The New Summer Transfer Market

You cannot have MORE than Absolute power.

 

I would bow down to Elen if she told me to go to Barcelona. Barcelona is infinity times better than London.

 

What about Saviola? I know FR for some reason didn’t like him when he started coaching the squad, but maybe now that Saviola has more experience, could help from the bench?

I’m not sure if Barcelona still owns Saviola’s rights, but if they do, he could be a viable replacement for Larsson.

 

http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=308473&idseccio_PK=803&h=

Looks like his agent said he doesn't want to stay at Sevilla. Looks like he's interested in moving to Villarreal, which could sweeten the deal for Forlan.

Unfortunately he'll never play for Barca again, nor does he want to.

 

The Scousers never seem to go away. They supposedly tabled a 7 million Birtish Pound offer for Daniel Alves.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=369645&cc=5901

 

1st signing of the new season: Neeskens replaces Ten Cate
http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=308285&idseccio_PK=803&h=

 

If we give them Saviola, I want Forlan AND cash. I know that is unlikely to happen, but the thought of giving them a better player plus cash makes me a little sick.

If we do that, we should follow it up with a move for Torres. We can offer them Eto'o and 20 million.

 

Well, I'm not suggeting that we bring Saviola back. I like him, but it's pretty clear that his time at Barça is over. That bridge was burned by both sides a long time ago. That said, I think Saviola would have done well in our system. I mean, if you think about how Eto'o really plays around the box, I think Saviola could have filled in quite well. Anyway, like I said, he's never coming back.

My main problem is that, for Villareal, Saviola would be an upgrade from Forlan. It would be crazy for us to give them an upgrade at striker THEN give them more money to spend somewhere else. That would be like Sevilla offering us Daniel Alves and cash for Belletti. All so we can get a player who only seems to be successful when playing a role (with the team, not position) that he won't be able to play with us. The role he'll be playing at Barça will be that of a back-up, rotation player. A role he has previously failed miserably in.

 

What a huge turn of events. According to the following article, Barça is going to likely sign Gudjohnsen regardless of what happens with Forlán because Rijkaard has wanted him ever since Henry turned the club down.
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060531/NOTICIA221135936.html
Also, as you may well know, Barça is going to attempt to use Saviola in a trade as a way to drive down the 23mil price tag for Forlán.
So now that we're looking to get both Forlán AND Gudjohnsen, what kind of role do you think each will figure in from the bench? Keep in mind that Gudjohsen can play as attacking midfielder if need be.

Also for you Maxi fans (aka astabooty ) there is news that Barça is looking to loan him out a season to Nastic de Tarragona who are right now in position to win 2a and be playing in Primera next year. I think it would be a great move for all involved, Nastic play with a lot of passion and could use someone like Maxi to stabilize themselves in their first season back in Primera (since the 1950's).
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060531/NOTICIA221135964.html

 

I'm still upset that we will actually spend money on Forlan. I just don't think its worth buying this type of player just to replace a backup striker. It's this type of treatment of our players that makes players NOT want to sit and wait their turn. Laporta cannot lament the loss of Barca's young academy players when we won't give current First team players decent chances before wasting money on flavor of the month strikers.

What has Forlan done to earn even €10M ? He's no Berbatov, or even Dirk Kuyt?

 

I remember reading A LOT of stuff about Julio Baptista last Summer and nothing happened, so I am hoping the same will happen.

 

I'm not sure what the big fuss over getting Forlan except that he's a streaky player, he's not very effective coming off the bench and he's not worth more than 15 million euros at best. I think I just contradicted myself. Saviola plus money is a ridculous price to pay Forlan, but then again you'll be able to get something from a guy that will likely give nothing in return for Barça ever. I'm more inclined to get Mark Gonzalez if he's available because there isn't much of a drop in quality between he and Forlan and he's a much cheaper option.

I don't believe any report about bigger named players going to Gimnastic unless there are deeper pockets coming in to take ownership of the side. Nastic were rumoured to be in for Alexis from Malaga and others but they've spent money building a brand new stadium for 2007 and they just recently came up from Segunda B like two years ago so I don't know how their finances are. Plus, I don't think Maxi Lopez is the kind of guy I want on to build a hard working team that's going to try to stay up.

 

Ok. I've answered this before. Papin went to Milan, Owen went to Real, Crespo, Inzagi, Martins, Fred etc... There are plenty such players coming of the bench. Now I'm not asking for a superstar, but surely we can get a goalscorer. Forlan himself is actually the kind of player I'm talking about. Just last year, he was the pichichi (>17 goalls). I'm just not very sure about him and more importantly, I don't wanna spend too much for him (certainly not saviola + cash). I'll give you the non-european issue for Oliveira. However, I cannot understand why we'd look for someone just happy to come off the bench. As someone already mentioned, we need someone who can give Etoo some rest and allow Rijkaard more firepower. We need someone who'll rotate in for significant minutes.

Dude, we've got Van Bommel, Iniesta, and Giuly off the bench. Why would we need yet a nother playmaker/attacking mid. If you can see gudjohnsen holding the torch if Etoo went down, than bring him on. Otherwise, he is not the right man.

The news of both Gudjohsen and Forlan better than the other rumors but I'm not excited about it. Right now, I would focus on making sure we get either Alves or Zambrotta. Otherwise, I'd prefer to wait for the WC before spending significant assets for Gudjohnsen and/or Forlan.

You know, Milan was able to bring Crespo off the bench last year. This year they brought in Pipo when Gilardino went off form. Inter brought Oba Martins in for Vieri last year. Chelsea have crespo to back-up Drogba. Why in the world would we not want the same for Barca. I've said this before: IF ETOO GOES DOWN OR LOSES FORM, WE ARE IN TROUBLE. We actually have more cover for R10 than Etoo. Most of you have no problem with us adding quality depth in the midfield (Messi, van bommel & Ezquero last year, now Gudjohnsen) but are not as agressive for strikers. I really don't understand. Please, WAKE UP MY FELLOW CULES. WE CAN BE BETTER, WE SHOULD BE BETTER. IN FACT, WE NEED TO BE BETTER NEXT YEAR.

Let me just be clear, Forlan or Oliveira would be great deals for 8-12mil. They've both been top scorers and would likely benefit from barca's midfield. However, what makes them a great deals is the possibility of buying low. If we're gonna spend, we might as well go for talent with less uncertainties surrounding them.

 

Thank you, bro. I'm happy that somebody sees it my way.

 

Messi came up throught the youth system. If you want to promote a player from Barça B of Juvanil, fantastic. If we have a youth player ready to step in and contribute on the level of Messi, I'm sure you wouldn't find a single person that wouldn't want him brought into the squad.

Van Bommel and Ezquerro both came over on free transfers, and neither were even used that much. They were both smart purchases at the time, and Ezquerro turned out to be worth every penny we paid for him . That's all I'm asking for though. Smart purchases. Forlan is the bigger purchase, but Gudjohnson (SP?) is the smart one. He'll be cheaper, and probably more effective. Plus, we could then use Saviola in a bid to get Alves or someone else.

You mention Obafemi Martins, but Martins came up through Inter's youth scheme as well. They didn't bring him in. You also mention Owen, and how did that work out? You see, I think that is exactly what most people here want to avoid. We don't want Madrid's "galactico" policy, which is what purchases like Henry would amount to. We want smart purchases. We need an evolution at Barça, not a revolution. At least that's how I feel.

 

I really don't get those of you who say Eidur is not a goalscorer, are you kidding me? The guy has averaged roughly 12 goals a season over the last 6 years with Chelsea, and the last 3 or 4 seasons have been almost entirely as a substitute and playing outside of his natural striker position. The only reason he had such a bad season this past year is because Morinho refused to give him significant minutes (only 26 appearances). I don't think anyone else would be able to replace Larsson (at least in part) better than he could. And even if he doesn't work out in the striker position he can just change positions, no big deal, Barça will still get its money's worth.
As for Forlán, I just don't see it. The guy is probably going to suck coming off the bench late in games. I guess he could serve as a good backup in case of any injuries, but I'm not too fond of the move otherwise, plus he's going to want consistent appearances.
I hope astabooty is right and this is just the same hype as Julio Baptista last year, except that I somehow doubt it because Villarreal has already begun searching for a replacement striker.

 

we definitely need someone a bit better than backup for Eto'o. if Eto'o suffers a mid-to-long term injury, we are gonna have serious problems if Forlan or Gudjonsen are our only hopes.

the main problem is that Eto'o is not the kind of striker that will accept being rotated, so to get a striker of similar quality to sit on the bench will be hard.

 

Saviola + 10M pounds for Diego FOrlan? Are we TRYING to make them a better team?

And what the hell is wrong with Saviola...this little man just won't stay sold no matter what we do. Now he says he won't stay with Sevilla, which just royally pisses me off, as that means our hopes of getting Daniel Alves just took a hit.

I wanted Pauletta, but that ship has now sailed. Lyon had their titanic 3M pound bid accepted, but he re-upped with Paris instead. Crespo would be perfect, and I don't see our rivalry with Chelsea as a roadblock (and if it is, then why would they be okay selling us Eidur?)

What about Kuyt...seems he's tired of losing, versatile enough to play several positions, and not really finding any other top level clubs interested as they have made other plans at striker it seems.

Hell, Cisse scored 17 goals this year. I don't like the guy, but he'd have to be cheap, and at least as good as Forlan.

Milan Baros? Ruud Van Horseface? David Suazo? Huntelaar? Farfan? Tevez? Pizarro? Santa Cruz?

There HAVE TO BE better options then spending that much on Diego Forlan. Eidur is just a good addition period because he could play a lot of positions, but I still think we'd need a new striker. Eidur would be more like a massive upgrade for Santi.

 

A lot of teams are after Kuyt. Liverpool is one of them.

I think Liverpool would be happy if Barcelona bought Cisse. I doubt he would demand a lot in wages either. The problem is that the only thing he has is pace and power.