Official Summer Signings / Rumours / Information Thread

"Logically, if there was a chance to improve and go to a bigger club it would be a good opportunity, although there are few clubs bigger than Liverpool."

sounds to me like a come and get me Barca, didn't work out that way as Valdes is staying on a year, but i would be surprised if he was still here next season if Barca want him then.

 

If that's true then there's no problem.

Because surely the club will not be looking to replace a keeper that has made absolutely no noises about leaving if the opportunity rises as it did when Valdes hmmmed and haaaed about staying at Barca?

I mean yes the club likes to lower wages but does anyone honestly think that Rogers would stand by and let a keeper in his prime be removed for money reasons only? I just can't see it.

So why does the club feel the need to go looking for replacement (not back up) keepers?

There are a couple of other hedging bet "hypothetical" quotes from Reina like J's but Unless the idea that we're looking for a new first pick keeper is journo naughtiness as well I'll take it that the club has some kind of doubt over Reina.

 

devil's advocate here.

only the press said we were in for begovic, nothing happened. NOw the press say mignolet. nothing concrete at this point. Only the press say barca are in for reina.

See a pattern?

 

That's why I said, unless the press are being naughty about us looking for another keeper......

If its all just nonsense: Reina looking for Barca, us looking for B then M then its all grand. Reina & club actually happy. Reina will be there come end of Summer.

If we buy Mignolet then I suggest it means the club obviously have some issue with Reina because Ming is not a back up.

Only 2 months to wait & see

 

Maybe we'll buy Migs and move Pepe into central defense

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22996681

 

C&P...

Not one quote in that

 

Looking forward to this signing. Just to see how it turns out. Could be a false dawn or very good.

 

Seems a weird signing that Luis Alberto - If Barca B turned him down, remembering they aren't allowed to be promoted - they see him as not good enough for the 2nd tier of spanish football?

They also have Barca's money so doubt £6m would be an issue.

 

You've been infected by the trailer-trash fanny

 

Isn't Barca B effectively Barca's reserve team? Maybe they thought he was too good to be in that team and wanted him in the first team. Not sure how much game time he'd get

 

He was one the outstanding players for the B team, however, would never get in the actual Barcelona team, who have many many players of that type. He will add to our squad anyway and hopefully gets some chances off the bench.

 

Would rather we just used Sterling and Ibe. I feel a bit like when houllier was in charge. French football was on a high and we signed a load of french young players, not one made it and not one player made it through the academy to be a regular because the squad was filled with young french nobodies.

I really think we'd be better off using the young players rather than signing players just because they are young and spanish

 

Probably better in most cases than young and Britisn.

 

so on alberto.

if we compare barca b to our u21s what pattern should we expect? i think conveyor belt. you move into their b side then stay only a short time before moving up or on. there will be kids coming up after you. that type of thing.

second alberto was a one season loan form sville to run the rule on him. they stuck him there and apparently he as good but not good enough to get a first team slot in barca... or perhaps should i say not worth the money to them.

thrid name 5 players who were not deemed good enough at that age... beardsley and platt come to mind for me instantly.

all i know is eville fans are not happy... maybe he's a apacheco type.. i dunno.

 

Well we've seen Sterling is good enough to be involved. This guy Alberto is 20 and has only 1 cap for spain u21's so he's not even one of the best young spanish players. He's not regarded as good enough for Sevilla or Barcelona's A squads so how good are we expecting him to be?

 

BULLET POINTS

 

Agreed, Barca are more concerned about spending money improving their first team. £6-8m is a lot of money for a reserve player, I don't mind that he can't get into the best team in the world at the age of 20.

 

He is good enough for Sevilla but they are cashing in on him.

He is 20 years old, only Suarez from our current squad would get in to Barca's outfield team - so I don't think we have any right to be asking if he isn't good enough for Barca why is he good enough for us.

We will see how he develops but I think he'll be a good addition personally.

 

Surely Alba, Fabregas and Pique (Barca) and Mata (Real) are more pertinent examples?