Saturday 23 May 2009

[2008] The short list

this post was published exactly one year ago:


Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona has drawn up a short list of ten players. At least seven of those players would come to Barcelona in the summer.


Will certainly come:
1. Gerard Piqué
2. Seydou Keita
3. Daniel Alves

Will most probably come:
4. Fabricio Coloccini
5. Alexander Hleb

One of the following two will come (in order of preference):
6. Florent Malouda
7. David Silva

One of the following three will come (in order of preference):
8. Karim Benzema
9. Emmanuel Adebayor
10. Dimitar Berbatov


Read more 23 May 2008 news:
Silva first choice for left wing
Guiza willing to return to Barcelona
Almeria's Diego Alves to rival Valdes
OFFICIAL: Edmilson to Villareal
Keita passed by the Camp Nou
Pique is in Barcelona
Top meeting with Milan to close Zambrotta deal

2 comments:

one year ago, readers said...

Anonymous said...
Would really like to see David Silva play for Barca =) YEAAAA it would be great !!!


Marc said...

Will certainly come:
1. Gerard Piqué --Good solid long term investment
2. Seydou Keita--- Good Back-up nothing special
3. Daniel Alves--- great buy. hope the price is right

Will most probably come:
4. Fabricio Coloccini-- WHY!!!?! he's just like gabby
5. Alexander Hleb-- HE IS TOOO FRAGILE TO LITTLE BESIDES INIESTA IS BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the following two will come (in order of preference):
6. Florent Malouda Him and abidal were fantastic together.. we do need width... but I just dont like hi that much... wouldnt be a bad buy I guess
7. David Silva Great buy!

One of the following three will come (in order of preference):
8. Karim Benzema Would be fantastic
9. Emmanuel Adebayor he could turn into Ronaldinho ( attitude wise)
10. Dimitar Berbatov kind of old.. not sure he fits exactly.


Anonymous said...

malouda was dramatic in the cl final. I don't want him.
Only benzema is great. eto'o is better than the others.
I'm not for collocini neither. he isn't that good. garay is much better so..
Pjanic I would like to have too.


vin49 said...

I thought the purpose of a clear-out and re-build was to get rid of the players that, for one reason or another, are damaging the team's chances for success. Then to replace then with equal/greater talent or of great potential.

Arsene did it well with Arsenal. Over a few years, Vieira, Pires, Henry and others leave while bringing in Cesc, Adebayor and Walcott etc. (as long as the AW does not allow his ego to get in the way and keep playing bad player that he 'saw something in', read:Eboue, they could have great success)

However, with Barca, I feel that the two main problems are:
There is too much of a gulf between those who are departing and those rumoured to be coming in. Hleb? Malouda? Berbatov? Are these players capable of replacing Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Deco??
Also, they are linked with players that do not/cannot play in Barca's 4-3-3 system....(4-4-2 next season?)

There are plenty of great talent already at the club, Alves and Pique would be very good for the club but (not inclding those that would not leave their club i.e. Benzema) Barca does not appear to be in line with any players in which to get 'excited'. Where are the the ones that all fans would be eager to see put on the famous shirt?


Anonymous said...

Of the choice between Coloccini or Hleb I'd rather take Hleb. I think Hleb doesn't get the credit he deserves for the "work rate" he puts in. Plus he's not a "me first" type of player. And god knows Barcelona needs more unselfish players like him because the club is already stocked full of prima donnas!

I don't like Malouda at all! At whatever the cost! And if the option came down to between him or Silva, even a blind man would take Silva in a heartbeat!

I'm sick of hearing Benzema's name bantied about because he's not going anywhere so you put that dream to rest. Adebayor brings a "physical" presence up front but like Marc said you get the attitude as well with the baggage. Plus where would he play? he can only play that central role up front. So that means that Henry and Bojan are stuck on the bench? Berbatov makes the most sense of the three to me. But too often he "dissapears" from games and he's not that "powerfull" striker you're looking for. He's a finesse player, with great touch and great ball skills but he lacks focus, is known to have attitude issues, and is kind of on the frail side.

Personally I would much rather take my chances on someone like Huntelaar (ONLY if Benzema was not attainable)(but it seems almost a certainty he'll join Real Madrid). Besides with all the rest of their summer shopping list needs Barcelona wouldn't have any money left over for him anyways it seems.

one year ago, readers said...

Anonymous said...

I should also mention that with the likelyhood being less and less that Benzema will be made available; the more I am inclined to hold onto Eto'o if I were Barcelona. Theoretically speaking who else in the world could fill Eto'o shoes right now? I can only think of two players...A.)Benzema or B.)Huntelaar. My logic says that you should ONLY replace a player if you are certain to get a player of EQUAL skill or (potentialy)BETTER in return. Neither Berbatov, or Adebayor are as good as Eto'o. Not now, not ever! So if you let Eto'o go you are pretty much "underfilling" that position with someone of lesser talent and skill. Eto'o's tantrums and theatrics aside, I don't see any way you can replace the man right now....unless you could somehow convince Lyon to part with Benzema which I don't see happening.


Anonymous said...

...and why isn't Diego on this list?! Benzema's pretty much non-attainable but he still makes the list. Omitting Diego's name is a sin!...I guess this might signal Dos Santos staying as a backup to Iniesta in midfield. Or that Barca simply don't want to spend big on that position with Alcantara waiting in the wings. Either way Diego's name should have been included in my opinion.


Anonymous said...

With the 3 players for the striker role... What happened to Guiza? there has been news reporting that he is interested in joining Barca.. a player who wants to play for the team =)

There was an earlier post mentioning Huntelaar? Think Klaas Jan Huntelaar would be a great buy because he is a great team player and is used to playing with 3 players up front but he is NOT going to be an easy buy =(
(Top clubs like Man U is after him and dont know much about his interest with Barca)

Benzema is also going to be a great buy !!! but still an almost impossible buy this season... (He has expressed his interest in Barca which is awesome but to get him this season... odds are againts it... very high odds)

Malouda or David Silva... DAVID SILVA ALL THE WAY !!!... (Although Malouda might have great chemistry with Abidal?... but DAVID SILVA could develop great chemistry with the BARCA !!!) DAVID SILVA would be a GREAT BUY !!! (so exciting to know he might play for Barca) yea =)

Oh... and agree with marc... Fabricio Coloccini??? he is pretty much like Milito... (hairiest defence team??)... well not suggesting to get a bald player but maybe a different type of defender (a faster defender?)... not so sure about this field... Gerard Pique would be able to strengthen the defence (Centre Back) might be lacking experience but still... excited Gerard Pique gonna be playing for Barca too =)

All the best for the buys but just commenting on the list =)


Abdullah said...

i still dont see the point in signing keita.we have a better defensive midfielder than him who is pretty much guaranteed a starting spot and then for backup we have marquez,pique and xavi in the same position.if you want to sign him to replace deco,thenyou should obviously go for a player with more flair.IMO,txiki is wastinh his time on keita.he should wrap up the dani alves deal and get the hell out of seville, and head straight to valencia :D. as for replacing deco,diego is obviously the number on candidate. i think anyhting below 30million for him is reasonable.van der vaart would also be a great buy but PLEASE DO NOT BUY hleb. iniesta is so much better than him anyway plus you can be guaranteed that he is not going to provide the goal scoring threat we want from our midfield. coloccini as well does not make any sense cause we already have pique wrapped up.


Anonymous said...

* wanna make a correction in previous post... excited Gerard Pique MIGHT be playing for Barca (its not official yet so dont wanna poke holes in it... cause would be dissapointed if something happens...) so will wait until it is official to say that he is gonna play for the team

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