Please carry on from here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/now-or-never-the-2017-18-transfer-thread.2056637/ I'm open to changing the thread title, so feel free to post any suggestions.
Griezmann is easy, as he has a release clause. Eriksen is much, much harder. Levy is a very good negotiator. I can't see him moving for less than money Coutinho.
Sooo if we don't get Griezmann and the front three is Coutinho on left , Suarez through middle and Dembele on the right... Guess the perfect player to accompany Messi and Busqs in midfield is Chelsea's Kante ..
I wouldn't start planning from the assumption that Valverde plays the season with a three-man-attack that doesn't include Messi.
I must admit I didn't watch alot of Chelsea matches this season, but did Kante learn how to pass the ball in the last year? He's a great stopper but I never saw him as a Barca-type. Pretty much the complete opposite, in fact.
He's actually very talented but it's slightly overlooked due to his energy , tackles , interceptions.. He's about 3 times faster than Rakitic so that's a plus - hasn't got Rakitic's long pass but then again Rakitic is too afraid to use that skill anyways .
Yeah, I didn't mean to suggest he isn't very talented. Just think that he's very pragmatic. Not sure he's suited for a team that has the ball most of the time. I know Barca have kind of moved away from that possession-obsessed style already, but going to essentially a double-pivot full-time would really be a change in approach.
Has Kante been rumored anywhere? If so, I'd snap him up in a second! Uses his speed so well. Covers tons of space defensively, and is useful with the ball at his feet. Isn't scared to take players on, as we against Barca. That beings said, doubt Chelsea is making him available. He was arguably their player of the season (according to my Chelski fan co-workers).
He strikes me as one of those players that looks so solid in England but may be a total donkey in the more skilled Spanish league. Even if he was available, he’d be sooo expensive and defensive midfield is already a strong point of this team. We’d have to convert him to a CB like with Mascherano, imo.
Still, it's good to bring up his name now so that if the team fails next season we can mention how much better the team would have been had the clueless board not gone after him during the summer.
Diego Costa on Griezmann: “He is taking a little time to say what is next for him and I think there is perhaps some doubt on his part,” ”What I’d say to him is that you have to be happy and you must feel that way because a happy player will keep getting better. But if you think you must move to be happy, then you will have to leave as players need that comfort and happiness. ”He knows that we love him very much and that he is the figurehead here, a very important player. If he stays with us, that would be brilliant. ”If he leaves, we also must be happy because he’s given us a title this season but, in the end, I think he’ll stay.”
Thiago rumours are heating up. Bild says Bayern want to sell him because they are overloaded in midfield and their new coach doesn't fancy him. and Sport says important Barca players are pushing the club to move for him. Bayern want €80mil but Barca want to bring that down to €50mil. Bayern signed him for €25mil.
Whereas our own Rakitic had a great year playing a bit more of a stopper role in our 4-4-2 lineups where he was Busi's lieutenant if you will, and also knows how to pass, shoot, move, etc. in Barca's system. And he is just as good in a 4-3-3, esp. if Messi and an attack minded fullback man the right side, he is great at providing defensive cover on that side when in the wider 4-3-3 role. I love how every year folks think we can improve our team by replacing Rakitic.
I bet one of the things that would be holding Griezmann off is looking at Barca's lineup and thinking ... sure starter at Atletico vs going to a team where he will be in a rotation system.
The 442 is killing dembele. To get the best out of our squad now,we need to play a 4231 or a 433 Rakitic is a player who cost 18 mio euros and his output so far has been fantastic for the cost but he is not automatic Barca starter material. He should stay on and start some games, subbed in or out of some games and provide something different. But I feel we should sign Thiago alcantara and Arthur soon. Once we do that, we have a great squad which can play in many ways. Players like Denis Suarez and dembele will benefit a lot from just two signings, Arthur and Thiago. No need for griezzman at all. He can indeed come but not at the cost of dembele. We can sell Suarez and buy him.
I think Thiago would be a good signing. For one, I think Arthur is far from being a player who we can slot in and expect decisively great performances soon. He is promising, but not at Barca starter level yet.
Well the rumor is that Dembele would go on a one year loan if Barca get Griezmann. That would guarantee Griezmann a spot in the regular XI.
why though? why loan out such a talent like Dembele... let him get his hard knocks with his dream club barca... every one knows how much talent he has it's just getting it slowly to show. Valverde just needs to take more risk in developing our youth players instead of overplaying the same stars. You can't rush a world beater like Dembele.. let him grow slowly and let him learn from his mistakes because he is still very young. Messi and co enjoy playing with him as well so why loan out a player like Dembele just to appease someone like Griezmann who has ALOT less loyalty to Barca than Dembele. Dembele is living his dream and should be allowed some time to develop along side his idols... don't crush him by loaning him out only a year after getting him.. that will play on his confidence and i think in the end will be detrimental. The nightmare that could end up happening.. like Eto'o was a nightmare for Real Madrid... because see RM didn't know what they had ... but in this case with Dembele we know what we have and it would be foolish to let him go on loan. He is not a loan player.. he is a promising star/superstar in the making.. do not let Dembele leave at all...
I generally agree. I don't think we have too many forwards even if we did get Griezmann because players like Messi and Suarez shouldn't be playing every game at this stage in their careers. They shouldn't even be playing 80% of the time if we want to finish the season strong. But that's all theoretical. In practice, you can't really bench Messi if he wants to play.
[BREAKING NEWS]We are delighted to announce @samumtiti has renewed his contract at @FCBarcelona until 2023!👍 #Umtiti2023 pic.twitter.com/ev2GKDqZOj— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 3, 2018