So who's the new CB?

Hey fellas, it's been a while! Hello from Rio where it's been a blast! Anyways, with all this talk of us possibly swapping Alexis + cash for Suarez and the return of 2 more attacking players to the team there's been no talk of realistic defensive targets. And this is with Puyol gone, we're probably selling Song, who's been more of an anomaly as to where he would be a back up, and Marquinhos is not happening.

So with Pique being where he is and Bartra and Masche as the only other 2, who are we in for? It's no longer David Luiz, T Silva is unlikely and I've heard no other concrete names, or canteranos for that matter. Of course through the months we've heard "manager mode" names such as Kompany, Hummels, etc. but does anyone know of any realistic deals in the works?

Realistically Mathieu and/or Fazio. Possibly Fabian Schär. That's about it.

You know, that'd be ok. We don't have to break the bank and buying multiple back ups for cheap would alleviate the problems we've had for a few seasons now which is simply not enough cover in that role.

Weren't there also a couple of younger more under the radar Argentine cbs in the mill as well? Who were they?

Balanta from River was a rumour when Tata was still coach. I believe it was just a lazy "Tata = Argentinian => Balanta CB option" kind of thing though. Would be unusual for this board to scout some unknown youngstar from South America. lol

Marquinhos was a strong rumour. But Blanc said just a few days ago it ain't happening and Marquinhos is staying. Which is most likely true. PSG won't go into the new season with only an injury prone T. Silva and D. Luiz.

Laporte was another rumour but Athletic reneweded his contract quickly after the rumours. His buyout clause is now € 42M + taxes. Before that it was € 36M and even that was too expensive for us reportedly.

Hummels is almost impossible to get. He's very loyal and would never hand in a transfer request and without Hummels stinking up the place at Dortmund they ain't selling. Even if he did hand in a transfer request they wouldn't I suppose. Didn't let Lewandowski go with 1 year remaining on his contract. Hummels has contract until 2017!

Benatia was another strong rumour but Roma's officials said his left leg alone costs € 30M so his overall price is € 61M. The rumours died down after that.

Right now we seem to be negotiating for Mathieu. Unfortunately Valencia are now owned by a billionaire so they don't need to sell and they ask for the buyout fee. Which is € 20M. Which is too much for a 30 year old. We might do some deal including Tello as Valencia seem interested.

After that the options will be Fazio from Sevilla and Fabian Schär from Basel. I haven't seen us linked with anyone else properly. A few Miranda rumours here and there but Atleti ain't willing to sell and paying the buyout fee (€ 30M) for a 29 year old ain't happening.

TL;DR: Defense will remain a joke.

Bruno Martins Indi will be worth a look.

Not saying that based on the WC, its only 2 games and he hasnt even had that much to do. But I heard very good things before seeing him and these 2 games plus 1 friendly game I saw pre WC make me think those guys hyping him weren't off base.

As for who we are linked to, I wouldnt worry so much. The time between us being linked to Rakitic and us signing him was like a week lol

Lets just wait and see, the WC is right here so you cant really expect anything.

The Franchise wrote:

As for who we are linked to, I wouldnt worry so much. The time between us being linked to Rakitic and us signing him was like a week lol

True. However Rakitic was basically 1st or 2nd choice once the decision to let Fabregas go was made. We weren't linked with many other midfield options. So it happened quickly but not surprisingly (like being strongly linked with 10 other midfielders for months but suddenly Rakitic is announced as it would be the case if we signed someone like Indi now). With Gündogan semi-retired there were basically 2 other options: Koke or Rakitic, the 2 standout midfielders in La Liga. Who else would have made sense even on paper? Basically no one from England, Italy (Pogba, Vidal being valued at € 294053 million) or Bundesliga (Thiago not coming back, Bayern letting Kroos' contract run out). Rakitic was also easy and quick to get with 1 year remaining on his contract. A player like Bruno Martins Indi however is definitely not even in the top 10 consideration list of Zubi as of now, that much is clear, otherwise we'd have him already. So unless they are scouting the World Cup and notice him I doubt someone "surprising" like Indi will come.

While that is indeed the case, I think most clubs are looking at the WC for players like they do all major international tournaments.

Of course, I have no idea who Zubi is looking at or who he has in mind. But in the end, I am willing to at least say that its fairly understandable that during the WC things are on hold and not really moving forward(can be for a number of reasons).

i cant remember well, but isn't it like Luis Enrique also confirmed that we are going to buy a CB???
Anyway Zubi can be whatever he is, but lucho must know he has a big task ahead with two most senior leaders leaving while defense is completely shaky. I think its more of his task to force for a defender and i believe he will be watching the tournament and choose the right one.

if were willing to break the bank for suarez or higgy for 70m+ i would be outraged

cant spend 40m for some defender but surely on a damn midfield/attack??
yeah right.

Miranda for 30 and Mathieu for 20 seems like the likeliest we're going to get from the rumors. Welcome to the next 3 years of mediocrity.

Thinking about it Mathieu-Miranda partnership would be a major improvement over Pique-Mascherano.

Donuts wrote:if were willing to break the bank for suarez or higgy for 70m+ i would be outraged

cant spend 40m for some defender but surely on a damn midfield/attack??
yeah right.

40M for a defender is ludicrous money. 70M for Suarez is actually, while inflated, kinda understandable. The issue here is that we need some defenders and maybe even midfielders more than attackers. Actually all areas of the pitch need help lol

windkick wrote:

Donuts wrote:if were willing to break the bank for suarez or higgy for 70m+ i would be outraged

cant spend 40m for some defender but surely on a damn midfield/attack??
yeah right.

40M for a defender is ludicrous money. 70M for Suarez is actually, while inflated, kinda understandable. The issue here is that we need some defenders and maybe even midfielders more than attackers. Actually all areas of the pitch need help lol

you couldn't be more wrong, who cares the prices compared to other sections of the field
we DESPERATELY need more in the backline then we do in any areas..
we literally only have 2 players who can actually play centerback and then song and mascherano.. and the two that can play is a youngster and a really out of form pique who has decreased dramatically..
combine that with a declined alves, and winger left back.. it'd be pure stupidity to set our budgets at 20m for backline 100m for damn forwards after splashing god knows how much on neymar...
we do not need more help in attack, if we got more great but not necessary we just got rakitic, deulofeu and more youth on the way..

we have a new midfield too, rafinha, rakitic
we have a new keeper and guess what even a 10m BACKUP keeper..
but spending 30m+ on a defender hell no who needs that #zubi logic

@donuts this is what I'm saying. With the defensive drought that we have we've already replaced a departing midfielder, gained about 5 "new" wingers/forwards and replaced 2 keepers with two keepers. And no word on a single incoming defensive player, let alone a CB. Let's hope The board already has it tied up. I'd start with Sergi Gomez from the B side, just for numbers and go manager mode from there

Dropping 40M is ridiculous for a defender.

Thiago Silva was 42M from Milan to PSG. If clubs are trying to charge us MORE than that, for a player not named Thiago Silva, then *bleep* them. Just cause we need defenders does not mean we should just throw the money out and allow us to be raped. We can find quality out there without spending stupid money. I mean look we got Rakatic and MaTs for less than 33M combined. Besides, we have to strengthen so many areas of the pitch, that it would be wise to spend without paying over true value for the players we are trying to get.

your correlating money with positions again..
the fee of a transfer is not based on position but based on how much the club needs that player.

to spend 120m on last year contract neymar is okay
to throw 20m+ bonuses on rakitic on his last year isokay
to buy Song for 20m+ is okay
and to buy alba for 14m is okay

but to spend 30-40m on a position we desperately need is considered ridiculous now??

and not only that not but be linked to spend 70m on forwards when that is the last area we need improvements on??

at the end of the day every club in the world currently knows we are desperate for a centerback, if you honestly thought since the beginning of this transfer season we were going to get a bargain for a defender you are sadly mistaken especially when we might be transfer banned.. every club knows our situation.

if the people on board think like you, that spending that much money on a defender is not worth it then i hope to see you guys when we play song at centerback once pique or mascherano get injured.

also we cannot compare the transfer of thiago silva..
the same club psg just bought david fuking luiz for 50m and 34m for that scrub marquinhos

if we want a world class defender then we to compete with the other world class clubs transfer budget
other option is buy some youth and take the risk for two years which more often then not doesn't work.. unless we buy one of those super gems and spend crazy amount of money just like we did with neymar.. when we could of just used that money to buy a world class defender

I've only seen Ron Vlaar a few times for club but he's done really well this WC, seems very solid. Does anyone watch him regularly?