Especially when you are going to direct competition for signings in La Liga. The transfers of the last 5-6 years have been absolute disasters aside from 2 or 3.
To be fair I don't think Griezmann is a bad signing. He is the player he was at Atleti and very effective at that. Coutinho was overpaid but not a bad signing either. He really can play and had good games for us but he plays the same position as Messi. Dembele was an awful signing because of injuries but when healthy he was worth the money. He was producing and scoring important goals. Nobody knew he would be so injury prone and he could still come clean. Lots of LPB fans were complaining about Bale but he paid off in the 2018 CL Final. Dembele could till do the same and contribute heavily in a big match. I think this management screwed up not in the signings they made but 1) how much they paid because they were desperate. Even cutting 10-15 mn off of each deal makes a huge difference. 2) Not making the signings to bolster the team where needed but instead kept signing high profile attackers. I appreciate Messi saying he wants Neymar and Lautaro but our team doesn't need to bolster the forward lines. Messi, Griezmann, Fati is good enough. We do need about two world class midfielders and a right full back. That's what the board should focus on obtaining. If City players start leaving picking up De Bruyne would improve our team a lot than picking up Lautaro because it addresses our core weaknesses. With Suarez healthy in a few months we don't need Lautaro and even now we can get away without a #9. Our forward like is good enough compared to midfield.
Not sure Braithwaite will be sold. Even if Coutinho comes back, we would still be short on forwards. Dembele is out for half a year! And little chance he'll remain healthy even after that.
Wow the Haaland hype is unreal! This kid is good but not that good yet and he wouldn't fit that well in our possession style of game. He isn't that strong technically.
If you ask me then they gave Braithwaite this long a contract to be sure to at least get most of their money back... and though the Barcelona head coach especially asked to get him, I suspect that the plan is to sell him within ½ to 1½ years, all considering his performance and what bigger "name" player they are able to sign. If we disregard his dispute with a relegated Middlesbrough and their coach and management for playing long ball "kick and rush" and they in respond kicking him off the team for being "greedy", he has never really had any trouble highly impressing at other clubs in Southern Europe, so even a tiny club at the bottom league in Spain were highly eager to pay €5 million for him after a short loan deal
That's a valid point. And a bad first touch is not something you can really improve on. But he does make-up for his bad touches with his speed sometimes. Also Suarez doesn't have a great first touch either and he fits-in pretty well.
1230592679911641088 is not a valid tweet id Trincao with the assist. What a goal from Abel Ruiz on his Europa League debut! pic.twitter.com/CwH981CgEZ— Arunav Godara (@GodaraArunav) February 20, 2020
We are bad at signings. When is the last time we paid good money for something that paid off.... People are going to say Griz, but has he really stepped up the way we hoped? I miss Paulinho, budget player that played with balls.
Don’t know what game you saw. His first touch was decent and he’s decent on the ball if you ask me. First touch could be improved btw. You can’t expect him to be like Ronaldo Nazario technically and Haaland seems to be well rounded player. What we need is a damn goal scorer like peak Suarez did when he came here.
He‘a got pretty decent dribbling skills plus with that athleticism and speed it helps. Btw totally forgot Raiola is his agent *smh*
Love Danish people and I’m a fan of some Danish footballers like the Laudrup bros and Peter Schmiechel.Eriksen is pretty solid as well. Lars von Trier who’s one of my favourite film director is a Dane. So are actors, Viggo Mortensen and Mads Mikkelsen who played Aragorn and Hannibal respectively.
I actually played quite a few games with him on FUT 18 when I had a Ligue 1-based team, wasn't bad at all. Not sure how closely the ratings mimic players real-life abilities, but he was fast enough, strong enough...solid. ***Hoping for some of that Paulinho-dust***
I see Haaland as Zlatan athleticism-wise but with less technical ability in terms of first touch and dribbling.
Zlatan could’ve been a great fit for us if it wasn’t for his ego and Pep clash. Dude had dope technical skills for his size, plus he was the complete package. It’s surprising that he never won a CL
Haaland is definitely not gonna be a great technical player like Zlatan, but he’s decent in that regard. Anyways, Zlatan was definitely a fantastic dribbler in his prime and he wasn’t even pacey. A perfect forward IMO should have 6ft+height, technical skills, physicals and lethal finishing. Marco van Basten, peak Zlatan and peak CR7 were the closest we got.
The hope with Braithwaite is that you are getting a Giuly/Larsson type of clutch man for those crucial minutes in CL deciders or in a tight La Liga race. He appears to have good all-around skill and definite pace. He creates a lot of space between himself and the defender with a single touch. Explosive. He will be great in the locker room and a hard worker. My obvious issue with everything we are seeing is the complete lack of foresight or any semblance of a cohesive plan. This board is disintegrating before our eyes, and with any luck it will resolve itself sooner rather than waiting until 2021 for the good of the club.
He cannot play in the CL ... Forget about the CL. Messi comes out publicly and says we are not good enough to win it. I am gonna say he means it and isn't playing some reverse psychology game on the team. This move is to try and salvage La Liga.
The screw up is in the lack of a plan from the board/technical direction and, when Valverde was manager, lack of a sound tactical strategy. Barca were always going to struggle to integrate players regardless of reputation because of these two enormous flaws in the club. Regarding Suarez, he is basically finished at the top level in my opinion. He doesn't have the legs to go a full season 100% with multiple competition demands. He is capable of moments of quality, but not much more now. Barca absolutely need a center forward this summer whether Latauro or someone else. I'm wary of Latauro because FCB interest is well known now, and his price is driven way up. Also, with the Premier League circling, his wage demands are increasing by the day. Donyell Malen is the one I want because his hype machine is much quieter given the minor operation he had in January and the fact he may not make the Euros. He will be 100% this summer, and a much better deal than Latauro. Dayot Upamecano would be my other must sign.
Setien is my only hope, but the team certainly is missing a few ingredients. Too weak defensively to be brave enough pushing all out for goals, and too prone to errors playing from the back with Busquets still trying to recover from Ernieball. Classic captain speech from Messi. The blind optimism was beaten out of us all in Rome and Liverpool.