Rumor: Mission Impossible: Replacing Infinito ∞ | The 2018-19 Transfer Thread

I'm not at all worried whether we can sign De Ligt or De Jong. I mean they're good and promising, but it's not like they're the only good players we don't have, or that our future would depend on them.

Nice if we sign one or two of them, not that bad if we don't.

 

I'll be mad if we sell Countinho right now. We could really use him in the CL this year. There is nothing wrong with flipping between him and Dembele as starters and having a super sub. We haven't even given him a full year in the CL.

 

Well shit man... his performances haven't been good enough to be a solid starter. If anything that should light a fire under his belly. There is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. And my feeling is he'll get plenty of starts depending on the match ups.

 

I don't see any way we sell Coutinho in January, none at all. But if he cannot play his way back to being a starter or at least a very valuable member of the squad (esp. if and when injuries and suspensions occur) then I could see him being sold in the summer. In that case it would be because he wants to go as he is not happy, plus his sale would help us to fund getting another costly player or even a matched pair of them.

 

Mootaz Chehade‏Verified account @MHChehade 5h5 hours ago
After Toulouse defender Todibo, Frenkie De Jong is Barcelona's most recent acquirement for next season from Ajax. Official announcement expected this week.

Mootaz Chehade has a very nice history of being right about Barca transfers before they are official: Digne to Everton, Mina to Everton, Malcom hijacked, Vidal swoop, Coutinho, etc. see here:

I Made Little research (in TW) about @MHChehade and his relability about barcelona news. (Mainly because he said few hours ago that barcelona signed dejong)
Digne joined To everton in 1 August. pic.twitter.com/zriyUr7YQJ

— Bacho (@ShurghaiaBacho) January 9, 2019

Francesc Aguilar (Mundo Deportivo Journalist) also reports: “A friend of mine who has all the information of Ajax tells me that Barça have reached an agreement with Matthijs De Ligt for a summer transfer. The deal with Ajax isn’t finalised but their is an agreement at the verbal level.”

Mundo Deportivo's Francesc Aguilar, also says that Valverde does not fully trust Miranda as Alba's only back up and wants Barca to sign a LB.

 

both?
i'll believe it when i see it.
but if we do manage to sign both of them, Abidal deserves another one of these:

 

Yeah, I think Frenkie comes, much less sure about de Ligt. But I'm also hoping Todibo on a free transfer eventually means we don't even need de Ligt (same age, same height, but Tobido only has 10 Ligue 1 games of experience).

 

To be more clear about the Ajax duo, 1- we'll be lucky to sign either, 2- more optimistic that Frenkie has decided to come here, 3- neither is going anywhere before July 1, so if there is an announcement it will just be that we have reached agreement with Ajax and Frenkie on a summer transfer NOT January.

Rabiot said to be talking to 4 other clubs (3 EPL 1 Serie A), at least one of which (Spurs) is willing to pay PSG to take him now so he doesn't sit till July.

 

📰 [SPORT] | The incredible clause that would separate Rabiot from Barça

🔶 The Frenchman would like to be guaranteed by contract that he should not play as a defensive pivot

🔷 Rather than negotiate, the Blaugrana works another option of guarantees such as Frenkie de Jong pic.twitter.com/ufiIWrihFv

— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) January 10, 2019

 

Also just read that PSG is trying desperately to sell him now to (1) get some $ for him, and (2) hope that he strikes a long term deal with the club he's sold to now in order to spite Barca (or, in their eyes, retaliate against Barca who they think interfered with their player by encouraging him not to re-sign). Apparently they are hoping Bayern might be that club.

If we can get Frenkie De Jong let's just pass on Rabiot, I mean it is a deal to get a young talented player on a Bosman but he (and his mom) seem a bit problematic to say the least.

 

Rabiot being Rabiot. Good player to have for free, but his attitude doesn't belong to a top level team.

 

We are linked with Willian yet again, I really don't get our obsession with this guy, a perfectly good player but one who, imho, would make no difference to our chances of winning the CL or La Liga for that matter.

 

Tbh, I thought Rabiot to Barca had been a done deal a couple of weeks ago. Glad to hear it isn't.

 

To be fair signing Rabiot on a free is a no brainer, and with our board they would sell him after 6 months anyway after he had made zero appearances for us.

 

Well it is a no brainer if you have not baked in the money you saved on the "free/Bosman" part into a higher salary then you'd otherwise pay and/or a "sign on bonus" which is paid directly to the player or their agent/parent. I mean I still think the math I've heard works out, player valued at 50M signed for 5 years at 50M+10M signing bonus, so if those are the numbers, sure he is probably a good deal and if he doesn't replace Rakitic or Vidal or prove a great back up to them and Arthur, then we can probably still sell him for something.

BUT by shifting him to a higher salary than he really merits due to the Bosman thing it (1) screws up our already inflated salary structure, (2) makes him harder to sell to any club (only about a dozen other clubs in the world have midfielders making 10M / season I'm guessing esp. once you back out Barca and PSG), and that's ignoring the fact that in that hypothetical future sale he has not only pissed off PSG but also seemingly failed at Barca.

So given all that, and the "no DM" b.s., fact that we already have enough head cases on the team, France NT b.s., etc. Just feel like it is not the no brainer it appears to be.

 

Munir to Sevilla now official:

[ÚLTIMA HORA] Acuerdo con el Sevilla por el traspaso de Munir El Haddadi

Todos los detalles 👉 https://t.co/HnF32fbN2Y pic.twitter.com/XrHPYjpSF8

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) January 11, 2019

 

If he assists one goal for the rest of the month it will be another reason why Ernesto needs to go.

 

That's just awful thinking. If player does good for somebody else, good for him. He didn't do it for us, which is what should matter. I always felt Gomes was a saboteur hired by someone else on Barca, now he shouts how he feels rejuvenated etc., like proving my feel correct. For us, he didn't give his all and made obviously countless of intentional mistakes, so he needed to be shipped to where ever else.

 

And I quote...

"That's just awful thinking."

 

Well if we are stupid enough to lose or give Munir away for knee then we'd better put a clause in his contract that he doesn't play AGAINST us for a season or two