FC Barcelona Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

dfx-

Alba signed up

Pedro re-signed:cool:

Turtwig

No sign of Alves yet. It really looks, inexplicably, like ye've lost him.
Bizarre. An excellent defender and attacking player.

Andersonisgod

Turtwig wrote: »

No sign of Alves yet. It really looks, inexplicably, like ye've lost him.
Bizarre. An excellent defender and attacking player.

It'd be a real shame if he goes, his form in the second half of the season matches his prime form. No matter what right back the club sign he won't have the same level of understanding with Messi that's for sure.

miralize

treble winners in 24 hours... hopefully. Tots units fem força

dfx-

Turtwig wrote: »

No sign of Alves yet. It really looks, inexplicably, like ye've lost him.
Bizarre. An excellent defender and attacking player.

I don't think anyone would've disagreed with his departure really before Christmas and that may be why he ultimately goes (judging by his interview last week criticising the board), but his upsurge in form has been matched by the results and form of the team.

MisterAnarchy

dfx- wrote: »

I don't think anyone would've disagreed with his departure really before Christmas and that may be why he ultimately goes (judging by his interview last week criticising the board), but his upsurge in form has been matched by the results and form of the team.

Form is temporary ,class is permanent.

I do wish Alves would improve his crossing of the ball though,for someone who gets forward so much and has so much ball his crossing is really poor.

dfx-

His form in the 18-24 months up to Christmas was possibly one of someone who needed to go.

The big plus point of Alves is the late run onto a ball over the top from Iniesta/Xavi around the edge of the box like that one against Munich that Neuer saved.

Alba is very very fast, you can get defenders who will defend, you can get them who can cross, but that sense of being alive to get in behind and in on goal himself is a big plus point.

MonkeyTennis

Monkeytennis to base

THESE F*CKERS HAVE REGAINED SENSE OF HUMOUR

Proceed

L'prof

With all this talk of Alves leaving is there any chance ye'll be throwing an eye at Bellerin? Is it too soon for him, would ye rather a more established player? I thought he was excellent when asked to step up this season.

brevity

Sid Lowe on Dani Alves.

http://www.espnfc.com/club/barcelona/83/blog/post/2480180/dani-alves-leaves-barcelona-cause-for-regret-sid-lowe

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

brevity wrote: »

Sid Lowe on Dani Alves.

http://www.espnfc.com/club/barcelona/83/blog/post/2480180/dani-alves-leaves-barcelona-cause-for-regret-sid-lowe

Didn't realise Sid Lowe writes for other news sites (other than the Guardian), very good journo.

brevity

THFC wrote: »

Didn't realise Sid Lowe writes for other news sites (other than the Guardian), very good journo.

He is. His articles are well written. He definitely knows his stuff and his audience.

Andersonisgod

Champions of Europe lads! Treble winners! Second time in 6 years, 4th champions league in 9 years, the best team of their generation, maybe the greatest team ever and we've all been lucky enough to watch and savour them every single week. What a time to be alive!

Dirty Dingus McGee

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Champions of Europe lads! Treble winners! Second time in 6 years, 4th champions league in 9 years, the best team of their generation, maybe the greatest team ever and we've all been lucky enough to watch and savour them every single week. What a time to be alive!

And to top it all off Moon Pie is available as well.

MisterAnarchy

Good man Rakitic ,I knew that something had reminded me to put a bet on you to score

dfx-

Iniesta has MOTM in the CL final, Euro final and WC final now I think

English Champions knocked out
French Champions knocked out
German Champions knocked out
Italian Champions knocked out
The league won at the Spanish Champions.

Not bad.:)

MisterAnarchy

dfx- wrote: »

Iniesta has MOTM in the CL final, Euro final and WC final now I think

English Champions knocked out
French Champions knocked out
German Champions knocked out
Italian Champions knocked out
The league won at the Spanish Champions.

Not bad.:)

Yip,all Barcelona's matches in the Champions league were against national champions ,Ajax and Apoel being the other two teams they played.

gimmick

Iniesta was beautiful tonight but the best player for Barca tonight was the horrifically over looked Busquets. Not a single tackle or pass did he miss. A perfect player.

Then there was Pique. An absolute colossus in defense and did his best to be the same in attack.

Then the front 3. I'll not bother saying anything aside from pure and utter class.

If Enrique walks away best of luck to him. It does not get any better.

dreamers75

if the pricks had of scored another goal i would be 2k richer.

*****

and **** rakitic ....:D

IrishCule

Probably the best CL win ever given the teams we beat on route.

gimmick

The celebrations at the Camp Nou looked pretty special. Not least with The Dark Knight theme tune played for the fireworks finale. Incredible.

MisterAnarchy

Barcelona planning for life without Dani Alves ?

FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC have struck a deal to bring Aleix Vidal to the Camp Nou, with the 25-year-old signing a five-year contract that will keep him at the Club until June 2020.

Vidal – a pacey right wing back – will be officially presented on Monday, with the signing ceremony set to take place at 1.00 pm CET after a morning of medical tests at the Hospital de Barcelona and the Centre Mèdic at the Ciutat Esportiva.

45 minutes later, Aleix Vidal will take part in the traditional photo session on the Camp Nou pitch in the Barça strip and at 2.15 he’ll give his first press conference at the Club.

Dolph Starbeam

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Barcelona planning for life without Dani Alves ?

But are they not banned from signing anyone until the end of the year?

Andersonisgod

YayaBanana wrote: »

But are they not banned from signing anyone until the end of the year?

They can register players now, just not play them till January.

MarkY91

So apparently the transfer banned barca will sign vidal and he will arrive in january.

Personally, anytime ive seen him he has been a passenger. Cl final for example

rob316

MarkY91 wrote: »

So apparently the transfer banned barca will sign vidal and he will arrive in january.

Personally, anytime ive seen him he has been a passenger. Cl final for example

Lol its not Arturo Vidal

NIMAN

Where next for Alves I wonder?
EPL?

MarkY91

rob316 wrote: »

Lol its not Arturo Vidal

Is it not? I seen vidal on a news report. No first name. I should start opening them more often :L

miralize

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleix_Vidal

NIMAN

Andersonisgod wrote: »

They can register players now, just not play them till January.

Personally I think this is a joke.

Whatever way you look at this, they are signing a new player. When hes allowed to play is irelevant.

Once again, football makes a mockery of the rules.

L'prof

NIMAN wrote: »

Personally I think this is a joke.

Whatever way you look at this, they are signing a new player. When hes allowed to play is irelevant.

Once again, football makes a mockery of the rules.

He's of no benefit to them for the 1st half of the season, I don't see the problem.

miralize

NIMAN wrote: »

Personally I think this is a joke.

Whatever way you look at this, they are signing a new player. When hes allowed to play is irelevant.

Once again, football makes a mockery of the rules.

I fail to see how it makes a mockery of the rules. The bit in bold, of course its relevant.

They're not allowed to bring in new players in to the team, that doesn't mean they have to stop running the club & cant plan ahead.

MightyMandarin

L'prof wrote: »

He's of no benefit to them for the 1st half of the season, I don't see the problem.

But he's a disbenefit to Sevilla or any other team who would've tried to sign him.

miralize wrote: »

I fail to see how it makes a mockery of the rules. The bit in bold, of course its relevant.

They're not allowed to bring in new players in to the team, that doesn't mean they have to stop running the club & cant plan ahead.

He's allowed to train with the squad though, isn't he? So he's a part of the team who just can't play, much like Suarez for the first few months last season.

The point is, they signed a player when they're meant to be banned from doing that. Him not playing is irrelevant, as he's on the payroll, won't play for anyone else, and he'll be as much a part of the squad as an injured/suspended player.

It just feels sh*tty that Barca get around the punishment for breaking the rules.

miralize

While he may go on preseason, I'd say he'll be loaned back to Sevilla for the 1st half of the season. Barca are not getting around the punishment at all, we cant utilise him for 6 months.

MightyMandarin

miralize wrote: »

While he may go on preseason, I'd say he'll be loaned back to Sevilla for the 1st half of the season. Barca are not getting around the punishment at all, we cant utilise him for 6 months.

But a rival can't sign him now, so you are getting around the punishment as you're not meant to be signing players regardless if they can play or not.

miralize

The ban stipulates Barcelona cant register new players. Thats it. Everything else is fair game.

MisterAnarchy

NIMAN wrote: »

Where next for Alves I wonder?
EPL?

There has been talk of Man Utd, or PSG ,also AC Milan .
I cant see him going to AC Milan though ,they are useless .

I think he will probably still stay at Barcelona ,I think all this speculation is just Alves trying to get Barcelona to give him a better salary.

He said this last night

I don't know how long this dream will continue. I don't know if I've arrived at the end but hope is eternal while it lasts.

I've been happy here and I am happy here. And if the day is not yet here that I am to leave, then I’ll be happy because I am one of you.

Dolph Starbeam

Dani signs for 2 more years. Would have been mad not to give him a new contract.

Andersonisgod

Delighted for Alves and delighted that the club are holding onto the best right back around. Great deal for all concerned.

miralize

Great news. I was his biggest critic last season, but he's upped his game this year.

MisterAnarchy

Some stats from Alves over the last few seasons ,he has upped his game this season after a poor season last year.

Interestingly ,he made more tackles than any other player in La Liga this season ,124.

Turtwig

Practically ever Barca player looks a new player this season. Busquets has been cementing his place as among the best DM of all time. The way he reads attacks is just amazing.
Pique has been a rock affirming his place as one of the top CBs in the world.
Jordi Alba incredible.
Iniesta masterful.
I could go on.

Anyway, excellent decision to keep Alves. You could tell by what he was saying in public that he didn't want to leave either. With the signing of Vidal and renewal of Alves I think this means that Douglas should surely be on the way out. Enrique played him once - and never again.

Congrats on your treble by the way. Comfortably the best team in Europe this season. Can ye sustain it?

brevity

Turtwig wrote: »

Practically ever Barca player looks a new player this season. Busquets has been cementing his place as among the best DM of all time. The way he reads attacks is just amazing.
Pique has been a rock affirming his place as one of the top CBs in the world.
Jordi Alba incredible.
Iniesta masterful.
I could go on.

Anyway, excellent decision to keep Alves. You could tell by what he was saying in public that he didn't want to leave either. With the signing of Vidal and renewal of Alves I think this means that Douglas should surely be on the way out. Enrique played him once - and never again.

Congrats on your treble by the way. Comfortably the best team in Europe this season. Can ye sustain it?

This Douglas fella, is he poor or just not good enough for Barca. Would he fit in the premier league, say at Liverpool/Utd/Spurs/Arsenal level?

Turtwig

Hard to say, I've only seen him in one game. From that I wouldn't put him in any of the top four sides in the EPL. Lower down, maybe? Still seems a bit of gamble. Have to stress though it was only one game. If I did on Messi/Ronaldo with the right game I could conclude they're awful.

MisterAnarchy

brevity wrote: »

This Douglas fella, is he poor or just not good enough for Barca. Would he fit in the premier league, say at Liverpool/Utd/Spurs/Arsenal level?

He is as good if not better than any of those teams right backs .

Saying that you could argue that any of those existing right backs are pretty poor .
Valencia for Utd,Kyle Walker ,Bellerin and Liverpool do they even have a proper right back ?

brevity

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

He is as good if not better than any of those teams right backs .

Saying that you could argue that any of those existing right backs are pretty poor .
Valencia for Utd,Kyle Walker ,Bellerin and Liverpool do they even have a proper right back ?

Glen Johnson is leaving, Flanagan is injured, Manquillo is on loan from Atletico Madrid (and seems to be out of favour) and Andre Wisdom is coming back from a loan at West Brom.

So no, we don't have a proper right back

MisterAnarchy

Luis Enrique has agreed a new contract to stay on at Barcelona, in a big coup pulled off by president Josep Maria Bartomeu as he formally stepped down ahead of elections due at the Camp Nou this summer.

"I want to announce that this afternoon, a few minutes ago, we have agreed to renew Luis Enrique's contract until 2017," Bartomeu said. "We have Luis Enrique for two more years."

Andersonisgod

It's great that the club is keeping Enrique, it's not good that he is so aligned with Bartomeu, a cancerous presence at the club.

MisterAnarchy

Andersonisgod wrote: »

It's great that the club is keeping Enrique, it's not good that he is so aligned with Bartomeu, a cancerous presence at the club.

Bartomeu intends to run in the elections .
Is Laporta going to run ?

Bartomeu has tied up some business before he resigns as Barcelona have reached an agreement for Qatar Airways to remain the club's main shirt sponsor until 2019.

I think Qatar will become a very dirty word in the next few years once the truth about the 2022 World Cup emerges, a different sponsor may have been preferential

Andersonisgod

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Bartomeu intends to run in the elections .
Is Laporta going to run ?

Bartomeu has tied up some business before he resigns as Barcelona have reached an agreement for Qatar Airways to remain the club's main shirt sponsor until 2019.

I think Qatar will become a very dirty word in the next few years once the truth about the 2022 World Cup emerges, a different sponsor may have been preferential

I really hope so. I'd probably rather anyone than Bartomeu or anyone who was associated with the Rosell regime.

I agree with that, I'm sure we could have found a different sponsor who would have offered at least something close to the same amount as Qatar and wouldn't bring the same baggage that they do but Bartomeu doesn't care about any of that.