this post was published exactly one year ago:
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona is handling a five-name short list in their search for a left wing attacker.
The list includes the following players: Andrei Arshavin (27 - Zenit Saint-Petersburg), Angel Di María (20 - Benfica), Rodrigo Palacio (26 - Boca Juniors - picture), Ricardo Noir (21 - Boca Juniors) and Diego Capel (20 - Sevilla).
While Barcelona officials could meet with Zenit officials in Monaco later this week, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain likes the Palacio option a lot. Capel wouldn't be the player Guardiola is looking for.
Like Begiristain (read more here), Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola said at a press conference yesterday that, although he's not worried about the current squad, the club is still searching the market ready to act.
El Mundo Deportivo claims that the board is divided on whether or not buying a left winger in the coming days. A part of the board thinks that a new transfer isn't necessary and prefers that the staff uses the Barcelona Atlètic players if needed.
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4 comments:
skanjos said...
still i think one last transfer will be made.i dont know why they are too late on this one,we got the money from ronnie way back...
my vote goes for capel.i think the kid is extraordinary,and he will provide barca with sth we lack
groga said...
No one from that list really convinces me. If I'd have to pick it would be between Arshavin and Capel.
hadi said...
the best option is Di Maria...he is young and goal scorer too...
jake said...
Well now that Zenit have Danny, maybe the talks will open up? That's really the only reason I can think of why the transfer is so late. Or it could be an olympic player (Di Maria). Or maybe we are just disorganised. Still, we were quick with all the other transfers, so we must have just been waiting. My vote is for Arshavin.
fc_barca said...
what capel what noir what arshavin dont make me laugh only 2 decent options are DI MARIA and Palacio DI MARIA BEST OPTION GO GET HIM TXIKI
Anonymous said...
I think Palacio is good but why not Menez?? He is exelent! He can play on the both wings! I hope we will buy one player becouse we are short on the wings! visca el barca
Hilal said...
My bet is that we dont sign anybody. I have a feeling this is just paper talk but i gues we'll see in the next week....
djoef said...
I think we need one but that we won't get one. If we do get a first class left winger, I'll be very confident for the season.
fc_barca said...
buy Franck Ribery he the best L'OM Le Mentalité du bled FRANCK BILAL RIBERY
he will play Barca left wing 100 MIL get him l'enfant de Marseille du bled
fc_barca said...
or buy Ribery next year together with Benzema Barca need to sign him trust me LE MENTALITE DU BLED Ribery-Benzema
Anonymous said...
I still think the best option and it would be a cheap one is the excellent upcoming star Thiago Neves
Anonymous said...
what about gai asulin and thiago alcantara? if we get a new left winger will we have to sell these promising younsters just like we did for dos santos? who is doing the thinking at barca? i hear iago falque is leaving. i hope it turns out well...
k-1 said...
Guys dont you think that we are little short with time on signing a new player.
But if we sign in the end I think that Palacio is a good option.
noubarca said...
If the a deal was possible for Ribery, I would love that. + I think these are all press staunts
Amar said...
yeah palacio should be good. i mean if we want to launch an assault on "los putas blancos" we should take into consideration the fact that palacios has more experience than Noir or Di maria. plus he has played in a more competitive league that arshavin has. the Argentinian apertura is not a walk in the park... palacios is fact and has a good shot.
HOWEVER he will play in a similar style as leo messi. that is cut inside and shoot. this could be predictible and easy to defend against...
But i feel that TOO much attention is being given to the left wing. thats not our real problem guys.. we should be looking for a more offensive left back. another gio van bronkhorst!!! we shud not waste time on winger. we should be focussing on our weak spots. left back and goal keeper should be changed.
if we have to buy someone we shud get a left back. trade abidal in the deal if possible.
NOUBARCA said...
@ PEP
Is there any truth in what Mustapha Riga(Levante) now of Bolton said? He is saying Raul and Xavi have said that the Liga wldnt start until their payment(levante) issues are resolved. Please comfirm..
Tnx m8
Anonymous said...
I agree with Amar! Great post m8! I think we need one world class GK and solid left back! I think Akinfeev or Neuer are perfect for the coming years and about left back Emanuelson is good solution, the guy is exelent!Forza Barca!
boX
Anonymous said...
capel 1, di maria 2, arshavin third choice, because he is not a winger.
palacio is cr*p. noir is good as addition to capel or di maria..
jordy
Amar said...
yes yes i was impressed with neuer. i hope barcelona is monitoring his situation. if he can keep it up this season barca should DEFINITELY go for him. slash the cash if possible...overpay if we need to.. our beloved barcelona should find the symmetry it had 4 years ago when both flanks could attack with the same efficiency. today they say the squad is complete.. but i see only the right wing complete...=<.. i am sure that messi and alves will make every left back in europe cry at night before playing against barca,but am afraid i cant say the same for every right back in europe..
i dont like the idea of alves attacking and abidal sloting as a third central defender. we need a left back to stretch a packed defense.
last season our problem was not firepower. our problem was lack of width. while messi can cut inside alves can overlap him and torment the opponent. can we do that with the right side of barca? NO WE CANT! remember the days when ronnie was playing off bronkhorst? no body could stop that because it happened on both wings. u cant lock your defense wen u have two wings playing like that. this season we have only one working wing..
we are like a bird flying with only one wing.. how far can we go?
Ramzi said...
Amar, if u want alves to go forward the best way he know, then u need to slot abidal as a third CB, I know its not an exciting idea for the majority, but thats the practical efficient football. you don't turn more strong offensively the more players push forward, what make the team strong is the balance between the lines all the time.
a left winger can open up the field supported by the midfield, don't plan a symmetric structure on the left of what u have on the right (alves/messi) 1st because its not available no matter whom u buy, and secondly because it will cause troubles.
well regarding GK, i agree, but i think its unlikely happening, at least this season after the board renewed the contract of the two back ups of valdes.
pep said...
@Noubarca:
I don't think these are recent statements. Levante now plays in the second division so you can't see how they could block the Liga for that.
Hilal said...
Well said Ramzi.....what the team needs is balance up front, at the back and in the middle. I think we have that now, regardless of whether or not we buy a left winger or a left back. Having a left back as offensive as our right back will do more harm than good. If you remember the days of our attacking left back VB connecting with Ronnie you will also remember that at the time our right back was no where near as offensive (Oleguer). You cant have both full backs pushing forward without allowing too much vulnerability at the back. A lot more important than the left flank in my opinion is the improvement in midfield. With Yaya and Keita we can now let Xavi loose and that is going to provide endless panick for defences. They cannot mark both Messi and Xavi effectively. Last season they only really had to deal with Messi since Xavi didnt push forward all that much. We can already see the impact he is having being allowed to push forward more. That will give Messi more space and we all know what happens if you give the boy just an inch extra to work with. I think the balance is there, if we can a proper left winger to give Guardiola more options, then great.....but if not i dont think it will hurt us all that much. Messi and Alves down the right will cause mayhem!!!
Amar said...
hmm maybe ur right ramzi...i wish ur right..
well the fact that valdes is catalan is a prob... barcelona will have prob dealing with a catalan they actually dont need. if valdes was not catalan he wouldnt be here.
it will be interesting to see how Guardiola balances his team this season... anyway... forza barca!!
this season we are the hunters and madrid is the prey.. they did not win the last two leagues..its barca who lost the last two leagues.. this one is ours!! OURS!!!
NOUBARCA said...
@ PEP,
Thank you. I was jsut reading the interview on skysports 23rd August 08. I hope its untrue. Cant wait for the kick off. I still feel sorry for D Levante guys tho.
http://www.skysports.com/story/
0,19528,11672_4035549,00.html
Barca nerd-fan said...
Quaresma & Neves?
Eye said...
No one from the list convinces me either. Considering cost-benefit factor I think that best choice would be someone like Thiago Neves. Dream signing would be Sergio Aguero and even Podolski would fit in perfectly with his strength, youth, discipline, technique and goalscoring ability. Bringing him should be considered since he doesn't seem to happy with his status in Bayern. However, he would also come not so cheap at around 20-25 M €. Same goes for Quaresma, even if he consider coming back to Barca.
Since none of them is available, Arshavin wouldn't be bad solution but his fee is nothing but serious. He shouldn't be paid more than Hleb and that means no more than 16M €. In best case 18 but even that is overpaid. I like his versatility and scoring ability but wouldn't seriously considering him if there wasn't his insisting on joining his childhood dream club which puts another dimension to matter.
Angel Di Maria is a big liability for me, given his experience in top flight. I really think boy should be given chance at Portuguese league for at least one season before signing for a top European club.
Ramzi said...
EYE Say: "Angel Di Maria is a big liability for me, given his experience in top flight. I really think boy should be given chance at Portuguese league for at least one season before signing for a top European club"
I say:" common sense"
cojonudo said...
How does that saying go? 'Sometimes the best moves you make are the one's you don't make.' I think that is applicable to this case. Another good saying is 'Just because you have money, doesn't mean it has to burn a hole in your pocket.'
Let's take a closer look at this case. Surely any of the players listed above would seem to fortify Barcelona's left wing position. I'm sure we can all agree on that. What isn't so clear is just how much greater of an IMPACT adding any of the above would have on the club as opposed to if the club just stood pat?
I tend to believe that the addition of any of the aformentioned candidates wouldn't make that significant and immediate impact on the club.
All the players listed have one flaw or another. Some are too inexperienced, too old, to small, to immature, can't score, etc, etc.
And as I've argued all along we don't need a superstar left winger when we have youth players in Pedro & Jeffren who can play as backups in supporting roles for now as they are groomed to one day take over the position on a full time basis. I'm telling you, if managed properly and with a good mentor Jeffren could be a superstar! I have no doubt or reservations about it!
I find it ironic and humurous that everyone can complain about how "bad" the state of our left wing position looks when 90% of clubs around the world would drool over the possibility of having Henry and/or Iniesta manning that position. Yes, our left wing position isn't perfect but it's far from abysmal as most make it out to be.
Anonymous said...
I think we should buy di maria, young talent left wing
Anonymous said...
forget about the left wing. we need a new keeper because valdez is one of the worst keepers ive seen so far we were lucky to only lose by one goal with all the times he messed up although he did some good saves teams in the spanish league arent gonna let those chances that valdez gives them when he messes up go. i mean look at what diego milito did twice to valdez when he messed up
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