Transfer Rumours V4

I would accept Cuadrado as a right wingback IF the other 3 in the backline are named Mathieu, Benatia and Pique which would allow to form a back 3 + Busquets dropping back. Pretty much like 10/11 with Abidal. Cuadrado is not exactly a defender but he can surely press tirelessly high up the pitch and that's how Alves defends 90 % of the time anyway.

If we are going to play Alba and Cuadrado and the centerback is some 20 year old like Marquinhos then we are *bleep*ed.

was it ever confirmed we are buying Cuadrado as a RB??
what if he is just Alexis/Pedro replacement

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:What's the big deal about Mehdi Benatia? One year back when he was at Udinese I can hardly remember a soul mention his name in our discussions and now he seems like the best thing since sliced bread. Is he the most improved player in the world during this last one year? Does Rudi Garcia deserve immense credit for this?

He was part of the Udinese team that consistently made EL. Since he joined Roma they have gone from being the team that conceded the 2nd most amount of goals to being one of Europe's most defensively solid teams. The fact that no one talked about him a year ago doesn't reflect bad on him but extremely well on Sabatini. He is 100x the sporting director that Zubi is.

I see. Thanks.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No defender no matter how good ever gets talked about unless they play for a title challenger or CL team.

Benatia was great for Udinese for years, his performance levels hasn't changed. He's just playing for a higher profile club.

Of course there will be always doubts about a defender adapting to Barca but he's far from a one season wonder or someone who like Godin has is reputation purely based on Simeone's system.

Your reasoning could be correct but I am not implying about just the general media not talking about Benatia. Here at this forum where I have heard all kinds of obscure names somehow I can't recall his name being mentioned at all.

The Franchise wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:What's the big deal about Mehdi Benatia? One year back when he was at Udinese I can hardly remember a soul mention his name in our discussions and now he seems like the best thing since sliced bread. Is he the most improved player in the world during this last one year? Does Rudi Garcia deserve immense credit for this?

I am not totally sold. I didnt comment because I didnt gather enough game time watching him, but I got to say around half a dozen games. Apart from getting trounced by Juve (which was not his fault at all) I came away, not in awe but fairly impressed by his qualities.

I dont like that I never saw him in the CL or even Europa.

I see. Thanks.

The Franchise wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:Twitter is saying we are about to sign Maquinhos. What do you guys think of him?

If he was available at a reasonable price, I wouldnt mind. I feel like this thing happens all the time, a team signs an established name because they dont quite trust the young guy yet, he moves on and finds his level some place else.

Though it can go the other way and he simply isnt good enough and wont ever be. If we did sign someone like this, I feel it is essential we sign another player (a fullback perhaps) who can play in the center. As another alternative.

Agree completely. PSG signing him only to waste him was bad and now they are supposedly after David Luiz.

messixaviesta wrote:

The Franchise wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:Twitter is saying we are about to sign Maquinhos. What do you guys think of him?

If he was available at a reasonable price, I wouldnt mind. I feel like this thing happens all the time, a team signs an established name because they dont quite trust the young guy yet, he moves on and finds his level some place else.

Though it can go the other way and he simply isnt good enough and wont ever be. If we did sign someone like this, I feel it is essential we sign another player (a fullback perhaps) who can play in the center. As another alternative.

Agree completely. PSG signing him only to waste him was bad and now they are supposedly after David Luiz.

they have already bought David Luiz for a fee of somewhere around 50m
I honestly think PSG's scouts really just buy anything related to Barca or linked to Barca..

Im reading some scary things

1. The club is only going to get one CB this summer, and Masch asking to stay one more season. And the club decided to go with Marquinhos instead of Benatia because he is a better passer and younger (gtfo)

2. Club not considering Laporte anymore

3. The deal for Marquinhos is being stalled because Barca don't want to pay the high fee PSG is asking for him. (Zubi should be shot if he caves and pays some retarded amount for the kid)

And here I had hopes we would have 2 actual CB's brought in. Instead we only get another midget and Masch

Laporte was not an option he didn't want to leave his club.
but anyways it's too soon to start panicking it's still May lol

Well our board hasn't given us any reason to not panic after all the crap decisions they keep making left and right

Well, it's Zubi after all. Wouldn't surprise me if he splashes € 40M + Alves on a 20 year old kid and that's all we get.

Also: Marquinhos a better passer. LAWL Literally one of his bigger weak points which he got to improve.

Oh... We are handing RM the next 3-4 years on a plate

France Football is saying that Benatia's agent is in Barcelona. Pretty much the most reliable French paper afaik.

Also this is coming from RAC1 (most reliable Barca source) right now:

Barcelona plan to sign two defenders this summer: one centre back, and one full back who can also play at centre back. [rac1]

Now it seems like they are after Benatia AND Marquinhos, which would exceed all my expections which I had of Zubi.

So we're negotiating with the player but not with Roma? That will end well... inb4 tapping up player accusations.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:So we're negotiating with the player but not with Roma? That will end well... inb4 tapping up player accusations.

Everyone does that, even we do and we are pretty much irrelevant as a football club.

Even if there are accusations nothing will happen, that rule is one of those rules which everyone knows exists but no one abides by it so its never enforced.

Kinda like piracy.

Maybe we asked permission of Roma first?

Everybody taps everybody's players up anyway.

Maybe the exception is a club like PSG where Chelsea says "anybody can have David Luiz for about 40 million pounds" and PSG comes in and says "WE'LL TAKE HIM FOR 50! WHAT A STEAL"

They actually paid more for him than Thiago Silva, mind boggling.

i can see why they paid that much for him, they want the thiago silva / luiz partnership brazil shares and believe they'll connect instantly which is what psg need for champions league
but still idk why they went crazy and paid 50m

Barcelona ready to pay between €35m to €40m for Marquinhos or €30m and Alves, according to Le Parisien.

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Barcelona want €15m for Alves and he could be used in a part exchange deal for Marquinhos, according to AS.

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Barcelona have an agreement for Marquinhos which includes a player who would be Alves and €25m, according to Bein Sport.

I honestly don't know why they would replace Alves. Who is better? I guess its just time for him to go.

no one is better but he is also declining we might have a transfer ban so we need a replacement.

40m for Marquinhos  is so dumb rather buy mangala who can also play lb and cb, tall strong and only 23..
whereas this scrub marquinhos, can barely play cb but still bad at rb..

This Abidal 2.0 obsession is over the top.

over the top? no one said he was the best thing in the world, just htat he fits the mold of a centerback we need.

Marquinhos is no taller then Bartra, horrible at set pieces isn't convincing in the back.

the only thing going for him is that he's young and could improve where as Mangala hasn't really disappointed.

Luis Enriques likes and wants Marquinhos and Benatia. He’s watched all of Roma’s matches since he left the team. #CatRadio

If we get both Marquinhos and Benatia I wouldn't mind that tbh. We'd have at least CB at our disposal it would give competition to both Pique and Bartra as well as the new signings.