Transfer Rumours V6

Do you rate Grimaldo for the first team? 3 years ago he was looking impressive. He was only 16 when he was one of Spain U19's best players. Then he got that ACL (?) injury and ever since he's not looking as impressive anymore. Looks weak-ish defensively, like Alba.

Yeah. The only youngster being really wasted right now is Samper who can easily get a bunch of playing time even against teams from upper part of the table.

On a side note, futbol is much better.

Apparently we wanf to give Adriano a longer contract worth more momey so he doesn't go to Roma lol

Meanwhile West Ham is close to signing Hlilovic on a permanent deal (rumor has it)

windkick wrote:Apparently we wanf to give Adriano a longer contract worth more momey so he doesn't go to Roma lol

windkick wrote:Meanwhile West Ham is close to signing Hlilovic on a permanent deal (rumor has it)

With a buy back option.

i don't have a problem with grimaldo leaving.. i'll trust that he just wasn't good enough (although it would suck)

but playing a 32 year old centerback in the left back position (mind you one of the more demanding roles of the team physically) doesn't suit me well.
if grimaldo leaves his replacement should be a young player not a soon to be retired player.

linetty wrote:

windkick wrote:Apparently we wanf to give Adriano a longer contract worth more momey so he doesn't go to Roma lol

windkick wrote:Meanwhile West Ham is close to signing Hlilovic on a permanent deal (rumor has it)

With a buy back option.

Buy back is even more retarded. Just loan him then so we don't have to PAY more money just so he returns to us. Jesus christ. Also Adriano staying means Grimaldo has about zero chance of staying with us.


I said it before last season started, and I am saying it now. I'm not sold on Enrique and his decision making. He is lucky MSN carried his ass to a treble or he would be gone right now. Now he is pretty much turning the B team into a feeder for the rest of Europe while he requests near 30 year old players that are likely close to decline and cost a stupid amount of money.

Considering that Messi is 28 is obvious that the club wants to keep their best players in order to compete while Messi is still in his prime. Adriano is much better and experienced that a 19 years old who only played in Segunda.

Donuts wrote:i don't have a problem with grimaldo leaving.. i'll trust that he just wasn't good enough (although it would suck)

How can you say this? How can you just openly trust he isnt good enough?

And I disagree totally that he isnt good enough. Why do you think he got moved to midfield? He is too good a passer and too influential a player to "waste" at leftback when the midfield lacks quality outside of Samper.

But alas, I think Barca fans these days have blinders on because we win so much and just believe whatever is fed to us.

Valkyrja wrote:Considering that Messi is 28 is obvious that the club wants to keep their best players in order to compete while Messi is still in his prime. Adriano is much better and experienced that a 19 years old who only played in Segunda.

Contrary to what others believe, this isnt Messi FC. We have to consider what will happen not just today, but down the line.

I trust more the coaching than the fans, is that so crazy?

Better would be to trust you own eyes. That is my point.

when i am left undecided, i prefer to leave it to the coaching who has more of a hands on experience with the player and see him probably on a daily basis.

Its up to you how you do it, thats fine, I just cant understand it.

I dont have trust in these coaches because they continue to fail us. These guys who see them every day got them relegated, despite it being clearly one of the more talented groups we have ever had.

And its not the coaches who choose anyone anyway, its up to Enrique to promote them. He has to like what he sees and think ahead.

I would love to here from him how Grimaldo wont ever be good enough but Sergi Roberto will be

futbol wrote:Do you rate Grimaldo for the first team? 3 years ago he was looking impressive. He was only 16 when he was one of Spain U19's best players. Then he got that ACL (?) injury and ever since he's not looking as impressive anymore. Looks weak-ish defensively, like Alba.

I missed this. Do I rate him for the first team?

Hell yes I do. When we trot out Montoya, Douglas, Roberto, Vermaelen, Munir and Sandro..I 100% do.

well the difference is sergi roberto doesn't have too much competition (and no samper isn't as enrique has constantly said he wont use samper as a cm), he can be our 5th or 6th midfield and still make the roster
whereas our leftback position really only needs one backup and a centerback who can possibly play that role (in our case we have alba and two centerbacks who can play that role)

I don't believe mathieu and verm were just buys from zubi without enrique having a large voice in it, he seems to rate them highly and it's not too far fetched to say they are probably (as of today not the future) better than grimaldo

if grimaldo stays i see him featuring in the 16/17 season easily, as alba's substitute with one or two of our centerbacks leaving (be it mascherano or mathieu who would probably be too old) and a spot opens up.

Abdennour (Monaco): "I'd like to play at Barça. I want to join the best team in the world, but the final decision is not mine." [sport]

These guys are something. First the agent, and now he himself, it's like they're trying to force Barca to make the transfer happen...

Yes and thats more Enrique being foolish. He should have more competition because Samper is vastly superior.

Roberto plays because he puts high pressure..thats great, he tries very hard and puts pressure...but we will need quality for the next 10 years, not runners. Last I checked, Iniesta is 30 something and our only, genuine crack in the midfield. And we about to let another, maybe the only other possible one leave because Roberto presses well.

Yeah, the leftback only needs a backup...and it should be Grimaldo, not Mathieu who we all agree doesnt play well there. We out here today was Douglas in the squad but Samper and Grimaldo arent? And im supposed to trust these guys

Is Mathieu better today than Grimaldo at leftback? Highly questionable.

But if he is better for arguments sake what kind of logic are we suggesting here?

Unless a 19 year old is better (without proof because he isnt getting chances) he should leave and we going to play a 30 something centerback there instead?

Then we sign another leftback 2 years from now? 1 year from now when Mathieu is too old/proves still not good enough?

What kind of policy is this?

If we did this, Iniesta would have never have played because of Deco..actually not even Deco, but someone on the bench like Gabri.

Imagine that, selling Iniesta to play Gabri in midfield instead


Ok, maybe Iniesta is too good to be compared. What about Busquets?

What if instead of promoting Busquets they kept a 30 something year old Edmilson, or used the Sergi Roberto of 04 Vitor Sanchez? What if Busquets left because of that? Nobody would even care because at that point nobody thought anything of Busquets.

Yall remember when we signed Cesc instead of givien Thiago a chance? Worked out great for us didn't it

Samper is an awful position. He has the best DM in the world ahead of him and that same DM can still play at the top level for like another decade. Enrique doesn't think Samper is a CM and nor does Samper himself. And last but not least when Busquets is gone, World Cup GOAT DM Mascherano plays there instead.

And instead of giving him a chance in a first team Bartomeu will keep signing big name players to push him and other youngsters out of the lineup. I can see Pep convincing Samper to join him the next team he goes to TBH.

Dude Mascherano is getting old just like Iniesta. Busq might still have allot of years left in the tank, but not only does Masch exclusively play as a CB, he is also early 30's now and has played a ton of games now with Barca and Argentina. To say that right now isn't a good a time as ever to go ahead and let Samper learn from Busq and let him be his official back up is ridiculous.
We also have Mathieu whom is soon to be 32, and plays like dog crap at LB. He even himself questioned Lucho last season when he was played there (Lucho was upset about it, but Mathieu knows it's true). Then we have Vermalean who also isn't a traditional LB, more so was moved over because Wenger signed superior CB's but still wanted to use Verm in the back line and at the time didn't have better options. So in reality, the only true pure left back behind Jordi Alba is actually Adriano and no one else. Adriano is saying he wants to play more, he negotiates a deal with Roma, and now are going to offer him a bumper deal to convince him to stay more years. Why not just accept the 5M or whatever I read it was that Roma was offering and promote Grimaldo? The kid is too good for segunda B.

So in both of Sampers and Grimaldo's cases, it actually made perfect sense to promote them this summer. And if hey, it takes them a season or 2 get going, no biggie as we will still have Mathieu, Mascherano, Verm who can slot in for the big games until they finish developing.

Could even argue the same thing with the Turan signing. I still have no clue as to what position exactly is it we signed him for? Winger? No too slow and not good enough..Pedro is better than him plus we have Munir and Sandro who can back up. Aleix Vidal is also a better winger on the right than Turan has ever been. The Xavi replacement? That would be the biggest *bleep* joke I've ever heard if true. So the popular theory is he is actually the guy to rotate with Iniesta. Now, this is even more dumb because Turan is only TWO years younger than Iniesta. How is that building for any kind of future, if Turan might actually burn out before Iniesta given that Turan has a long history of injury problems and only a few years younger? Again, why not just use Rafinha, Halilovic or someone from the B team to develop under Iniesta until Iniesta finally retires or hey.....sign a hot young prospect as oppose to an older, injury prone one that doesn't seem to fit our mold at all?

Adama could replace Pedro etc. I mean Pep is currently trying to sign Adama for Bayern, just how he signed Thiago and slotted him and it worked out wonders. Why can't we do the same? If Pep things Adama is good enough for Bayern, why can't you guys believe he won't be good enough for us?

You guys forget that in Peps first year he relied heavily on the nucleus of the B team, and to this day him trusting our young players has made core to what we are today. Why not reshape the team again now as oppose to trying to fill the team with unneeded purchases?

Honestly I'm sorry Donuts but your argument sounds exactly like the 'you shouldn't question this managers decision because you sit at home while they're managing Barca at a top level' line of thought.

I've always hated that line of thought. Just because Enrique is managing Barca doesn't mean he doesn't get it wrong, and it doesn't make him above criticism. Could I do a better job? LOL, probably not, but just because I sit at home doesn't mean I can't see the mistakes he makes and criticize him and he's not right for those decisions merely because of where he is.

all i said was when im undecided in terms of a quality of a player i lean towards what the manager decides.
lol

Honestly I feel I am over analysing this situation.

This isnt even about the quality of Grimaldo or Samper, I mean I can see with my own eyes they have quality to play for the first team. I am wasting time debating the merits of Samper over Roberto, its not even a question.

Enrique is simply doing what Mourinho has done for years and will continue to do. And that is to favour experience over talent, established over youth.

He knows there is no telling how long he will be around, so he wants to do the best he can do now. And that doesnt involve bringing in some kid who might make mistakes and needs coaching and guidance, even if that means a much better option 2 years from now...he would rather sign some experienced (be it in age, or experience of the league) guy who will likely take less time to build himself.

It is clear in everything he does.

We need CB's, he co-signs Vermaelen and Matheiu with a combined age of 60.

We already have goalie of the future MATS, he wants older experienced Bravo and proceeds to make him defacto first choice.

Rakitic, Suarez, Vidal and Turan...I like and dislike these signings on various degrees but can we all agree they are experienced (La Liga or otherwise) players for the here and now?

In the youth section, its a clear trend. Adama, Grimaldo, Samper...these 3 were all fantastic for Barca B, no doubt the best 3 players by a distance. Where were there chances? Instead we have the real possibility of losing all 3, and all at our own choices.

No, its not Barts fault. However, he (at least in theory) isnt a puppet. I am not saying he should stick his nose in footballing matters the way Perez does but since when was Barca only about winning football games today?

I see a Barca in which everyone involved only cares about today.

Enrique knows what Barca is about, there is no way he should take exception to using youth players more.

Anyway, if anyone wanted to see highlights of Grimaldo last season



Highlights only or not, it should be obvious that anyone like Mathieu is not in his league skill-wise.

Then again, maybe skill dont matter any more?

didn't roma play with three in the back when enrique was there some games?
maybe he intends to move vidal more of a rwb/rm and play mathieu in alba's place with pique and mascherano.
who knows what he has planned

i've seen too many highlight reels from our youngsters doing well in the division two to really take that into consideration, hell douglas looks good on youtube so does heskey.
if grimaldo leaves i wont cry too much so long as we replace him with another young up and coming star.


but one thing i think we all agree on is that we need to secure the future.

What makes you think we will replacd him with a young up and coming star when we just signed Turan whom will be 29 in January

well that's the thing i don't know which is why i said i wont be happy if we don't replace him with a young player.
right now there isn't any good leftback other than alba/marcelo

in 2 years who knows who will be the best.