David Villa signs for Barca

[Bruce Wayne]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Ibrahimovic. The Inter match showed that they need a plan B and a real additional cutting edge to come off the bench, but I can't imagine Ibrahimovic being happy to be a reserve. With what they paid for him, and indeed what they pay him, I can't see many teams wanting to buy him either.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

this. he is better than torres, indeed probably better than everyone except messi and ronaldo. after the world cup this price will probably look very cheap.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/aug/12/david-villa-valencia-worlds-best-striker

I agree. The only thing Torres has got over Villa is age

 

[Goat]

The best just got better.

 

[Waddy]

Yeah, thats gona be some midfield and attacking force!
34M does seem a good price, did Villa have a short contract left?

 

[tsubaki]

Yeah, thats gona be some midfield and attacking force!
34M does seem a good price, did Villa have a short contract left?

its either because of his age (28 or 29) or because of a buyout clause in his contract (the rumour last year was that the asking price was £35 million, suspiciously close to the current price despite him being a year younger and valencia being in the [Poor language removed] financially last year).

 

[manxtoffee]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Ibrahimovic. The Inter match showed that they need a plan B and a real additional cutting edge to come off the bench, but I can't imagine Ibrahimovic being happy to be a reserve. With what they paid for him, and indeed what they pay him, I can't see many teams wanting to buy him either.

Rather ironic it was the Inter game that showed everyone what a belter of a signing Ibra truly is/was..
Anyways, any teams based in Siberia? :blink:

 

[Toffe3m4n]

107 goals in 166 games for Valencia.

That is one hell of a return.

 

[bluebloodinmyveins]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Ibrahimovic. The Inter match showed that they need a plan B and a real additional cutting edge to come off the bench, but I can't imagine Ibrahimovic being happy to be a reserve. With what they paid for him, and indeed what they pay him, I can't see many teams wanting to buy him either.

Reunited with Mancini?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

They're the only club that could afford him I think. No doubt Barca would want to recoup a decent bit of the fee they paid, and his wages are amongst the highest in the world. You're probably looking at one of Real Madrid, Man City or Chelsea. Real don't need him. Chelsea have better in Drogba. Just leaves City, and even then you could argue that in Tevez and Adebayor they don't need him either.

 

[bluebloodinmyveins]

Adebayor will be gone before the start of the season i reckon. Mancini doesn't seem to rate him. I reckon he'll end up with AC Milan. Which leaves the door open for Ibrahimovic.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

He's got a lot to prove. If you struggle to score in that Barca team then there's something rotten somewhere. Considering his transfer fee put him up in the Kaka/Ronaldo league he's been a massive let down.

Arguably the problem with Barca against Inter was that neither he nor Pedro offered enough of a threat, so Inter could focus on Messi and snuff him out. Put Villa and Iniesta up there and it may have been different. I guess it's the same with Fabregas as he's shown at Arsenal that he can score goals, something that the Barca midfield isn't 'that' prolific at.

 

[Rook]

At least at City Zaltan won't have to worry about bottling it in the C-League. Madrid and Barca spending billions, not a peep from Platini.

 

[tsubaki]

He's got a lot to prove. If you struggle to score in that Barca team then there's something rotten somewhere. Considering his transfer fee put him up in the Kaka/Ronaldo league he's been a massive let down.

Arguably the problem with Barca against Inter was that neither he nor Pedro offered enough of a threat, so Inter could focus on Messi and snuff him out. Put Villa and Iniesta up there and it may have been different. I guess it's the same with Fabregas as he's shown at Arsenal that he can score goals, something that the Barca midfield isn't 'that' prolific at.

ibrahimovic is a confidence player though, you get the impression that he needs to think he is the big-i-am before he is at his best - compare for example his performance in the home game against real, when he was great, with the last home game against valladolid - when he was sub, came on, missed an absolute sitter, and then disappeared up his arse.

as for barca, if they do have a weakness it is against very snide teams who cheat, dive, backchat to referees, refuse to be intimidated by all the possession and generally show a lack of "appropriate respect" to barcelona (ie they dont roll over and/or waste a load of decent chances, as valladolid did at the weekend). inter did that this season, chelsea almost did it last year - no doubt everyone with an ounce of sense will try to do the same next.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

At least at City Zaltan won't have to worry about bottling it in the C-League. Madrid and Barca spending billions, not a peep from Platini.

To be fair though both of those have the money to spend. Ok Real were given a massive leg-up when the Madrid council paid well over the odds for their training ground, but they still tend to turn a profit each year. I think Platini's gripe is with the likes of Chelsea and Man City that are spending huge money that has been either given to them by their owner or lent them by their bank. As Portsmouth have shown, that isn't healthy because the club is in the [Poor language removed] when the owner packs his bags.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

as for barca, if they do have a weakness it is against very snide teams who cheat, dive, backchat to referees, refuse to be intimidated by all the possession and generally show a lack of "appropriate respect" to barcelona (ie they dont roll over and/or waste a load of decent chances, as valladolid did at the weekend). inter did that this season, chelsea almost did it last year - no doubt everyone with an ounce of sense will try to do the same next.

You're right. That Mourinho style of team do cause them trouble. I suspect Liverpool might have done as well when they were doing well in the CL because they were a similar team. Hence why they need a plan B. Arsenal have had a similar problem with being bullied by the Bolton's and Blackburn's of the world. Barca showed this year that they're a good bit better than Arsenal, but they can still struggle if teams really restrict space in the middle of the park.