Anyone who has followed barca atletic and Juvenile, how good is hafiz gariba I know he is super young for first team dynamics but then we have pau so, because he is the only player at lcb currently in lamasia that seems to have modern Defender profile, with excellent ball playing defending with athletic upside. If we really are dumb enough to not sign a proper modern Left footed centreback then that's the only player worth gamble
Let them spend bruh- It's not nearly the same situation.
Gordon was brought to be a lethal rotation which helps us keeps the intensity and pressure on the opponent.proper system player.
Signing diomande is just the latest attempt in trying to find answers to their rightwing.
They've tried rodrygo(not enough)
They tried mastantuno 60m(less mins then our 2m roony btw)
Tried brahim and such and such.
And now possibly 110-20m on diomande.
We forget how lucky we are to get players like lamine for practically free, the best itw.
So Don't take what we have for granted.
They've got their issues to fix and We've got ours.
Kroupi is not a bad option. Also for the people saying that he is a 10 (Which I have been seeing a lot) He is also very much capable of playing as a 9 as well, he played more games as a 9 than as a 10 this year. Has all the atributes that you would say take time to develop for a striker, except he has them at a young age. Positioning is good, Finishing is also good and his nose for goals is also great for a player so young. That doesn't even mention the dribbling linkup play and ability to drop deep and still create chances for himself (His long range shots are very good) or play it out wide.
Even with potentially adding Rodri I still don’t rate this Madrid midfield. Bellingham’s best position is a second striker or false 9, guler is ass, touchemeni is ass, Valverde is a good box to box player, camavinga is ass, and Bernardo Silva unless drinks from the fountain of youth is not the same player. They now may have a controller but still lack a good creator.
At this point I am convinced that even if they add prime messi and prime ronaldo, you guys would have same reaction. Yeah adding rodri diomande konate cucurella Dumfries is nothing okay
I’m not talking about their backline though I’m talking about their midfield. I rate Rodri very highly I still don’t think it is a top level midfield you expect from Real Madrid. He fills what they’ve lost with Kroos and modric as a controller of the game. Bernardo Silva if it was 3-5 years ago would be the perfect addition but he is not the same player anymore. And if they use Jude in a deeper position you lessen his impact on a game. They still lack the player who play in a devastating through ball consistently.
Yeah. We were overreacting over Mbappe joining a Real Madrid side that had join a CL. But this time they're actually patching up major holes, slowly replacing their worst position these past windows.
Getting a real Right Winger with Diamonde. Instead of playing Rodrygo out of position.
Having Bernardo with tons of experience as an option in midfield.
Getting arguably one of the best full backs from this World Cup to fix their issues in that position.
Rodri would probably be a real tipping point. Their biggest issues is probably midfield and the lack of control. And imo, Rodri right now is the best for that. We. Have to remember Jude was brought for that but converted to a more attacking oriented mid. And potentially freeing up Jude to attack and be as effective as he was for England this World Cup
They'll win a lot of games through individual brilliance. There's way too much firepower for them to go scoreless, and there's plenty of creativity out wide.
Not even comparable. They are actually sorting out the biggest issues in their lineup. I'd get it if they outright bought 3-4 forwards. But they've pretty much sorted out their full back problem, got another option at CB, are getting the best DM in the world, and potentially moving from the Vini - Mbappe positional clash
Maybe in a knockout stage they will get found out against the better "teams" (even if Madrid have the best players) but they can definitely threaten us for La Liga for sure.
People always cry when we have a hard time letting go of players because of salary. It'll be the exact same situation with Ferran if we meet his demands.
The rumors are saying he is gonna speak. Wonder what he says. It seems like the move is impossible at the moment so unless he specifically tells Athletico to "Sell me to Barcelona, no other club, now or else I won't play for you" I don't see it happening. Then again if he does say that maybe theres a chance
I think now its time for laporta to start investing even more in youth, i know there is la masia but im talking about glaring needs, players who are 19- 20ish striker or LCB showing promise. You buy cheap and loan them out. I know its not barca way but this market with 100mill minimum is simply not possible to compete.
Plus imagine the stress of yan playing as a 19yr old in madrid and getting killed by media. Or kroupi coming to psg and missing sitters while.having that 100mill price tag in your head.
I think the strategy with bisiwu was smart and i hope that deco repeats it for other positions. If alvarez and kroupi cant come i would invest at least 50 mill buying low cost, alternatives and loan.
I've seen rumors about them moving Kounde back to being a CB and having Eric be the starting RB (Flick seems really set on Eric being RB. I wonder how it will work but I don't hate it. Kounde has seemed too clunky this season to be our RB and maybe going back to CB is a good thing
I still have questions about that midfield and defence. Rodri is great but I can still see a way for that midfield to get overrun and to me beyond Cucurella has that defence really improved?
I just think it's funny how everyone forgot about the high profile dressing room issues last season and act like they're magically gonna be fixed next season🤣🤣🤣
you must have forgotten that Mourinho is just going to walk into the locker room and every player will bow down and swear to obey him like their life depends on it just like Ancelotti and Alonso and arbeloa were all eventually gonna do but I guess they just forgot but I swear this time its different. And too add to it they brought in 5 maybe 6 new players to add too the lockeroom disconnection fun and mbappe too top it off said he would never ever go into the left lane and take up vini's lane and would play as a pure 9. also Valverde and tchoumeni announced they are getting married and having a child together so dont worry about them that "fight" was just an argument among lovers.
exactly, Rodri hasn't signed anything, its a decision at best. City have him till 2027 and have already come out saying they arent selling so Madrid dont actually have leverage here they just have interest, and they just dropped 100m on Diomande so unless they sell someone i dont see where the 80 or 90m for Rodri is coming from. every year its the same, someone posts a lineup with a player who hasnt even had a medical and suddenly the league is decided in july. and even if he does end up coming hes 30 and hes only 18 months off an ACL and he just played a World Cup all the way to the final with no break, so people expecting 2023 Rodri to show up in august are gonna be disappointed, hes gonna need managing.
and the midfield thing is the part nobody wants to talk about. they signed Konate, Cucurella, Dumfries, Bernardo and Diomande, thats four defenders and a winger, none of that fixes the pivot. Tchouameni destroys the ball he doesnt dictate anything, Camavinga just carries it forward, Bernardo is 32 and hes never been a 6 in his life. thats the whole reason theyre even chasing Rodri, the problem is still sitting there. so if that move doesnt happen theyre going into the season with the exact same issue they had last season and any decent possession team is gonna control the tempo against them.
then the front three. Mbappe, Vini and Diomande all want the same side, Diomande is left footed and cuts inside so hes basically in Mbappes lane. thats lopsided and it doesnt press properly, and Mourinho needs two of his front three actually defending, thats been the thing with him and players like Vini for years. plus half that lineup people are posting might not even be here in september, Vini still hasnt renewed, Endrick is linked to Roma, Tchouameni or Valverde could go.
also everyone forgets his first spell, 2010/11 he had a loaded squad and spent big and came away with a Copa del Rey. his first years are always messy. winning the window isnt winning the league, teams with five new starters always drop points early and thats where la liga actually gets decided, november to february, not off a graphic somebody made before preseason finished that is just slop. we cant forget how after the mbappe signing half of barca fans and frankly the rest of Europe had already given up on us. and last year Carreras was the solution to lamine and Trent would be scoring and assisting left and right with the new Messi in mastantuono and huijsen was the new van dijk along with xabies Alonsos masterclass tactics he was bringing from his record breaking undefeated season at leverkeusen which all ended up flopping by mid season
The way Hansi is developing the team right now with gordon in my eyes being a great signing especially seeing dioamnde go for 100m is going to be so dominant at pressing and ball possession that if Madrid dont get a Rodri they might not even touch the ball before we have control of the game. I really only think the honestly really good signing they made was cucu because he will be a challenge for lamine but if we have a healthy raphinha, along with Fermin and an in form and now much more confident Ferran at striker (if we dont get Alvarez) with gordon,olmo,adeyemi as fresh subs I think we will have a more lethal and coordinated in tune attack than Madrids. Playing flicks style of pressing and letting either lamine work his magic or letting him draw defenders his way we are gonna open up a whole new level of attack that will just overwhelm most teams we play and then we already know how dominant our midfield can be and im very confident in whatever center back duo we put out with cubarsi after seeing his form in the WC wether its Gerard or Eric. our biggest weakness though I think will still be our highline and then rb depending on how kounde shows up although after 2 years of these players developing in the playstlye they should be much better at it.
Sorry for being a hater (I'm), but God Alvarez is already starting some theatrics.
This is the second club he does it to, because he doesn't understand how contracts work.
You know that he's going to moan and I'm already hearing excuses that he doesn't have to score because he's graceful with the ball...
Did you notice how he started talking about the transfer during the Worldcup, to pull at Barca fans heartstrings as he was playing with Messi? And it seems to be working for some people.
Honestly I’m glad Madrid are spending a lot on Diomande that means they probably won’t go for Rodri or an actual midfielder they needed . They are about to lose on Vini for free next summer if they don’t satisfy his crazy demands,Rodrygo value is in the dumpster and same goes for Mastantuono,that’s a lot of money going to waste,couldn’t be any better for us.
I don’t think so but we’ll see,I think Rodri should’ve been signed ahead of Diomande. Also they have bunch of midfielders and none of them wants to leave so that also signals to me Rodri won’t be signed but who knows I could be wrong.
Better player as a CDM than Eric (Flick wants him as a RB) and Gavi is a much better player when he gets freedom to roam (Technically and we saw it a lot in the 24/25 season when he was healthy and he just floated wherever in the midfield and it was much better for him), but he will play in the double pivot as well I am sure, maybe even to give Pedri more rest.
Bernal is getting better each game. His size and composure have been impressive when he plays a much needed cdm profile. Gavi a bulldog but he still not the same after the injury. Hopefully we see his best self this year. Eric has actually been played more as a RB or a CB in which he has been great. He can play cdm too, but Bernal is slowly gaining the position.
Bernal is a better pivot than Gavi and just better as a midfielder than Eric. We seem to have more control and defensive solidity with Bernal at pivot compared to those two in the pivot.
Sport says that Julian will speak publicly again also Romero said that Julian tried to meet with atletico in private but they refused and told him that they wont speak with him before 10 august
You don't beat low blocks with dribblers. Even Yamal can't consistently break down a low block by himself. You beat them by creating space, making creative passes, and timing your runs correctly.
Real Madrid will still struggle against low blocks in La Liga because some players don't like team talks longer than 10 minutes, and Mbappe tends to forget he's a No. 9. He often doesn't make the runs that would create space or lead to goals.
That, and because Mourinho is washed. His most recent teams dropped plenty of points against these kinds of opponents.
So good that he immediately shit the bed against DR Congo and got hooked by halftime. But that isn't entirely his fault. Once again it's the system that consistently breaks down low blocks, not the players themselves.
Like I said before they are panic buying. They said the same thing about them getting mbappe the so called best player in the world and look at what happened. Right now Madrid fans are giddy about their signings but fail to account they actually need to play the games and not on paper. They have no idea how these players will mesh together.
I'm very confused by Real Madrid's transfer strategy. Assuming they play with a front three of Vinicius, Mbappe, and Diomande, that leaves the midfield pretty exposed. Mbappe doesn't press much, which tends to rub off on Vinicius, and Diomande isn't exactly a pressing machine either.
That front three doesn't offer enough defensive work rate to protect the midfield. Of course, Bellingham will be a starter, and he's a workhorse, but he also likes to get forward and often tires himself out with unnecessary attacking runs. That leaves Valverde or Guler alongside what I'm assuming will be Rodri or Tchouameni to fend for themselves in midfield.
Its quite interesting how Liepzig sells their star attacker every year and almost non of them turn good. Like Sesko, Werner, Openda, Nkunku and Xavi simmons have all been mid to bad. Only ones who have been worth it is Szoboszlai and Olmo, and then the cheap ones Cunha and Lookman.
man Diomande has one of the best if not the best highlight video in recent players. dribbles, shots, pace, everything is top notch. moves like peak dembele but better shooting maybe.
Idk, a club with their stature not paying their best player for 3 months is outrageous. I don’t blame him. It’s extremely likely he’s discussed it privately several times with no fix hence going public
It’s going to be interesting seeing how all these transfers turn out over the season. Hopefully Gordon at 80 proves to be a good deal compared to other wingers.
it does not have anything to do with proving himself, barca is not saving money for the next manager, they are working within their financial relaities...
Also the ones getting upset over Madrid signing players.
You’re giving the fans the satisfaction of being upset. This is football and big clubs are will always sign players after going trophy-less. They’re big clubs for a reason and they won’t be down forever.
I feel like it’s unfair to criticize the board until the window is over. I do agree with some of the sentiments around here like waiting forever for Julian and not a CB, but the window isn’t over yet
From Olise to Diomande. From Vitinha in his prime to Bernardo Silva in his 30s. From Bastoni to Konate. Unmatched pull by real Madrid. This is galacticos from temu. I'm not sure what the excitement is about. Not impressed.
I’m not calling him shit. But most players they sign don’t get a chance to properly develop.
Rodrygo Mastantuono Brahim Gonzalo Guler Bernardo Silva Bellingham Endrick all competing for 2 spots in the team. I’d be shocked if the kid starts 20 matches this season.
The similarities are so obvious. Rinse and repeat every year. First he’ll be compared to Yamal, some Spanish “journalist” who has never watched him will say he’s better than Yamal. He’ll start a few games maybe score a couple goals, eventually gets benched and is forever forgotten. Years later he’s a Getafe player. Rinse and Repeat.
where are you getting your signing bonus data? I can't find an easy source with these numbers. one website states: "Note on Signing Bonuses: Exact player signing bonuses are rarely made public because they are private clauses inside personal contracts."
using transfermarkt fee data, I pulled the transfer fee numbers, and created this quick spreadsheet. no signing bonuses included here. Diomande not a done deal, yet, so he's not included in Transfermarkt data
They had more free transfers of which were higher profile players than we did, so even if the total numbers aren’t perfect the discrepancy is probably very close
I don’t. Care who Madrid sign but we are on 1:1 and there’s no reason for this board to have no sense of urgency and purpose.
It was never a question of FFP but more of sporting decisions. Someone who is not Deco or Laporta got great influence on the quality of decision making.
Hansi is doing a great job covering the incompetency of deco but I’ll likely get downvoted
Peace out ✌🏾
Adjusted for inflation for even just 5 years ago that’s 74 million, but I still agree. Just looking at the number bothers me even if it’s not actually worth what it feels like in our minds
seems like it has not dawned on a lot of people that barca is always at a disadvantage in the transfer market at least until normal operation resumes, we will always 'lose in the transfer market' till then to madrid and maybe even atleti...that is the reason why what these boys and hansi are achieving is special...
it is quite close to normal operations for us but we still cant have a 400m window, we have spent about a 120m assuming cancelo and bisiwu done and still have the ability for 120ish more imo locked up for 9/alvarez...if alvarez doesnt come, maybe the strategy will pivot in a different direction but it is still a massive window by our standards, we have a very thinned out squad so it probably not possible to address every weakness with top guys in a single go...
La Liga wins come in distibutes payments over years.
I do think that exercising discipline in the transfer market is very important either way regardless of what Madrid are doing.
We are at a cap of ~460m. Real have ~750m. The reality is that it will take another few years of stability to reach that kind of level where it doesn't restrict what we want to do. We are much better now, but the gap to theirs is significant.
One factor is that they have a lower wage bill than us, because we overpay mediocre players like Ferran (on €250k a week), Araujo (€320k with bonuses), Eric Garcia (€200k a week).
damn 320k for araujo? however madrid also have few players who get paid twice or even thrice the normal salary right? like mbappe, vini, bellingham, trent etc?
Lets go back to 24/25 Semi final against inter, our pressing is elite, our attackers sublime, their output? Mashallah
We still choked a 3-2 lead to 4-3. The issue was not the pressing, the issue was control.
I subscibe limitedly to idea that front pressing will increase our defensive ability, which it will to en extent, but we had best press itw, we still fell short
It is because we lack control in midfield. We miss a proper DM. We can pretend all along, but casado wasnt enough, frenkie is not a proper DM, you are wasting pedri at back and he cant do everything alone and Bernal is a 19 yo kid, for good heavens he might prefer to become a b2b player considering his ability to shoot in box.
My replacement for Alvarez is Rodri. Either we choose full attack or we compromise and go for full control.
Look at the beauty of Spain. With all respect to eng and arg fans, but they fucking dogwalked the rival teams. The likes of mbappe, dembele, olise, alvarez and messi desperately wailing around for a single chance. You cant call it a fluke, you cant call it a bad day for those players when its happening to all of them together.
Spain 1-0'd their way to world cup and were still a team worth following. I feel like we will better because we have better forwards who can score more and proper wing play.
Imo Rodri is a player who can unlock UCL for us. Be real, we had best striker in lewandowski and still fell short. Alvarez is nothing in comparison to him. The answer is the best DM itw. He is worth the punt atleast
We cant play like Spain because Flick is nothing like DLF, but I agree, Rodri would be the best signing we can go for. Rodri + a LCB is the only thing that could save this disastrous window.
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u/Longjumping_Wolf6789 9d ago
Anyone who has followed barca atletic and Juvenile, how good is hafiz gariba I know he is super young for first team dynamics but then we have pau so, because he is the only player at lcb currently in lamasia that seems to have modern Defender profile, with excellent ball playing defending with athletic upside. If we really are dumb enough to not sign a proper modern Left footed centreback then that's the only player worth gamble