Transfer Rumours

I cannot think of a CB less suited to our high line than samuel.

We should give this Virgin guy a try. Maybe a one year trial/ loan  

he was loaned out to Verona in Italy for a season when he was younger, just found that out

Same height as Pique but looks to be allot faster and good in the air/ball judging by the clip posted earlier

Could be a real bargain

If we bring him in I'm still hoping we bring in a top CB.

Yeah I get it he has some nice attributes and has played with Tata before and is cheap-- he could be a bargain. However, he is not a top CB. We should not settle with the guy as a starter, hell he's even a risk for a back up...who knows how good he'll be in La Liga?

I don't care whether or not he comes in. I like that we're still actively pursuing CB's, that's all.

At this point in time we need a CB so badly that I wouldn't mind signing Chygsy. It would be better than hiring him when there was no need as we unfortunately did in the past. I am totally in favour of getting Vergini.

"Something is better than nothing (which is kind of what we have as far as center backs are concerned)"

Thiago's latest comments on Twitter prove what most of us believed i.e. our board did absolutely nothing to try to hold on to him.

Thiago: "I wanted to feel valued and to play more. The club knew I wanted to leave, I waited for them to contact me, but they didn't."

Selling Cesc THIS season would help us greatly in two or three years from now +
but the 13/14 season it'll set us back, let alone stress our board more of having to buy another midfielder AND two centerbacks and we all know how great our board is with getting players we actually need.

Too late on the transfer season to sell cesc imo. The chance of iniesta getting injured is too high.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Too late on the transfer season to sell cesc imo. The chance of iniesta getting injured is too high.

I agree with you. Besides we all know about Xavi's problems with age and injuries. That ship has already sailed. As I said before just buy at least one center back this summer and after that let's see how time unfolds.

Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara has hit out at Barcelona for undervaluing him during his time at the club.

The midfielder left Camp Nou for €20 million earlier in July, ignoring overtures from Manchester United to join up with former coach Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena.

"I wanted to feel valued," Thiago revealed to Rac1 on Thursday. "I wanted to leave and the club didn't do anything to make me stay.

"They knew I wanted to leave, but nobody from the club got in contact to [try to] persuade me to stay. In any case, you can't dwell on the past - it's better to look to the future.

"[Munich] is wonderful, very pretty and the people at the club and in the city have made things much easier for me [to settle in]."

The 22-year-old denied claims from his father and agent Mazinho that he nearly chose to join United ahead of the Bavarians while refusing to rule out a return to the Catalans in the future, despite not liking his treatment this summer.

"Nobody from Manchester United spoke to us," Thiago added. "Bayern were always my first option. Did Real Madrid want me? That's my business.

"During the summer I had a lot of patience, I was waiting and waiting [for Barca to make an offer] but there comes a [stopping] point.

"I would never close the door on Barca though - the club gave me so much."

Jd don't see how xavi's fitness plays a role kn cesc's decision since both song and sergi should be picked ahead of him for that position. The issue is that cesc is iniesta's natural sub and we don't have enough time to negotiate for an appropriate replacement.

Also if we only get Vergini for CB I woll be sorely disappointed. Of we do get him and a class CB Barta should request a loan as he will be 6th choice CB.

Rosell should be fired for not even tryin to keep thiago. Shameful.

Not trying to keep Thiago but more than willing to try multiple times for Valdes who actually wants to go, for no apparent reason.

free_cat wrote:Rosell should be fired for not even tryin to keep thiago. Shameful.

Maybe the club's plans didn't involve appeasing a spoilt, overrated brat?

messixaviesta wrote:Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara has hit out at Barcelona for undervaluing him during his time at the club.

The midfielder left Camp Nou for €20 million earlier in July, ignoring overtures from Manchester United to join up with former coach Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena.

"I wanted to feel valued," Thiago revealed to Rac1 on Thursday. "I wanted to leave and the club didn't do anything to make me stay.

"They knew I wanted to leave, but nobody from the club got in contact to [try to] persuade me to stay. In any case, you can't dwell on the past - it's better to look to the future.

"[Munich] is wonderful, very pretty and the people at the club and in the city have made things much easier for me [to settle in]."

The 22-year-old denied claims from his father and agent Mazinho that he nearly chose to join United ahead of the Bavarians while refusing to rule out a return to the Catalans in the future, despite not liking his treatment this summer.

"Nobody from Manchester United spoke to us," Thiago added. "Bayern were always my first option. Did Real Madrid want me? That's my business.

"During the summer I had a lot of patience, I was waiting and waiting [for Barca to make an offer] but there comes a [stopping] point.

"I would never close the door on Barca though - the club gave me so much."

At the same time, how can he demand more playing time when Xavi is on the squad ahead of him?

One thing I read that bothered me, was that apparently Thiago actually played the same amount of time he played the year before. BUT, thats not counting his injury in the start of the season. So, if not for the injury he sustained, he would of easily met the mark to keep his value at 90M. Then he wants to leave because we didnt play him enough. Seems really unreasonable to me, considering all the club did for him. He could of been patient just like the rest of the current first teamers, thats all im saying. Looking around he sees a team full of guys from La Masia who are now super stars and at one of the best clubs on the planet. Then he sees Cesc and Pique and how they both left and returned.

So......why did he have to leave? It was just as much on him. He sees Xavi and knows he is aging. He knows its Xavi he will need to fight with to impress Del Bosque for the World Cup. Del Bosque himself advised Thiago to stay. Teams have came for Tello who has an even smaller release clause and he is on his own deciding to be patient. no player is bigger than the club and at the end it was his choice to leave

lets just move on

Windkick, you cant really ask all the questions which can be easily answered and then says lets move on.

He didnt play enough the season before either just fyi.

I dont understand all these questions when we all admit Xavi is overplayed...if he is overplayed and Thiago feels underplayed..isnt there only one logical answer?

And its not like playing Thiago over Xavi left us at a great disadvantage. At this point in their careers, Thiago offers some things which Xavi does not. Its not a downgrade to swap them out the team..its just different.

Thiago SHOULD have been played more and wasn't. That's not his fault, and I don't blame him for leaving, even if I am sore about it.

Thiago feeling like he should have had more minutes is not bad when...he should have had more minutes.

About others being patient, if Iniesta was playing the way he does now and was being played as much as Thiago (kind of an extreme example, I know), he would have left too.

Right, and I agree with both of your points CBarca and Franchise.

I'm just a bit uptight about his choice of words. The writing was on the wall that he was our future with all the examples I just made. He chose to leave, no one made him. Remember when Messi was upset about not even making the bench vs Arsenal in the UCL final? He stayed and fought. And Messi is 10x the player Thiago is. As much as I AM upset at Rossel and the board, it was ultimately Thiago's decision to leave.

On Thiago it is hardly news, we already knew that:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I have a few comments on this:

-Those calling him "unproven" or "has shown nothing" are missing the point, he wasn't given the chance to prove anything. Nevermind the fact that he was, by far, our best midfielder in the last quarter of the season, he wasn't given any important starts and the directive seemed happy to let him go.

-It is a travesty we did not offer him a new contract, make him feel wanted, had Xavi and other veterans speak to him about how being patient paid off, and Tito assure him his chance would come soon and he trusted him.

-Meanwhile while we essentially told him "make up your mind fast and we'll respect your decision" without making any effort whatsoever to keep him he had SAF on one ear and Pep in the other. I would've gone to United due to the ease to break into the team, but I can understand choosing Bayern as SAF is no longer the coach. Thiago must be keeping in mind what Pep did for Xavi's career.

//rant

Messi was how old for that final? Certainly not the 22 Thiago is.

Yes, of course its Thiago's decision and he could have stayed...but he did that the year before and nothing changed for him so its hardly surprising.

I dont have any problems with his choice of words, all they are is the simple truth. They are the words of a 22 year old who really didnt want to leave, but wanted someone to show they wanted him and valued him how he should of been valued...sadly, it was Pep who valued him, not us.

I didn't really want to talk about Alcu-ntara after he left but after his comments I just wanna say that the fact that he said there was no contact with united proves that he's talking BS,yes I believe the board made a mistake and so did Tito but the thing before the U21 final there was no talk whatsoever about him leaving but after that he suddenly started thinking that he is too good to sit on the bench for one second and he liked the attention he is getting so he was set on leaving.

Not saying I don't blame the board for or the coaching staff but the thing is it was clear he was going to get more minutes,all of us could see it,I don't se how he didn't but he just wanted t move,if he really had any love or loyalty to the club that gave him everything fo 14 years he would of have stayed but the fact is United offered more money than barca and Bayern are offering more glory so he left and hinestly screw him hope he flops hard and regrets tis desicion every single day of his life(even though i know this is unlikely but wtv).

I can't find the damn article. But, after Pep signed for Bayern back in the winter, they asked Thiago if he would go to Bayern. His responce was something along the lines of, "I'm already at the best club in the world, why would I want to leave?"

Bayern romps us 4 months later, he leaves.

kabarca wrote:I didn't really want to talk about Alcu-ntara after he left but after his comments I just wanna say that the fact that he said there was no contact with united proves that he's talking BS,yes I believe the board made a mistake and so did Tito but the thing before the U21 final there was no talk whatsoever about him leaving but after that he suddenly started thinking that he is too good to sit on the bench for one second and he liked the attention he is getting so he was set on leaving.

Not saying I don't blame the board for or the coaching staff but the thing is it was clear he was going to get more minutes,all of us could see it,I don't se how he didn't but he just wanted t move,if he really had any love or loyalty to the club that gave him everything fo 14 years he would of have stayed but the fact is United offered more money than barca and Bayern are offering more glory so he left and hinestly screw him hope he flops hard and regrets tis desicion every single day of his life(even though i know this is unlikely but wtv).

This is simply not true. There was talk of him leaving before the season ended, when we found out that the clause where he had to play 30 minutes in 60% of the games was not activated. And yet the club did nothing.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

kabarca wrote:I didn't really want to talk about Alcu-ntara after he left but after his comments I just wanna say that the fact that he said there was no contact with united proves that he's talking BS,yes I believe the board made a mistake and so did Tito but the thing before the U21 final there was no talk whatsoever about him leaving but after that he suddenly started thinking that he is too good to sit on the bench for one second and he liked the attention he is getting so he was set on leaving.

Not saying I don't blame the board for or the coaching staff but the thing is it was clear he was going to get more minutes,all of us could see it,I don't se how he didn't but he just wanted t move,if he really had any love or loyalty to the club that gave him everything fo 14 years he would of have stayed but the fact is United offered more money than barca and Bayern are offering more glory so he left and hinestly screw him hope he flops hard and regrets tis desicion every single day of his life(even though i know this is unlikely but wtv).

This is simply not true. There was talk of him leaving before the season ended, when we found out that the clause where he had to play 30 minutes in 60% of the games was not activated. And yet the club did nothing.

Maybe the reason they did "nothing" is because they actually wanted to sell him and didn't wish to dissuade clubs from bidding for him with an increased release clause.

There was talk but IMO it is after the U21 final Euro that he seriously decided to leave,before that there was just tak about the clause.

And what do you do if your best prospect suddenly becomes available for 20m? You meet with him, tell him you trust him, and assure him that this is the place to be. What do you do if your best propect is approached by the best team of England and Europe respectively? You meet with him immediately, offer him a new contract, make him feel appreciated.

I'm not so sure what is so hard to grasp about this. The club did nothing. That is completely unacceptable.