Transfer Rumours

free_cat wrote:Yes you do. It's what we paid for Villa (40 milion) and it worked until the injury, and it's what we paid for Malexis (42 milion) and hasn't worked.

Bro, Villa was hit and miss in his first season and in the 2nd he was awful until his injury..

Ganso wrote:

billy_gr wrote:

Ganso wrote:Regardless of what his father or Neymar are going to say. its very unlikely that Nerman isnt going to be a Barca player after the Confederations cup.Look at it this way, Santos either have the option of cashing in at least 40M now or staying with him for another season and letting him go for free after the World Cup.The choice is obvious.they just want Barcelona to up their bid which according to Brazilian papers was of around 20M.Neymar has already told his father and Santos that when he leaves he wants to join Barcelona.

About him flopping or not, it will depend on what people are expecting from him.If people expect him to be the second coming of ronaldinho, then he is going to flop.but if fans only expect him to be good player, a winger who will score and take away some of the responsibility messi has, then he wont flop.As i said in the transfer rumors thread. i expect him to score at least 20 goals in his first season with you guys.Just dont expect him to instantly be a top 3 player in the world like some idiots hype him up to be

that's about what I'd hope to see... however you don't pay 50 fat m€ for something like this right?

I was making a guess on how he would do right now, you guys will be paying for arguably the best young striker with huge potential and the most profitable player in terms of marketing atm. its kind of a fair price when you consider all the crazy deals that have happened in recent years.I mean, you guys payed 40M for alexis.

Bad comparison seeing as Barça only payed €26m for Alexis and then €11m in bonus. I don't think that Santos would say yes to bonuses..

If Villa was awful at any point before his injury with us Malexis has been consistenly utter rubbish and one of the worst players in the world.

The Franchise wrote:@billy_gr

So basically its Pele or nothing? Not unrealistic at all....

failed to convinc you for Brazil..how many games you seen? Do you even care about the othrr factors? Add up all factors....for Brazil its largely postive.

Do you want him to fail? Maybe not but you seem very ready to put unreal expecations on him makin it easy for him to fail in your eyes

Lucas? Have you seen how he is playing....you speak as if he has anything but impressive.

Pele is just a hyperbole. I was just looking back to the careers of other "wonderkids" from Brazil. I'm sure you get what I'm saying. I've watched him playing for Brazil NT since he was heavily linked with us. Not impressed. As I've said many times I hope he proves me wrong. As the other guy said we also paid 40 for Sanchez who was impressive in one of the top European championships and he failed. I don't want a redux on this. I rest my case for now and I will be more than willing to aplaud him if he does good for us

Udinese a top team in Europe?

Neymar is still very young and we can still mold him into a player we could use so long as he stays dedicated.

Neymar won't be a complete failure.
It's easy. Neymar's worst case scenario is Robinho. But not current Robinho, the Robinho that won a league for Madrid and was later bought for 40 milions by City and whom Madrid didn't want to let go.
On the other hand, Neymar's best case scenario is a top 5 player in the world.
So it can't go wrong as long as we don't pay more than 40-50 milion.

I've never seen Brazilian have that much problem gelling into Barcelona system. Dinho/Rivaldo/Ronaldo/Romario/etc, hell even Alves had the best years here. I know these guys were already European proven, but Neymar playing with some WC champs and the best player in the world won't be that bad, I guess

Villa was very good in year one....:god help poor Neymar, the level of expectation is bewildering to me.

Billy, as for thesonderkids...I don't understand how smart people bought into it. Either a player is good or is isn't...I don't get why anyone pays attention to what random people say.

I think Neymar will fit in great.

I am wondering how he will cope with having to be 2nd fiddle in importance to Messi. Then again, maybe that's why he flops with Brazil, he is young and is expected to lead. At Barca, he will have a more relaxed role as Messi will take the pressure off of him.

he will have so much more space then he usually does in Brazil and Santos with Messi holding majority of the attention let alone Iniesta Xavi etc I think he will do fine but like Dani says, too many people expecting him to out score Ronaldo and Messi which is unlikely and not the reason we are buying him.

windkick wrote:Then again, maybe that's why he flops with Brazil, he is young and is expected to lead. At Barca, he will have a more relaxed role as Messi will take the pressure off of him.

He doesn't flop with Brazil as such. He does not do as much as people expect him to and most importantly isn't very consistent. Your comments are largely on the money. I had similar thoughts and was in half a mind to post them. I have discussed this before with dani as well. The problem essentially is that he is very young and it's unfair to place the burden of a major team on his shoulders but because Brazil have lost their previous generation pretty quickly and do not have many outstanding stars in the current one the kid is asked to shoulder this burden. In that sense Barca will suit him fine. He will not have to take on the burden of the team and will be given a chance to develop a lot. The biggest problem though will be our impatience with external signings. For any expensive signing we have a habit of getting on his back far too quickly. That is where I think the biggest risk lies. Other than that I don't want to pay such a lot of money for a player in the last year of his contract but his current situation with third party ownership doesn't leave us with much choice.

LOL at your sig. I LOVE the fact Atletico has now won more trophies than Real Madrid (2 of them European trophies).

For all the crap they talk of, and make fun of Atletico...they are now legit behind of them as of now (waiting for a Madridista to come in here and point out the over all number of trophies in the PAST Real has won etc). It's one thing to have Barca win more cups, but Atletico? Especially given the difference in payroll/spent on players and staff etc. So lovely

free_cat wrote:Udinese a top team in Europe?

top championships i.e. Serie A, not top team.
Anyway, time will tell

free_cat wrote:Neymar won't be a complete failure.
It's easy. Neymar's worst case scenario is Robinho. But not current Robinho, the Robinho that won a league for Madrid and was later bought for 40 milions by City and whom Madrid didn't want to let go.
On the other hand, Neymar's best case scenario is a top 5 player in the world.
So it can't go wrong as long as we don't pay more than 40-50 milion.

I can agree with that

free_cat wrote:If Villa was awful at any point before his injury with us Malexis has been consistenly utter rubbish and one of the worst players in the world.

The difference between Alexis and Villa in his 2nd season with Barça was that Villa did nothing apart from missing easy chances while atleast Alexis pressed and that Villa got injured, so he didn't have to humiliate himself and people forgot about his finishing..

Heck, Villa's finishing was soooo bad that Crackovia was making fun of his finishing..

windkick wrote:LOL at your sig. I LOVE the fact Atletico has now won more trophies than Real Madrid (2 of them European trophies).

Thanks windkick. I got that info first on Twitter and marveled at it since it's unlikely it would have come to my mind. Later they even made an image for it. The minute I saw that image I knew it would have to become my signature for the time being.

Playing with Messi and being the secondary option is going to be the big challenge for Neymar. Let's not forget Iniesta needing the ball either. Neymar's off the ball movements are pretty much non-existent since he's rarely without the ball with club or country on the attack.

That's always my worry with any forward that needs to play with Messi or CR7... can they play a support role effectively when they've been the superstar before?

sportsczy wrote:Playing with Messi and being the secondary option is going to be the big challenge for Neymar. Let's not forget Iniesta needing the ball either. Neymar's off the ball movements are pretty much non-existent since he's rarely without the ball with club or country on the attack.

Thats not true, many of his goals come from his off the ball movements and through/long balls

Ganso wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Playing with Messi and being the secondary option is going to be the big challenge for Neymar. Let's not forget Iniesta needing the ball either. Neymar's off the ball movements are pretty much non-existent since he's rarely without the ball with club or country on the attack.

Thats not true, many of his goals come from his off the ball movements and through/long balls

That's only half the off ball movement game. There are diagonals in front of CBs, running into areas to create proper spacing, etc. You don't expect to get the ball, but you do them for the team. Making runs to get scoring chances is the easy one. The others require a spirit of sacrifice. It's not easy.... most superstars don't do them at all. They only expend energy to create chances directly. It's not a criticism of Neymar. He's never been Anything but the primary option or secondary at the least.

Neymar: Corinthians loss was not my last match for Santos. I'll be back after summer.

Thats what he thinks

It amazes me we have so many experts on Brazilian football in this thread... I personally don't follow Santos but will give him the benefit of the doubt.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2013/05/20/3992405/alves-open-to-psg-or-monaco-move?source=breakingnews&ICID=HP_BN_3

We could possibly get big $$ here, he is 30 years old and we could try going for a more defensive right back rather then an attacking one to balance the defence.

I won't sell Alves as far as possible. He is one of the key corner stones of the great Barca of Pep and should be given that kind of respect. The only way he leaves is if he really wants to leave.

If we get a huge offer I say take it.

He is 30, and didn't look as stellar as he did before this year. His age might be creeping up and this might be one of the last few times we will be able to get huge money for him. Plus having two attacking fullbacks wont cut and now we have the younger Alba on the left. So it's time we replace Alves with a younger defensive minded left back. Only if the money is right, if not keep him

Just a general question to all here. If a player's level falls then no matter who he is are you ready to sell him for the right kind of money? I mean what if he is Xavi, Puyol, Messi, Iniesta, etc. ? Are there any exceptions at all or is this the general rule that should apply to each and every one?