Transfer Rumours V4

You should have gone for Benatia. Amazing defender.

Valkyrja wrote:You should have gone for Benatia. Amazing defender.

Barca's sports director doesn't have a clue who that is.

....

According to the latest rumors Everton will extend Deulofeu's loan and Barca will call back Rafinha. In addition to that we are also looking to get a CB, CM (of the physical kind) and a CF.

Surely if we call back Rafinha we have to sell Sergi Roberto?

Loan Roberto maybe, sell Song.

The Franchise wrote:Loan Roberto maybe, sell Song.

I guess you want to make sure Cesc starts more games as CM and both youngsters get enough play time? If that is your idea, I like it

Why is that funny? Where would you fit him? He can be a more forward CM somewhat like AM, i think that role would suit him most of the times. I mean I was against having him at all considering what i feared most happened (loosing Thiago), but since we got him, i don't like seeing him as false 9 when we have Messi, Neymar and Alexis who i believe are much better there.

No, I was laughing at the idea that Franchise would like to make sure to see Cesc anywhere near the starting lineup.

Oh, I see.

Well we have Cesc, who on principle is good, but is not very suitable against certain teams in some positions. We might as well use him in the best possible way.

eelir wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Loan Roberto maybe, sell Song.

I guess you want to make sure Cesc starts more games as CM and both youngsters get enough play time? If that is your idea, I like it

No, that wasnt my idea.

My idea was, Busquets, Iniesta Xavi, a new guy and Rafinha. The new guy capable of playing back up holding midfield but also further forward in the midfield.

So therefore, new guy has to be an adaptable player with physical tools aswell as technical ability. Some threat on goal would be appreciated too.

So Vidal (obviously wont happen, name only mentioned as a example of type) or a Matuidi or a Fernandinho (also wont happen) kind of guy.

What about Cesc then? And I don think Xavi will be able to play so much next season after the WC.

That's why we need the "new guy". Or at least part of the reason.

As for Cesc, the reality is he will play. My hope would be he doesnt.

If someone from our midfield has to go right now it's not Cesc, it's Xavi.
For Cesc to play well all we need to do is play a double pivot and him as AM. Xavi on the other hand won't become any younger.
Very good game again from Cesc yesterday and another meh performance against a good an intense team from Xavi. He can't cope anymore.

Go as in? Leave the club? No, I dont agree with that at all.

And what do you mean "all" we have to do is play a double pivot. You speak like that is fairly easy, but it is not.

We dont have another guy capable of playing deep in the pivot with Busquets and what happens to Iniesta?

I dont agree with your assessment of those two yesterday either. Cesc lost more balls than I was happy with, again showing difficulty when playing in tight spaces.

Meanwhile, when Xavi left the field we definitely lost alot of control and turned the ball over more. That sub for Song reminded me of the last days of Keita when he was supposed to come on to "close things down". When in fact all that happened was we lost an element of control over the game and whatever Keita (or Song in this case) was meant to bring, I didnt see it.

I question that sub alot actually. Xavi was taken off for a precaution...why didnt Tata simply move Cesc back and bring in Alexis or Tello? I dont know the reason, but if it was me (I wouldnt of moved Cesc back either) my logic would be he cant handle pressure and his defensive game is very bad. Its like having a more advanced Alonso (in terms of defending), whenever he tries to pressure he ends up fouling and he lacks speed to get back.

Barcelona keen on David Luiz

Barcelona have made Chelsea's David Luiz their priority signing this summer.

Source: Daily Mirror

Surely adopting a pivot and using Cesc as a 10 will merely lead to he and Messi getting in each other's way as in Pep's final year?

Also I know that the Luiz rumour seems to repeat itself every transfer window but if he can't establish a starting spot under Mourinho in central defence then I believe he'd be a worthy target for a number of clubs, Barca could certainly do worse.

Diego Perotti: "I can see Federico Fazio playing at Barca. With his height and quality he has everything to be a starter there. He will become one of the best CBs in Europe."

Sounds a bit like

-Barca need a CB
-Barca lack height
-You cant be a terrible with the ball at your feet

-Fazio is a CB
-Fazio has height
-Fazio isnt terrible with the ball at his feet

-Fazio should/could play for Barca

I think it's more of a compliment to Fazio than actually suggesting Barca are after him.

In any case, he is better than all our CBs this season. So stating that he would be a starter for us is not a reach.

dostoevsky wrote:Surely adopting a pivot and using Cesc as a 10 will merely lead to he and Messi getting in each other's way as in Pep's final year?

Exactly. If we wanted to play 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot we'd use Messi as the playmaker and put a striker infront of him. Not Cesc behind Messi.

Cesc doesn't fit this team. We're somehow improvising every season but ultimately he doesn't fit. He still doesn't have a place.

He can't play as an organizer in deeper positions. After Pep, del Bosque and Tito, Tata is now the 4th coach who realized this and doesn't even play him there.

In AM he's competing with Iniesta.

As a #10 or false 9 he's competing with Messi.

He's not needed. Should have bought a centerback in 11/12 instead of him. Thiago was developing nicely and he could play deeper in midfield. I think Pep realized his mistake as he did with Ibrahimovic and wanted to correct it (sell him and a few other slackers / past their prime players like Villa, Alves, Pique - a FIFA agent said this, I don't think he pulled this out of his arse). The board refused so he left. Ever since we're in decline and complaining about Cesc, Alves, Pique and the lack of a Xavi replacement.

The problem really relies on Iniesta and Cesc, you cannot have both..

double pivot could work, in all the wrong ways.

the most logical thing we could do is.. and even then it still looks really wrong in every way possible.

--------------Xavi---------------Buscuit
Messi-------------------Cesc--------------------Iniesta
-----------------------Neymar

The Franchise wrote:Go as in? Leave the club? No, I dont agree with that at all.

And what do you mean "all" we have to do is play a double pivot. You speak like that is fairly easy, but it is not.

We dont have another guy capable of playing deep in the pivot with Busquets and what happens to Iniesta?

Go as in not be a starter and if he doesn't accept that role then yes, he should leave the club.

It's quite easy actually, sell Xavi, buy Kroos, Gundogan or Koke and there you have your double pivot with great quality.

Cesc lost 2 balls the whole match and had a fantastic game, making good through balls, pressing, dribling.

It's not good that bias doesn't allow to see when a one of your favourite players is in decline (Alves too). Bias blinds and is not good to take decisions (I'm saying this for your career as a coach).

Iniesta is a good point, but he would still start most of the games with Cesc and Busquets, in our regular 433 were Cesc is also and already better than Xavi as proved (again) by Real's match, where he played as CM and was much better to Xavi and made just 6 less passes and a 2% more of mistakes. While in some games we would play the double pivot with Cesc or the lineup Donuts gives. We would have more options.

dostoevsky wrote:Surely adopting a pivot and using Cesc as a 10 will merely lead to he and Messi getting in each other's way as in Pep's final year?

They never got in their way, they actually had a fantastic partnership with Cesc playing as a 10 and Messi as a false 9. The "problem" was after Christmas when Cesc ran out of steam. But their partnership was fantastic.

Whilst I don't want to simply treat this area of the pitch in isolation to issues surrounding the entire team, but when push came to shove in the business end of the season it didn't work and it's not simply enough to say that Cesc ran out of steam. Off games happen, but Cesc's issues have never been isolated incidents, they've been long term trends in his play. This is a transfer rumours thread though, not the Lost Lamb thread so I won't drag this any further off topic.

Essentially I don't buy the idea that simply selling Xavi and changing the shape of the team will solve Barca's "problems."

No, obviously we will not solve our problems with that, but we will renew our team with younger and better players. Our teams need a renovation that was needed last summer and it wasn't done.

However, to solve our problems we would need a good tactical manager, which we currently don't have.