Sunday 31 May 2009

Forlan transfer wouldn't mean exit Eto'o

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Atlético Madrid forward and Uruguayan international Diego Forlán (30) is one of Barcelona's first transfers target for this summer.

Barcelona thinks that Forlán, the Liga topscorer with 32 goals, could add something to the current squad. All the reports and advises that Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has received - from scouts, sports directors, defenders and Barcelona players - are highly positive.

Also because of the age of the Uruagayan striker, Barcelona is nevertheless not willing to pay his 36 million euro° buyout clause. A transfer will only be a possibilty if Atlético would accept to seriously drop that price. One of the options could be to include Barcelona players like Eidur Gudjohnsen (30) or Martín Cáceres (22) or a Barcelona Atlètic player in the deal.

Despite the interest of other European top clubs like Liverpool, Forlán, whose contract with Atlético expires in 2011, would prefer to join Barcelona in the summer.

The arrival of Forlán would not be linked to the exit of Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o (28) but would be an addition to the squad taking into account the tough season that is waiting Barcelona (read more here). The transfer could nevertheless mean that Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic (18) leaves on loan for several years before returning to Barcelona as a more mature and experienced player.

Read more:
Forlan first option to replace Eto'o
Eto'o close to joining Manchester City
Barcelona willing to pay Forlan's buyout clause

15 comments:

pep said...

36 million euro =

48 million us dollar
33 million british pound

James said...

I hope it's less than 20 million that we're spending. If the transfer works out how many good years does he have, 2? 3 at the most? By the way he turned 30 already.

I'm willing to give up Caceres at this point if we can get good value for him. He may yet turn into a world class defender but it's going to take him longer than a year. His awareness, control, composure are just nowhere near satisfactory for Barca. He has a lot to learn.

HouseMD said...

Atletico's chairmen said that they have no desire to sell their players to Barca and Forlan committed his future to Atletico last week. He's a good player but a little bit overrated and his buyout clause is pretty high. I'd rather watch Barca's hot prospect Bojan playing every match during ACN instead of Eto'o than watching Forlan. Anyway, he could be good for FCB only if Henry decides to leave which could happened. That's not a smart move to include some of the players in a swap deal, especially not Caceres.

Anonymous said...

Atletico will play CL and they wont be getting huge money for a 30 year old, they cant replace him for 20m euros so what is the point in selling him for Atletico?

James said...

Apart from whether or not the transfer is a good idea, why wouldn't we want to include players for swap? Not all of our talented reserve players will be good enough for make the first team. As long as we hold on to the real gems like Bojan I don't see a problem with including players for swaps.

We way overpaid for Caceres, if we can get 12-15 million worth of a fee reduction for him I think it's worth it. I mean at this point do you think within another year Caceres (on loan) will become good enough to start? You have way more faith in him than I do. I think he's talented and has a lot of good defensive qualities. But due to the style we play, our centerbacks are asked to push up and do so much distribution, ball control, and are under constant pressure. We need the Pique, Marquez, Milito types of backs who are good with the ball. I honestly can't see Caceres improving in those particular areas in a year, at least not enough to start for our particular style.

Ramzi said...

Eto'o and the guy who rubbed him two "Pichichi", in the same Squad?

Well...

HouseMD said...

James, I understand what are you trying to say. I don't think that every player from Barca B will be world class player, but let's wait a little bit more. No need to hurry. What's the point to sell some promising player (for example Alcantara) and then push for him for a 3-4 years (like Cesc). The same thing happened last summer when FCB lost Iago, unfortunately.
Yes, Caceres's price was a little bit high, but I'd loan him next term and then decide what to do. I don't think Henrique would be much better. You're right about Pique and Marquez, but it's time to find successors for Marquez (30) and Puyol (31), of course, who knows what will happen to Milito due to his recovery. As long as we hesitate to push for younger defenders it'll be harder to incorporate them into squad.

Vj said...

It would mean exit Bojan certainly..

Why so much interest in Strikers all of a sudden.. I can't understand those who come up with such stuff..
(Not you Pep.. you run a helluva blog btw)

kamikaze kontiki said...

"The transfer could nevertheless mean that Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic (18) leaves on loan for several years before returning to Barcelona as a more mature and experienced player."

If that is indeed the case I would say no. Besides like the anony above mentioned there is little reason for Atletico to sell Forlan.

Maybe we shouldn't even be thinking of another centre-fwd this seaon. Maybe when Henry is ready to leave?

As for Caceres, I hope Barça send him out on loan and bring Henrique back. I am quite excited about seeing Henrique.

HouseMD said...

Kamikaze, I like your yesterday's post about getting Juan Mata. It'll be better to set sights on him than overpay some overrated player like Forlan. The best thing is that FCB can afford him if they sell Hleb+Gudjohnsen+some extra cash. It could be around 15M, I hope.

kamikaze kontiki said...

Yeah, I thought it strange that no one is talking about him if most of Valencia is up for sale.

Marc4barca said...

i still don't understand the caceres buy, 17mil and he hasn't proven anything, what was barca thinking. sounds like a good game plan, buy forlan to rotate with eto, loan bojan till forlan and eto leaves or retires, get back bojan and destroy the world.

HouseMD said...

Yes, Kamikaze, I agree. The reason more to get him is Valencia's current financial status. He'll be great.

Anonymous said...

Marc4Barca: He had a very good season with Recreativo.

It shows that socalled proven La Liga players is not necessarily the best option, especially considering the price such players have. Players like Marquez and Yaya were bought from the french league for 7m euros and 13m euros.

tero said...

It's stupid to pay 36M for player who is already 30 years old (Henry is an exception,I guess) Just give Bojan more minutes, he will thank us by scoring lots of goals

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