot recently, which will help him. He does have injury issues though.

The best thing would be to promote a max of 3 players since they wont progress without playing time.

I am hoping for Batra, JDS and Thiago. Muniesa could wait another year.

of course if Zlatan ends up leaving then we better move fast for a big striker that can hold up the ball.

Vasquez is the most likely player to be the surprise promotion.

If he don't sign a DM then Romeu, won't be a surprise since everyone expects him to be pushing busquets in the next 2-3 seasons.

Its yet another preseason, he he and thiago or away with the spanish youth teams, getting pep little to no time to have a good look at them.

With Barca atletic getting promoted i don't think anyone will get a real promotion to the first team, unless they do some thing really especial, especially with pep's italy view of youth development.

Fontas
JDS
Thiago

are the ones most likely to get some real minutes next season.

Ok.. so the papers are getting bored due to the fact that we are not signign Cesc:

Balotelli: If there ever was a player that was against the philosophy of Pep then it is him

Thiago Silva: Part of the big fictional "Ibra to Milan" transfer. Of course Pato would also be involved.

Both of these transfer are completely bullshit of course.

What could be more realistic is that either Senna or Bruno ends up in the club within the next couple of days. I dont really want Senna, 34 yrs old, if he doesnt come a free to be honest.

Yeah, both those names are stupid links. Won't happen. Esp. Thiago Silva...you'd hope the club has learned its lesson regarding young CBs by now.

Caceres = Bought for 16m (some say 10m as the remaining 6m was in clauses that never got activated) and will be sold for 10m or less.

Henrique = Bought for 8m. Apparently going on loan again to Racing this season, and will have only 1 year left on his deal next summer. Who knows how much he'll go for, if at all...may as well write off the 8m.

Add to that Keirrison and Hleb (who was bought for 15m euros but is being offered to the likes of Fulham or Birmingham for 5m euros now ) and it's around 30-35m euros the club has just thrown away.

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Also not too keen on Senna. MD talks of a 3m euro fee, but for someone who's 34, has injury problems, and only has 1 year left on his contract, that's at least 2.5m too much. As one of the editorials in MD said, it would be similar to a Davids or Albertini, but I fear it may be the latter.

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Interesting that the Ozil rumour has picked up again, and seems to have some foundation because even Marca had an article about how Madrid are interested (for around 15m euros) but facing complications because the player himself prefers Barça...Werder are hoping to use this to drive the price up.

But as I said before, it would be silly to spend any money on him, regardless of how talented he is. Next year he's available on a free, just sign him then. Yes, he's young and would block the path of other kids to the first team, but a potential world class player, who is a fan of the club, and available for free...you can't really afford to miss out on opportunities like that.

I don't see Ozil as the "Cesc alternative" though. It's pretty clear that Cesc is a luxury signing, so why would we need an alternative. And if not this summer, then Cesc will be signed next summer, so again, spending 20m euros or whatever on Ozil this summer would be a waste.

I would still like us to keep Caceres this season if he isnt sold. I think he had a good world cup and he seems to have improved his passing and positioning.

As for Ozil, then I agree.. there is no need to sign him if the objective is to get Cesc in the near future. However, if we are interested then I think it would dangerous to wait for next season, since then his wages would go absolutely insane, with everybody bidding huge contracts.

I still hope Kierrison will find his feet. But I am starting to doubt whether it makes any sense to bring in kids that young from a league that is that different.

The problem with the Keirrison signing is not his quality, but that it appears to have been a signing made for investment purposes.

Txiki went through a brief mania of wanting to be like Villarreal or Sevilla, not realising of course that when Barcelona tries to make such signings, the selling club (or agency, as in the case of these two) will hike up the prices in a huge way. I bet if Villarreal were in for Henrique, they would have got him for 3m-4m.

I have a feeling it's going to be difficult to even recuperate the 14m paid for Keirrison. We just have to hope that he sets the Brazilian league on fire, and someone is convinced to give him a try for 10m euros or so. Otherwise we may just have to try him at Barça for a season.

But yeah, agree completely. Paying big money for unproven players from a totally different culture is a huge risk. Better to stick to a policy that has worked well in recent years. ie. La Masia.

I cant wait for the league to begin :S

However, instead of signing copies of what we already have, i.e. Cesc, Mata,Ozil etc.. then it would be nice if we went for different profiles, for a plan B.

I would like to see: A real winger, A big strker (if Ibra leaves), a box to box player.

I know it is not our style, but I think they would be valuable in games where we have trouble scoring. However, I can understand the club, because at the end of the day it was very few games that we drew or lost. So why change the style

I would also like to see caceres be given a chance, he seems to have matured a bit since last season and the boy sure can tackle, the only problem is that we already have milito and puyol, who are stoppers, so adding a 3rd would unbalance the defense and he is 21/22 and fontas is 20 and a libero.

I think the best option is to promote fontas or get freaking botia back.

pep tried to get a plan b and change our style last season and it didn't really work, he had to go back to classic barca with the 3 midgets when the chips were down, so more of the same is what i expect.

hence Cesc and adraino, more depth of almost exactly the thing we have already, if one goes down, replace him with another.

Moussa Sissoko would be a very good buy.

Really? Tell me more...almost nobody has a clue about him.

Think he's quite similar to Toure. Attributes make him look like a DM, though he's nowhere near as specialised or disciplined like a Mascherano type in that position. He's athletic and mobile, and can play further up the field too. Decent passer, and is fairly accomplised on the ball too. Box to box type, and would give something different to Barca (much like Toure did)

Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 0 Zorya Lugansk

Dmytro Chygrynskiy - 87'





* He'll probably score more than Eduardo

Ha! What a return. I'm going to be keeping an eye on his progress, I think he has a bright future ahead. Ukraine are at home in 2012 too...