Rumor: Yea or Ney-mar - The 2019-20 Transfer thread

Umtiti wanted to leave btw iirc.

 

Umtiti's injuries have certainly messed up his valuation but he came in for 25M and unseated Mascherano who was a rock in our defense, he had technical skills and also physical skills, and soon EPL teams wanted to buy him for his release clause which was a low 60M at the time, so we improved his salary, extended his contract, and hugely increased his buyout clause.

I still believe that the first part, signing him for 25M worked out very well. The second part, re-signing him for more money in salary and years has not, and even that is because of all the injuries. I'm pretty sure that we could sell him today for over 25M, and it's valuable to have such an experienced player as our 3rd CB, but his early Barca trajectory into being a top 10-20 CB in the world has been stalled by injuries, no doubt about that, and he needs to stay healthy for a full season and reclaim a starting place, before he can sniff being a top 20 CB again and being worth 60M again.

 

Yeah, I remember being scared that another club would meet his buyout clause of 60M. Seems nuts now, but at the time he was that good.
In hindsight, that probably would've been Barca's best out-going transfer move of the decade had someone activated his buyout clause.

 

No Barca's best out-going transfer move was also the result of the activation of a buyout clause for a soon to be frequently injured player was when PSG paid us 222M for the Instagram sensation and occasional footballer named Neymar.

Shame that we freaked out and wasted that money on an even more frequently injured Dembele and a player, Coutinho, who we wanted to replace Iniesta (or Neymar when Dembele was injured) when his game and work-rate was not up to replacing either (skilled though he is).

Bigger shame that some think it is wise to bring him back for another absurd pile of money.

 

Shame we didn’t buy Dybala when he was being offered around for under £100 million .. I never doubted him

 

Pretty sure we signed Coutinho as Iniesta’s replacement.

 

As far as Iniesta replacements go, Bernardo Silva would've been a better move.

 

Yes

You’re not telling me that two fantastic players can’t play together ..

Allegri has experimented with his front three this season. Dybala has either played behind both Ronaldo and Mandzukic or he has formed a good part of a fluid front three.

 

True

 

Can Coutinho even play as a central midfielder tbh? Like is he comfortable with the position

 

Central midfielders can have pretty different job descriptions in different teams, not to mention in different teams your team-mates click with you better or worse. I suppose in right circumstances he can play well in a role that can be described as "CM".

 

He has also experimented with his identity. He goes by Sarri now and chokes on cigarettes at half-time.

 

Thankfully we’re talking about Dybala though .. who’s having his best ever season and we could have had him for less than 100 mill

 

Barça will announce a 'bomb' signing next week, but it won't be Rodrigo or Lautaro. [cat radio]

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 26, 2020

 

I’m 100% sure that bomb signing would be Lord Bendtner. The greatest athlete ever to play a sport

 

Timo Werner would be fine.

 

Werner apparently prefers to play in EPL.

 

I’d take Werner any day over Cavani. Cavani reminds me a bit of Suarez in the sense that he always scores amazing goals but tends to miss the easier ones. Plus, he’s old, we don’t need another grandpa on our roster unless it’s a loan.

 

Emre Can available on a free .. cant we swap Rakitic for him !!

 

According to transfermarkt his contract runs until 2022.
€23m is the number Juve claim they have been offered by English clubs.