Friday 9 January 2009

Villa and Van Persie among summer targets

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola will soon meet to start preparing the next season.

The paper claims that two of the biggest names that will be on the transfer target list for next summer are Arsenal winger and Dutch international Robin van Persie (25) and Valencia forward and Spanish intervational David Villa (27).

Four criteria will especially be taken into account when deciding on the incoming transfers:

- Limitation of non-'European Union' players. With Cáceres, Touré and Hleb, Barcelona has already three non-EU players, Henrique could be number four next season. That's why the club prefers to sign players with a EU passport.

- Africa Cup 2010. Touré, Keita and Eto'o will most probably not be available during the month of January and maybe a part of February next season. That's why the club prefers not to sign any more African players who will participate in the tournament.

- Lack of left-footed players. With the right wing being stronger this season, Barcelona prefers to bring in footballers able to play on the other wing.

- Affordable price. There's money to spend but the club won't pay excessive transfer fees.


Read more:
Barcelona wants Van Persie for the left wing
Villa again linked with Barcelona move
Bid for Cesc and Van Persie being planned

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds like a job advertise. the candidates must be left footed with affordable price, any applicants who feel they have the requested requirements should apply.

Anonymous said...

i prefer aguero over villa. next year he'll be 28! I think we need a more powerful striker too.
Van Persie is a great player. similar to robben. I think it will be either fabregas or van persie. I can't imagine them both playing when don andres is already there..

Anonymous said...

why van persie too injury prone and not talented enough
our objectives surely have to be aguero and silva/ribery at the top of the lists????

Maxi

Anonymous said...

why do we want a left fotted guy, are we switching to 4-4-2? if we play 4-3-3, then we need a sharp, skillful guy on the left, Remember R10? and Messi on the right(tho left footed). I left footed guy would be the solution. Go for Ribery.

Anonymous said...

**A left footed guy wouldnt be the solution*

kamikaze kontiki said...

We are scoring 3 times more goals than other clubs. What do we need attacking players for ? Iniesta is ruling the left flank so i think next season Henry might shift more into an Eto'o-sub role so where is the need for van Persie and his medical bill or Villa when Eto'o has shown such earnestness and dedication ?

Anonymous said...

You can't relax, kamikaze. You need to bring other players or else you'll become too predictable. It's also good to bring some really motivated guys in. Villa and Van persie are too good examples of players who are not used to play for the big prizes and would be very motivated.

kamikaze kontiki said...

Thats true but i think the management can find other ways to do that because this team is still evolving in many ways. i think we have the right mix of youth and experience, continuity from the Rijkaard era and fresh faces for at least a couple of years. Villa will demand a starting place and van Persie just doesn't seem like a worthwhile investment. I actually like both players and i remember van Persie scoring a goal with an incredibly sharp turn just a week or so ago but when you have a squad like this with everything going right for it and yet the potential to do so much more such big name signings in unnecessary positions doesn't seem advisable.

Tohar Investment Limited said...

i will always say that van persie is noot a player we need,he can never play for us and besides he as lost all his form now,i doubt him regaining his form by next season.though villa is good but why cant we just consider the option of aguero and silva as a left footer choice.

Anonymous said...

Let’s assess the two options.

David Villa: He’ll be 28 next year. That means that he has tops two to three years left in his prime. Having two to three years left in your prime is not long enough, especially considering that we would have to pay somewhere between 30 and 40 million Euros. This is not good value for the money. We might as well spend another 10 million more on Aguero and get a player who is already playing at a very high level with 20 years of age, and who can keep on growing. In the long run, I believe he will be better than David Villa. Plus we already have Eto’o and Henry and Bojan who can play Villa’s position.

Van Persie: This idea I don’t like at all. There are too many reasons as to why I am hugely against the idea of buying him.
a) He is from Arsenal, meaning that any player we buy from Arsenal is not going to be worth it. Take a look at Hleb. You can say anything you like about his performances this season, but by all standards he has been a massive disappointment (which I predicted by the way). I was against buying Hleb because I believe we could have bought other players who are younger and who would have been better for our style. Hleb is a quality player no doubt, but he is no where near world class. Henry is another example. We paid so much money for him, yet he is not shining like everyone expected him to (which I predicted too, by the way). No one can honestly say that he has lived up to expectations. First, Eto’o is a better center forward, even Henry has admitted that. Second, he is not a left winger. You can tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about, but he never owns the right back of the opponent. Not once this season has he comprehensively dominated his marker. Look at Mosquera against Sevilla, and Salgado against Real, for instance. These two players are by no means world class, yet despite this, he could never get by Mosquera once. He did so against Salgado but he never created any threats or meaningful chances for his teammates once he did get by the Madrid man (mainly because he would run out of real estate). I do agree however that he is much more effective when played as a center forward as we have seen against Valencia for instance.
b) He is too injury prone. We need a player with consistency, not someone who is too unpredictable to be relied upon week after week.
c) He would cost too much. Wenger is a shrewd business man. He won’t let VP leave for no less than 20 million Euros, and VP is not worth that much.
d) Like with Hleb, there are better choices to replace him. We just have to look hard enough to find some one better than him. Yes, VP is dangerous. Yes he is a quality player. But I just don’t see him growing as a player anymore. Plus, Wenger plays a style where he brings the best quality out of each individual player on the pitch and these players collectively complement each others’ strengths and make up for their weaknesses. This is the unique thing about Arsenal. No other team plays quite like they do. That’s why when a player from Arsenal leaves for another club, he never hits the same heights as a player again. Look at Flamini for instance. He was a monster for Arsenal. Now he is just an average player for Milan. There are so many other examples of players who have seen their level drop after leaving Arsenal due to the reason that I mentioned above (Arsenal’s style). Also, even Shannon McMahon from Fox Soccer Report on FSC has echoed the same thing that I am arguing in this point. He was quoted as saying once something like this (I am paraphrasing): “I don’t see why another manager would want to buy a player from Arsenal. Because once Wenger decides to let go of him is because that player’s best days are behind him. Wenger knows that the cycle has come to an end (meaning that the player’s shelf life and usefulness for Arsenal has expired) and he has another player waiting in the pecking order who can replace him.”

So now you can see why I am against buying Van Persie. I have other points of argument but they are too many to list here. If they want a player with similar qualities they should go for Babel. Now that’s a lad with a future. Another great signing could be David Silva. He has been fantastic since he’s come back from injury. Anyway, there are too many options to look at before we decide on one particular player.

Anonymous said...

we need a left footed player? ok, get kun then

Anonymous said...

Van Persie is an arrogant prick and a bad influence in the dressing room. Most arsenal fans believe RVP was responsible for that dressing room rift that Gallas revealed to the media this past november.

I say we buy players that make Messi happy.. Cesc and Aguero namely.

sashi said...

BarcaFan (BiH)...
i dont think Henry was a bad buy... if im correct, i think Henry was the 2nd top scorer last season wit around 12 goals (which seems such a small amount this year) and already he has reached 10 this season wit a lot of assists as well... more over, he is playing out of position and he seems to be doing well under different circumstances... so he had his problems last season but he's doing really welll this time...

so, as for me, both Van Persie n Villa are not a good option... We can consider them only if Eto'o leaves or he doesn't sign a contract extension... else, we can even look at Podolski... :)

kamikaze kontiki said...

Besides the above arguments, this team is already a very close unit, recalling Villa's celebrations with Torres celebrations with Torres at the Euro is he really the right element to add to this team ? There is that kid Bojan to think of :)

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