Wednesday 17 June 2009

Transfers Battle, Chess or Mess?


Transfers Battle, Chess or mess?

The Tale of Two cities


May 27, 2009. Barcelona news invaded the universe with a stunning treble. Press all over the globe writing praise. Rivals before supporters bowing to the masters. Babies cried the blaugrana name the moment the sunlight tipped the first kiss on their cheeks introducing them to the world. Wives turning more enthusiastic to watch Barcelona shows week in week out, complained no more that their husbands pretend being sick every Saturday, just to make sure they stay home to watch some kicking. Lovers favorite gift is no more a rose or a song, but a DVD of Messi Highlights, Iniesta laser show passing the ball around, and a Documentary program on the Geographic channel about a man having a Bat-Radar to catch his teammates movement, and orchestrating the football symphony of the Catalan troops. Xavi, the great.

Talks may start about the recent economic crises, Mediterranean food, Microsoft attempt to bounce back after windows Vista flop, Global warming, China growth rate, or Britney Spears. But will all end up pointing out how amazing it is to watch Barcelona. Mixing facts with fantasies, where Barcelona –The city- became the third pole of the planet, and that’s where the compass of the heart and mind leads you to, wherever you are.

504.64 KM (313.58 Miles), Bearing NE, there is another City, with a flipped compass. Getting crazy for being outshine by the Rivals. No way they can accept to be in the shadow. And when you are desperate you hang by a hair. Florentino Perez is the name. Bouncing back is the aim.


The Mad-ride, new president


After leaving the club from the backdoor, Perez returned riding the horse of hopes and promises. He was aware that the first thing needed is to put Real Madrid back to place under spotlights. He was aware allowing Barcelona to win the champions’ league in Madrid next season will be unacceptable and unforgivable. If he want to keep his head, he need to act fast. But how can he overcome the gap separating his team quality than that’s of Barcelona? Sign the best players available.

Madrid splashed the cash buying Ronaldo and Kaka. There was no time to delay things so they were willing to handle the overprice just to make this possible. In the other hand, such signings shows the will of setting a promising football project . Something needed to convince the other string of signings to join the white shirts.

I won’t evaluate the impact of the two players on Real Madrid squad, with all the pros and cons included. But I can put myself in Barcelona administrative position, where everyone is wondering what is happening? Why we signed no players yet?

Real Madrid activities had two impacts on the transfer market: First, prices inflation. Any player will cost now at least 15% than his realistic price. Clubs all over the globe started to sense Barcelona reaction after Real Madrid signings. How desperate they became. How far they will take it soft getting abused. This way whenever Barcelona target a player, the player’s club can demand the price that suits “the situation” , and not the player quality. By the situation I mean, Real Madrid banged the transfer signings and made their supporters excited, Barcelona Management need such transfers to hit back. And the second impact is the money pumped into some other clubs budgets, making them more competitive in the transfer market than before. Barcelona had to deal with that. And it happened straight after. “Our transfer budget will be 30 Millions”, Laporta criticizing Madrid over spending. The inflation it cause. Pointing out that it’s not “Barcelona module”. Sala I Martin assuring we won’t pay 65 Million for one player.

That’s number one. We don’t care what happens at Madrid. We negotiate price based on player quality and Barcelona spending criteria, not Madrid financial generosity.

Then through not being in a hurry, watching the other clubs playing the transfer poker while Barcelona keeps the cards close to the chest, with money included. We are not in a hurry, and even if we understand that the transfer market movement dictate some more spending, but the value of that “More” is the point. With that, we set the standards. And we marked the boundaries and margins.

Now what is exactly the transfer strategy?
Lot of things should be taken in consideration while predicting Barcelona Transfer strategy this season, Including:

1) Next summer elections: I believe this is one of the vital factors taken in consideration . This board can’t afford failing in this transfer market. Next year title (The Liga at least), is a make or break for the survival of Laportism, or else Rossel is waiting behind the curtains. No matter what will the transfer strategy be, it’s the output of the season that will convince the fans if it was the right approach or not. One of the main accusations launched against Laporta last summer during the Vote of confidence is his hesitation to take revolutionary decisions (like changing coaches) when needed. He takes his time till things get more complicated before he goes for a solution. If this team failed to succeed next season, there will be lot of talks about lazy-cheap transfer approach, and there will be lot of comparisons with rivals (most of it will be Bias). Like it or hate it, this is our team culture.

2) The Marketing dimension: This is more a prediction, but I think only 30 % of any team fans (outside the Club origins) are definite fans. While there could be another 30% who are ready to have patience with the team for two or three seasons before changing clubs. The rest are more a Team-per-season fans, or just pick as the season is going. Something Perez know, and he took it in consideration when he did his transfers. You can’t afford losing 40% of your fan base to another clubs, just because they did some more attractive signings or because your team is underachieving. Marketing wise this could turn irreversible. Barcelona fan base is on the way up. But still there is a big slice of raw fans whom the team may lose if we don’t keep the same momentum. That’s why, regardless of the needs of the team (sports wise), we will sign at least one attractive name. Or else it will be a failure.

3) Learned the lesson: After Winning the CL against Arsenal, the team settled to success. Relaxed. Which backfired passively on the team performance for the following two years. New signings will not only create depth or improve the quality, it also regenerate the hunger. New players bring with them the desire of winning titles, which is infectious.

4) Our Squad quality and dressing room: In the other hand, While looking at our squad, we must not overlook the quality already exist. We have a great squad already. We do not need to add lot of big names. One expensive acquisition or two at most will be enough, then we move to get squad players. That’s the only way I see to keep the balance in the dressing room. The most complicated part is probable hijacking a heavy weight transfer.

But Who are the targets?
Lot of names were mentioned during the transfer market, but the most notable targets are Vidic, Mascherano, Cesc, Ribery, Ibrahimovic, and Villa.

Vidic:

A great Player, but a bad transfer. He may create a perfect partnership with Pique, but for the cost vs. marketing Value, he is not an attractive option. Football wise he will strengthen the defense, but his overall contribution in improving the team performance will not match his cost. Besides, I prefer someone with more hunger to prove himself, someone who is willing to be benched as well.


Mascherano:


Football wise, The best transfer Barcelona can make to boost the midfield. Individually, he is by all means the best natural Defensive midfielder in the world. Physically strong, cover wide landscapes and has the leadership skills. He also play out of trouble, which is a need for a defensive midfielder, earning back the ball and passing it to the midfielders upfront. I can hear you: But where will that put Yaya?

That’s exactly where Mascherano presence contribute to enhance the system. While Yaya is serving his duty with his national team, Barcelona will have no worries. Mascherano and Busquets can do the job. When Yaya is back, the team will have numerous options and all needed based on games needs, but the most radical one goes as follows:

- Keeping Mascherano as a DM, and putting Yaya beside Xavi which is his natural position. He pass the ball perfectly, he has strong shots and when he run into the box you will have a Giant in the box for both Alves and Iniesta to cross the ball to, from the flanks. Specially if the team failed to sign a big striker. With Messi cutting into the center. This is an unbeatable receipt of football.

- Pep will be able to rotate without compromising the quality of DM position. Which is a very important position for Barcelona system. And the team will be secured against any injury crises at bad timing.

- Busquets will benefit from playing with this great Defensive midfielder. And he will still have his time share to start games. The Marketing Value of this transfer will not be as good as its football impact, so as long as it doesn’t exceed the 35 Millions, it is a good bargain.

Cesc:

I already detailed my argument about him in “Do we buy? Fabregas". I think if we will sign him, it will be next summer. As a voting booster for the elections. Marketing wise he may prove being a great earning. Football wise he can improve the overall squad quality, but the improvement will not match his transfer coast. So, even though it’s not the popular belief, As a cost-Benefit analysis it won’t be a bargain. And A Mascherano-Yaya-Xavi, will have more add-ons in the midfield than Yaya-Cesc-Xavi.


Ribery:


One of the mouthwatering targets. A very Versatile player. Team oriented, which is a need at Barcelona. His marketing value is huge, his football quality is undeniable. But I prefer Villa.


Villa:


My favorite striker for Barcelona is Ibrahimovic. But, if he is as expensive as rumored, then I will go for Villa. He is the perfect compromise to cover the unattainable plan to get both Ribery and Ibra. Villa can do everything Ribery can do on the left flank (offense wise), and he can play as a striker as well. If we signed him, he may start as a striker, but as the season goes, he will end up playing on the left while Henry plays as a striker. That’s of course, if Eto’o left.

His market Value is huge. His football quality is proven. He is one of the best finishers in the game and his skills are scary. Besides being well adapted to the Spanish league. Comparing him to Eto’o he is a better player, offense wise. But Eto’o is better for his defensive contribution. Villa physics will not give him the edge in that aspect even if he tries.

Ibrahimovic:


He was the club first option and its understandable. But it proved to be a very expensive deal to make so we are looking for alternatives. Yet, He is publicly hated. On the personal side, he has the ego of any striker, not to the extreme of Eto’o Ego for sure. When you play for Inter, being the unique hero, your ego show up with pride. When you play in another team where you are one of many quality players, your ego will not vanish, but it cool down.
There are some Myths leading the judgments against him. Let’s take it one by one before looking to his impact for a team like Barcelona:

He doesn’t score enough goals:


Says who? Numbers? If we want to judge only based on numbers then we need to evaluate the numbers properly, or else we can find a striker playing for “nowhere republic” who scores more than any player we know. Lets compare him to eto’o:

This season Ibra scored 25 goals for a team that scores 70 goals in its league. That’s 35.7% of his team goals. Eto’o in return scored 30 Goals for Barcelona who scored 105 goals this season. That’s 28.6 % of his team goals. So as a main striker, Ibrahimovic contributes more in his team finishing than eto’o, even though there is no comparison between Eto’o suppliers (Xavi,Iniesta,Henry,Alves,Messi to name some) and Ibra suppliers (I can’t take any name seriously as a skillful supplier so you can name your own).

And it worth comparing how many goals the other goal scorers scored for the respective teams (Eto'o 30,Messi 23,Henry 19,Xavi 6, Alves 5, Iniesta 4) Vs (Ibrahimovic 25,Balotelli 8, Stankovic 5, Cambiasso 4, Sulley Muntar 4 Maicon 4) to sense where it’s easier to score. Because the more the rest of the squad scores, the more we can evaluate the amount of opportunities generated and we can benchmark the finishing skills of the striker to that's of his teammates who are facing the same opponent, rather than comparing it to a striker in another league. Adding to that, having more goalscoring options (Eto'o teammates 57 goals Vs Ibra Teammates 25 goals) force the opponent to spread the defense effort on many players, while if the striker is the only threat, he get all the defense crouded around him. All that make an impact on the striker scoring rate, beside the striker’s quality.


Going back to previous seasons will not change things much. If Ibra get the support Eto'o gets in Barcelona, he will change lot of peoples' opinions.

He has a poor record in the Champions’ league:

It’s true that in Champions league Ibra scored one goal this season in the CL, Eto’o scored four. But its true also that Barcelona scored 36 goals in the CL, while inter scored eight. Would that make a difference?

Last season Eto’o scored once in the CL, Ibra scored five. One year earlier (2006-2007) Ibra scored no goals in the CL, but how many goals eto’o scored back then? One. (2005-2006) Eto’o 6 goals/11 games, Ibra 3 goals/9 games. All in all, taking the teams they are playing for in consideration, we can’t say that Eto’o records were impressive while Ibra scoring is poor.

He vanishes in big games:

Ibrahimovic is not the first player who got this label. In fact almost every player with quality had this slogan hooked around his shoulders once. Its simple: When you are a player with quality, playing against weak teams, you can do everything on your own. You can generate your own scoring opportunities and score. When you play against strong opponent with quality players you need to count on the support of your teammates. Now who are exactly the skillful players in Inter to support Ibrahimovic? Who is his teammate upfront? Who are the players on the flanks to stretch the game and create spaces?

One man show does not work in big games, and that’s why quality players will only succeed in big games if supported by a team with an effective system. Why Messi is not as productive with his national team recently? Is he a big games Flop?


Regardless of Chemistry that make people love or hate, just like that. Ibrahimovic is a striker of his own level. Strong, with exceptional physical attributes, skillful and has the talent of linking with teammates. Having him between the skillful players of Barcelona will be a weapon of massive destruction. That’s exactly why Guardiola wanted him, he is not naive, he know exactly what he is bringing to the team. Its true we won without Ibra in the squad. But we won without any of the signings we will make this summer. Would that mean we stick to the squad we had?


And the same as Henry learned to run for the club as he never did for arsenal, Ibra who is younger and physically stronger can learn that as well. He wanted to move out of Inter not because he want more money (Inter would offer him anything to stay), he want titles. And that’s exactly what Barcelona need after winning a treble. Quality ambitious players with lot of hunger to win titles. And who will do anything to achieve something special.

What’s most likely happening is: Getting Villa and squad players.
The perfect transfer scenario for me is:
Ibra and Mascherano. And squad signings.

The fantasy wish:
Ibra (Striker), Villa (left) and Mascherano. And squad signings.


If neither Villa nor Ibra were available, Ribery plus Llorente can do the job as well.


Ramzi Tanani

34 comments:

cedriccomair said...

you're right man IBRA IS THE BEST !

koko=barca said...

I don't quite agree with your Mascherano comment. And where is Keita in that story? With Masch in the team barca will have 4 DM?! We need more versatile midfielder, someone like Cazorla, and there is no way Masch is the best DM in the world. No way. What about Ibra. This was his best year in his career. He really worked so hard to score all those goals since there was no contributor in the attack line, no creative guy in the midfield...no help at all. He must be given credit for that. He might be the best solution in the attack but as you said he is too expansive .

NouBarca said...

You did not mention how much Ibra would like to earn/week or per year. Lower than eto, same or more?

Hilal said...

Fantastic article Ramzi. I couldnt agree with your more, you got everything spot on. I think we might end up with Villa and Mascherano plus a LB like Zhirkov.

Like you, i think Ibra would be the ideal striker, but realistically we will never pay what Inter want, not even close, so lets forget about that one shall we. Even Ribery I dont see as very likely because Bayern are going to hold out for at least 50 million and well, as good as Ribery is, he is not worth 50 million.

Villa looks like a very good option if we sell Eto'o. Like you said he and Henry can both interchange seamlessly, both able to play LW and CF as well as each other. Villa is as clinical a striker as you will find in world football and the number of chances we create he will score more than ever before. I could quite easily see him scoring over 40 goals if we have a similar season to this one.

I also love the idea of Mascherano but ONLY if we keep Yaya. As much as i rate Mascherano I think for us, for our system, for our attributes as a team, Yaya is the man. He fits us perfectly. I wouldnt swap him for anyone. We already have the best midfield in the world, if we manage to get both then it really will be a super midfield.

I still think though that WE NEED a big front man as a secondary option, even if we end up getting Villa. Villa is amazing, but physically he doesnt bring to the table what Ibra brings. He is a better version of Eto'o (skillwise not workwise). Since it doesnt look like Ibra is an option no matter what happens I think we should get somebody like Llorente to allow us a plan B IF we need it.

inieeeeeeeeeeesta said...

keita isn't really a defensive midfielder; he's way too eager to move upwards.

mascherano would be absolutely fantastic: a real winner, a man with a passion for winning, only comparable to that of xavi, puyol or piqué!

and yes, starting to believe villa will be ours!!! yes yes yes

(although ibra would have been slightly more promising)

per said...

Ibra in Barça would be a nightmare. Villa, on the other hand - awesome in every way. Give me!

Ramzi said...

@NouBarca, I believe Ibra will get as much as Eto'o is demanding at the moment. But didnt mention it because I cant see him coming.

Be happy ;)

Fred_FCB said...

Again, you speak what I only formulate in my head Ramzi. I allways await your contributions with anticipation!

As for transfers, well, I trust Pep and the Board. I know what I like to see but this isnt Football Manager :). So instead I'll gorge myself in rumours and await official statements hehe.


As a small sidenote, anyone noticed that Real hasnt signed any player where they realy need a boost, i.e. defensive workhorses? Kinda funny imo

James said...

Your argument for Ibra's goal rate is very weak. To dispel the fallacy that Ibrahimovic isn't as prolific due to his low total goal numbers, you used another fallacy that high % of team's goals equates to high goal proficiency.

Percentage of team goals prove how much Inter relies on his striking ability, but not how prolific he is in front of goal. Who's the say that if Messi played with Ibra he won't score the same # of goals? Then Ibra's % of team goals would drop dramatically simply by the fact that Messi will score a ton of goals as well & add to the total. You could then argue that with another high caliber player he gets better service, then what would explain his dip in % of team goals? In order for him to retain his % if another goal scorer was added to Inter. He would have to score more than 1 goal extra for every 2 goals that the second goal scorer makes, on top of his 25. (35%/65%). i.e., if he played with Messi and Messi scored 30 goals, Ibra would have to score an additional 16-17 goals on top of his 25 in order to maintain his 35% of total team goals rate. That's a task too tall even for Ibrahimovic.

Further examples, Robert Fuller of Stoke City & Peter Crouch of Portsmouth both had 11 out of their teams 38 EPL goals this season, that's 29% of their respective team's goals. Crouch also didn't take any penalties which no doubt would have raised his % of team goals. Furthermore, Crouch had Defoe on his team to steal from his goal tally before Defoe moved onto Tottenham. It's obvious Crouch has even worse service than Ibrahimovic and even less goal scoring help (next highest Portsmouth goalscorer after Defoe has 3 goals).

Does that make Crouch or Fuller at least as good goal getters as Eto'o? Of course not, which is why your argument for Ibrahimovic being a better goalscorer than Eto'o makes little sense. It's always easier to score a higher % of your team's goals when your team scores fewer goals, regardless of service or goalscoring help from other players. In fact, goalscoring help from other players only lowers your % of total team goals, no matter how good of a player you are.

SimonP said...

I think Ibra would be the ideal striker for Barca as well but I think you heap a little too much praise on him. Being from Sweden I have followed his career since he played in Superettan with Malmö FF and he have a tendency to not perform in big games.

Fact: This is his first season ever to score more then 20 goals.

Fact: He have NEVER scored in the CL-knockout stages. Considering he have played in Ajax, Juventus and Inter and regularly playing in the knockout stages it's just bad.

Fact: He and his agent always hold the club ransom when they don't get what they want, i. e a better contract or a new club.

Example: He started a fight with several teammates in Ajax and was accused of injurying van der Vaart on purpose.

Fact: He's not a teamplayer, even when wearing the captains armband for Sweden he's talking trash about his teammates in the media.

My ideal transfer summer would be to buy Mascherano and if Pep requests it, Ibra. Sell Eto'o, Gudjohnsen and promote som of our youngsters.

NouBarca said...

james amd simon P, messi108 would almost give u both kisses after reading your post. And Simon P, you sounded a bit like Rafa benitez (FACTS)..lol.. Just that you know what you are talking about.

umessi10 said...

@ Ramzi !

Aweosmee Report man .

But with all due respect , that is a lil too much praise on Ibra.
Lets face the fact : Villa > Ibra.
They both might have their pros and cons and hav many similar features BUT Villa is La Liga synchronized. U know what i mean ?
Ibra is used to Seria A which is much much different from La Liga.
Secondly...Villa-Xavi-Iniesta Chemistry is tested on a Large scale and i dun need to mention the outcome of it Euro-08 !!
When u buy a product .....u need to always check if its tested and thats all that i want to prove here.
Ibra is good ..ok....maybe hez great ! But IMo - Not for Barca mate !!
My opinion - I'd pick Villa over Ibra FOR BARCA anyday !!

umessi10 said...

But nevertheless.........I jus love reading the stuff u write !

Hats Off Mate & Keep em coming.
Love ur work.

Anonymous said...

Hold on James...
If Messi played for Inter this season, alongside Ibra - Ibra would have probably scored 30+ goals in the season.
Ibra's service at Inter is absolutely shocking - and he is the only one that is tightly marked.
If you watched all of the goals he scored this season most were created by him or were long balls forward. If he had the service Eto'o had, getting assists from Xavi, Iniesta, Messi & Dani Alves, he would score more than he currently does.

It should be easier to stop Ibra scoring because none of his teammates get marked as tightly as Eto'o's supporting cast do; meaning that Ibra should not have as much space as Eto'o does. He works much better in tight areas than Eto'o does and if he had wingers getting double marked - like Iniesta/Henry & Messi then he would have more space than he does at Inter.
Messi had never scored against English opposition in the CL 'til the final. Cristiano Ronaldo has never scored against Spanish opposition. Both are choke artists?

Marc4barca said...

very good article, well done ramzi but i don't like mascherano as our DM unless he plays back up to yaya which seems impossible.

simonP
Fact: eto hit and cursed a reporter
Fact: eto had a spat with rikjaard and ronaldinho
Fact: eto is also not a team player when he is determined to score
Fact: eto can't perform without messi
Fact: "Fact: He and his agent always hold the club ransom when they don't get what they want, i. e a better contract or a new club." u mean like what eto is doing now?
Fact: eto misses more sitters than anyone else
Opinion: eto is a mercenary.

False: Zlatan is not a team player.

NouBarca said...

RAFALICIOUS!!!

SimonP said...

Marc4barca:

I think Eto'o should renew with a paycut / current wages or agree to be sold, same goes for Valdes but he should get a payrise.

Just because Eto'o is more of a ass then Zlatan doesn't make Zlatan a saint. Whatever.

If Zlatan would behave like he does now, trashing teammates in media after a bad game that would just be devestating to moral.

Marc4barca said...

well just reminded pep to make that topic.

simonp i can't argue about zlatan anymore as i posted on another topic "barcelona has 30-35mil to spend" in hopes of ending the the discussion.

KAYR said...

sayed HASSAN is the best!
im actually born there. but im palestinian

Marc4barca said...

if u really need to know i was with my fellow barcelona fans infront the television celebrating like crazy.

Ramzi said...

@James, I am sorry but u missed the point.

Now that I am hungry I will give a food example. To judge the taste of a meal you dont just lick some salt because there is little salt in that meal. You need to try the whole thing together. The % was not by any mean the base of the argument, it was a part of a whole. Linking all the mentioned points together make an evaluation. they are interrelated that any element alone will sound debatable. Yet, Let me tell you that I dont take any numbers seriously to the extreme. I mentioned it in the article already:

"Says who? Numbers? If we want to judge only based on numbers then..."

People judge Ibra scoring rate based on "Number" of goals. Whether it is in the league, champions league. or just any suitable slice like knockout stage or the first 13 minutes of a second half in a game when the weather is sunny.

So I was pointing out that numbers could be seen both ways. One of the ways show him as a loser, the other show him as a god.

But football wise, numbers are not needed to point out his potentials. And I dont think Pep looked at the numbers as well. Kezman was the historical Goal scorer in the Dutch league. then...

- I hope we dont turn this to a battle of "Who is good and who is bad? Eto'o or Ibra?" because when i compared Ibra records to eto'o, it means I believe in Eto'o potentials so I am comparing Ibra to a good striker and pointing out that he is good as well. If eto'o was a bad striker, there will be no point of comparing Ibra with him because it would have proved nothing.


- KAYR, I am unlucky then. Because 3 weeks from now I will not be in Lebanon. So no chance to meet. I am moving to Sweden June 26.
And it has nothing to do with Ibra :)

Martin Engelin said...

Awesome article. Could read it over and over again. Agree with almost everything in here. Think Ribery is better on the flank than Villa, but Villa is a better too buy.

Alittle too much praise on Mascherano I think, but everything about Ibra is spot on. Playing with a team like Inter is not the same as playing with Barca. Ibra would be awesome in Barca. Too bad he is so expensive though :( Really hope Barca and Inter already done with the negotions on Ibra. Eighter Inter said no and Barca has moved on to others, Or Inter said yes and they keeps quite for a while.

Anonymous#2 said...

I wish I lived in Europe. I can only go there occasionally for vacation. My dad had a chance to move to either England or U.S.A. and for some reason he chose Canada and now I'm stuck here. Canada is way too boring for me.

ej said...

we should get aguero he is the man !!!!

villa in 2-3 years not 10 M Value.


aguero will keep his value for 6-7 years !!


and although he is much younger he is even now better than villa

umessi10 said...

@ What ? U want Barcelona to be like Arsenal ?
We already have youngsters in our team comingf from the youth rank-Bojan, Gai , Pedro....etc
And Villa is prefered over Aguero for his experience. Age gives u experience mate !
And Aguero cannot replace Eto'o, no ways !
And whats with the value thingi mate ?
Think abt titles and not money. IF Villa can play 3 yrs and win us titles all 3 yrs, i don mind him leaving for free.

SJP said...

good article interesting points tho gotta disagree with you about ibra and to a certain extent masch. i don't judge ibra on figures just on the games i've seen him, only big games, CL, Euros etc, he doesn't have to score in every game but he can still stand out, he just disappears, no contribution whatsoever and that is woeful in a lone striker, villa will be much better option. only problem is can't see him going to right wing allowing messi to play central, so effective against madrid and man u. mash is to expensive but good player.

Anonymous said...

our main target is LB, and U didnt mention it??

by the way greeeeeeeeeeet article ;)

Aussie Barca Fan said...

Ramzi great article. I think you guys do a great job on the site I like reading the different points of view.

If we are talking about 'Marketing Profiles', I think Torres has more 'Worldwide Appeal' than Ibra and Villa put togethere. I am surprised you would consider Ibra over Torres.

I agree that we need to sign at least 1 big name to improve our marketing profile and add some more competition to the team. The problem is who do we go for?? I think there are only 5-10 players in this category aside from CR7 and Kaka. They inlcude; Torres, Ibra, Villa, Gerrard, Cesc, Pato, Robinho and Buffon.

None of these players will be cheap and most will not be available. So who do we go for and how much do we spend?

My only concern with the current transfer policy is that we need to keep up our profile and mommentum. We have won the treble for crying out loud and Madrid our stealing our thumder!

Ramzi said...

In the series "Aftermath season ramble", while evaluating last season performance, We discussed the needs for Gk and the needs in defense (mainly left back) in the first two parts. The following two parts will talk more midfield and Offense.

In this article I am discussing only "The player" who will be our most expensive signing. not the shopping list of the summer. Thats why in the predicted scenario I used the term "And squad players" beside ever predicted buying.

Torres is not only an impossible signing, but we didnt even try to sign him this summer. Thats why there was no reason to mention him in this article. A great player, but we are few years late though.

Not sure where there was overpraise, beside two or three words as spices. But if there is, then it make up for the over critic to create a balance.

Bojan said...

Hmmmmmmm I think Ibra would cost as much as Torres. No need to get defensive Ramzi. People are just expressing their point of view. There aren't many superstars available out there anyway.

Martin Engelin said...

Ramzi you will love it in Sweden. Atleast if you love bad weather, cold winters, sucky journalism and really bad football. Right now it's raining here in Stockholm. It was sunny yesterday though :D

If you don't mind me asking, where will you move? Stockholm?

Ramzi said...

@Marws
Stockholm, and thank u for the telling me what to expect! How encouraging :P

@Bojan:
Its all about exchanging opinions. I am not defensive because I dont take offense in the first place if someone had a different point of View. I hope u play for barcelona next season. You will be missed if u move to Valencia.

Unknown said...

I believe the best realistic situation is to sell Gudjohnson, Eto'o, Milito, Hleb and Jourquera which will bring a combined incom of 65 M Euros add the 35 M Euros Barca allocated for signings and that brings a grand total of 100 M Euros which should Buy Villa, Mascherano and Felipe. Also Barca should bring back Henrique and promote Pedro, Allacantara and Mino and I think the team will be perfect

Martin Engelin said...

Awesome Ramzi :P

Välkommen i förskott ;)

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