Asta, it's very simple. To make life easier on ourselves next year, we simply can't make it through the season with only one bonafide AAA Striker on the roster (Sam I Am). You need an equally impressive lift from the bench. Not the Carew type, not Hoijdonk, not Batigol. Larsson should be back, but by then he'll be 34 years old. He might (and WILL by god!) be able to do it for one more season, not more. Looking ahead, Why should we then, spend at least 12-15 mil Euros on help for Eto'o (quality help) while Saviola can be had for free? He's a top class player, and he's never (never) made a deal out of coming off the bench. Beleive you me, there will be plenty of time for everyone (2 strikers is not a luxury, it's a necessity). Plus, call me naive, but I actually beleive Tixi and Laporta when they say that Saviola is important in Barca's future plan. Heck why not, he's only like 22 or 23, Camp Nou adores him, and he's scored 50 goals in 3 seasons. I can't see why he won't come back.
well in my opinion our signings should be 1) edu from arsenal he is a versitile player can attack and defend. 2) ernst from bremen no glamour but gets the job done.3) carew or van hooidonk. i like the idea of size and presence in the air. would give the likes of gio and belleti an easier target. after defenders case eto, diho and guily for 70mins why not bring in a physical presence when they are tired. The price tag should be only about 15m, edu-- 5m ernst-- 7m carew/hooidonk--- 3m
well said, this reminds of what zidane was saying when being interviewed about the state of real madrid and their season in relation to us on canal + tv, he said that it`s true that barca are playing better than any one in the primera liga currently however with such a playing staff we will not last the whole season on two fronts, the league and in europe. well going by this "Believe me,there will be plenty of time for everyone (2 strikers is not a luxury, it's a necessity" i now understand why zizuo made such comments, just like you said we do need classy sharp shooters, this will actually take the pressure and work load from each other, real madrid have like four, owen, ronaldo, el moro and raul, at milan there is sheva, crespo, pipo and tommasson, look at inter, adriano, vieri, martins, recoba. the bavarians of munich have the likes of roy makaay, pizaro,zickler though has lost form and roque santa cruz, not a bad front line, man united boost of saha if fit, van Nistelrooy , rooney and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer if he stays healthy, valencia, chelsea also have good firing lines. so in reality it seems that among europe`s heavy weights it`s us who are relying on one marksman, not a good thing.
Good remarks AcBarca. Although 4 strikers is too much in my opinion (there's always gonna be at least one who's not happy and who's gonna be a meal for the press with transfer rumours), our 4-3-3 System would be almost perfect with one AAA guy and an AA+ backup.
we might actually prize away edu from the gunners, so far he has failed to sign a contract extension and wenger issued a sign or be sold statement, so looks like himself he wants to move on and it`s true he is very versatile, plays different roles for brazil and with the gunners. Van Hooijdonk had an impressive season with Fenerbahçe as they dominated the likes of besiktas and the fading galatasaray, he is playing well and yes he commands great aerial abilities same as carew, also an excelent free kick specialist, they would be good target men. i would love to have them on board. i only watched a few bundesliga and champ league matches of werder bremen this season so i really haven`t followed fabian ernst`s season that closely, but already a german international should do a good job for us, besides weder is playing well both in europe and at home. which reminds me of the impressive ivan klanic what do you guys think of him, to me not a bad choice to provide extra cover in attack. also any one knows about the political situation in ukraine, i heard some thing about us not wanting to play there because of the bad political enviroment.
According to El Mundo, it really looks like Tac will be a barca player in January. Forget Edu for the time being.
i agree. i think, of all the options, he would be the safest bet. saha is a better player, but he's been injured all season and has only played one or two games, so it would be pointless to sign someone him to relieve barca's injury problems. carew has experience with a top spanish side so that means he will be able to adapt quicker than any of the other options. i think anelka is the only other player mentioned who has played in spain, but his time at madrid was a complete disaster for everyone involved. rijkaard is not looking for someone who is going to our top scorer, he has said clearly that what he wants is a central target man, who's good in the air and will work for the team, so he can win some high balls and knock it down for an on-rushing dinho/giuly/deco/etc. carew is such a giant that simply having him standing in the penalty area will cause panic in the opposition defence, especially when they know that its just a matter of time before a perfect pass gets to him from any one of our wizards in midfield, or one of the full-backs. players like defoe, anelka and bojinov (who's non-EU anyway) are all too much like eto'o, they are all ball players, not target men. so carew will really add another dimension to the team. another plus about carew is that he's capable of playing on the wing, as he did on a number of occasions for valencia, and he won't cause problems about sitting on the bench. so overall carew fits the profile rijkaard is looking for perfectly. i have to add though that i really can't see him as a long-term solution, so i hope its just a sic month loan. but for those ix months i think he is by far the best option i have heard mentioned so far.
I think they will go with priorities, two players will only be needed: DM and versatile striker. http://skysports.planetfootball.com...LID=&lid=10&title=Barca+in+fresh+Italian+link
i would be really happy with this. i think the jan transfer window could not be better IF barca get tac and van hooijdonk (more of a dream than a rumor). edit: just to add (even though i believe ive mentioned this all before), i dont believe there is a better strike option out there other than van hooijdonk. he would add the physical presence and heading to the attack, has better freekicks/penalties than anyone on the team, good goal scorer, a leader, i am sure would not mind playing 2nd fiddle, and is still in good shape/form. i am unsure if fenherbache would let him go tho, with their soon to be uefa cup run and 5 pt league lead. oh ya, p-air has alrdy stated he is going to leave turkey after this season, so why not make it earlier? he wants to go home to holland...it may not look so as much now, but barca is the closest thing to holland outside of it.
i have never seen this guy ljuboja play but he is not the quality barca should be looking for we have two trophies to win huh. la liga and uefa. we should go for proven talent rather than unknowns. most of the top clubs have two or three world class strikers. Arsenal -- ----- henry, reyes, denis chelsea---------drogba, kezman, gudju man u ---------- rooney, ruud, saha, smith juve------------- del piero,ibro, zyle, tres ac milan---------- shevo,inza, tommason, crespo inter-------------- martins,viera, recoba, adriano real---------------- moro,Ron,owen,raul barce---------------eto, larson, eto will eventually have a lean period so we need a world class replacement not a cheap buy if we are to achieve success this season.competition for places is a good thing it will keep everyone on their toes.
fenerbahce financially they are much better than most turkish teams after entering the champ league although galatasaray is above them but i don`t think this has any thing to do with van hooijdonk, they were playing well at the start of the league but now they started with a commanding display but struggled in europe as evidenced by the 3-1 and 6-2 drubbing at the hands of lyon and man united respectively. however they are toping the table with gala in hot pursuit. actually van hooijdonk has been missing for some of their most recent games. age wise , he is a veteran surely some thing like 34 now so even if we get him it will be for a short term basis, we used to call him a journey man, hehehe , the guy has been at so many clubs, from celtic to nottingham forest to vitesse, also played with benfica and signed for his boyhood club rotterdem feyernoord having started with RBC Roosendaal before joining nac breda in the dutch first division, as you can see hes been a wanderer, a true journey man , perhaps his last destination will be camp nou. thier team is built around the playmaking skills of brazilian international alex, Marco Aurélio another brazilian attacker, nobre and Tuncay Sanli. have you guys heard that our representative is meeting with the agent of PSG `s Danijel Ljuboja this week, the agent even goes ahead by saying that they wanted to keep such talk of the psg front runner a secret for a while, so it seems that the former sochaux and Strasbourg hit man will be headed to camp nou any time soon.
is this a loan deal or a transfer. this would be great either way. with the signing of kompany in the summer. our defence would be like the great wall of china
I dont think they know what it is going to be yet,...they are working that out with Juve...probably a loan though imo
i agree that it will probably be a loan and that they are nto even sure yet, but i think it would be in barca's best interest to loan him.
Saviola open to Barca return: http://skysports.planetfootball.com...=&lid=1492&title=Saviola+open+to+Barca+return It looks like to me that Monaco is trying to swap Saviola for Morientes as they can't afford to have both on their books. If Saviola go's back in my opinion it's only to see Morientes go the other way.
Guess Tacc is not on his way...deal scratched... http://skysports.planetfootball.com...CLID=&lid=10&title=No+Barca+move+for+Juve+man
Barcelona January Strategy Defined Last Night 12/9/2004 2:35:00 PM The Barcelona sports commission formed by Laporta, Rosell, Begiristain, and coach Frank Rijkaard met last night to decide upon the club’s January moves. Rijkaard asked his management for three players, but now it seems he will only get two, a midfielder and a striker. For the midfield role Juventus’ Alessio Tacchinardi is top of the Azulgrana’s list, even though Rijkaard would prefer Arsenal’s Edu. The main obstacle separating Barca from the Brazlian Gunner is the fact that Arsene Wenger will never deprive himself of such an important player midway through this season. For the attacking role, Rijkaard has decided to concentrate the club’s efforts on signing Besiktas striker John Carew seen as both Milan’s Tomasson and PSG’s Ljuboja will stay at their respective clubs at least for another six months. Rijkaard also excluded Saviola and Batistuta from his list of most-wanted players.
http://skysports.planetfootball.com...10&cpid=23&title=Barca+outline+transfer+plans I think Carew, Saviola, Tacchinardi are all out becouse they wouldnt be able to play in CL. He will have to find a player that has EU staus, is a very good player, can play in CL and ia available for a loan. The list shouldnt be to long. BTW, Barca is interesting in signing River Plate Maxi Lopez. Anyone know the guy?
if they're talking to PSG, why not their top scorer pauleta?? ljuboja has hardly played at all this season and hasn't scored a single goal. this doesn't make any sense to me.
astab00t, I don't mean to be weird or anything but.. Your icon is really bothering me. Could you please, I don't know, maybe take a new picture or something?
Maximiliano López 81kg 1.87m 1984 he can score from with his head or his feet. he is good with the ball, can beat a player, can play wide (the right side), can poach, etc. he is going to be awesome i think.