Why would we sell Villa and Pedro anyway? They're part of Pep success team since 2009 especially Pedro. Not to mention Pedro scored in 3 finals (Club world cup, Copa del rey and CL). With Villa current form, and Pedro contributed on assist, it would hard for Sanchez to get starting place.
Maybe not Pedro but I'm just hearing a lot in the media/people saying that selling Villa would be a good deal because of his age and with Neymar coming very soon. I hope not, he has still many years of top football to offer, plus getting rid of a natural goalscorer like him and having too much flashy/tricky wingers it's gonna hurt us.
As far as our attacker transfers are concerned, IMO: We have Messi, Villa, Pedro, Alexis, Tello and Cuenca (and midfielders occasionally playing as attackers, notably Iniesta and Cesc, whom obviously aren't going anywhere). Villa is our second best attacker, very reliable and is still only 30. We'd get nice money by selling, but nothing crazy, and I just don't see us wanting to part ways as early as this summer. He is too solid, too reliable and simply too good to get rid of. As for Pedro, I think his history with Barca plays a part (in his favour), but still he is a good player who works very well within the system. Wouldn't get mega money by selling, and, well, he's not going anywhere and rightly so. Has to step up with scoring though. Alexis, Tello and Cuenca then. Any of them is sellable imo. All are young and good enough to play for Barca, but none of them provides anything extremely special, though all have strengths. If an attacker arrives, one of them has to leave I guess. The question also is, do we need a new attacker in the first place? IMO we're fine as we are, but could always improve. So, the INs of the summer could sensibly be an attacker and a defender, obviously depending on how the rest of the season goes and who's leaving. As for Messi, cash-in while he's young and good imo:
To me, defense is more of an issue right now than attack. In a big way. Especially with departures that we know are going to be coming over the next few years. That picture was evil.
Agreed, but with many of our defenders being relatively versatile, I see us buying only 1 defender this summer (instead of 2-3), and with us having no midfield needs, there's room for an attacker as well. But like said, defence is a priority.
Versatility is a good thing. Even better, though, is if the defenders are actually good at defending.
Quoting this from the Real Oviedo thread... for those who haven't been following this story this club is in serious dire straits and there's been a viral campaign championed by Sid Lowe and others to raise money by selling shares in the club. Now you can say you own a piece of a Spanish club! The window to purchase share begins on November 3rd to November 17th and the minimum price per share is €10.75. Payment can be by bank transfer or PayPal. More info here.
If the paypal is up and running, I'm probably going to buy a share. It's a historic club in a nice city, and their stadium is pretty cool.