At the end of last season, this blog looked forward to the coming transfer summer under the title "How things stand". Five months later and knowing what we know now, it's interesting to take a look back.
2007-2008
With Belletti joining Chelsea in late August, everything was clear at the start of the season: Gianluca Zambrotta (31) would act as regular with Oleguer Presas (28) as his back-up.
Consecutive injuries of Oleguer caused the return of captain Carles Puyol (30) for more than ten official games to the place where he started his first team career. It even looked for a while like Puyol would become the first-choice right back, with Márquez replacing him in the centre. An injury of the Mexican could have prevented this from happening.
Out
Italian international Zambrotta, whose contract expires in 2010, is almost certainly returning to his home country in the summer. A deal with AC Milan seemed close (read more here and here), but the difficult negotiations on a transfer of Ronaldinho could postpone the final agreement. Milan seems to offer between 5 and 7 million euro° for the player. There have also been rumours about Juventus and Inter Milan.
Being a good team player, Oleguer is probably not very high on the Barcelona exit list. But if the player would like to leave to have more playing time, the club would not prevent that from happening. After being linked with Lazio Roma and Wolfsburg during the January transfer window, a few weeks ago there were claims about Ajax wanting to sign the Catalan defender on loan.
In
With Zambrotta on his way out, one of the main tasks in the coming transfer window is the transfer of a top right back defender. The first choice for this position is undoubtedly Dani Alves (Sevilla - 24). If Sevilla wants to sell this time, the player is not expected to leave for less than 30 or even 35 million euro°.
Second choice is Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich - 24), whose contract with Bayern expires in 2009 and who is not planning to sign a renewal. If Bayern accepts the full back to leave, the transfer price is expected to be between 9 and 15 million euro°. Lahm can also play as left back defender.
Other players that have been mentioned are David Cortés (Getafe - 28), Rafinha (Schalke 04 - 22), Emmanuel Eboué (Arsenal - 24), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich - 31) and Maicon (Inter Milan - 26). Central defenders Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo - 26) and Gerard Piqué (Manchester United - 21) and defensive midfielder Stéphane Mbia (Rennes - 21) have also experience on the right back position.
How things stood:
Goal keeper
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
How things stood: Right back defender
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3 comments:
I think Barca did great job regarding defenders last summer. There is no need to buy another one in the next 2-3 years.
Maybe (just maybe) to get a reliable young and strong enough replacement for Alves. It could be some African player (like Inkoom-story from last summer) from french league which would accept bench role, and Barca could play him in Copa games while Alves relaxing.
HouseMD is right. We need a young, pace-y sub for Alves against sides that necessitate such a thing. I'm not sure that the Atletico match, for example, would have gone as well without a purely defensive right back.
Ligue 1 teems with fast, talented African backs. Marseille had one that was giving Atletico all kinds of hell. His name escapes me, but he was like Abidal on speed. It was crazy.
The problem is that Alves is only 25 and that you can't expect a talented guy of 21-22 to sit on the bench for the next five years. Nor will we pay big (fee/salary) for that kind of player.
I think Puyol is a good back-up, Piqué can play there too, Caceres apparently too. Of course they're no Alves but which team has two talented guys there? I can't see them spend a lot. Maybe they'll pick up some older guy for free.
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