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Thomas Vermaelen’s  official presentation to the media took place at the Ricard Maxenchs Press Room this lunchtime and the latest summer signing expressed his excitement at joining the Club and confidence in his own ability to settle “I can bring a lot to the Club  - it’ll be a challenge for me”.

Sporting Director Andoni Zubizarreta accompanied Vermaelen, as did the Club sporting vicepresident  Jordi Mestre,  who revealed the cost of the deal was 10 million Euros, with a further five million in performance bonuses and 3.8 million if the team win the Champions League. The Belgian defender’s buyout clause is set at 80 million Euros.

Zubizaretta revealed : “he had important offers from other clubs, but he chose to listen to us, which we are grateful for”, whilst Vermaelen explained: “this is one of the best clubs in the world . It’s a dream for many players to come here, so it wasn’t a difficult decision for me to make”. Asked about his injury plagued last season at Arsenal, Vermaelen explained that he would be meeting with the Club doctors and physios to determine when he’d start training with the rest of the squad, but insisted: "I want to put the injuries I’ve had behind me and look to the future. My aim is to play in lots of games and help the team. Last year was tough, but I want to start from zero and I am sure I’ll have a fantastic season here at Barça”

Zubizarreta defined Vermaelen as : “a left sided central defender, who can also play at full back. We have been looking to bring in a defender so that there is plenty of competition amongst the players we have”

We actually have 3 natural CBs now and 2 players that are experienced in that spot

Welcome Vermaelen ...

Hope we see the best 2-3 years at least in Barcelona.

inb4 PSG pays that buyout clause

Every signing comes with the standard, "he had other offers/he took less money to come here"..tryna make it sound like we so lucky to have him

Anyway, has his flaws and its a terrible deal and its probably bringing close to a disappointing (in my opinion) summer but at the very least we dont have to see Adriano's, Busquets's and Mascherano's in the defence.

Hope he can help out in defending from set peices. Arent expecting that much more.

Think he may partner Pique better than any of the other guys but you will excuse me lack of enthusiasm about this move.

I still fully expect to see Masche as a CB this season, but it looks like he wont be a starter anymore. Hopefully someone manages to bench Pique.

How? 3 of Bartra, Pique, Mathieu and Verm missing at the same time?

How likely is that?

maybe in the DM position and drops down to be the middle CB when our fullbacks advance, that's the only realistic chance we'll see mascherano in the backline.

The Franchise wrote:How? 3 of Bartra, Pique, Mathieu and Verm missing at the same time?

How likely is that?

I don't think LE will rate Masche anywhere near as low as you do.

Yeah but he didnt sign 2 CB's to not play them.

Surely he going to play Mascherano in midfield mostly.

Now Barca have two centre backs who LOVE to bomb forward and leave the keeper exposed

Is the 80m buyout clause really needed?

Also, dat profit if someone activates it!

We have these buy outs on every player, regardless.

If you want Song, you will have to pay £63m.

63m sounds like a bargain

On topic: What is your honest opinion of the deal?

The deal or the player?

Not happy with the deal, costs too much money and we need quality, nor quantity. Have to look at the moves on a bigger scale..him and Mathieu for nearly 40m? Really underwhelming.

As a player, he was good for about 6 months about 2.5 years ago. Thats not promising. Overall, we are terrible at defending set peices so he will instantly help there. He likes to rush out sometimes foolishly, leaving spaces...Pique may be able to cover that for him. Those two could in theory work better than any Verm with Bartra or especially Mathieu. He isnt a bad player, but I cant get over the disappointment of what we should be aiming for vs what we actually got.

Fair enough, Figured you'd have an opinion like that. Thanks for that.

New Barcelona centre back Thomas Vermaelen, who is recovering from a thigh injury, won't be fit to play until mid-September. [sport]

If this is true....

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windkick wrote:New Barcelona centre back Thomas Vermaelen, who is recovering from a thigh injury, won't be fit to play until mid-September. [sport]

If this is true....

...............................

     

Sign of the season easily.

City aresigning Magala for almost the same fee of Matieu + Vermalen and show us how it's done.

Stupid, stupid decision really

I remember when Alves, Yaya, Abidal, Eto'o even Keita ... were bought in.
I don't feel as confident as I was back then. Mathieu and Verm are certainly upgrades in the defense but the way these deals happen seem like the board is improvising. Mathieu could have been here since last here for half price.
Verm hopefully turns out to be good but the price was too high.
If Thiago Silva or Hummels arent in FCB right now it surely not because of lack of money.

WE SIGNED A 28 YR OLD, THIRD CHOICE CB AND STILL CURRENTLY INJURED FOR 20M                     

Worst defender at arsenal these last two seasons, permainjured, and not wanted for them. We sign him for 15+4 million.

I can't believe Zubi isn't reading everywhere online and having socios around him advising and telling him all these moves he does are idiotic and we could of been landing better talent for the moneys he is willing to spend

I mean seriously....

windkick wrote:I can't believe Zubi isn't reading everywhere online and having socios around him advising and telling him all these moves he does are idiotic and we could of been landing better talent for the moneys he is willing to spend

I mean seriously....

It is *bleep* astonishing to be honest

Bénin wrote:I remember when Alves, Yaya, Abidal, Eto'o even Keita ... were bought in.
I don't feel as confident as I was back then. Mathieu and Verm are certainly upgrades in the defense but the way these deals happen seem like the board is improvising. Mathieu could have been here  since last here for half price.
Verm hopefully turns out to be good but the price was too high.
If Thiago Silva or Hummels arent in FCB right now it surely not because of lack of money.

Yeah but at least those 5 players were starters at their clubs and in Alves and Etoo's case, star players for those clubs.

billy_gr wrote:City aresigning Magala for almost the same fee of Matieu + Vermalen and show us how it's done.

Stupid, stupid decision really

Only thing left now is Utd to sign Benatia for 40 or less.