Barcelona 2017/18

They might be for a shock this year.

They have a nobody as manager, Neymar has left, Iniesta is really bad nowadays and it will be close to impossible to sign anyone of their targets (Dybala, Coutinho, Dembele, Mbappe). I am predicting third in La Liga and 1/8th of finals in UCL.
 
Whilst I've enjoyed Barca getting a taste of their own medicine they must feel pretty shity at what they did for neymar only to see him leave. Didn't they sit out two transfer windows ?

Probably hurt their rebuilding which were now seeing
 
Revan said:
They might be for a shock this year.

They have a nobody as manager, Neymar has left, Iniesta is really bad nowadays and it will be close to impossible to sign anyone of their targets (Dybala, Coutinho, Dembele, Mbappe). I am predicting third in La Liga and 1/8th of finals in UCL.
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Feel the same way. The jury's out on Ernesto. Even during pre-season with Neymar, I didn't think their structure looked any different than the problematic one last season.

Iniesta is pretty much finished as a top level player. I think Rakitic needs to be displaced too. They have no left sided attacker. Their overall team structure is still unbalanced. It'll be extremely tough to sign the players they may want and thus, they may panic into a few signings.

I think Real will run away with La Liga.
 
We need to be making signings that allow us to get back to controlling the midfield, and therefore the match. I wonder if, with a new manager hugnry to prove himself we might have a rejuvination of the players who are there who haven't been able to perform under Enrique. Or will we go for one big marquee signing to replace Neymar as "One of the guys on the poster" type players.
 
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Aguero, Di Maria could be decent relatively cheap options in the short term and Lanzini could be a 20-30M option.
 
Everybody will jack up their price as soon as they ask for any one of Dybala, Mbappe, Dembele or Coutinho.
 
Fenomeno9 said:
Everybody will jack up their price as soon as they ask for any one of Dybala, Mbappe, Dembele or Coutinho.
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They dont particularly need any of them do they?
They have Suarez and Messi, they'll score goals regardless
Deulofeu and Turan are pretty good players, they could manage without or take a risk on a youth or cheaper option for a season.

If they sort out their full backs and midfield they'll be a better team when alls said and done imo
Not sure there's many great options there either though but 200m should go a long way, even in this market
 
Question for Barca fans

Would you rate Hazard as a replacement for Neymar?
 
legolegs said:
Messi will paper over the cracks.
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Pretty much. As long as they still have him they will continue to challenge for things, but in a few years when he drops a level and starts making noises about moving back to Argentina, they have big problems. They need to start an overhaul now.
 
It's a good job we got Pogba last year, otherwise he'd be 100% on his way to Barca right now.
 
shamans said:
I really want this season to be the complete demise of Barcelona. Tiki Taka has been dead for a while but disposing of its corpse is what I really want to see. Highly boring football club at their peak.
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Sounds like you're talking about our butter rivals Liverpool.

I don't think Barcelona will win La Liga this season. Their midfield and defence has been in decline for a good and the former in particular needs a real revamp. Now their left side of attack is also lacking. However they won't collapse or anything. Having Messi with Suarez in support will ensure they're in the mix at least for most trophies even if they don't win any big titles (depends on transfers).
 
bleedred said:
Question for Barca fans

Would you rate Hazard as a replacement for Neymar?
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Hazard or Dembele would be the perfect fits. I'd go for Dembele.

But they do need to add 2 midfielders IMO.
 
They could still finish 2nd in their league and maybe reach quarterfinals in CL at most from Messi carrying the team as much as he can, but their current midfield is probably the worst in their recent history and not only have they failed to strengthen there so far, they just lost their 2nd best player who is only 25. What a disastrous management.
 
Not sure they will get a player of Neymar's ability but I don't think they will collapse or struggle too much. They have lot of quality and still the best team at controlling games. They have also added proper RB this season. Their defense is fine, they just need one very good CM and Neymar replacement.
 
What do you guys think of Denis @serghei @FCBarca @Ishdalar ? He's wonderful whenever I watch him. Get the feeling Messi enjoys playing with him as well.

I think he is good cover and a potential successor to Iniesta. Emulating peak Iniesta is a big ask, but he can be good enough if not as good.

Regarding the left wing, I don't think Dembele will be a good idea. Not because he's not a good player, he obviously is, but his game is individualistic. He could adapt like Neymar did, but ideally, he should be allowed to play his natural game and I'm not sure if Messi will approve of that.
 
Apparently they're signing Iñigo Martinez from Real Sociedad for 32 million euros

 
I wonder what the reaction would be if Barcelona went in for Di Maria or any other PSG player. Id imagine on principle they will try to avoid ever doing business with PSG again in any fashion.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Sounds like you're talking about our butter rivals Liverpool.

I don't think Barcelona will win La Liga this season. Their midfield and defence has been in decline for a good and the former in particular needs a real revamp. Now their left side of attack is also lacking. However they won't collapse or anything. Having Messi with Suarez in support will ensure they're in the mix at least for most trophies even if they don't win any big titles (depends on transfers).
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I've always considered Barca and Real our proper rivals and who we really should be competing with. Real I have some respect for because they are cnuts but cnuts to your face. Barca try and play warm and cuddly but are cnuts on the inside.
 
shamans said:
I've always considered Barca and Real our proper rivals and who we really should be competing with. Real I have some respect for because they are cnuts but cnuts to your face. Barca try and play warm and cuddly but are cnuts on the inside.
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:lol: No one thinks that.
 
shamans said:
I do ?
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About the only one. It's incredibly weird to consider Real and Barca our main rivals. They don't even play in our bloody league FFS. So you dislike both our fake rivals then?
 
amolbhatia50k said:
About the only one. It's incredibly weird to consider Real and Barca our main rivals. They don't even play in our bloody league FFS. So you dislike both our fake rivals then?
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Weird or not I consider them rivals and I enjoy competing/arguing with Real and Barca fans than Liverpool. They are the peak we have to conquer because we're way behind in European titles.

I dislike Barca. I enjoy watching Madrid. Both are rivals for me.

p.s: I'm surprised you find it so surprising living in India. As an international fan you should know big club rivalries matter more than domestic English one's around the globe
 
shamans said:
Weird or not I consider them rivals and I enjoy competing/arguing with Real and Barca fans than Liverpool. They are the peak we have to conquer because we're way behind in European titles.

I dislike Barca. I enjoy watching Madrid. Both are rivals for me.
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Alright mate whatever floats your boat. I can't understand being genuinely emotionally invested in Spanish teams as rivals of an English clubs. A European rival you meet once every 5 years isn't a proper rival for me. That's reserved for the likes of Liverpool and City. It's more to do with tradition rather than who you aspire to win a dick measuring contest with.
 
It's at times like this that decisions like letting Thiago leave comes back to haunt a club. If they had kept him he could have been a midfield starter by now and they could have just focused on signing a direct replacement for Neymar. Dembele suits them perfectly.
 
Oga on top. said:
It's at times like this that decisions like letting Thiago leave comes back to haunt a club. If they had kept him he could have been a midfield starter by now and they could have just focused on signing a direct replacement for Neymar. Dembele suits them perfectly.
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That was another buy out clause mess up they did not let him leave.
 
Hazard would be a good player in theory, the kind of big name that excites the fans, and has the quality to if not replace Neymar at least carry a good amount of the workload in that kind of area. However, in a normal situation, I'd expect Chelsea to demand monopoly money for him. In this situation, given that everyone knows Barca are currently richer than astronauts AND Chelsea apparently have about 7 players according to Talksport, we'd have to basically kidnap him to get him.
 
Will be great to see if Messi can carry this team to a league title and/or a Champions League
 
I am sure all the big clubs are nervous about their star players now knowing that Barca has £200 million and it would be hard to resist if Barca comes knocking. Shame that all the players Barca want or are linked to don't seem keen or they are too subdued to force a transfer. Coutinho should do a Sterling to move to Barca. Neymar left with 1 Champions League, 2 La Liga, 3 Copa Del Rey, 1 Supercopa, 1 FIFA Club World Cup in 4 years. Meanwhile Coutinho has won nothing and if he wants to win silverware and up his game, Barca would be a dream place for him. Also I am surprised he hasn't spoken out on this considering his heritage and South Americans apparent dream and obsession with Barca and Real. If I'm Barca, I'd go for Coutinho, Dembele, Dybala and Aguero. Quite surprised why they are not linked to Aguero at all. Doesn't he have issues with Pep? And he is Messi's international team-mate so I can see him fitting in seamlessly at Barca.

I also don't get this notion why everyone here seem to think that Barca will come crashing down and finish 2nd/3rd just because they don't have Neymar. They had a rather disappointing season last season and Neymar was a part of that, wasn't he? As long as they still have Messi, they will always be the best team in the world. For all this nonsense about Messi "decline", he still finished top scorer in La Liga and could have been in the Champions League as well if Ronaldo didn't score 2 goals in the final. Messi is a team player, Ronaldo only care about himself. Expect Messi to step up next season and go on his crazy goalscoring run ala 50 goals. I think Neymar's departure could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Barca. They have been so reliant on their front 3 to the extent that if they don't perform, Barca can't score. This would be a wake-up call for Barca to invest in a better midfield and if they do acquire Dembele/Coutinho/Dybala and with Messi going back to his superhuman form, I can see them having an excellent season. They always bounce back brilliantly whenever people write them off.
 
VBI said:
Hazard would be a good player in theory, the kind of big name that excites the fans, and has the quality to if not replace Neymar at least carry a good amount of the workload in that kind of area. However, in a normal situation, I'd expect Chelsea to demand monopoly money for him. In this situation, given that everyone knows Barca are currently richer than astronauts AND Chelsea apparently have about 7 players according to Talksport, we'd have to basically kidnap him to get him.
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Honestly hazard would be a dream, perfect fit, not as prolific as ney but better fit. Not gonna happen though lol
 
Hazard could easily happen. All he has to do is properly agitate for a move. He's made noises before about leaving Chelsea and I have no doubt he would want to go if Barca are in for him.
 
shamans said:
How that be great to see if it's already happened so many times?
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I think he 'carried' them to the title under Tito. The other seasons he had peak Xavi and Iniesta. This Barcelona team looks the worst they have been for a long time.
 
AlecHDR said:
Hazard could easily happen. All he has to do is properly agitate for a move. He's made noises before about leaving Chelsea and I have no doubt he would want to go if Barca are in for him.
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Conte talked about the need to buy some players yesterday. Maybe they could decide to sell Hazard to raise funds to get them.
 
If Barca can get 2 players out of Coutinho, Dembele, Dybala, Griezmann, Hazard, and Mbappe, they would be golden. Doubt they can though.
 
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