At the end of last season, this blog looked forward to the coming transfer summer under the title "How things stand". Five months later and knowing what we know now, it's interesting to take a look back.
2007-2008
Until today, Víctor Váldes (26) has played every official game except for four. Albert Jorquera (29) played one Spanish cup game and one Champions League game, Barcelona B goal keeper Oier Olazábal (18) played one Spanish Cup game and Celta Vigo loan out José Manuel Pinto (32) made his debut last Saturday in the Liga game against Deportivo.
Out
Having had the habit over the last years to only have two goal keepers in the squad of the first team, Barcelona made a strange move earlier this year when they renewed Jorquera, whose contract expired in June, for two more years (read more here), while at the same time taking an option to buy Pinto, who was brought in on loan after Jorquera got injured last December (read more here).
Barcelona, who paid Celta 500 000 euro° for the loan deal, has to decide before the end of May if they want to make the loan deal permanent, something Barcelona would not have to pay one euro extra for. If the two-goal keepers-for-the-first-squad theory is not changed, it seems nevertheless logical that Barcelona will not use the option they have on Pinto if Jorquera recovers in time, despite claims that Pinto could well stay (read more here).
In
Although the two (or even three) available places seem to be filled, there are regularly rumours about new goal keepers that could be transferred to rival Valdés as Barcelona's first choice goalkeeper. Names that have passed in the last months are Petr Cech (Chelsea - 25), Manuel Neuer (Schalke - 22), Thomas Sörensen (Aston Villa - 31), Jussi Jääskeläinen (Bolton - 33) and Júlio César (Inter Milan - 28).
A new goalkeeper nevertheless does not seems a priority at this moment, which leads to think that the money in the first place will be used to strengthen other positions in the team and that Barcelona will start the next season with Valdés as regular and Jorquera (and/or Pinto) as his back-up.
Tuesday 7 October 2008
How things stood: Goal keeper
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9 comments:
Valdes will be better and better as the season goes. Goalkeeper's peak is between 27-32 y.o. so it would be unnecessary to offload him. But in the case some of other 2 GK go (maybe both!) it would be reasonable to buy someone younger. Other suggestions:
-Ochoa (America MEX)
-Ustari (Getafe)
-Asenjo (Valladolid)
For the Casillas lovers: i advice them to take a look at the goals scored against Real madrid and Barceloan this season so far (with barcelona playing far more attacking).
Valdes is not (yet?) a top keeper (meaning something of top-5 in the world) but in my opinion he's just a good guy for us.
Cech is on the down slope. Neuer still hasn't show if he's truly for real. Sorensen and Jaaskelainen are too old. Cesar wouldn't be bad.
But Valdes is better than them all. I know he's a guy that people like to hate, but he really is an exceptional keeper, who seems to go on psychic walkabout from time to time. Get those worked out, get him more aggressive off his line (which he is doing) and no worries.
Who would you pick to replace? Casillas, buffon and Cech are by most seen as the top three around but they would cost us a lot and you don't know how they would perform. It's different to be our keeper, you cannot compare it for example to play in a catenaccio team like Buffon.
I would just stick with Valdes. He's still quite young, so I think he'll make more progress.
I think there are 3 goalkeepers out there that could bench Valdes. José Manuel Reina from Liverpool, probably the best goalkeeper on the line(?) and on penalties but he sucks in the air. We would need another tall defender like Pique and bench Puyol if he were our goalkeeper. Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas is better then Valdes but none of them are realistic transfer targets. I think we should stick with Valdes, sell Jorquera/Pinto and promote Oier/Miño to 3rd choice.
Diego Lopez would have been nice if Villareal didn't scoop him up.
i wouldnt mind buying ochoa.
get ben Foster from Man United. a great up and comin young goalkeeper. F**K Barca. up..up and all the way United!!!United!!!Man United!!!
Why are united fans reading and posting on our beloved Barca blog?
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