Barcelona Chasing Gareth Bale ?

Barcelona scout albert valentin was at craven cottage to watch tottenham's gareth bale last sunday.


Barca coach Pep Guardiola sent his chief scout Albert Valentine to spy on the Welsh flier in Tottenham's win at Fulham on Sunday.

Reports from Spain say that Guardiola is now keen to make a move for Bale, with Spurs facing a major battle to keep hold of their prize asset.


Express, Daily Mail, Sun

I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't see this happening

dostoevsky wrote:

Speed.

jiopsi wrote:

dostoevsky wrote:

Speed.

How is that going to help when he has no space to run into? Sanchez and Affelay have fantastic acceleration, they're better in tight spaces and they're already integrated into the team - Afellay has at least been training with the team since January even if he has had limited game time and a serious injury recently.

If a left forward is to be bought they need to be a far greater goal threat, not break the bank and a real possibility to break into the starting eleven, however Villa isn't close to requiring replacement.

For a deeper role, Adriano and Maxwell are still in the team and he was never a strong left back to begin with.

dostoevsky wrote:

jiopsi wrote:

dostoevsky wrote:

Speed.

How is that going to help when he has no space to run into?

Counterattacks, which is great opportunity to score, and what is really lacking in Barcelona. You could have seen this in away games this season.

Why would anyone spend so much - if Barcelona do come calling Tottenham will not be selling him cheaply - for a player who will lessen Barcelona's hold on possession in order to be involved in a fairly inactive phase of Barcelona's offensive game overall?

Alexis Sanchez is a brilliant counter-attacking player, the option already exists in his squad, he's better than Gareth Bale and he can fit seamlessly into your first team without simply offering this facet of play. Afellay seemingly wasn't brought in to play a central midfield role, thus he should also be considered as a worthy option to add pace on the wings.

Also the question of 'Why?' is also pertinent to possibly offering another suggestion of who they might have been looking at if the scout was truly present.

If there were any justice, he'd have been there to watch Dos Santos and bring him back to Barcelona. Someone seriously needs to rescue that kid.

Schurrle is like Pedro on drugs, so I think he'd do well at Barca, if what they're looking for is speed.

Bale is pretty much all kick and run.

I think Bale could still be quite useful at another team, simply not Barcelona.

Schurrle's a good alternate option, though he definitely shouldn't be moving at such a time; potentially in two years, there's no hurry. Watching Schurrle play is weird though, sometimes I see fantastic pace and other time it appears that he only glides past because he knows which line to pick and how to move the fullback around rather than simply leaving them for dead. It might just be a weird sensation though in random games.

Why would Barca want anyone at all to join them? Firstly, they have a virtual 'dream' squad made mostly of youth players and secondly they are in massive debt. Bale is a luxury item for them that doesn't fit in with the rest of the decor. I agree with dost, Bale would be better suited to another club in England or Italy.

Forza Rossoneri wrote:Why would Barca want anyone at all to join them? Firstly, they have a virtual 'dream' squad made mostly of youth players and secondly they are in massive debt. Bale is a luxury item for them that doesn't fit in with the rest of the decor. I agree with dost, Bale would be better suited to another club in England or Italy.

It is completely false that we are in massive debt. We only have a loan of 150 milion from one bank. That's all our debt.

I like Gareth Bale, but I don't know how he would fit as he flops as LB and as someone said we are not really a counterattacking team. However, I could see him playing RW in a poor man's Messi way.

free_cat wrote:

Forza Rossoneri wrote:Why would Barca want anyone at all to join them? Firstly, they have a virtual 'dream' squad made mostly of youth players and secondly they are in massive debt. Bale is a luxury item for them that doesn't fit in with the rest of the decor. I agree with dost, Bale would be better suited to another club in England or Italy.

It is completely false that we are in massive debt. We only have a loan of 150 milion from one bank. That's all our debt.

I like Gareth Bale, but I don't know how he would fit as he flops as LB and as someone said we are not really a counterattacking team. However, I could see him playing RW in a poor man's Messi way.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/926957/barcelona-announce-%E2%82%AC45m-transfer-budget?cc=3436

This article is from June this year. It claims Barca have net debt of €364. This is what I was basing my statements on, but you may have a more recent source (although I find it hard to believe they've halved their debt since then). If the figure is 'only' 150 mil then that should be OK for Barca because they make enough money to service and repay their debt.

Anyway, back to the point, regardless of financial issues, I don't see Bale coming to Barca.

Net debt might be around 300 milion for Barça, but net debt is not that important, you don't pay interest on debts for commercial transactions (mainly payments pending for players bought).

While you pay interests from bank loans, which are around 150 milion.

free_cat wrote:Net debt might be around 300 milion for Barça, but net debt is not that important, you don't pay interest on debts for commercial transactions (mainly payments pending for players bought).

While you pay interests from bank loans, which are around 150 milion.

OK, yeah, I see your point, but that's still a massive amount of money that needs paying off at some time. Surely that time is soon, often there are contractual obligations to be met in commercial transactions. You can't just pay the money off whenever, and when that money is paid off, it leaves less to acquire players.

Bale thrives in a counter attack system. When teams park the bus against Barca Bale will probably be anonymous on the field.

Moreover, I'm not sure if Bale would fancy the move himself. I mean, sure it's Barcelona, but he'd be probably the only player in the squad who doesn't speak Spanish.

He's not good enough for Barcelona, he's British so he's price will be ridiculously high. He won't come, if he goes to Spain Madrid counterattacking style is better suited for him, but he is also not good enough for Real Madrid.

Pep wants to copy Jose's counter attack Madrid

Zealous wrote:Pep wants to copy Jose's counter attack Madrid

Come to think of it you may have a point

Thiago, Fabregas, Messi, Sanchez, Alves and Bale are all extremely direct :lol!:

Now that you mention it it does look that way LOL

Why would we go after Bale?
Barca go after technical versatile players and not kick and run one dimensional players.

New Full Back maybe?

alves and bale together would be

Barca to have First second and third best players in same team

1.bale
2.Keita
3.Loldes