I can’t imagine us keeping Coutinho with the Griezmann’s signing. Also, I guess Suarez is fine with taking a reduced role? Because if we are just going to bench Dembele then meh
To add onto this, we’re doing a lot of bad business. Would prefer to hedge back towards la masia and fill in any cracks from there instead of what’s currently going on. Do think that Griezmann’s propensity to track back will be a net plus in the short run.
Barca took out a loan for 35M to get this deal done because Atleti demanded all 120M now instead of installments. Loan has to be paid in like 6 months. So we can expect either one big sale (looking at you Philippe) or a couple smaller ones.
The demands on the team are just too great nowadays. The fans expect and demand a treble every year. To try and meet those expectations, the board has shifted to spending big money to bring in experienced, top talent. There's no patience to develop young players from La Masia. Along with that, the young academy kids see all this top talent on the first team and recognize how difficult it'll be to break into first team minutes. So they end up leaving and getting contracts elsewhere. This was a good article on it: https://www.elartedf.com/la-masia-barcelona-academy-status/
Apparently we are still going in for Neymar. I imagine this is the primary way the club would like to get rid of Coutinho.
MSN + Griezmann would just be stupid (nevermind the fact that Dembele still exists, albeit only in passing so far; don’t stare at him too long or he may pick up another injury). The focus should be on depth across the board. The time to go after Neymar, now that griezmann is on board, is when Messi is truly done. If he wants back, make his ass crawl. No use in buying him back for more than what we even got for him in the first place. Maybe don’t have a melty over the fact that Barcelona is and always will be Messi's team. Team needs to figure out an identity. Having 100+ mil players riding pine is absolutely abysmal. As is taking a complete wash on a 100 mil player. Even if coutinho goes the other way, we’re surely shelling out another 100 on top of that to reacquire Neymar. No thanks. He can wait it out in purgatory for a while. You made your bed, bud. Sleep in it for a while.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying. Are we not going to get a backup LB? Also, Valverde wants Roberto in the MF and Wague isn’t ready for the first team, and I’m over Semedo. We should be going after Firpo from Betis. I think the idea with the Neymar deal is a player swap. We don’t have the funds for another 100 million dollar deal so the idea is 20-30 million with some combination of Coutinho, Rakitic, Semedo, and possibly Umtitti.
PSG has the financial backing to tell us to get fucked on all of that. We’re not in a position to get into a pissing match with them. Even if Neymar demands it, I’d prefer to avoid it. I imagine they’d ask for Coutinho, Dembele, and Umtiti, and still more in cash. And we’d probably do it. Because we are seemingly dumb. I’d be fine giving up Umtiti had we landed de Ligt. We can’t afford to offload him at this point.
I’d like to avoid dealing with PSG at all costs tbh Also, Barto has apparently said that Dembélé isn’t for sale. Which makes the potential Neymar deal even weirder. What are you going to do with Suarez, Messi, Neymar, Griezmann, and Dembele lol
Forgetting Malcom, who looks good every time he plays, but gets next to zero opportunities. Every time he’s gotten on the field, he’s looked like the piece to solve all of our offensive woes. Outside of the obvious financial commitments, I’d feel completely fine if we kept Malcom and offloaded Dembele. Would prefer to keep both, though, and since we already signed Griezmann, Neymar is out Dembele isn’t for sale because we can’t even pretend to realize any sort of investment on him. We bought him at a premium, still has a ton of promise, but is constantly hurt. Run Alba into dust. Fuck our defense, I guess.
I yearn for the days of slight tinkering. Messi up front, buy him help (bojan was obviously not getting to that level). Midfield entirely situated (Xavi, iniesta, busquets). Defense being stout with puyol and pique manning the fort. We’ve lost our way. I’m not advocating for full on Bilbao type shit, but fucking hell we’re looking to turn into god damn Argentina with our current interests and squad structure.
I don’t understand what we are doing team structure wise. 5 world class forwards for three positions. Doesn’t make any sense
So happy I got to see Barça play and didn't have to go all the way to Barcelona. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% going to see a game at the Camp Nou, but to see them at Michigan Stadium was fucking awesome
Damn. Didn’t realize you were at the game. That’s awesome. First goal being offsides be damned, that 20 minute stretch was great to see. Probably the best I’ve ever seen the team perform without Messi
This is a helluva lineup. Dembele was hands down the best looking out there in the first half with Frenkie right behind him. The team needs to get on the same page as Frenkie because he's trying to do some shit out there, some crazy shit, but the other guys just don't quite see what's he's on about . When they do, it'll start leading to some really open guys shooting at really open goals. Suarez looked lazy as shit in the first, but brilliant in the second. Griezmann needs more time to adjust, but is getting more and more comfortable with everyone. IDK what Valverde said in the locker room but they came out a different squad in the 2nd.
Suarez and Griezmann were looking pretty good working off of each other towards the end. And yeah, Frenkie is amazing.
its embarrassing that a team with this talent level had to rely on individual brilliance from fucking rafinha to create its best chances
The board should get more criticism for hiring Valverde in the first place let alone keeping him for three years.
I didn’t get to watch enough last season to make a judgement on Valverde. Starting to understand all the hysteria about him. Team is fucking loaded and plays boring. No risks. No movements. No idea what the idea was today for the lineup. He’s seriously going to play De Jong deep where he will have no effect on the attack. Only midfielder willing to take risks. Everyone else plays sideways and negative.
The reality of the situation at the club is that it's in need of changes top to bottom. Messi is a mask for all the issues, from squad building to management. Spending the club record fee on Coutinho and then trying to square peg/round hole him is fucking dumb as hell. The whole Neymar thing is dumb as hell. The core is aging and the board seem content to just sell 90% of the guys who show any promise from la masia. If the cost for Neymar ends up being Dembele and Cash they need to just pass, even if it means Ney going to Real imo.
Dembele hurt again. Season shaping up to be a cluster fuck. All those great attackers are fucking hurt.
What were you guys doing at 16? Probably not playing for Barcelona, in a La Liga match, under the lights at the Camp Nou
That double clutch from Suarez was so sweet. Cannot believe Cillison made those back to back to back saves on Griezmann, Suarez, and then Arthur
I can’t believe we are going on year three now of watching Valverde having this team play some of the most boring, sterile, and unimaginative football on the planet. Also, wtf did we buy Firpo for if you aren’t going to use him?
somehow at a place where the only semblance of attacking play comes from carles perez crosses somehow still employing this fucking bum
Didn’t get to see the game but heard it was a disaster class by almost everyone involved. It’s impressive to see a team with more attacking talent than anyone in the world struggle to get a shot on goal.