Italian sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Inter Milan forward and Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovich (27) wants to join Barcelona in the summer.
The striker wants to leave Inter because of the lack of European success, which can also be concluded from recent statements made by the player and his agent (read more here).
Ibrahimovic would already have started to move in order to join a Spanish club, with his first option being Barcelona. Mino Raiola, the Italian-Dutch agent of Ibrahimovic, made already several contacts with the club, which are seen as being satisfying. Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o could be included in the deal.
There haven't yet been contacts with Inter Milan but the player and his agent know very well what they want. If a deal with Barcelona cannot be found, Real Madrid could be an alternative, with current AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti being one of the candidates to become the new Madrid coach.
Read more:
Agent Ibrahimovic hints again at Barcelona move
Last summer's search for a striker
Meeting with Inter president on Ibrahimovich
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
First contacts with Ibrahimovic
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
42 comments:
if henry leaves there are still better options out there,but if ibra is willing to not ask a very big contract then he can come here.also if he accepts a rotation plan and not cause ruckus with the media
one thing our medics should check is his knees.if he is very injury prone we dont need him.we saw the problem with henrys back last year.it took him a whole year to settle too,we shouldnt do the same mistake twice.
noone can argue that ibra is a quality player and can help with croses,he may be the perfect target guy for barca.sidenote "he should get a haircut......he looks like dartanian from the three mascoteers"
this guy is never injured, he's 1m92 and damn solid!!
the biggest problem is his salary, hes earns the top salary in the world already!!
yes we can pay him the same as eto'o but not more.. A trade with eto'o maybe isn't a bad thing but positive?: He's a genius
negative: he doesn't score that much.
And I think he's an arrogant guy.
Probably the best option is renew eto'o at a fair price! If not, then ibra is an option. My preferred option is torres but he's out of reach
he disappears in big games, his scoring record is no where near etoo's and his a disruptive prick who could ruin our team spirit. really, really hope this doesn't happen.
if etoo goes, or even if he doesn't we should get aguero, he showed against us that if he gets good crosses he can get his head to them. aerial threat is the only positive ibra has and that is only relevant for CL when we play the EPL teams, but they are big games and ibra will disappear. get kun or keep etoo, not this guy.
i also prefer kun above zlatan
he still needs to grow (miss less chances) with barça he can do that so much better than in italy or atletico
I would love to see ibra move to barca, but not in a deal with eto'o going the other way. maybe trade for henry? (despite his good form this season).
Even though I am swedish I don't want Zlatan in Barca. He is, as someone already stated, a real douche. He has qualitys for shure, but he just wont fit in Barcas way of playing. He is galactico-material with his attitude and behaviour. I say no! No I tell ya!
Once again. Zlatan is 27, not 26. He turns 28 in november. That is actually a pretty big deal.
October..
If Eto'o doesnt agrees with the new deal Ill swap him with Ibrakadabra
well said sjp.
But i prefer Villa over every other striking option. He is Spanish, so can comunicate easily with everyone, and doesn't seem disruptive. And he's class.
Physically, Ibra is the ideal forward to lead a 3-man forward line. His scoring record is not great, but it would drastically improve in a team such as ours. He plays in a very slow, plodding league currently. He is built for the Premiership and Spain.
I like Aguero for Barca, but only as a winger. He would not function well by himself as a lead forward. He would be very easily marked out of games due to the lack of aerial threat.
well...in fact inter lost to manchester because of this guy...he missed so many clear chances....i think kun or benzema oe even villa will be better than him...
Villa is probably the best fit. Zlatan may be the answer to the left flank problem if he is allowed a free role like messi has. Zlatan for me is more of a creator, than a goal poacher so i would not trade etoo for him. Like i said before, ribery is perfect can play on right or left wing, 25 years old so he can play for us for 5 years while gai and deulofeu continue to develop and eventually leave at age 30 when gai is 22 and ready to take his place on the left flank.
Changed that, peter, thanks!
Ibra would be ideal for barcelona imo. It is true that he doesnt put away as many balls as Etoo, but he contributes so much more to a team than scoring. He is a excellent target and his ball distributions is like magic, almost at the same lvl as xavi. And as someone already said, at inter that play a very slow and defensive game he doesnt get as much to work with as he would at barca. His scoring would increase drastically... And even thou you complain about that he still is second best goalscorer in italy as of now. Doesnt that mean anything to you?
And at last i just want to comment on the attitude of the player. Its true that he might appear as a duche sometimes but he has matured alot in the past coupple of years and i dont see him making a bigger ruckus than etoo in barcelona!
Inter should pay to get Eto'o for Ibra.
Don't want him in Barcelona. Really don't like him.
@Bubben: i'm glad some people agree with me on why zlatan would make it at barca.. everyone is just looking at him in inter rather him in general. zlatan height and technical ability is amazing and for him to perform the way he do in inter is great.. inter relies on him but if he go to barca he won't have to work much and instead of feeding the ball to others and set up himself coming all the way from defense, he could just get the best support in lionel messi and ribery if he joins.
someone said something about eto'o puts away more chances than ibra, i had written something on both of them before, why ibra is better than eto'o simply because ibra has better passing, ariel ability, technical ability and finishing..eto'o has more pace and and better positioning..pace doesn't really matter in a 4-3-3 when u playing cf and positioning is a poachers best ability other than finishing but eto'o misses alot.. i like eto'o but i'm not one to turn over and want to keep him after asking for him to leave last year i stay by the fact that barca needs a better striker and that eto'o is only great because of the barca squad i can't see him going inter and do what ibra does..when u all think about that come back to me and tell me i'm wrong.
The only thing i agree with most people on is that villa is a better option, only in the sense that if the 6+5 gets implemented we will have our 6 outfield players already meaning that won't change the barca squad. but this 6+5 is absolute rubbish i can see football dying after this.. competition will drop and the chance of smaller teams becoming better disappears cause all the big english clubs will snatch up the best english talent that lies within west ham, aston villa etc and same goes for spain and italy. champions league will be boring and league titles will come down to the big matches rather smaller teams pulling off the upset. it would be better if someone like pep or ramzi make a topic of this.
"his scoring record is no where near etoo's"
if ibra played in barca he would score 50 goals,barca creates 10 chances per game,and iibra is a better finisher so please dont post dumb comments
unreal2: "well...in fact inter lost to manchester because of this guy...he missed so many clear chances....i think kun or benzema oe even villa will be better than him..."
Eh sorry? And Lyon won over us because of Benzema? Athletico came through because of Kun? By that logic we should never even think about signing Villa or Silva because they lost Valencias CL spot..
That comment is absolute rubbish. If anything made inter loose it was ManU. But then again, Inter is a crappy team with no pace, no regista and an old squad.
The problem for Zlatan has allways been the lack of support up front. He becomes isolated in the big games, the slow players of Inter does not have the pace or the stamina to run up quickly and support him.
Everyone who saw the ManU vs Inter game saw this issue. In the first half, Zlatan managed to recive and control balls from down the pitch, keeping Rio and the boys away from the ball. The problem was, and is, that unless you give cover and support no player in the world can deal with a flat back four on their own (save, ofcause, Messiah).
Inter simply does not have the quality to compete in top games, one top player does not make a diffrence.
Zlatan would very interesting to se in a team like Barca that actuly wants to attack, that lives for it. Wingers with pace, a master ball distributer and an extreme version of Maicon.
Ah well.. I could go on, but as usual, Zlatan allways divide football fans in 2 camps.
Those who love him
Those who hate him
Anyway, a good addition if Eto'o leaves. Lets hope the Lion doesnt!
Just saw this:
http://g.imagehost.org/0387/ibra-barca.jpg
According to La Gazzetta dello Sports, Zlatan is on his way to Barca.
Quoting the paper..
"And apparently this time it is not about money"
La Gazzetta also states that first contact has been initiated, and they are positive.
The idea is, according to the paper, 50 million euro + Eto'o for Zlatan.
Rumours, rumours... As much as I like Zlatan.. 50m + Eto'o?! Yea right!!
Eto'o had a good scoring record IN MALLORCA before he joined Barca. Do they create more chances than Inter ? Is there any team where Zlatan has a good scoring record ?
The point is not even the figures, it is that he misses so many chances, he disappears when he is most needed and he is too arrogant and selfish to ever fit into Barca's system.
He would be a real waste of money and a lot of money at that.
Ibra would rock the freakin' house with us. His name came up last season, with much outrage and horror, and I have no idea why. He's the goods. He's big, strong, quick AND fast, and turns goals with crazy shots. He's scoring goals in Serie A, even with catenaccio in full effect. Imagine him on the end of Alves crosses and Xavi passes. I'm giddy just thinking about it.
Eto'o is a class striker, who scores goals at a remarkable rate. But I think that any striker who plays in the true "9" slot would score bunches of goals for us. No, I don't mean to minimize Eto'o contributions. He's been spectacular for us. But let's not make our fondness for him blind us to other options.
Ideally, I'd want Ibra AND Eto'o. I like the latter's work rate and constant motion.
we should get ibra because in italy the league is mostly based on defending an if ibra comes to barca he will score like 20-30 goals not loke eto'o who most of his goals are tap-ins an even if we get ibra theres are free kick he will score like the one against florentina like 40 yards out taker but never the less get rid of eto'o an get ibra or villa either one will do it
My main concern about Ibra is how small his contribution to the defensive game is. Look at any game with Inter. When possession is lost in their opponents half, "his part" is over for now. He will rarely, if ever, put preasure on the back four, nor will he make defensive runs. This alone can be a dealbreaker for his chances to join Barcelona!
Peps team is all about regaining posession as fast as possible. Even the top trio HAS to contribute in early preasure. This is also one of Eto'o major strengths! He runs and runs and runs. So unless Ibra is willing to do the dirtywork aswell, not just the fancy attacking play, Pep will never ever sign him.
if eto'o leaves,villa or ibra would be best option for barca.
i think villa is almost perfect replacement for eto'o.
ibra is fantastic player,he has great ball controll skills,size...
messi ＆ ibra partnership is so exciting isn't it?
but his saraly is too high...it's the biggest problem.
@fred: since when is a strikers job to go back and defend, if u haven't realized, this is barcelona and we focus on attacking football and eto'o doesn't defend but he does run alot and sometimes runs too much. if pep is looking for a striker who is going to run back and defend then he is not barca material so trust me when i say Ibra is everthing pep wanted last summer a tall technically gifted center forward but eto'o refused to leave and purposely asked for a huge sum money to scare off buyers why do u think one of the best strikers in the world was on sale and not many clubs tried to sign him. ac milan wanted eto'o more than ronaldinho but they settled for dinho cause they couldn't pay the wages eto'o wanted. where was rich clubs like chelsea and manu .. thats right buying cheaper players who are currently doing their part. i say barcelona let eto'o push them in to keeping him but it worked out so far. don't mean to snap at u like this but as a barca fan saying strikers should be at the back defending is nonsense, the only person that should be running back to defense is henry and that is because he wants to.. messi rarely goes back to defense but he drops back to the half line alot and the cf who's job is to score reamains above the half way line way above it and prepare for counters and to also keep some defenders from going forward and helping out in attack. besides its not like we can sign zlatan unless mourinho leaves and torres is unavailable as well and so is benzema so its villa or no one.
You totaly missunderstand me Marc4Barca.
From your post, it seems like I want the CF of Barca to play the role of Yaya or Puyol. That is not the case. The point I was trying to make, a negative side of Ibra, was that his defensive game isnt on par with what we se in for example Eto'o. Guardiola has made some serious changes to the team this season. Starting from the top we have the offence that is more or less forced by Peps hand to play a part in regaining posession.
I think we can all agree this tactical aproach has been a success so far. We usualy regain the ball midfield. If we dont, I consider it a failure. We do not want Pique/Marquez/Puyol to be the ball winners. We want to win the midfield battle. This is where Barca shines. A solid, patient buildup leading to a throughball that blows your mind.
This, however, can only be achived if we posess the ball in the 2/3 or the 3/3 of the field.
Guardiola realised this early on. If you want a comparison, have a look at last season and the games Dinho played. Sure, previous to his "downfall" (and I use that term in the smallest way I can imagine, I love Ronnie!) his mere presence ensured our opponents thought twice before going upfield.
But the last season showed us how easy it is to concede if you loose posession in the midfield. Too many goals against us were scored due to the simple fact that we gave too much time to the oposition for distribution.
And this is what worries me when it comes to Zlatan. A solid defence starts at the top trio. We should continue the tactic of this season. Hard, fierce, brutal preasure whenever we loose the ball. This includes the CF, the wingers and the third midfielder. This is the team effort. This is how we win matches.
Zlatans contribution to defensive duties is, as I tried to point out, the only flaw I se in his game. Make no mistake, I am perhaps the most fanatic fan of Ibracadabra out there. But it seems rather pointless for me to simply list his good qualities. After all, it is the failures of a footballer that makes him inadequate. His qualities matter a lot less in a club like Barca. A centreback with the best positioning and anticipation in the world would not be labeled "great" if he couldnt complete that vital tackle if so his life depended on it.
We, as fans, demand the best. We, as fans, want the spectacular. We, as a Club, want victory.
If we do sign Ibra, I would be happy as a child. But I would do best to keep his shortcomings in mind, hoping the coach straightens them out. No player in the world is complete. C Ronaldo was awesome last season, Messi is awesome now. But nothing comes without a serious amount of work, adaptation and self confidence.
Zlatan would be, according to me, the most interesting CF for Barca. I can just imagine spectacular passes we would se with Alves, Xavi, Iniesta and Zlatan on the pitch. WOW!
I agree with Marc4barca but not with most of the other guys who care about ibras salary i mean u guys aint the ones paying him an get off his nuts talking about his ego cause u guys aint playing next to him an with inter he doesnt have any problems with nobody but we should let eto'o leave cause ibra and villa are way better.
I forgot to mention ibra is better suited for our center forward because we need someone that will also make goals with his head an i dont think ive seen eto make one like that but ibra will but he will also make alot of assist to messi an henry/ribery who ever plays left wing next year
I think I've made my standpoint quite clear.
1. Yes, his salary demand has to be within Barca standards.
2. Yes, he does not contribute enough to defense (at Inter!)
3. Yes, Ibra is Xavi but further up the pitch
4. Yes, his ego is as big as Eto'os
5. Yes, Ibra wants to be a part of a club that wins CL. (as does everyone)
6. Yes, Inter as a team cant support him
7. Yes, (and I bring this up yet again) his vision for the game is amazing
8. Yes, Bojan must have a place
9. Yes, he will score more goals than in Inter.
The question is realy, do we need him?
And no, the question is not, do we want him.
If we can win without him then no. If we can win more with him, then ofcause Yes.
HOPEFULLY HENRY LEAVES AND THEN REPLACE HIM WITH THIS GUY BECAUSE IBRA IS VERY GOOD AND HENRY IS LACKING AND ETO'O IS VERRY VERYYYYY GOOD
i get where you are coming from fred but i am just stating what pep wanted. winning back possession in midfield is good but that is coming down more to iniesta and yaya toure. the question why can't u see zlatan doing that, i mean inter is a defensive side he doesn't need to drop back and when the ball gets forward he has no support cause balotelli is back there along with stankovic. that is why i'm saying he will be a very promising striker if he was to move to barca and basically the best option we have for heading in those alves crosses and he can take freekicks to some extent but the main reason for zlatan or any other striker next season is the fact that eto'o is gone for January due to African cup of nations along with keita and toure.
i wouldnt mind ibra coming to barca, but i cant see eto'o staying if he does come,if eto'o does stay this will leave bojan out of the picture, Bojan is still a great striker in the making so lets not forget this kid and give him room to improve his game just like we gave it to messi
if ibra had the attitude of bergkamp it would be more than perfect..
Okay I have read all your posts (some autobiographies...joking)for me this is very simple. FORGET Ibra, Benzema, Villa and any other striker you can think of except TORRRRREESSSSSSSSSS. He is the man!! He murded Madrid and Man Utd both within 4 days! Need I remind anyone how he used to torment us when he was at Athletico. Forget the rest, Torres is a proven goal scoring machine in both Spain and England. Break the bank and buy him. He is young, fast, tall and PERFECT for Barca. Please get him.
Ibra might have an ego, but he seems to listen to what the coach has to say. I have no doubt he will adapt to Guardiola's masterplan should he come. And you are right Marc4Barca, posession is regained in the midfield by the trio there, not by the top forwards.
Aussie Barca Fan: Hehe yea, its like reading À la recherce du temps perdu.
I have to say I like the Torres option too. Hell I like Benzema and Villa aswell. Any one of them would be sweet. Its just, it would be so very interesting to se the big tall swede upfront. Im sure he could do wonders!
Torres is also impossible to sign and even if he was i wouldn't break the bank for him.. Torres is my 2nd favorite striker first being zlatan of course but why break the bank for Torres when u could get villa or zlatan for less. lets not forget we need money to sign a LW too. if it wasn't for Barcelona's incredible style of play i would be an inter fan.
lol I forgot to mention that Torres is SPANISH for those living on Pluto (joking). Ibra is good and I love watching Villa but Torres is at least 3 years younger than these guys. Anyhow didn't many people say it wasn't worth braking the bank for Dani Alves. The most expensive full back ever and look at what a season he is having. I would pay 40 million euros for Torres and I bet within 2 years everyone would be saying he is worth every cent. Berbatov went for around 40 million and Torres is much better than him. I am shocked he is not at the top of our list if Eto'o leaves. Offer players in part exchance i.e. Eidar, Hleb, Milito if you have to. Barca are very good at negotiating, not to mention the potential sale of Eto'o to bring in funds.
lol
Torres = impossible
reasons being
1- rafael benitez renewed his contract
2- he still has a soft spot for atletico and do not wish to play against them
3- barcelona are tired of trying to sign him
4- becoming seriously injury prone
5- villa is cheaper
6- there's is only one player benitez would trade torres for and u know who that is
7- benzema is also younger than Torres and he could be playing for us summer after next
8- Torres is worth more than 40 million probably 50mil and barca ain't paying that(we broke the bank for alves cause we were in desperate need of a full back suited for barca's style and alves was the best choice, we couldn't let him go to manu or chelsea. if signing players was as easy as breaking bank then everyone will be moving everywhere every year lol)
All very good points. You are right. I know it will be extremely hard to get him and it doesn't look like it will happen. I would just love to see 'The kid' in a Barca shirt, prancing around camp nou like Romario did. With a certain deadly casualness about him. For now I will do this on Football Manager but one day I believe he will join us lol. By the way I am happily married and expecting a child soon lol
After the chip shot Zlatan graced the world with yesterday, can anyone doubt him? Tied first place as the top scorer in Italy!
Post a Comment