I agree with most of the things you suggest, though I don't know about Anton Ferdinand. I think he's going to want to start somewhere, and he's not going to have that chance here. Also, I think we all agreed that Dicky Carvalho was a bad move weeks ago. I think you're exactly right about the forward position though.
Anton Ferdinand will be a star someday, so I don't think it would be a terrible idea to try to purchase him now before his stock rises any higher. Barça are in a great spot, they just need a few adjustments here and there to strenghten the side. The worst thing they can do is bring in high priced talent to the side that will disturb the dynamic.
I agree with all of this, but one question: Does Ferdinand have more potential than our own young central defender, Rodri? He's been targeted for greatness with both Spain and Barca, and is just 21 years old. If he's ready to be the fulltime backup for both Puyol and Marquez, then spending money on a central defender may be redundant. Does anyone have any info on how Rijkaard rates Rodri? If he rates him highly, then Barca's youth system has solved yet another problem before it had time to truly develop.
Anton is not bad but I don't see any star making potential in him. The only thing that gives him a certain glow is because of his brother.
On Rodri, I'm not sure if his future lies elsewhere because I noticed that he was in the starting lineup for the end of the season games, but he was sort of blah. He never really made much of an impact, and the fact that he's 21 years old and he hasn't been given many chances probably means Rijkaard doesn't believe that he can be an important part of the squad in the future. If he had some potential, I would figure a once great central defender converted into a holding midfielder by Sacchi at Milan should have a pretty good eye for talent at the back end. Rodri will probably have next season to prove that he deserves a more important role in the side before he'll figure out that his future is probably somewhere else in La Liga. Anton is still young and we've only seen him for one year playing against high quality competition week in and week out, but it does seem he's a presence at the back, he handles attacking players well, he can put himself into the play when needed to offer offensive support and is pretty good in the air off set pieces. West Ham did have a pretty good season, and that too raised his prospects. If he does what he did this year again next season, he'll probably be sought after by bigger clubs.
What about Kalou from Feynord. How good would he be for us? he wants outh of Holland and would like to go to England or Spain.
Now Barça is looking at moving for Oliveira, which would be a questionable move at best. I doubt he's really a bench player really. I think it would be the same problem as Forlan. http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060528/NOTICIA220875076.html Why doesn't Barça get it? Just sign Gudjohsen already. He really wants to move to Barça, he's got great skill and is still only 28, Chelsea wants to unload him, the price is reasonable. Come on Laporta, enough is enough, don't start a Galacticos policy for Barça as well.
I think so. Just wondering if we should press for him. I'm sure he'd strongly consider it, don't you think?
Actually, that's good news for me. Oliveira is one of the guys I've been thinking of the entire time. He's been injured the entire season and is not on Brazil's squad. This should lower his value a bit, enabling us to get a past and potential top primera scorer cheaper than normal. Perfect. If your concern is that he may not be effective coming off the bench, I guess that's legitimate. Otherwise, he's a skilled striker who scores a lot. Fits perfect in Barca. As for this accusation of Galacticos policy: I wish you guys would realize that no institution can maintain success by being static and keeping the satus quo. Besides, Oliveira, a galactico!!! c'mmon. Look, we NEED another striker. We shouldn't just add the cheapest or most bench-fit player we can find. We should look for the best quality we can find for the right price. I personally think we should get a skillfull prolific scorer who can not only back up Etoo, but can resonably replace him in case of injury or poor form and also capable of playing SS (i.e. back-up for Messi along with Giuly). Pretty much, everything Larsson did but better. If I'm not mistaken, Oliveira can potentially fit that bill perfectly. Plus, I also think that Rijkaard should and will look to rotate the line-up quite a bit more next season. That's probably why he wanted Henry so bad. Etoo was played way too much last year. Oliveira can get plenty of playing time in the copa as well as significant time in the primera (i.e. Larsson, Giuly) and that's without anybody getting injured.
Ricardo Oliveira would fit in pretty well in the dressing room with Barça seeing as though they have Ronaldinho, Deco and Belleti in the squad and is a pretty good goal scorer. I just don't think he's gonna be the same player we saw before he had his knee surgery so I think it might be a little risky to sign him. He was an unhappy bench player at Valencia, but I think when you're on a winning team and you realize that you have a certain role in a such a good team, he'll toe the party line. I would personally take Gudjohnson because he can play anywhere in the midfield (holding midfielder, winger, behind the striker or as a forward) and he's a proven quantity.
I kind of want Sergio Garcia back next year. It would be risky, but I think he and Maxi could do the job. Guddy wouldnt be bad.
I really hope Maxi gets a run next year, and I'm being serious. I really think he can be a very good striker. We paid €7.5 for him remember. He has shown me enough flashes of brilliance to lead me to believe that he can become a very good player. Let's not piss away another talented Argentinian...
It seems now like the race to replace Larsson's spot has come down to three main contenders, Forlán, Gudjohnsen, and Oliveira. Forlán wants to come, but Villarreal does not want to sell for less than his full price of 23mil, but now they are starting to consider a possible replacement if they are unable to keep him from leaving. Forlán, just like Oliveira, seems to be the type of striker who need to be starting games to excell. Plus Oliveira is just coming off an injury and who knows if he can regain his 2004-05 season form. But the biggest reason for not getting Oliveira is that he has no European passport, and I don't see how the hell we'll be able to fit him in if we already have Eto'o, Dihno, and Marquez taking up the three non-euro spots. Or is one of them getting a Euro passport over the summer? If not then Oliveira has to be out of the question, there's no way we could sub him in for any of our three non-euro players, so it makes no sense. Gudjohnsen really wants to come to Barça, is being offerred at a fair price, and is extremely versatile, unlike the other two. Really I don't get it, it seems like a no brainer to me. If they get Forlán I'll accept it, but I won't be the least bit surprised if his contributions next year are few and far between. At least if Gudjohnsen isn't working out up front he can fill other roles.
I'd like to see Gudjohnsen in blaugrana. I think he'd be a good replacement for Larsson. Forlan wouldn't be bad either but he costs too much money.
I would much rather pay 8-10m for Oliveira than anything more for Forlan. I think we're interested in Forlan b/c he is a big target man (that's why we got Maxi, remember). For Gudjansen, he's a fine player but I want a bonafide goalscorer. I can't believe I'm the only one here who feels that way. Don't know much about him, but if he isn't an >17 goalscorer, I don't want him. We've got plenty playmakers.
Yes, but did you miss the part where I explained he doesn't have an EU passport? We already have the max-3 non euro player positions filled on the pitch. So unless you know something we don't, like Marquez or Dihno getting an EU citizenship, it can't work.
Answer me this: how are you going to find a >17 goalscorer who is content to be on the bench? I don't know if you ever played the game or not, but no matter the level, most really good forwards are selfish egomaniacs. They want to be on the field for 90 minutes, they want to score goals, they want to win. Barca lucked out with Larsson because he was at the tail end of his career and he was obviously not created in the selfish forward mold. Oliveira is approaching the peak time in his career. He wasn't happy sitting on the bench on a very good Valencia team a few years ago, so why would he come to Barca to ride pine? He needs to be the target man playing 30+ games a year in the league like he was doing at Betis before he blew his knee out. He is very good, but not for Barca. And like Remi said, he is non-EU. There seems to be a lot of unity in the team, which leaves Rijkaard more time for managing and less time for babysitting and counseling. They need to choose a replacement for Larsson very carefully. Gudjonnsen seems like the best fit out of all of the names being tossed around, but it looks like Forlan may be who we get. On a related note, Maxi's agent has made a plea to Villarreal: http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?...178&lid=10&title=Lopez+eyes+Villarreal+switch The plot thickens...
Good news...Neeskens will take Ten Cate's position...looks like a good add to the coaching staff..maybe neeskens can teach etoo how to shoot penalties hehe....also Zambrotta's name is popping up alot like barcelona said they will not spend money unwisely they will take their time and see how the market unfolds and keeping an eye on what happens to juvents especially Zambrotta who seems to be teh #1 target there. C.Ronaldo has also offerend himself to barcelona saying hes not happy in manchester utd, and barcelona style of play would bring the best outa him. Also his agent Mendes is very good freinds with Laporta and has many players including deco, marquez...interesting offseason for barcelona as well for many elite clubs... Visca Barsa R.E.M.
Someone from Barca needs to ask Gary Lineker to talk to Lampard about playing for Barca. With Lampard's supposed comments about how it would be "a dream to play for Barca"
i'm with you there. what's with all this talk of sergio garcia & maxi lopez? we want to IMPROVE the team, not make it worse, and neither of these guys are anywhere near the same level as larsson. the board seemed to have their hearts set on henry, and to go from henry to forlan just seems a bit embarassing. we don't need a galactico, we just need a realiable finisher. i don't want someone who'll be happy to be on the bench, we've already got maxi for that. we need someone who's going to contribute. and allow rijkaard to rest eto'o once in a while. gudjonsson just doesn't seem to make sense to me either. his biggest selling point seems to be that "he can play in midfield too!" -- so what?? the last thing we need is a midfielder. we're looking for a goal scorer, and the best we can do is a guy who scored 3 goals this season?? oliveira sounds better than the other two, but it would be a gamble since he's been out for so long. and someone else mentioned that he's non-EU. i just hope these rumours are smoke-screens for the real target. crespo would fit the bill very well i think. i'm also surprised there hasn't been much talk about torres. i know some people seem to think he's over rated, but surely he's better than forlan, and plus it would be a shame to see him go to england. over rated or not, torres is one of the few signings that would allow laporta and beguiristain to save some face after missing out on henry.
1. Maxi Lopez will never be as good as the amount they paid for him and will probably never figure into the squad. He didn't want to get loaned out because he wanted to win the stupid medals just to say he was part of a dream squad and/or he just wanted his wages paid, and it showed no ambition to improve as a footballer. If you're not producing as a player, you want a change of scenery so that you can prove that you are good enough to play. He might be good somewhere else, but he's not good enough to do anything at Barça. 2. It's tough to improve a squad like Barça because the players you bring in have to be as good as those that play for them now to be useful. Larsson was a really big asset, and if you were to replace him player for player, the only natural replacement for him is Gudjohnsen. Gudjohnsen is a little more versatile than Larsson because he can play as a holding midfielder, but the quality drop isn't there. The other option is to get two players to fill the role of one, and buy an attacking midfielder/forward and getting a striker. I think Van Nistelrooy would be a pretty smart addition in the striker role IF they don't overpay for him. Dutch players have been part of the Barça pedigree for a while, and he might be reenergized playing around Ronaldinho and Deco. 3. Barça are probably going to wait until after the World Cup to see if they can capitalize on any new superstars that usually come from World Cups and Euros, plus they might pluck a Juve player from the mess. Cristiano Ronaldo will not help Barça at all and will probably be a flop for the amount of money he's worth if he does go. Ronaldinho and him in the same midfield isn't going to work well, plus Cristiano Ronaldo is a bit of a training ground cancer and has a premadonna persona. 4. You're dreaming if Lampard ever plays for Barça. Not. Going. To. Happen. Unless his beautiful wife has more power than we are to be believed, that is.