Catalan sports paper Sport reports that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain presented the board on Thursday a report about the current transfer market. The club would want to sign three or four players this summer (read more here).
Defense
There would be a personal deal with Deportivo La Coruña left back defender Filipe Luis (23) but the negotiations with Deportivo are still ongoing (read more here). Shakhtar Donetsk right back defender Darijo Srna (27) wouldn't be an option anymore since Barcelona cannot pay his current salary (read more here).
The situation of Porto central defender Bruno Alves (27) is being monitored but the club is not yet moving for him (read more here). Shakhtar Donetsk central defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy (22) would cost 15 million euro° and seems at this moment the most likely candidate for the centre-back position (read more here).
Midfield
Barcelona's main priority is to sign a defensive midfielder, so the team can count on six first class midfielders and can deal with the absences of Barcelona players Touré and Keita at the beginning of next year due to the African Cup of Nations. Liverpool defensive midfielder and Argentine international Javier Mascherano (25) is the first name on the list (read more here). The player wants to come but it will be difficult to find a deal with Liverpool.
Read more:
The report of Txiki (1) : Three or four transfers
Meeting on Mascherano in Barcelona
Barcelona considering bid for Shakhtar defenders
Saturday, 20 June 2009
The report of Txiki (2) : Mascherano priority
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45 comments:
15 million euro =
21 million us dollar
12,5 million british pound
Why Mascherano? Why a defensive midfielder? Busquets is a DM, Marquez and Pique can play DM too. We need a CM or a AMC. Promote Thiago, or sign Jurado, Lucho Gonzalez, maybe Raul Meireles.
Txiki reports are Identical to Ramzi Reports. I love that :)
Mascherano must be our priority. I posted this on theoffside and may be it worth posting it here(on two parts) as well. Regarding Mascherano transfer (though I tackled it in my last article):
The best gain we can get if you sign Mascherano is the opportunity of moving Yaya to his natural position as a CM beside Xavi compromising the quality in the midfield. As I will mention below, it’s a bargain football wise and it’s the most cost effective plan.
Put all the pre-opinions apart and look at a selection with MAscherano (DM), then Xavi+Yaya. Iniesta on the left with henry and Messi.
While striking the opponent box, Iniesta and Alves work on the Flanks, stretching the field and generating crosses. Yaya, the giant, run into the box while setting up the crosses to catch out the defense by surprise (Henry is good attracting all the defense attention with his moves). Messi cutting to the center. so you will end up having Yaya+Henry in the box (If its 2×2 or 2×3 challenge then its job done), Iniesta pulling the defense left wise, Alves pulling the defense right wise, Messi cutting in to dance in the space created by the whole thing. Xavi will orchestrate without getting bothered by any marker, while the offense movement sucking all the opponent players available. And the defense is secured by having 3 defenders and a Mascherano in front whose best quality is guarding a wide territory, like the Vacuum tunnel our offense create behind them when we get so busy torturing the opponent defense.
Having Yaya there will give u also a missile bomber, a player who is also a good dribbler in the crowd. Rotating with the ball is more than enough to create enough winding power to blow the opponents miles away.
Beside, having Yaya plus mascherano in the midfield earn back the ball faster and avoid us getting in the midfield fragility we’ve seen against Chelsea in the second leg.
its yayatizing the Keita role I defended thru out the season. Having the toure there instead is a notable upgrade. If we used this model against Chelsea (first leg) we would have won that game.
Part Two
The DM excess argument is valid concern. Why Buying a DM if you have many while the tyeam lack a LW for instance. For DM even Pique can do perfectly. He has the quality needed to be a perfect DM as well as being a CB. But while Recommending to buy mascherano, Its not only to cover the DM position, but more to shake things a bit to boost the offense needs as well.
*We can’t buy a quality Left sided attacker for reasonable price (not for 35 M for sure, which is Mascherano average price). but we already have one. Iniesta. I know the argument (he doesn’t score enough) and I promised long time ago (when he wasn’t scoring at all) that he will start scoring more and more with time. He is now. not enough goals yet, but if anyone think last season was the best iniesta will ever have, mark my words, he will explode next season in a way that we will forget last season. Without ignoring the Fact that numbers prove: with iniesta on the left flank barcelona scored last season almost the same average of goals by game as when Henry plays on the left. Its anonymous because with iniesta the score get spread on different players, while with Henry its him who score so counting get easier. Beside, having him on the left give him more tactical freedom to roam as needed. To drop back assisting the midfield when needed, to link with messi, beside doing his normal work on the left. We’ve seen how brilliant he perform when he doesn’t have to be aware of tactical discipline the way being in the midfield dictates.
**Yet, we can’t handle dedicating more of Iniesta on the left wing if we don’t have quality to play beside Xavi in midfield. Alright Yaya compared to iniesta is less dynamic. But physically stronger. May not increase possession time the same as Iniesta does by passing the ball around(t5hough he is good passing the ball around), but in return he earns back the ball faster so he increase the overall possession this way. And he can contain the opponent player who does the first and most important pass from the opponent box edge switching the opponent status from defense status to offense. And he shoots better and he crush the buss better and he can bounce back the moment we lose the ball to create a Dam beside Mascherano while (Alves-Xavi-Messi-Henry-Iniesta) does the high pressure. So we keep our pressing type of defense but at the same time avoid one of its consequences, counter attacks. Does anyone think we need to worry of counters if we have defense trio behind masch-Yaya?
***Ok thats all good, but we can’t use Yaya in that role without a quality DM to take his place deeper. and That’s exactly where Mascerano fit perfectly.
So while that it sound nonsense to invest around 35M in a position where its well covered while we lack quality in some other departments. There is a way that this signing will end up boosting all the departments where we have concerns. We will have a LW worth more than 50M (Ribery is not better than Iniesta), We will Have Yaya in the midfield (How much do u think a player of Yaya skills and techniques will cost for the CM position). All that by paying 35M to get Mascherano.
Keita will be Yaya Back up for CM. Busquets is MAsche back up. and if Hleb got hit by a Zeus strike that dramatically upgraded his performance he can rest Xavi in some easy games. Beside Having the Yaya for DM, Iniesta for Xavi role whenever needed.
Thats depth and quality, for 35 M. the initial budget of the team.
Now when you sell players, u can buy additional squad needs.
We DON'T need a AMC, we already got Hleb and Guddy for that, and they don't even fit into tha team, so no more of that kind.
We need a back-up for Yaya and Keita when they are gone, and also, the only one how really is a DM is Yaya, who is gone in the winter. Keita and Bussi is not really DMs. Thats why we need a first class DM, such as Mascherano.
Iniesta's talents should not go to waste by playing as a winger. He needs to have a more central role imo, which is why either keeping Henry on the left or bringing in a left winger is key.
Touré is not technical enough to play next to Xavi, Ramzi. He has technique but it's not refined enough. And who's your back-up for Iniesta for the left or Henry (who hasn't yet convinced as striker with us) in the middle? Or for Messi? I guess you want to sell Eto'o, which leaves us with Bojan. One back-up for three positions. Which is too much of a risk.
Btw, I hear Madrid is entering the race for Mascherano, offering 30 million to start...
I do agree with Piqué as DM though, he would be so great there and maybe even better than as centre-back.
I'd bet Iniesta to score at least 12 goals next season.
Wishing all the best to overcome his injury and stay injury-free next season.
Why do ppl keep talking about moving our best defender (pique) to DM, it makes no sense. Thats like man utd talking about moving vidic to DM or chelsea talking about moving terry to DM.
"Keep" talking? I don't remember this subject has come up a lot here...
And I don't want to move him at this point, I just say he would do great there.
I would like another midfielder but I don't see the use of playing mascherano over there. As many of us already said, yaya is the best there is over there. we have a young talent like busquets too. I don't think we want to slow down his growth..Keita can play there as well..even pique,marquez when our 2 africans go to the African nation's cup.Considering keita will return very fast with mali :) 70 games a year, all true. but man u also was in that situation they used e.g. 3 central defenders : vidic , ferdinand and evans. they just use their young talents like the brazilian twins. why can't we use ours in the few matches it's needed. like muniesa or botia. in the midfield vazquez would be better than guddy i think. sanchez can play a bigger role to. backing up alves and playing CM.If we keep buying players how the hell are youngsters going to get into the team. they can wait untill someone retires. So i prefer a left wing attacker , a midfielder profile keita(strong, can attack, can defend and good header), a left back defender (my option is zhirkov)and that's it!if eto'o goes I would go for aguero.
Its come up more than once on the threads i've been on fcbee. You may not have raised it before but several other people have.
@JR, then we need a LW better than Iniesta there, or a Striker better than Henry, and may be even a DM. Txiki and I cant afford paying for that.
@Hung, I will put my money on that bet.
@barca4life, Who, where, when? The pique remark was the same as the situation when we had to Put Yaya(our best DM) to play as CB, when we Had to. We were noting that he has the qualities to be an urgent option in crucial times.
@fcbee, oh he has the techniques. His offense attributes are even better than his Defense ones. I will go more about it when evaluating his past season. But if you can watch his performance with Monaco, or currently with the National team, its obviously impressive. Beside, we dont need another Messi in the CM. We need a player who can exchange passes creating an outlet for Xavi. A player who can launch missiles toward the opponent net from the edge of the box. A Giant who can run into the box to head Alves/Iniesta lazer crosses into the net crushing the Chelsea like train Parking. Thats a yaya no doubt.
As for Henry, he scored enough goals as a second striker to be reliable enough as a first striker.
As for back ups. Lets not forget all the mentioned changes are without selling any player. we will gather enough money to spend a LB/LW player plus a low profile high potentials striker. May be by heading to south america.
Keeping in mind that NOT buying a big name for the LW may have a good impact on Bojan and the youth players we have as well. If we got a busquet-like surprise for the LW this season, I guess no one will complain.
Now of course its more joyful to get Ibra+Villa+Ribery. BUt we cant afford that. Keeping the budget in mind, the Txiki report sound very good. Specially if Villa proved impossible to get.
So I am with Txiki and pep in this approach.
I'm not saying dont put him there in an emergency ramzi, but to say well yaya and keita will be gone so busquets and pique will be able to cover that position is crazy to me. No way pique should move out of our central defence. His displays against Chelsea and Man utd prove to me that CB is his. We can put Pique and somebody else in the back and feel safe (no offence yaya aka somebody else lol)
Sigh el mundo deportivo is reporting real madrid now want mascherano after we declared our interest in him. Could we perhaps declare our interest in Adebayor Senderos and Oleguer :)
we should buy emena from real betis
after he comes backfrom africa, he well be a great sub, with his strength he can play at any position and he is cheap and yong.
Two things:
1) When has El Mundo Deportivo been right about anything?
2) I'm getting a little bit concerned that none of the rumours mention Zhirkov.
They were right about the valdes renewal and about the moratti meeting with laporta
Barca cant count on players like Hleb, Guddy, Pedro, Jeffren, Milito, VicSan and Bojan if the team wants success. Its stupid to have any blind faith in them. How can anyone say that Hleb is (still) a top player after seeing his "skills" in 08-09!? We should focus on quality instead of quantity and buy attacking players who can decide games. Barca may have to replace Eto'o this summer & Henry next year and Xavi in 2-3 years but still we are chasing just some back up players! Buy Cesc or Aguero now! But Barca´s options are limited if they are not ready to spend. EMD claims that Barca plans to buy Ribery "without any competition" in August after other top teams have completed their squads.
@Ramzi
Stop Fooling us.
your real name is txiki and not ramzi !!!
you pretend to be barca fan but in real you are staff member
Uhm you do realize that henry had a terrible first season too right? And also xavi's game is not based on pace so he could easily play till he is 34 or 35 another 6-7 or even 8 or 9 years at a high level. Passing ability doesnt go with age.
Dolce, you are not correct. We absolutely has to buy Dmytro Chygrynskij from Shakhtar. That defender is amazing, a true leader at the back and king in the air, a partnership with Pique could be absolutely incredible. He is also only 22 and it gives us the option of Puyol and Henrique as backups for RB and Marquez as backup for DM. Put Caceres out on loan and buy a backup LB. Imagine this defence:
RB: Puyol, Dani Alves, Henrique
CB: Puyol, Marquez, Chygryniskij, Pique, Henrique, Muniesa
LB: Abidal, Filipe, Puyol
Incredible.
I think Emana would be a great player for us and can easily replace Xavi when he is injured. He has that ability to drive the team forward, he can pass well and has a very strong shot. I would buy him for 10 million for CM. I prefer him over Hernanes or Moutinho and is way better than Guddy. He is young but has experience in La Liga. Buy:
Emana for Xavi backup, Felipe for LB, Zhirkov for everything in the left, and buy Saltor or just permanently switch Caceres there. He plays as Fullback for Uruguay and he preforms well enough.
If we can't buy Emana for whatever reason I would get Duda from Malaga. Great passing and vision and also can score free kicks and has a decent cross. I know he isn't anywhere near world class but would be a good squad player for a few years.
I'm just trying to stay in the 35m budget.
Henry did not have a terrible first season. Barca was crap altogether and Henry was our top scorer. Hleb's first season was completely different as he never even got the chance to play like Henry did and when Hleb did play, he sucked. Henry had some very decent matches in the 07/08 season.
Emana isn't really young, Iason, I think he is 28, but he is a good option now that Betis is relegated and would need to sell.
But I think we should focus on getting the Chygrynskij, we can not let this golden opportunity slip by, and as I explained to you further up, he gives us great options. We can also focus on a player like Llorente from Bilbao, a good bus-breaker.
Hey guys, i have one question for those who say we don't need to buy a strike/wing. If messi, inesta or henry, who are highly susceptible to injuries, get injured in the next season, how should we deal with such a situation?
Josep, they are not "highly susceptible" to injuries. Besides, nobody advocate that we should not buy any replacement if Eto'o is sold.
Toure as AM won't work, he's not a one touch guy and that's what we need there.
We need at least one more top-class attacking guy (two if Eto'o leaves). Like some say, we're too short in attack, we're dependent on Iniesta and Messi who are two injury prone guys. It seems unlikely that Messi will have a second season without one serious injury, so you definetly need back-up for the wings. And they know that because they're looking like hell for a winger (Ribery and the alternatives).
Groga: How about Llorente, Zhirkov (Lb and Lw) and Chygrynskij?
My personal opinion: centre-back is not a priority, don't really know the Ukrainian so won't judge on him. Like I don't know Zhirkov a lot (only saw a few Russia games). As left back he was great going forward, so he could be a great (but expensive) back-up for Abidal, but I don't know about being a left winger in a 4-3-3, you have to have specific qualities for that. Llorente, great player but not (yet) a starter and probably too expensive (clause of 30 million) as back-up.
Please God no mascherano here!!! We DON'T need him. Buy a backup LB, another attacking midfielder and RIBERY, that's all we need. and a GK
mash is a good player but 35mil is our entire budget! why not, like has been said above, use our budget plus bit from sales to get;
llorente, 15mil
zhirkov, 20mil
Chygrynskij, 15mil
then if we sell etoo, use that money to buy one or two other players. the DM thing is solved by getting Chygrynskij, who is half the price of mash as we can play marquez/busquets/pique there without weakening our defence. LW and LB solved by zhirkov, or use etoo money to buy filipe. CF is solved by llorente, use him, henry, bojan, thats a very varied threat from all three guys and covers everything we need in a CF. if we sell hleb use rest of etoo money to buy back up RW in case Messi get injured.
just some ideas, don't know about prices so these are estimates
Koko you are crazy. So you think we should buy 4 players, and one of them are Ribery?! Ribery would cost over 65m euro. If we bought him we wouldn't afford anyone else.
I like the idea of buying Mascherano, but i think he is too expensive; We need to buy a top striker. Villa has to be the top priority, and we have to sell Eto'o. I have faith in Hleb. Although he will never be a first team player in Barca I think he will improve next season when he has adjusted more.
Villa, a backup midfielder (Hernanes, Moutinho whatever) and Filipe. That would be awesome.
inesta I don't like him in the FW too small not quick enough better to stick in midfield to create the chances
the only thing i see mascherano good for is the double pivot role with yaya in the 4-4-2 formation and that is way to defensive for barcelona, unless mascherano is signing to be a back up for yaya i really don't see why we are making this signing. i'm starting to think gaurdiola is building a side that can play many different formations rather than a 4-3-3 cause pride can sometimes bring you down, i feel it's much better if we had 2or 3 different formations to use to catch our enemy off guard. mascherano fits in to both the 4-2-2-2 and the 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-2-1(which is basically a 4-3-3 remodeled)i don't see gaurdiola rotating all the time but when needed the most. mostly when injuries occur or an opponent becomes rather tough but in the end 3 or 4 more signings are needed mostly a CF.
4-2-2-2
valdes
alves pique bruno puyol
mascherano-yaya
xavi iniesta
messi- Zlatan
the formation suites both maschernao and zlatan and gives the defensive yaya more chances to go forward cause of puyol at lb and mascherano holding down for him. they could basically take turns attacking or keep it tight if they want. messi isn't really proven at the cf role so i don't really know how that would work or if it will ever work that's the only problem. not to mention the height in the team bruno zlatan yaya puyol(could leap high) pique. some may find it hard xavi playing on the RAM but i feel he could play that role and with alves running up the right without a second though he can easily drift infront yaya and mascherano and deep laying midfielder like cesc does at arsenal when yaya pounces forward or he can push up more and try his hand at crossing he is the best passer after all. not only does it mean we don't have to buy a LW this season but everyone will play and gain experience cause the formation is solely base on teamwork and not individual skill rotating positions, keeping all our forwards from running back and defending, balance between attack and defense while still keeping that passing flair and like ramzi said winning back the ball easier within midfield because of the two DM. B4L i do believe this is the only way bojan will fit in the team and gain experience rather than being loan out, other than that he is not ready for the 4-3-3. this is just dream thinking i don't really see barca playing anything other than a 4-3-3.
4-3-2-1
valdes
alves-puyol-pique-abidal/filipe
xavi-mascherano-yaya
messi - iniesta
Zlatan
i apologize if the formations may seem to defensive but i agree with ramzi on yaya but i also agree with everyone else that's why yaya would be better off playing the normal LCM mid role rather than CAM. once again the formation suites everyone fine and is just like the 4-2-2-2 with a little tweaks here and there. but this one will be one used the less i can only see it being used against someone with a good attack but rather poor defense teams like bayern and lyon and a few teams in la liga most notably atletico madrid and even real madrid. since the cl final i saw a side of barcelona that i have hardly seen before, the defensive side the side that was more in one with each other defending than attacking you can say we were the english team in the final but made it look beautiful. if u looked closely u can see they were playing this formation and i thought they will never score on manu like that and for some reason they did and shockingly from eto beating vidic on his own many will call it skill but i would call it luck cause i just hate him i have not hidden it but i was celebrating like crazy if iniesta who was playing the role i put yaya in could hold his own in midfield winning the ball then imagine yaya with iniesta having license to attack more. and with zlatan upfront it just becomes much easier as he could draw alot of attention the chances of this working again on manu solely depends on if they open up again or keep it tight. the formation works really well. i just look for the ones that doesn't require a huge team most notably a lw and still cause problems for all.
Can you please stop with your "hate" towards Eto'o, Marc. You're repeating yourself the whole time. It's childish (I hope for you that you're not older than 15), annoying and a clear lack of respect for one of the greatest strikers in the history of the club.
Besides that, we will never change the 4-3-3 under Guardiola.
Maybe there are a few (2-3) better Strikers than Eto'o in the world and he may have a few attitude problems but he has become one of Barca's best Strikers ever and he has always been loyal to us and never complains about his role in the club. His work rate and his tenacity is amazing and he is also the best scorer in Europe. There is no reason to hate him as you don't even know his real personality.
omg everytime i type something there is always some jackass ready to war about foolishness all i said was i hate eto and i never hid it didn't go into any detail on him but i will ignore your ignorance as u clearly have no friends that you have to come on here and start fights over something that ended long ago. my post was directed at what could be if we sign mascherano and it will stay that way not getting to an argument with you over eto.
since you clearly missed a few parts i will re post it for you "this is just dream thinking i don't really see barca playing anything other than a 4-3-3." read properly before you post anything.
If you need to give your life sense by hating a football player who did remarkable things for what is supposed to be your favourite club and who didn't do anything wrong to you personally or to some of your beloved ones, I think that says enough about your life, I'm afraid. Like I said, I hope you're not yet 15 and that you're just going through a phase.
Ugh just when everything was cooling down you had to pick a fight. it's good you defend your player but you shouldn't try and push others to him too. I am 18 and hating eto doesn't make me immature you cannot expect every fan to think the same way as you and just when everything was cooling down you bring back up this again, why don't you send a letter to barcelona telling them they must be under 15 for even considering selling eto WHO HAS DONE SOOOOO MUCH FOR THEM?? now be at peace and stick to what the topic is about and if it makes you feel any better i apologize for saying i hate eto cause i really aint in the mood for this again.
What are your reasons for hating Eto'o? I do want to sell him so we can get another Striker but why hate him?
MARWS do you think spending 60-65 mil this year is crazy? I will tell what crazy is. Not buying world class players after a successful year. Winning a tittle is hard but defending it is way harder. We MUST buy at least one world class player. Just for example. Man Utd spent like 60 mil after winning the EPL some year ago. The year after they spent the same amount of money. Do you remember how much did they spend last year, the same year they won almost everything. Barcelona have the money, and I hope they they will start reacting on the market fast. and Marc4barca thet formation is a joke. Yaya and Mascherano in the same team?!?! This is not the Calcio.
Hating Eto'o doesn't make you immature, being 18 does!
Oh and Eto'o hates you, too! He will send people to take your shoes off!!
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