Transfer preview: Cesc Fabregas

The Franchise wrote:
So how come Iniesta choose to stuck around?

When Cesc was around, there was no Iniesta as we know him now, Cesc left because he wanted to. Iniesta didnt, he stuck around and now look at him.

Too good a post.

The Franchise wrote:Well yeah, Pique is a traitor too Kizz. But he came back when we sucked, he didn't jump on the bandwagon. Pique didn't come back because we were great, he came back because he missed home.

If Arsenal were better then Barca, or even if Barca were below par, he wouldn't come back.

I honestly believe that.

Also if Fabregas can find a way to come back for E5m or some such amount like Pique did then he is most welcome. :lol!:

Agreement shown by underlining your belief.

kizz, this is not hate for Fabregas. I/we don't mind seeing him be a great player somewhere else. I do like certain aspects of him as a footballer and he doesn't give any reasons to complain about his off the pitch behavior either. It's a protest against our own talents leaving and then be bought back for exorbitant prices. Buying Fabregas back could set a wrong precedent for future generations.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:To be fair, he wears the number 4 because that was Guardiola's number. The man is his idol and he is now coaching his childhood friends. Imagine yourself in the same situation.

And success aside, who wouldn't want to play with Messi? with Xavi & Iniesta?

Not saying success doesn't have its appeal but I think it's harsh to make him out to be a complete gloryhunter.

A very fair and wonderful post.

I always wondered why he chose a number like 4 which sounds like a defender's number. You have given me the answer.

The underlined point is very true. Look at how so many worldwide footballers today dream of playing for Barcelona. At this point only one club can match us in terms of player pulling power and that is Real Madrid.

The last line is very interesting. Yes most likely his feelings are a mixture of both - some amount of glory hunting and some amount of wanting to be back in his own land, among his own people, with his own friends and under his own idol.

Fabregas can give you a much more physical approach believe it or not. EPL has influenced his style of play greatly. In la liga you will be impressed how he can win the ball back. If only busquets would use that 82 kg of his.

messixaviesta wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Well yeah, Pique is a traitor too Kizz. But he came back when we sucked, he didn't jump on the bandwagon. Pique didn't come back because we were great, he came back because he missed home.

If Arsenal were better then Barca, or even if Barca were below par, he wouldn't come back.

I honestly believe that.

Also if Fabregas can find a way to come back for E5m or some such amount like Pique did then he is most welcome. :lol!:

Agreement shown by underlining your belief.

kizz, this is not hate for Fabregas. I/we don't mind seeing him be a great player somewhere else. I do like certain aspects of him as a footballer and he doesn't give any reasons to complain about his off the pitch behavior either. It's a protest against our own talents leaving and then be bought back for exorbitant prices. Buying Fabregas back could set a wrong precedent for future generations.

The problem is what you've written right there JD. You're not guilty of it, like me, you're simply opposed to the move by Barca. However, some are directing their distaste at this move directly at Fabregas, who I'm saying does not deserve it. This is my only problem, why hate on Fabregas... its not his fault that he wants to come back to Barca, that Barca wants him, that the press has turned it into a circus, and that the price is so damn high. Most of it is out of his control, at the end of the day I'm just asking people to view him as a Barca kid who wants to play for the team he dreamed about. Even if he's made mistakes, there's no reason to hate on Cesc.

If you're asking what I mean by this hate... I mean calling him a 'traitor' (give me a break...), underrating him, abusing him etc. which people have been doing.

That's all I'm saying.

Giggity5313 wrote:Fabregas can give you a much more physical approach believe it or not. EPL has influenced his style of play greatly. In la liga you will be impressed how he can win the ball back. If only busquets would use that 82 kg of his.

I can accept that but how will that help us. I am assuming you are not suggesting we drop Busquets and play Fabregas in his place.

Giggity5313 wrote:Fabregas can give you a much more physical approach believe it or not. EPL has influenced his style of play greatly. In la liga you will be impressed how he can win the ball back. If only busquets would use that 82 kg of his.

I never understand this idea that Busquets is so big physically... He's 73kg and 6"2', can't you see that he's extremely skinny??

This is not a physically big person, I'm exactly the same in terms of height and weight and I can tell you, I'm far from a physically strong person.

BarcaKizz wrote:
The problem is what you've written right there JD. You're not guilty of it, like me, you're simply opposed to the move by Barca. However, some are directing their distaste at this move directly at Fabregas, who I'm saying does not deserve it. This is my only problem, why hate on Fabregas... its not his fault that he wants to come back to Barca, that Barca wants him, that the press has turned it into a circus, and that the price is so damn high. Most of it is out of his control, at the end of the day I'm just asking people to view him as a Barca kid who wants to play for the team he dreamed about. Even if he's made mistakes, there's no reason to hate on Cesc.

If you're asking what I mean by this hate... I mean calling him a 'traitor' (give me a break...), underrating him, abusing him etc. which people have been doing.

That's all I'm saying.

Fair enough kizz. I think the traitor comment came from the idea that he did not completely refuse the overtures of Real Madrid some time back. So if we sign Juan Mata now, will he be called a traitor at Real Madrid?

See I understand that he is in a difficult situation. How does he tell the manager and fans who have treated him so well that he is desperate to leave? At the same time how does he keep himself motivated to play there when his burning desire is to be back at Barca? It's a catch 22 situation. However this is what we need to convey to our talented youth of today that if you leave now, you too may want to come back some day and find that it is so difficult to do that. For example Thiago and his entourage sometimes do hint at leaving. Now if we don't sign Fabregas for a high price saying that we will not pay huge amounts for the return of those who were once ours, I am 99% sure Thiago will stay put and kind of be scared to go anywhere lest he want to come back desperately and not be able to. You can hear how sad Jeffren is since it's been indicated to him that he is not wanted here. In a nutshell it's about setting the right or wrong precedent. That is my main concern.

lol at people calling a professional football player a traitor cause he wanted to develop his career instead of riding the pine till he was 24 or even longer. He would be getting paid allot less than he is now, and not recognized had he stayed. At the end of the day this is a job, people here are putting the club before. Please, stop the hate on Cesc. Its not deserving, and he isnt a traitor. In that case every player we sign should be considered a traitor to whatever club they came from since no club is considered to be better than Barca and ppl would obviously be coming to us because they want to win trophies

messixaviesta wrote:

Giggity5313 wrote:Fabregas can give you a much more physical approach believe it or not. EPL has influenced his style of play greatly. In la liga you will be impressed how he can win the ball back. If only busquets would use that 82 kg of his.

I can accept that but how will that help us. I am assuming you are not suggesting we drop Busquets and play Fabregas in his place.

OF course not. But xavi will be getting older, and teams will start to play high pressure on barca, as they will be even more desperate to beat barca (imagine the pride it gives you lol). Therefore rotation will be more key next season for both teams, especially RM. Hopefully what happens to xabi alonso (burnout) doesn't happen to xavi, at his age its very dangerous.

Barcakizz, if that is true I have read wrong then. I thought busquets was over the 80 kg mark, guess my sources were wrong.

Giggity5313 wrote:
OF course not. But xavi will be getting older, and teams will start to play high pressure on barca, as they will be even more desperate to beat barca (imagine the pride it gives you lol). Therefore rotation will be more key next season for both teams, especially RM. Hopefully what happens to xabi alonso (burnout) doesn't happen to xavi, at his age its very dangerous.

Yes that's quite acceptable but some of us believe Thiago is ready to do such a role while we also have the versatile Afellay. If we can show more confidence in them they could step up even more. Overall we need to look at the finances. A forward and a CB we think is the priority but due to this Cesc chase, the CB signing idea has been almost dropped and we are also trying to cut cost on the forward signing. All this is understandably annoying some of us.

What I thought can be put into just 1 sentence, paying 35m (and they are whining about this "low" price) or more to get back a stolen/loophole exploited player is just ridiculous

VV
Pique Puyol Abidal

iniesta Fabergas Xavi Thiago

Messi Villa Afellay


Unstoppable.

messixaviesta wrote:

Giggity5313 wrote:
OF course not. But xavi will be getting older, and teams will start to play high pressure on barca, as they will be even more desperate to beat barca (imagine the pride it gives you lol). Therefore rotation will be more key next season for both teams, especially RM. Hopefully what happens to xabi alonso (burnout) doesn't happen to xavi, at his age its very dangerous.

Yes that's quite acceptable but some of us believe Thiago is ready to do such a role while we also have the versatile Afellay. If we can show more confidence in them they could step up even more. Overall we need to look at the finances. A forward and a CB we think is the priority but due to this Cesc chase, the CB signing idea has been almost dropped and we are also trying to cut cost on the forward signing. All this is understandably annoying some of us.

I see, and you do have masch as a good back up to busquets
So the problem I see here, like you said, is the CB position. A back up CB or maybe promote one of the cantera (muniesta? looks like a pretty good player imo, alot like puyol).

Mr_Puyol wrote: VV
Pique Puyol Abidal

iniesta Fabergas Xavi Thiago

Messi Villa Afellay


Unstoppable.

No Alves? do you want a pimp slap?

Mr_Puyol wrote: VV
Pique Puyol Abidal

iniesta Fabergas Xavi Thiago

Messi Villa Afellay


Unstoppable.

You left out Dani Alves. Are you serious???

And also Busquets and Pedro?

Giggity5313 wrote:
I see, and you do have masch as a good back up to busquets
So the problem I see here, like you said, is the CB position. A back up CB or maybe promote one of the cantera (muniesta? looks like a pretty good player imo, alot like puyol).

I agree. About Muniesa I have heard similar things but the think tank probably think he is too young. At the moment Fontas and even Bartra have a better chance. Can anyone tell me why our youth defenders did not make the Spain U-21 squad? Does that show there are others in their age better than them playing elsewhere?

Mr_Puyol wrote: VV
Pique Puyol Abidal

iniesta Fabergas Xavi Thiago

Messi Villa Afellay


Unstoppable.

Drugs??? Must be drugs...


Any other player is BENCH!!!

I can't believe this is coming from barcelona's supporters! Your comments saying fab doesn't deserve to be in barca for unreasonable reasons. Too much pride in such comments.
Lets not forget if barcelona really saw his talent and believed in it they will not let go of him so easily! Barcelona have a good eye for talent, without a doubt! But lets face it everyone makes mistakes and barca did one for letting him go.

Xavi's creativity and passing is better than Fab's at the moment. But lets not forget at around Fab's age, Xavi was not even close to fab! Xavi is all about hard work. Fab has natural talent that Xavi does not. That is why he is Pep's first priority is fab - for barca's new project! He does not even need adapting.

Even Pep really wants him, who are you to even say fab does not deserve barca because he left and the such.

Fab is a traitor.
He jumped ship to Arsenal when Barca were in the doldrums.
Then when he saw that Arsenal were struggling he said he wouldnt rule out a move to Madrid(this was when they were better off than us).
Now when Barca are going through the best spell in history he wants to come back.
That opportunistic traitor can go to hell for all I care.He is not good enough for us and would ride the bench for years if he came.

Too harsh on fab there alex, he was just another talent that made it big. I think that its just coincidence he wants to come back at this time.

After seeing Thiago in the U21, I don't think I want him back. Please stay at arsenal and try to help them win something. They probably need all the help they can get.

Striker and a cheap defender and I think that should be that.

messixaviesta wrote:
Can anyone tell me why our youth defenders did not make the Spain U-21 squad? Does that show there are others in their age better than them playing elsewhere?

The only 2 of our youth defenders who could have been part of it were Fontas and Montoya. Montoya was chosen, and started every game at rightback. He was very impressive, and kept out Azpilicueta, who has been playing top tier football for about 4 years now.

Fontas didn't make it, and yes, the reason is essentially there are better defenders out there. He played some of the qualifiers but didnt make this squad. The players that got in ahead of him were Botia, Dominguez, San Jose, Ruiz and Didac Vila. Three of whom are starters in La Liga and probably among the better centrebacks, the latter 2 graduates of Espanyol now owned by Serie A teams.

Bartra has been selected for U20 tournament, Gomez and Muniesa will be part of an U19 tournament. They're important players for those teams.

Of course, they could have been selected to play for U21 instead, like Thiago who is only 19, but there are more experienced and simply better players there for the moment.

On that note... anyone like the look of Didac at left back?? He's catalan after all and a bit of development and he could be a good player...

I dont think Montoya would have played ahead of azpilicueta if it wasnt for the 6-month injury he had. He came back just a couple of weeks ago, and was probably still short in fitness.

@messixaviesta, most of the defenders selected for la rojita are playing in primera, or at least st division football. They might be talented, but they compare unfavorably against the likes of Ruiz, Botia, Dominguez etc...

shinigami99 wrote:After seeing Thiago in the U21, I don't think I want him back.

Thiago has that very special mix of Brazilian flair and Spanish cerebral play. We must not lose him at any cost. Even a one year loan with buy back option sounds risky. Firstly it must be detailed very carefully. Secondly what if Thiago sees this as a slight and doesn't want to come back. We should send him on loan with buy back only if he really wants to go. He is already looking like one of the future stars of the game. He is probably now completely ready to be both Xavi's and Iniesta's immediate understudy thus negating the need to buy a central midfielder this summer.

BarcaKizz wrote:
The only 2 of our youth defenders who could have been part of it were Fontas and Montoya. Montoya was chosen, and started every game at rightback. He was very impressive, and kept out Azpilicueta, who has been playing top tier football for about 4 years now.

Fontas didn't make it, and yes, the reason is essentially there are better defenders out there. He played some of the qualifiers but didnt make this squad. The players that got in ahead of him were Botia, Dominguez, San Jose, Ruiz and Didac Vila. Three of whom are starters in La Liga and probably among the better centrebacks, the latter 2 graduates of Espanyol now owned by Serie A teams.

Bartra has been selected for U20 tournament, Gomez and Muniesa will be part of an U19 tournament. They're important players for those teams.

Of course, they could have been selected to play for U21 instead, like Thiago who is only 19, but there are more experienced and simply better players there for the moment.

On that note... anyone like the look of Didac at left back?? He's catalan after all and a bit of development and he could be a good player...

Thanks for the reply kizz.

I know about Martin Montoya. My question wasn't very clear. I meant center backs specifically.

I accept your explanation about Fontas but it probably suggests that he will not be the next big thing. We can expect him to a functional backup at most for us and not a mainstay of the team.

Nice to know that the others are being considered and I guess as you say it's only due to competition that they didn't make it to this one. Actually it's nice to see Spain having some amount of defensive talent in their youth because that has traditionally been one area of weakness.

I too noticed Didac Vila and wondered why did Milan loan him. Maybe he could have been big for them next season. Probably the purchase of Taiwo has made things more difficult for him.