how so? he started from the bench more times than starts. . . .i think pedro is an excellent player. . .he has done more at barcelona than cesc has done for arsenal in everyone's opinion.

I seriously doubt this, infact even without checking his appearance stats i know it's a big lie

how did you come up with this comparison? cesc is a central midfielder, pedro is a wing forward. pedro copped more minutes at the world cup than cesc!

You just told us they play different positions and that Pedro copped more minutes(World Cup) in the same breath. Pedro was competing with Jesus Navas, Cesc was competing with Xavi, do the math. I believe we've already had this debate a few days ago.

messi will play in the middle, villa will move to the flanks.

I don't know why Pep does that. Surely they are better off with Villa leading the line.

To be honest Barcelona don't need Cesc. Just imagine Cesc, Pedro, Sanchez, Mascherano, Affellay and Thiago competing for one slot in the team. That should be illegal

ritchboy:

I seriously doubt this, infact even without checking his appearance stats i know it's a big lie

2010/11----54 appearances, 36 starts, 18 subs
2009/10----52 appearances, 33 starts, 19 subs
2008/9-----14 appearances, 6 starts, 8 subs
2007/8-----2 appearances, 0 start, 2 subs

45 goals, 14 assists in 75 starts is an outstanding return for a rookie forward. . . . .he's by far an important piece for barcelona than cesc will ever be for barcelona. pedro has also scored at least one goal in every club competition has featured in.

You just told us they play different positions and that Pedro copped more minutes(World Cup) in the same breath. Pedro was competing with Jesus Navas, Cesc was competing with Xavi, do the math. I believe we've already had this debate a few days ago.

the argument is this. . . . .if cesc is good enough, del bosque will fit him into that starting line-up. iniesta will move upfront and demote pedro to the bench.

I don't know why Pep does that. Surely they are better off with Villa leading the line.

messi scored 53 goals and 24 assists from that position. . . .are you sure villa can match that?

To be honest Barcelona don't need Cesc. Just imagine Cesc, Pedro, Sanchez, Mascherano, Affellay and Thiago competing for one slot in the team. That should be illegal

they will have to sell afellay and thiago to fit cesc in.

Another English Goalkeeping Legend in the making

[flash=500,400]http://www.youtube.com/watch=/v/oBbrL0S_9fI&feature=player_embedded[/flash]

2010/11----54 appearances, 36 starts, 18 subs
2009/10----52 appearances, 33 starts, 19 subs
2008/9-----14 appearances,  6 starts, 8 subs
2007/8-----2 appearances, 0 start, 2 subs

This still doesn't add up to your claim of him coming off the bench more than he starts.

45 goals, 14 assists in 75 starts is an outstanding return for a rookie forward

So we throw away all the minutes he copped as a sub? You are a genius

he's by far an important piece for barcelona than cesc will ever be for barcelona.

Premature. If Cesc does join Barca he'll offer them something they lack: a midfielder with off the ball movement who can make runs into the box and finish off moves(+ he's also a possession/assist king). Cesc has more goals in him than Xavi & Iniesta combined.

messi scored 53 goals and 24 assists from that position. . . .are you sure villa can match that?

Messi doesn't have to move wide. Alves can provide the width on the right with Pedro/Iniesta/Sanchez on the left. Villa should be scoring more than 23 goals at a team like Barca.

they will have to sell afellay and thiago to fit cesc in.

That still leaves 3 of Cesc, Pedro, Mascherano & Sanchez on the bench. These guys would walk into most top teams in Europe.

Some Countries do have them #Goalkeepers

ritchboy:

You are a phat phool!!! 62 goals form where? I count 45. Oh, I see you went to his Wikipedia page and foolishly added the goals he scored for the B team, DUNCE!!
45 goals and 14 assists in 122 appearances for a Barcelona forward is nothing to ring home about.
Pedro cannot lace Cesc's boots. He will only play ahead of him if Pep wants an extra forward.
Of course there will be some rotation but i guess this is how they'll line up more often than not.

         Busquets

        Xavi    Cesc

      Messi   Iniesta
     
              Villa

That was a mistake that I corrected instantly. That however does not excuse your st.u.pid assertion that Pedro will be the one to leave when Fab arrives. Why do you think Pep will drop a forward that scored 22 goals last season?
Why would Pep change his formation to drop a player who is guaranteed to score more goals than Cesc?

Creativity? That's Xavi and Iniesta. Busquets will always play as DM.
So how do you work that out? One more iranu from your box of crap.

debosky:

Barca doesn't put £40m players on the bench, it's not their style. Secondly, it is a bit daft to be chasing a bench warmer season after season in the press. In my view, it is simply a reminder to Cesc not to sign another deal, so that when they want him they'll get him cheap.

So you pay £40m for a player to play insignificant games?? Why not play Alcantara instead?

Obviously not, but it was more down to injury than anything else. Cesc hasn't had a summer off for years and the toll eventually showed last season.

Cesc will be back to his sterling best in August after getting a proper summer break.

€69m was splashed on Ibra and Bojan was benching him towards the end of the season.
€16m on Keirrison and he's yet to make a start.
€28m on Chygrynsky, €16m on Caceres. . .
Barca can splash the cash if they want to. I think this Cesc thing is more political than anything else. The fans want him, the players want him, the media are all up in the frenzy. . . Any president that brings Cesc has sealed his place in Barca's folklore and then, elections are coming up - you've have to win over the fans.
If Barca wants Cesc, they'll splash the cash. They're about to sign Sanchez who is quite unproven for around €40m and can't pay a little over that amount for a Cesc they've been chasing for God knows how many summers and winters.

nateevs:

That was a mistake that I corrected instantly.

You are still a phat phool!

That however does not excuse your st.u.pid assertion that Pedro will be the one to leave when Fab arrives. Why do you think Pep will drop a forward that scored 22 goals last season?

22 goals is nothing special for a Barcelona forward. Even Cesc can score 22 goals from midfield.

Why would Pep change his formation to drop a player who is guaranteed to score more goals than Cesc?

Because he is a much better player overall. And he doesn't have to change his formation.

Creativity? That's Xavi and Iniesta. Busquets will always play as DM.
So how do you work that out?

Iniesta is a dribbler more than anything, sure he's excellent at ball retention and is a good passer but his range is limited, and he rarely delivers a final ball, Cesc is 10x more creative.

One more iranu from your box of crap.

Coming from the man who thinks Ashley Young may never play for England again

medjai:

€69m was splashed on Ibra and Bojan was benching him towards the end of the season.
€16m on Keirrison and he's yet to make a start.
€28m on Chygrynsky, €16m on Caceres. . .

Is it that English is the problem here? Yes Ibra was benched towards the end, but was he bought to warm the bench in the first instance?

Buying Cesc now will be to warm the bench, and my assertion still stands - Barca haven't bought any player for £40m KNOWING he is coming to warm the bench.

If Barca have the money let them spend it - as far as I'm concerned, they cannot afford Cesc at the moment since there are other targets they are interested in.

. . . Now this is beginning to look like the Barca thread

AjanleKoko:

. . . Now this is beginning to look like the Barca thread

I tire oh

^^^^
Nothing to talk about. . .

haha mo gbe o.

SO a player can't be considered "great" unless one can demonstrate that he is better than Rooney? I don't understand how that works

And IMO Pedro is far more efficient than Rooney. Maybe we should go and look up Rooney's 1st 2 seasons in EPL and see how "great" he was compared to Pedro. 

Haters don't live long.

More Bullshit from the English press

[size=18pt]Bayern target Nani after Young arrival limits first-team chances[/size]

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2008156/Bayern-Munich-target-Nani.html#ixzz1QOx0YSf0

Krayola:

haha mo gbe o.

SO a player can't be considered "great" unless one can demonstrate that he is better than Rooney? I don't understand how that works

And IMO Pedro is far more efficient than Rooney. Maybe we should go and look up Rooney's 1st 2 seasons in EPL and see how "great" he was compared to Pedro. 

Haters don't live long.

I'd have called you an ape and shown you the error of your ways but you are two days late

Heard a rumor that UTD's made a GBP20 million bid for Nasri ~ ain't seen it online anywhere yet but anybody know about it!!?

Arsenal reportedly put in a bid for Valencia's Mata ~ is this a sign of things to come!?
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/930513/arsenal-launch-bid-for-juan-mata?cc=5739

^^^^
Still speculation.
United can't make a formal bid for him till July 1.Not true as far as I know.

StarBoard:

^^^^
Still speculation.
[b]United can't make a formal bid for him till July 1.[/b]Not true as far as I know.

Why?

RuuDie:

Heard a rumor that UTD's made a GBP20 million bid for Nasri ~ ain't seen it online anywhere yet but anybody know about it!!?

Arsenal reportedly put in a bid for Valencia's Mata ~ is this a sign of things to come!?
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/930513/arsenal-launch-bid-for-juan-mata?cc=5739

I don't believe either stories at this moment. . .I don't see Utd paying £20m for a guy with one year left on his contract when they paid £15m for Young which includes the 'English player' premium.

As for Arsenal signing Mata, that's only likely going to happen if Cesc leaves, so there's still a long way to go.

Interesting.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-news-Manchester-United-bid-for-Thiago-Alacantara-of-Barcelona-article752948.html

debosky:

I don't believe either stories at this moment. . .I don't see Utd paying £20m for a guy with one year left on his contract when they paid £15m for Young which includes the 'English player' premium.

I believe Young also had just a year left on his contract, + Nasri has a lot more to offer both in terms of current ability and potential, and of course Arsenal are a direct rival. If they paid 15m for Young then offering 20m for Nasri should be considered derisory sef.

montelik:

Why?

Because he's under contract.I read somewhere about that clause.
Nasri should be willing to go to United (which hasn't happened)and Arsenal should be willing to SELL (which also hasn't happened) for United to make a formal approach.
Till those tow are fulfilled,it's all speculation that Nasri wants to use United to get a pay-hike.

ritchboy:

I believe Young also had just a year left on his contract, + Nasri has a lot more to offer both in terms of current ability and potential, and of course Arsenal are a direct rival. If they paid 15m for Young then offering 20m for Nasri should be considered derisory sef.

Current ability? I don't think so - Young consistently makes 10+ assists a season plus his goals, Nasri had more goals but much fewer assists. In terms of potential, that is difficult to judge so I'll leave that one.

Even though Arsenal are a direct rival, I still don't think anything above the same £15m would be reasonable - only magas like Citeh would pay £20m for a player they can get for free the next summer.

debosky:

As for Arsenal signing Mata, that's only likely going to happen if Cesc leaves, so there's still a long way to go.

I think mata's signing will depend more on Nasri's fate than anything. U'll all be asking "Nasri who?" a few weeks into the season. According to some IMO credible reports he (mata) is next on pep's list if we can't sign Alexis Sanchez.

Mata is a top quality player, someone I want Barca to sign and I'll be shocked if wenger makes such a signing when the French and belarusian leagues haven't yet run out of kids with "potential".

De gea undergoing medicals

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_7007545,00.html

De gea undergoing medical

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_7007545,00.html

Krayola:

I think mata's signing will depend more on Nasri's fate than anything. U'll all be asking "Nasri who?" a few weeks into the season. According to some IMO credible reports he (mata) is next on pep's list if we can't sign Alexis Sanchez.

Mata is a top quality player, someone I want Barca to sign and I'll be shocked if wenger makes such a signing when the[b] French and belarusian leagues haven't yet run out of kids with "potential".[/b]

Apparently he's been watched by Arsenal for a while now so it's not a new idea.

Unless Nasri goes for £15m+ or Cesc leaves, I don't see Wenger splashing out £18m on anybody - it's completely not his style

Why would Man Utd need Valencia, Nani, Nasri and Young at the same time

dayokanu:

Why would Man Utd need Valencia, Nani, Nasri and Young at the same time

because ferguson has belatedly realised you don't need an extremely good central midfielders to win the league. if you can get the best wingers in the division with a good defence and an effective strike force then it's a sure banker. arsenal have had the best midfielders in the league since the invincible era and yet they have won nuthing.

debosky:

Current ability? I don't think so - Young consistently makes 10+ assists a season plus his goals, Nasri had more goals but much fewer assists. In terms of potential, that is difficult to judge so I'll leave that one.

Abeg forget numbers, Nasri is far better than Young. Lampard has consistently posted the best numbers in the league but(well you know the rest). As for potential that is the easiest thing to judge in this case. Young is 26 next month, he has hardly missed a game in the last 2-3 years but has hardly improved either. Nasri just turned 24, and is steadily improving, it's a no-brainer.

Even though Arsenal are a direct rival, I still don't think anything above the same £15m would be reasonable - only magas like Citeh would pay £20m for a player they can get for free the next summer.

The million dollar question is will he be available next summer? Also if you wait till next summer to get him free it automatically means you've missed his services for a year(a la Chamakh). Fergie is not Wenger

coogar:

because ferguson has belatedly realised you don't need an extremely good central midfielders to win the league. if you can get the best wingers in the division with a good defence and an effective strike force then it's a sure banker. arsenal have had the best midfielders in the league since the invincible era and yet they have won nuthing.

Makelele, Essien, Lampard, Ballack etc. Chelsea had the best midfielders in the league from the start of the trophyless era.

Arsenal's seeming interest in Mata sure adds a spin on things ~ probably means AW is going to sell one or both of Fab4/Nasri cuz Mata can play the roles of either/both!

Meanwhile ~ Welcome to OT Monsieur De Gea. . . .am not particularly ecstatic, wish VDS could just go and on, but change is the only constant thing & guess De Gea will have a chance to prove his worth with time!

^^^^
De Gea is an excellent goalie.For someone so young,he could actually be a great signing.
VDS was great,but you had to feel for him,especially when he was going through his personal trauma.He was brave enough to play through it,but his family needs him.
And more over,coogar has been slating him lately. . .