Predictably Unpredictable - The Pedja's House of Transfers/Rumors Thread

Youngstars your posts are making me LOL, priceless.

 

not sure how interested you lads will be (seeing as you have far bigger fish to fry) but at the weekend i posted an update about real madrid's interest in hibernian striker steven fletcher.

if you click the link you'll see highlights of hibs game at the weekend where they beat kilmarnock 2-0. fletcher(no.9) nets the second and goes close just before scoring.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7301962.stm

also, as expected, he's been named in scotland's squad for the friendly with croatia.

 

I disagree.

We mostly need a playmaker, because Guti is getting older, Sneijder is good but sill hasn't proved to be the playmaker we need and Gago and Diarra are defensive players.

So our first objective should be a player who would be in the starting 11 all the time.

Then we check for back ups, we sack Salgado and get a decent replacement, preferably somebody who can play CB and RB
And we need a third class striker so we can rotate up in front.

So Diego and Fabiano would be top off my list, 'cause all the other top class players, the Cescs, Kaka's and Ronaldo's just aren't gonna come this way.

And we don't have to search for wingers, we already have 3 good ones. OK one is always injured and we overpaid him like hell, but we have to live with Pedja's mistakes

 

Fabiano? Like someone's already said, we need a player like Kanoute for Fabiano to play off, otherwise he just isn't anywhere near as effective...

 

I am happy to see our board planning ahead for the summer transfer window, as I was disappointed w/ the injuries and lack of effectiveness vs. Roma.

Our main priority is a 9. Ruud and Raul cannot continue starting every game together, their age makes this risky for their longevity throughout the season. Youth is a priority for our transfers and Pedja knows that. Pepe, Sneijder, and yes even Robben were great transfers because of their class and youthfulness,
I've always thought --> class+youth = enormous potential

We should not take Drogba, again Pedja knows that he is full of class, but his age does not fit our transer strategy. We are building a young team with the intention of staying atop the CL much like a decade ago.

IMO Benzema is the only true 9 w/class+youth, or am I missing someone?
I am skeptical about Huntelaar despite his young age. If Huntelaar is truly madridista quality why has he stayed in Holland all these years? Anyone know, does he lack pace, finishing, or something as critical?

 

Thats just the price Ajax are throwing around and might not necessarily represent his value or what we are ready to pay for him.

 

I don't agree.
In the NT we don't have a Kanoute and when Luis Fabiano played for São Paulo he didn't have a partner like that either.

 

Bwahaha. It's amazing how you got so many of his photos YS. Making me laugh.

 

You make it sound like RB isn't our preferred position for Ramos? It's more like "We signed Pepe and Metzelder so that we didn't have to move Ramos to CB." Obviously we had bad luck with injuries so that didn't work out quite as well as planned. What is it about our CBs anyway--Woodgate's done great since leaving us

 

It isn't my preferred position for Sergio Ramos (I am in the much maligned Ramos at CB camp).

I think Alves would give the right side a completely different look than Ramos does. Alves brings more skill; Ramos brings more tenacity. As much as I love Sergio Ramos (remember, I was very vocal about pursuing him - probably moreso than anyone else) but I don't think he impacts the game offensively the way Alves does... and I don't know that Ramos ever will.


BTW, I am the one that brought up Altidores in the Spanish thread. I don't know how interested we are in him, but I would love to take a chance on him. I think someone said his price tag was about $5 million (can someone confirm?). If that is the case, I see him as someone worth investing in. I have only seen him with the full national team once and he didn't have a ton of touches in that one, but I liked what I saw (he did score a goal). He seems to have a good football IQ.

Maybe we can get Altidore to marry Calderón's daughter? BRILLIANT!

 

Alves, Ramos, Pepe, Metze, Canna, Hienze, Torres, Salgado, Marcelo and Opare in Castilla

So assuming the club is able to get Alves...who goes, who stays? Is another CB needed (Garay/Caceres) if Ramos is moved over to play CB? Canna and Hienze aren't getting any younger. Will Metze be reliable for next season (or even beyond that)? Hopefully Torres is a no-brainer and is let go at the end of this season. Do we keep Salgado? He could prove useful for CdR matches.

I like the idea of Ramos to CB. If he's moved there for next season he could learn a lot more from Canna as far as really commanding the back line. Next season is Canna's last with us I think and then he'll probably be off to Napoli. It might be a useful idea to have rotations between these two. They'll both be somewhat exhausted from the Euros this summer and they've been (up until Sergio's suspensions) are two most played players this season.

I don't know, but if Alves is going to be a high target for next season I think these will be some of the things the coaching staff and Mija will have to consider.

 

I am very high on Granero because he is not only a good playmaker but he does the dirty work like track back and defend. He looks like a very good fit for Guti's current position in the squad.

You wouldn't be able to play Diego so far back in the midfield...that would be playing him out of position.

 

LOL

On Alves, yes he is a fantastic player but man he would be a pain in the ass to watch play for us with his antics. That's really the only thing I don't like about him (and this applies to Fabiano as well...well most of the Sevilla team actually). I really wish there was another RB out there who was not such an asshole more or less.

4x4, that sounds like a good idea than we could actually play Wesley as an AMC, our 3 man midfield would look very good.

 

What goes on in the Spanish thread stays in the Spanish thread. Shame on you.

Difficult...a lot will depend on the player himself...and he is not a happy bunny at the moment.
Difficult but not impossible.
What i actually said was of all the forwards being mentioned in the press, i would chose Villa every time.

We do not know how Diego would cope with the pressure either and i have the feeling Granero would understand the pressures involved better than most.
Add to that the fact that I don't see Diego as able to play the midfielder role (as opposed to mediapunta) that Guti has been playing(with the problems concerning tracking back that this brings) ...while Granero can.
With Granero, I don't see Diego as a necessity.

 

I say get rid of Guti and Baptista, and get both Diego and Granero. If this season is any indication, they will both get enough games.

Seriously, we REALLY need to think about letting Guti go, he'll be 32 in October and it's all downhill from there.

 

I would be on board for this.

I think Baptista doesn't have much of a future at Real.

 

I dont agree with the pairing of Canna and Ramos in CB...i would have Pepe and Ramos any day of the year. Pepe has been our star signing this year when fit. The guy is a beast in CB...make runs and commits players to give players like robbie the space to move in...

This is the defence for next year IMO

Alves..........Ramos...............Pepe...............Marcelo/Heinze

IMO the players we need are ALVES, DIEGO, VILLA/BENZIMA/ZLATEN IBRAHIMAVICH???? I know its a bit out there, but if we do a swap with Diarra or swap plus cash, i would do it!

 

Does anyone know what is going on with VDV this summer....after all the hoopla last summer...he is still in Germany

 

@ laudrup

No arguments over Baptista.

Guti has carried us through a number of games this season and i accept disappeared in others.While I accept age is the issue at the heart of your point, Guti has on balance done a lot more this season than many (admittedly younger)others we would not consider selling.
In all honesty if Granero comes back and performs as he can, I don't see Guti keeping him out of the team...unless we get the 'Guti at his best' version...and I don't think anyone would complain at that.
However I see no reason to talk about removing a player, especially one who has proved many times he can make the difference, from the squad.

 

Just a few weeks ago Calderon was about to give him a "contract-for-life".