Tuesday 19 May 2009

Lahm offers himself to Barcelona

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Bayern Munich full back defender and German international Philipp Lahm (25) has let Barcelona know that he would be willing to join the club in the summer.

Lahm's agent Roman Grill would have contacted Barcelona officials and Barcelona would have accepted to start talking. The place and the date of the meeting will be agreed upon next week. Lahm, who can act both as right back defender and left back defender, would be valued at this moment around 25-30 million euro°.

Lahm would have been disappointed that Barcelona didn't push through last season after first having asked the German defender to postpone signing his renewal with Bayern and therefore refused to pick up the negotiations in January (read more here). But with new Bayern Munich manager Louis van Gaal expected to bring in Ajax player Emanuelson, Lahm would now be considering an exit and thinks he could have enough playing time in Barcelona because of his ability to play on both wings.

German football site 4-4-2 meanwhile claims that Barcelona is reconsidering the transfer of Lahm because it would be unclear if Barcelona left back defender Eric Abidal (29) will stay with AC Milan presumably being interested in the Frenchman. If Abidal would leave, Lahm would be the first option of Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola to replace him. Although Bayern Munich isn't willing to let go Lahm, whose contract expires in 2012, Barcelona could make a bid in the summer.

Read more:
Zhirkov and Lahm on top of left back list
Talks with Bayern on Lahm reopened
Ribery and Lahm approached by Begiristain

33 comments:

pep said...

25-30 milion euro =

33-40 million us dollar
23-27 million british pound

Unknown said...

i really hope it's true he's brilliant

jester[HUN] said...

I hope to he very good for barca

sashi said...

amazing player. Lahm + Ribery swap for 40 mil + Guddy and (or) Hleb. wish player transfer was this simple :D

HouseMD said...

He's a good choice for left back. Although, I can't understand either why Barca did not push for him last summer. They could have had him for less than 10M. History repeating. Too late to push for Torres, too late to push for Ribery. Damn it, are they blind??
Lahm is very good, but now he'll be too expensive. Txiki & Co have to decide who will they buy. It's great that he's interested to move to Barca. Of course, he can replace Alves sometime to give him a break. It was ugly to see him playing every match. Guardiola should've give him more rest. Pure sadism. But no complains.

R10FCB said...

get both lahm and ribery

kamikaze kontiki said...

The price is too high. He isn't worth that much.

With Henrique back we already have cover for Dani Alves. It would be cheaper to keep Abidal and buy Zhirkov who can play in midfield too and bring a new dimension to our attack.

raidall said...

boys it's to fast to be excited cuz if we use our brains than something is gonna happen that we don't like to happen. do you think barca will and can go for ribery and lahm. i think one of them is gonna stay in bayern cuz it will cost us a lot of money if get both even if we give them guddy and hleb it will not be enough we still have to give them a lot of money.

let me eplain to you why we will have to spend so much cuz
1. ribery and lahm are young compared with guddy and hleb
2. ribery and lahm are the key players in bayern compared with guddy and hleb who did not play more than 20 games(bench role)
3. if a lot of teams are bidding for ribery and lahm it will be very diffcult for bayern to let them go to barca do you know howmuch they are gonna loss.

so let use our brain quickly and excited slowly

peace

HouseMD said...

Agree with kontiki.

Regarding left wingers, Angel di Maria declares that he wants out of Benfica. He could be great signing. And everyone is talking about some mega transfers (Kaka, CR, Ribery), no-one mention di Maria anymore.

Here's what I red recently about transfers:
RM - interested in Valencia (Wigan), Ribery, Kaka, CR
Inter - interested in RVP, Hleb, even though they made a huge mistake buying Quaresma and Mancini
Juve - Ribery (less possible) they already bought Diego
Man U - interested in Valencia if CR goes

R10FCB said...

ive been hearing rumours of man u making a huge bid for ribery in case ronaldo goes to madrid. ive also heard rumours of man city going for lahm.

Anonymous said...

LV:
- Abidal
- Lahm
(- Puyol)

IV:
- Marquez
- Puyol
- Pique
- Milito
(- Henrique)

RV:
- Alves
- Henrique
(- Puyol)
(- Lahm)

- and Caceres loan out
- perfect defense

hieifcb said...

Lahm! buy buy buy! lol
he's great both sides... =D

Marc4barca said...

don't anyone think it is unwise to have too attacking full backs at that caliber, and to shorten our defence by that much. lahm is great but we can't have everyone upfront, i'm going with kontiki and say keep abidal and buy zhirkov or taiwo or vargas.

Rory said...

i agree with marc4barca. lahm's best qualities are a worse version of alves. He'd be nice for depth, but we need a sturdier defender...we already have our attacking, small, shifty defender in alves. Were Lahm much cheaper, then we could talk.

The team, as constituted, won the double and is one match away from the treble. Bringing Henrique back would provide the necessary depth @ defense to cover for the problems we're facing with marquez and abidal out (also, another year for caceres and he's a tall and valuable defender potentially).

@ midfield, we've got perhaps too much talent and the only striker or winger options would either be:

a. to replace someone who left from this squad (there are only maybe 3 left wingers who fit better than this year's version of Henry)
b. to be a future replacement for someone (but why? are they definitely better than the youth players in the pipeline? are you sure?)
c. A depth attacker who will be useful in certain matchups (a TALL striker, for example).

Basically, I don't see why Barca would make too aggressive a move for anyone big unless someone in this squad announces they don't want to return, is asking far too much in salary, or someone is offered at a big discount.

the ideal line up to me is:
defense: alves, pique, puyol, abidal. with marquez, henrique, and caceres as possible subs.
midfield: toure, xavi, iniesta. keita and busquets as subs (I could use one more dynamic attacker here, but perhaps thiago's ready? Hernanes would be nice)
attack: messi, eto'o, henry. with bojan (or someone else if bojan leaves) and a taller striker as options.

fcbee said...

In games the opponent plays with only one (or even half) striker, it's good to have a more attacking option than Abidal on the left. Against Chelsea for example, there was a lot of space Abidal couldn't take advantage of. In games like that, a player like Lahm or Zhirkov can be a real asset.

i_love_boobs_and_barca said...

rory, you forgot that Milito will be back too.

SHY said...

we don't need him, he's too short.

Anonymous said...

i dont think that milito will regain his form. over year away from football and his age, he just wont make it.

Marc4barca said...

fcbee, there was np space in the chelsea game and if their was ask abidal to take advantage wasn't iniesta playing on that side too. barca can't hurt the defence anymore than it is, lahm will add attacking flair but we have score 155 goals this season what more attacking flair do we want. our objective is to strengthen that defence as much as we can and put personal feelings aside.

IN
Maxwell - LB
Zlatan/ribery(can't have both) - CF and LF/LM(i prefer zlatan cause henry still has a year left in him)
Van Der Vaart/hernanes/yoann goucruff(prefer him for midfield than LF) - CAM
henrique - CB/RB

OUT
Guddy - CM
Hleb - CAM
slyvinho - LB
Jorquera - GK
eto - CF(depends on who we sign, if we sign ribery then he stays, but if zlatan joins he goes)
Milito - CB

Potential line-up next season

Ribery - eto - messi
iniesta - xavi
yaya
maxwell - puyol - pique - daniel
valdes
SUBS
Henry
Bojan
keita
Van der Vaart
Henrique
Abidal
Pinto

RESERVES
Marquez
busquets
oier
pedro
thiago

OR

Henry - Zlatan - messi
iniesta - xavi
yaya
Abidal - puyol - pique - daniel
valdes
SUBS
Bojan
Yoann Goucruff(LF)
van der vaart
keita
henrique
maxwell
pinto

RESERVES
busquets
pedro
thiago
oier
marquez

not much changes are needed and that's what i think we should do, change the bench players more than the first team.

EXTRA
DREAM LINE UP

RIBERY-ZLATAN-MESSI
INIESTA-YAYA/DE ROSSI-XAVI
PUYOL-VIDIC-PIQUE-RAMOS
CASILLAS

Anonymous said...

lahm is as midget. currently the tallest barca defender is about 185 cm. we need a defender who is not drowning in the box when the opponents got corners or free kicks. he is technically good but not good enough for barca and much less for 25-30 mio eur.

Rory said...

i did fail to mention milito. sadly, i don't expect much/anything from him. anything we get will be a nice benefit, but not worth planning on/for. I'm certainly hoping for it, tho.

Henry said...

Barça 2009/10:

Valdes(Asenjo)

Alves(Henrique)
Puyol(Marquez)
Pique(Milito)
Abidal(Emanuelson or Gibbs)

Xavi(Crosas)
Toure(Busquets)
Iniesta(Keita)

Messi(Pedro and Jeffren)
Henry(Bojan and Vazquez)
Ribery(Hleb and Thiago)

Josep Guardiola

Anonymous said...

where's eto'o?

Anonymous said...

Yaya?

Anonymous said...

Emanuelson is crap. Total crap. This is clear, and should definitely be taken into account. He is also another midget.

Aussie Barca Fan said...

Lahm is a very good player but is very expensive for that price. We can't look back at what we should have done. We need to look forward. I think the capture of Ribery should be our top priority. He should rotate with Henry on the left and when Eto'o goes to the African Cup of Nations, Henry should slot into the central role. We don't need major changes. With Henrique coming back we will have depth in defence. We should promote Gai and Thiago and look at Asenjo for GK.

xaviesta said...

he is brilliant in attaking from the left side! he has a real precise shot and a clever passing skill!
would love to see him in the blaugrana dress!
lets get him

Iason said...

@ Marc4barca,

Do you really prefer Ramos over Alves? Sure, Alves has been bad lately but thats because he has been playing so many games. Remember earlier in the season, the amazing crosses he gave and the connection he had with Messi? With a little brake, that will all come back. Besides, Ramos may be taller that Alves but remember how Puyol out jumped him in the first Classico this season to give Eto'o the assist? Puyol is pretty short by the way.

Marc4barca said...

i have liked ramos long before alves became a barca player and long before he played for real. oh how i wish he played for barca, i was so sad we lost out on getting him.

Unknown said...

There is absolutely 0 chance that both Lahm and Ribery will leave Bayern. The only way either will leave is if they go to the board and formally request a transfer, otherwise Bayern isn't going to sell off 2 of thest best players. A transfer for both players, even if Hleb is throw in the deal...would require around 75 mil in cash (Ribery at 60+ mil, Lahm at 30, and Hleb is only worth 10, tops,).

Hoeneb just came out and said that Bayern will be spending big this summer, specifically to "bring a playmaker to help Ribery". If Bayern is buying, they certainly aren't selling both Lahm and Ribery, if either.

Ramen said...

@Anonymous: There's no way Barça's tallest defender is 185 cm. Pique is 192 cm, or 6'4".

Watching Oier Olazabal play on Sunday, he's much more composed than half of the Keepers in La Liga. He could start and become part of the most wanted keeper list just like Asenjo in any other club. Moreover, Ruben Miño is supposedly better than Oier. Barça has a good future with keepers. Because of them and their reluctancy to buy another keeper, I doubt Asenjo will play in the blaugrana.

Also, Barcelona is getting better with defenders. The Spanish youth teams have used mostly Barça youth defenders for their squads, so they'll be jammed pack at those positions, too. They also have two very talented left backs going up the ranks. Perhaps the senior team should buy an older left back so they will fuse into the senior team with no problem. We all know that Pique is going to stay, but I can't see how Caceres and Henrique will compete against them for a starting spot in the future. Lahm will not work because he's too short and suspect defensively. Besides, our youth LBs are probably better than he defensively. Milito will not regain his form with two ACL/MCL (and LCL?) surgeries in succession.

If Barça needs signings right now, it must be forwards. Ribery would be nice, but there also has to be a target striker. Guiza or Llorente would fit the bill. Pep has to keep in mind that Bojan has the possibility to be good enough to start next season, so buying someone like Aguero or Pato is NOT an option.

Marc4barca said...

@john- ribery does not cost 60mil, if he wants to leave then the price fall and barca have good relations with bayern i think 25mil and hleb will get ribery and i don't want lahm. just like we can give 25mil and eto for zlatan. barca won't spend alot on players that's why we entice them with bonuses and financial backing when it comes to off field problems and injuries, take messi for example, we paid for his needle shots to grow taller and we got a monster lol. all hail barca we are truly more than a club.

Nderim said...

PLZ GET THIS. just because they want 70m + or what the price is that dont mean we have to pay that much. SO stop talking about noo we can get ribery noo we cant get zlatan the price is to high.

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