We Really Screwed the Puig: The 2021 Transfer Thread

No Arteta please. His style of football is atrocious and it’s not like he’s doing wonders with Arsenal.

💣☎️ https://t.co/eKCo8qyeca

— Gerard Romero (@gerardromero) February 28, 2021

 

They always exaggerate the height of players. Riqui Puig is 1.69m according to Transfermkt. That would mean he is only 1 centimeter shorter than the average Spanish male.

 

denied by Laporta's team:

1366412883802873861 is not a valid tweet id

 

I interpret that as Koeman is staying to the end of the season. But beyond the next three month Laporta is open and anything can happen. As he should be.

 

LOL https://talksport.com/football/8433...borussia-dortmund-manchester-united-man-city/

 

nothing signed yet, but Mundo Deportivo is claiming that Barca has reached a verbal agreement with David Alaba.

Laporta had met with his agent last week and told them not to make any decisions until after the election.

 

I take anything stated by MD with a grain of salt. If Laporta is actually gonna sign him, then his wage demands would’ve been lowered for sure.

 

Mascherano ?

 

The Spanish publication claims Barcelona want to use funds to make a bid to lure Haaland from Dortmund. But he’s not the only forward they want to sign, with
Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay also wanted on frees
. Laporte’s plan is to pair up Lionel Messi with two from Haaland, Aguero and Depay in a dream new attack.

Philippe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Martin Braithwaite, Junior Firpo and Antoine Griezmann are all up for sale. Selling the quartet will likely raise around €160m, with Coutinho and Griezmann the largest of those funds recouped.
Even Dembele will be available at the right price

 

lol Big difference between Haaland and Depay & Aguero. It's only a "dream attack" if it includes Haaland.

That said, if we can sell Coutinho and bring-in Depay for free that's a good piece of business because we make some money and don't lose anything on the field (slight gain even, I'd say).

 

Depay is Lyon’s best player, Lyon are still fighting for the league, that’s more than just a slight gain, especially on a free.

I was never a fan of Depay at Barcelona, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a great player, albeit a bit inconsistent.

I do agree that for it to truly be a dream attack it’d have to include either Haaland or Mbappe.

 

I am NOT liking these growing rumors about Wijnaldum at all. He’s a decent player who has some outliers and is already 30.

Why would we ruin the potential that our young and talented midfield has for a player who won’t even make it better? On the contrary, he’d make it worse imo. He’s no better than Arthur.

He’d only get in the way of the ilaix/Puig-Frenkie-Pedri midfield of dreams. If he’s coming as a bench player than sure, nothing more than that though.

 

Yes I agree . He’s decent but we are good for midfielders . We need a CF and a couple of CBS as priority

 

Agreed. Garcia is coming in, who I hope has a Pique-like trajectory. If it were up to me we’d sell both Lenglet and Umtiti and get someone else. Won’t happen though.

Juve are in shambles, maybe a cheeky bid for de Ligt? Will probably be way too expensive though. A man can dream.

 

I’d settle for an experienced CB like Chielini or Bonucci just for 12 months or so

 

Have you been watching Juve matches of late? Bonucci is the laughing stock of that defensive line. He even has a nickname “the ass-tackler”. He’s been terrible.

 

They seem to play him though .. I’ve seen De Ligt benched recently

 

De Ligt was on the bench because he was coming off en injury and they were easing him in. He started the last two matches so idk when was the last time you saw a Juve game or if you only watch Juve’s CL matches.

And yes, they do play him, but that’s out of necessity more than anything else. Certainly not because of his defensive capabilities.

 

A CF and a CB should be the priority for the team. We don't need Wijnaldum who as people have said will only be hurting the young players' development.

 

my hunch is that the Wijnaldum rumours were leaked by his agents just as part of his his contract negotiations with Liverpool, to put the club under pressure to pay him more. he'll probably end up signing an extension soon enough.

 

Just a hunch, but I feel Lenglet's problems are more mental than physical. If he doesn't have the pressure of feeling that he is our #1 CB (which at times this season he was with Pique's injury), then he might still become a solid defender.

So wouldn't mind keeping him even if we get Garcia.

 

Abidal: "If we didn't sign Griezmann, I think 100 percent we could have resigned Neymar because what we needed was a winger and when Neymar was at Barcelona he was amazing. This is not about which player is better, it was what I thought was the position we needed at the time. The team needed a real winger. The president decided to sign Griezmann.”

 

If what you’re saying turns out to be true then I’d gladly keep him too. God knows we need to save up wherever we can. More funds for a marquee signing too.

I’ve been very critical on Lenlget, and he deserved it too, but he’s been doing better in this formation so I hope that gives him a mental boost to keep performing.

More than anything I hope Garcia comes good. Even with limited playing time he is highly regarded by both Guardiola and Luis Enrique as he’s been selected for the Spanish NT. They can’t all be misjudging his talent, surely.

 

Neymar would have been both a better winger and a better striker. Dumb decision all around and goes to show that this club has been run by clowns.

Laporta would have gone for Neymar.

 

Such a self serving quote from Abidal. I mean Abidal was still technical secretary at the club when the club reached a pre-agreement with Griezmann the year after he said no to the first Barca buyout. That business was done. Only later in the summer of 2019 did Neymar come out and say, hey, I made a mistake and even though you spent all the money you got for me leaving you in the lurch on Dembele, Coutinho, and now Griezmann, and even though I'm suing the club for a bonus, I still want to come back. Come do business with PSG.

And frankly Neymar's public courting of Barca only screwed Griezmann in the eyes of the team, Griez was never going to be Neymar but Neymar had left Barca like a thief in the night, but Barca already pre-agreed with Griez on the buy out.

I mean the old board was bad and good riddance, but I don't believe for a second that Abidal was not an advocate for signing Griezman first in 2018 (when he decided to stay) then in 2019. Abidal was technical secretary until after the 8-2 Bayern defeat. Abidal also supported Setien's signing. For him to say, hey, I was in the room with PSG, and we could've worked something out, however, we'd already committed too much money to another player. It helps nothing but to try to resurrect Abidal's own career.