Catalan sports paper Sport claims that, after deciding that they wouldn't count on Samuel Eto'o for the next season, Barcelona started looking earlier this year for the best possible successor.
Barcelona's technical staff started with a list of 15 to 20 players, on which Barcelona had detailled reports. In a first shifting, several names were deleted from the list, among which Ajax forward Huntelaar (25), who didn't get the full support of Joahn Cruijff.
The first choice of Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain was Lyon forward Karim Benzema (20), who soon appeared not to be for sale despite Barcelona being willing to make a bid of 40 million euro°. Barcelona then started working on the transfers of Arsenal forward Adebayor (24) and Tottenham forward Berbatov (27).
Because of the unclear plans of Mourinho at Inter and the uncertainty surrounding Drogba leaving Chelsea or Cristiano Ronaldo joining Real Madrid, the market didn't move between May and July. Barcelona tried to force a deal by offering Eto'o in swap deals with Adebayor and with Inter forward Ibrahimovich (27), but no club was willing to accept Eto'o's salary demands.
Although other names - like Stuttgart forward Gómez (23) and Bayern forward Luca Toni (31) - were discussed, it was in the end decided that Eto'o would stay with the club and that no transfer would be made.
Read more:
Barcelona working on Benzema transfer
Berbatov alternative for Adebayor
Meeting with Inter president on Ibrahimovich
Monday 15 December 2008
Last summer's search for a striker
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5 comments:
40 million euro =
50 million us dollar
35 million british pound
the best thing that happened this years was adebayor not coming to barca,i f he had come we would play with more crosses and more with a target man infront ,and basically change the beatiful kind of football we play these days,
these games we have played so far show that we dont need a target striker,even when we play with messi and hleb upfront we are playing great
i said it. ade wldnt win us games as much as people think. eto is way better. Ade is way too casual for me..
Benzema, according to Goal.com was quoted by Le Buteur as saying:
"It is my hidden dream in sport and it is a dream that is coming closer little by little," he declared.
"I like the white kit, the stadium, the atmosphere that exists around the Bernabéu...I promised my mother that one day I would play for Real Madrid, and I want that to come true."
So much for Benzema coming to Barcelona this summer or ever. We don't need him. Visca el Barca
I think the best option for a new back-up striker would indeed be Adriano. Someone would say it's naive, but I really think Pep make him worldclass again. He has the same forces as Eto'o, and could be even better. It's a risk....but at least he's much cheaper than the other subjects on the list.
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