Barça Matryoshka doll

Compelling comments. I'll have to look up this Hernanes fellow...

The star, the Captain, then...the controversial keeper...and THEN our living-legendary strikers? Hmmm...

I didn't think of that, Ramzi, regarding Milito. He hasn't been tested yet, so nobody knows if he will be back, or just need another conga line of more surgeries.

I'd LOVE for Henry to accept that Larsson role. Man, if we didn't have him against Arsenal in that CL final....

Wenger won't sell Kolo, but he would be a nice defender in our system. He's fast, can play in the center or on the right in the back, and also even play defensive mid. However, he's not particularly tall.

Very True Kevin.

The thing is we will be better(and with deeper squad) with Hernanes, Ribery, Eto'o and henry. Than with EITHER Hernanes or Ribery, added to (Henry or Eto'o) plus a new striker.

I excluded Offloading henry. Because we can NOT afford losing him. Or else even Ribery and a striker will not be enough. You cannt rotate iniesta on the left with Ribery (midfield is shallow without Gudi, Hleb and with no other signings). So ribery will be our only reliable left wing. He cannt even rotate with messi.

Unless if we will get a striker who MAY BE able to play Henry role (Benzema), which is unlikely (Ribery + Benzema=too expensive), and nothing insure it works. Tevez then? I am sure not a lot are supporting that idea as well :D

And I think Henry can serve more than one year for Barcelona. If he accepted the Larsson Role one year from now, he can even serve three more years with his positioning sense in the box and finishing.

Five years for Eto'o is not possible. So his case is critical at the moment.

And isnt it more affordable to keep Milito at least one more year before selling him? First we cannt get a good deal for him now. I even think its better to keep them till January. Till then we will be able to test the other new options in defense (like Henrique, Upgraded Caceres, One year older Marquez and Puyol...).

Kolo isn't Yaya, Alex. He's a defender, and would be pretty awesome in the back line, frankly. I'm imagining he and Pique side-by-side, flanked by Alves and Abidal.

Holy crap!

I must say I have developed a strange man-crush on The Yaya as well. What position does his brother play? Would he be an option for Barca as a signing next season?

Get rid of Guddy and Eto'o. Sylvinho is old but a very good backup at left wing when called upon. Henry we need to keep, he would make a great sub for Ribery or David Villa (once we sign him).

http://www1.uefa.com/magazine/...

I'm sure Isaiah and Kevin will quite possibly get aroused by this interview of the Yaya. Great title too- "Touré de Force".

"I'm would like to play with my brother and that could very well happen."

*Insert screams of agony from Barca fans*

"...but only if Kolo decides to come to Barcelona"

*a million culés exhale*

A lot this summer will depend on what happens with Henry and/or Eto'o. Frankly, we're insane if we give Eto'o the 5-year deal that he wants. I'd give him 2 or 3, max.

Problem is if we renew him his salary is going to be such that we're going to be unsellable. Henry is a different problem. He has one good year left in him in our system.

But, assuming that those two stay, we still have some offloading to do in the persons of Gudjohnsen, Sylvinho and (in my opinion) Milito. He'll be healthy, there will never be a better time to sell him and his knees.

Henrique comes to stay, and if it's true that he and Caceres can double on the wings, I'm happy. Pick up a central defender, Hernanes and Ribery, and a shrink for Hleb. Done. The side is even better, and should score even MORE goals, if anyone can get their minds around that one.

What's cool is that we have the inside track on both Hernanes and Ribery, particularly if Bayern is seriously interested in Hleb.

This one compares Guti to Iniesta, and it's quite funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

For all you people whos first language is spanish or it is a very close second, you need to check out PuntoPelotaTube on youtube. It is a bunch of spanish commentators talking about the latest news in sports and getting into very heated arguments. It's kinda like a political show, where there a few Barca fans and a few Madrid fans and a few innocent bystanders (left and rights).

Great stuff!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Pu...

These are some of the best, in my opionion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

looks like hleb and caceres (as well as pedro and sanchez) wont be traveling to madrid for the getafe match. all 3 goalies will be there because valdes is a doubt.

mok, what the hell is with the blatant pimping of your random web page. chillax!!!

@Nic, hernanes versatility is the answer.

I know that Yaya-Xavi-Iniesta is a selection from heaven. But its not the perfect combo for all the game. But lets ignore this point because it has been controversial for a long time now.

- If we buy Hernanes, we offload Gudjhonsen. I have been supportive for him so far. but I think he just offered the best he can for this team. He will get crushed under the up coming quality if he stays. And its now the perfect timing for him to negotiate for a good contract else where. Specially if Barcelona won titles. He can get a much better contract now than he would have get last summer, or the summer after the following if he stays.

- If we sign ribery, I hope it means we can rest Messi more often. So ribery will be mostly busy flipping from left flank to the right flank. rotating with henry and Messi. Keeping in mind that we will use Henry more as a striker next season while Eto'o is in Africa.

- That keeps you with Yaya, Keita, Busquets, Hernanes, Xavi and iniesta. (If Hleb moved to bayern for ribery).

Six Players for 3 positions are not much. We will even need to count on youth products in some cup games to Keep the team fresh till the last stretch in the season.

Beside, we will be without Keita and Yaya for a while next season. They will be busy with internationals.

That nowgoal spam is getting quite annoying. Its showing up everywhere.

really so fun!!
more fun here: www.nowgoal.com/30.shtml

i agree with peyman on ribery..if barca want him then why laporta always saying barca will not buy him?and madrid and chelsea and man united(if sell ronaldo)can offer more cash than us..
@ramzi..dont u think if barca buy both ribery and hernanes,hernanes would be a benchwarmer because with ribery in team ,iniesta will back to the midfield,so we must choose 3 guys from xavi,iniesta,yaya,keita,busi,hernanes and gudi.and considering that xavi,iniestar and yaya are more regular and keita because of his physic and heading abilities have an advantage(even if u dont count on busi and gudi)there will be a little playing time for hernanes to play.so i dont think paying his big transfer fee(around 15 to 20 milion euro) for warming the bench wouldnt be wise..

i think all the dolls should be in a big-ass yaya doll. then have keita inside, then henry then eto'o then xavi and then messi and then bojan. just for realistic purposes. ahahah just kidding. i get to make these jokes because i am tall.

True, BA.

I know Hleb is not getting enough love. But the most important advantage we have over any other team Seeking ribery is that we have hleb. He is a quality Bayern will not find some where else if they sell Ribery to another team.

Thats a win-win deal by all means. They sell Ribery (because as mentioned before, they cannt keep him against his well), and they get a direct substitute for him, a good player who was just unlucky with Barcelona. plus extra money to strengthen their squad.

If it happened, it means that hleb was as useful for this team as anyone else! Unbelievable...

Instead of Szirkov, how ever you spell it

I would prefer Aly Cissokho, from Porto
Young, tall, better defensive then Szirkov AND MAN CAN HE CROSS THE BALL with little space.
I would think, he cost less, and would not demand
to much salary. He is good in defending corners and so on

have not seen much of him, more then the two games against Man Utd, but he did very well at the high level
IMO....

and he is relativly very new at the top level av football
so its a right time to get him cheap

news out of El Mundo Deportivo, via Pep's place, is that Barca is first option for Ribery DUE to the relationship between the club presidents. also on the table is a strong rumour that Bayern are interested in Hleb. we give them a good deal on the Belorussian and they cave a bit on letting Ribery go. if it's obvious the Frenchman wants to leave, and for instance if Bayern win nothing this season (which looks very likely), the club can't very well keep him there beyond his will. those days are gone. us being a distance first on the list of available destinations is a great sign.

Jason, There are complains all the time about Keita and Gudi. So if they have something in common with Alonso, then thats another reason to exclude him from the transfers list. Knowing that they (specially keita) has somethings he do better and alonso has his better things. To pay as much money as Liverpool will ask, you need a player with no concerns. Not even regarding injury prone concerns.

I still cant see a place for Cesc at barcelona. First of all we cant buy Cesc and Ribery together. Not only financially its not possible, but also practically it doesn't work. Its always tempting to get the big names. but where to use them all? How to satisfy them by offering them enough playing time?

I prefer ribery over Cesc any day. he can fit in many positions, and we represent a better need. beside as Jason mentioned we have Busquets and lot of youth products may become better than cesc in that position (and yes better is possible).

I think Cesc issue is more related to the saying that the neighbor's garden always looks better.

Hector, So we are flying to brazil to get Hernanes? :D
By the way they compare him to Kaka mostly because Kaka also started his career as a Defensive midfielder then moved to play upfront. there is no surprise that hernanes played as attacking mid, he played last season on the wing for some games as well. An extremely Versatile Player.

The best way to prove he is a quality is to mention that he is not in Dunga selection. Too good for dunga to notice.

regarding to the summer signings,i think for defense they must sign a young(and cheap) guy for left back(i love bale but he wont be cheap) or renew syl for 1 more year,get henrique back,no CBs please and i have no idea about milito and caceres.for midfield as hector said hernanes would be a great addition(and the only one beside youth guys). for offense keirrison would be a good back up for eto (i dont think signing him will stop bojan,because they are at a same age and they will fight with each oter for the 9,and finaly the better one will replace eto for 9 in coming years),and signing another left winger seems complecated because every available option seem to have some problems to happen like ribery(money),silva(dont want to leave valencia),..

reasons why barca will not buy ribery from bayern:
1)laporta and txiki have made it clear several times that they have great relation with bayern and they want to mentain this relation,and that ribery is bayern messi so they understand them for not be willing to sell him
2)bayern is the best club in germany with alot of fans coming to their stadiom every weekend_so this is not the case of alvez and sevilla_how will be their reaction to their board for selling the fan favourite player and their best player
3)barca will spend 30_35 milion (+money of selling players) according to the club officials_just like any other year of laporta presidency_so with other clubs like manu(if they sell ronaldo they have 75 milion to replace him) and chelsea,madrid and man city who spend 100 milion every summer,there is a little chance that barca sign him,considering that if bayern decided to sell him,they will surely selling him to the largest bid (ribery may prefer barca,but bayern will surely prefer 50 milion to 25+hleb!)

@ Hector:

your right. Alonso would be a waste as a DM. isnt fast enough to be a box-to-box mid, and isnt Xavi enough to play in Xavi's role. he would be able to replace Yaya or Iniesta. So he could really only replace Xavi.

ok, so if not Alonso. We need a a box-to-box midfielder. Kinda like keita, but better. actually, it would be great if we could clone Iniesta. Iniesta is perfect for our system. Its so hard to find replacements for Xavi and Iniesta because they are our system. Sometimes its hard to tell if they are perfect for our system, or if our system was made with them in mind. the Barcelona philosophy seems to be wired into their brains.

The problem with trying to find replacements for them is that most midfielders are very one dimensional in their role. Gattuso defends. Ronaldo Attacks. Beckham crosses. Diego creates. Our midfielers do SO much outside of their job disciption. Yaya, outside of his Defensive duties is a great passer of the ball (not as good as Xavi and Iniesta, but who is), has great positional sense to be an outlet, and can dribble decently. Iniesta, assuming his role is a box-to-box/workhorse/3rd-center-mid, has better vision, better dribling, and better pace, plus great versatility. And then theres a man named Xavi, who can is probably the best Attacking Midfielder in the world, and yet i have NEVER seen an Attacking Mid, drop back, defend , or tackle like he does.

The problem with most Attacking mids these days is the ego (yeah you Cronaldo). Xavi is smart enough that when he sees Iniesta doing his thing, he drops a little and quietly does some dirty work, or puts himself in a wide-open position. for all Technique and Understanding of the game, i think Xavi's greatest strength is his mental clarity and calmness. I've never seen him flustered, frustrated or angry.

Honestly, now after thinking more about it, im convinced it will take Barca bred players to fill those roles, as they are so specialized and so demanding. Fabregas, im convinced, can EVENTUALLY grow into Xavi's role. As for Iniesta, I think with about 4 years of ALOT of practice, training, and general hard work, Busquets could be that versatile box-to-box workhorse midfielder. but he is FAR from it. But the potential is there.

Wow. i went off topic there. Thanks Hector, now you've made me an even bigger Barca snob, and convinced me that no one can replace Xavi and Iniesta! good job.

@Hector: I totally agree, in hindsight Txiki looks like a genius. Not only have last year's signings played exceptionally well, but Dani has been amazing. Imagine Zambrotta playing RB this year. I think I just puked in my mouth. IMO, the Dani signing has to be the best European transfer of the year.

Hahaha! Touche, Jason. But I gotta stand with what I said before. He is ideal in the double pivot, not a 4-3-3 IMO. Playing him at defensive mid in our system will waste his talent because he would have to focus much more of his energy on defending than he does with Liverpool when he has Madman Mascherano next to him covering his ass. Oh, he would make plays, but I can't see how he would be happy and as good as he is in so many respects, the Yaya is a better defender and not too bad a passer himself. Xabi Alonso is used to setting the tempo and running the show, put him with Xavi and you will see them start to butt into each other however inadvertently (see Spain NT when they have played together). Pirlo was/is awesome but he was tailor made for Milan and their style whereas Xavi was born to play for Barca.

Sure, he would make a great backup and allow us the flexibility of a double pivot look but he will be quite expensive just to add depth. After this season, Xabi Alonso's value will go WAY up. A true deep lying playmaker center-mid in his prime is a rare commodity indeed nowadays. Rafa must have been on crack if the rumors of Liverpool shopping him around were true. Teams like Juve, Inter, and, even more so, Real Madrid would kill for his services and he would fit them like a glove because they have no maestro to run their shows right now and they usually play double pivot.

I like Diego a lot as a player. However, I gotta compare him to Van der Vaart. He is a pure attacking mid that has to play close to the opposing box and doesn't defend as much. That type of player is usually the offensive center of a team (think Gerrard playing behind Torres). I just don't see him in our system, as good as he is.

Hernanes, on the other hand, would fit like a glove. The reason that in Brazil they call him the best Brazilian midfielder after Kaka is that he has incredible substance and maturity for his age (23 but 24 in August I think). He can pull out the flash if he has to, but he does not hesitate to do the one touch or easy passes, and his positioning sense is outstanding. He can defend, he can attack, he can dribble when he has to, has a sweet-ass free kick and long range shot... In short, a guy that makes a whole team tick. I'd consider him arguably the most underrated player in the world at the moment considering how he is still largely unknown to the general public in Europe and the US and is inexplicably passed over by Dunga in favor of the over the hill Gilberto Silva (how the HELL does Dunga still have a job?) for the NT. Try to catch him on Gol TV or catch him in a Copa Libertadores. He is a natural center-mid but last time I saw him he was playing as a 10 due to team injuries and doing an awesome job.

*double edit* i'm also being forced to note, as the significant other has evidently been looking over my shoulder, that Diego is "hot". that is all.

*edit* should be noted that "replacement" is probably the wrong word. i assume Diego would be a player used in rotation when one or the other or Xavi and Iniesta or possibly Keita needs rest/isn't fit/in the Copa and early stages of the Champion's League.

a name nobody has mentioned as a possible Xavi/Iniesta replacement, and assuming that the Ribery transfer doesn't go through (as i think this would be one too many quality players for similar positions in the rotation), is Diego. technically excellent player, has all the flash and vision to fill in for Xavi in the middle or Iniesta on the left-middle, and while not very pacey can play as an offensive mid as well (think in a Keita-type role).

Ribery is, to use a positional explanation, a player for our left side (Henry or Iniesta's role). Diego is more of a centrally-oriented player. he's been at the heart of Bremen's success, like Ribery has often had to carry an inferior team beyond their means, and as a result would probably cost us a few amount of cash, but if we spent 15m on Hleb....

what are those? so fun!
www.nowgoal.com/30.shtml

Man, is that drawing of Messi ugly.

btw Hector if anyone reminds us of an "in his prime Pirlo", i recomend that Txiki gives his club a blank check in exchange for that player.

no offense to the our Little General. But Pirlo in his Prime >>> Xavi in his Prime.

@ Hecotr and Ramzi in ref. to Xabi Alonso.

are Keita and Guddy suited for our speed? was Henry suited to play left forward? Alonso is a professional and he would work hard to try to fit into our system. is Alonso the absolute best? no. i think Cambiasso or Essien would be awesome in that Keita box-to-box/ cover Yaya in DM position. Those two players are better than Alonso. But to me Alonso just makes more sense to me considering our current squad, our system, how much we want to spend, our need to not disrupt the team chemistry, and other things.

He doesnt seem the type to bitch about game time. because i still believe Yaya-Xavi-Iniesta is our best line-up. But there are plenty of games for everyone to get in on.

I am also against getting a pure defensive mid because that would disrupt Busi's desvelopment.

A pure offensive (think Cesc) mid would also be a problem because he would either be A) Not good enough B) if he is good enough, then he problably wouldnt want to wait behind Xavi and Iniesta.

Hence, i think a raelly versetile centermid like Alonso is necessary.

Hernanes *wink*.

Someone who says Ribery can cover Xavi's role does not quite get Xavi's role, or Ribery's style, or both.

Best cover for Xavi is Fabregas, no doubt in my mind whatsoever. But he's too good for Arsenal to allow to go in the next year, so you gotta pick someone else.

Citizen, And Jason as well.

About buying Ribery and loaning him to bayern. Ribery is a super star. It not possible to plan a Henrique strategy for him. He will not accept it.

@Jason:

Not sure if this was mentioned above already, but I'm against a buy&leave for 1 year thing because of one main reason: injury risk. What happens if Ribery has a Milito-like injury playing for Bayern next year after we buy him and leave him there?

Buy Ribery, Hernanes and Zhirkov. Sell Sylvinho and Guddy. With those transfers, IMO, we have the most complete team in Europe. We would have depth in every position without having too many players, due to the incredible versatility of a lot of the players. Actually almost every single player in our team can play more than one position and they can do it well. Hernanes would be a particularly good buy because he can play pretty much anywhere in the midfield and he will be good. He may not be the best at any of the midfield positions but he would be able to fill in anywhere (or at least I believe so from what I have seen and read). Ribery too can play either wing, in Iniesta's position or even in Xavi's position if needs be.

Not sure why ppl are worried about bringing in Ribery with Henry still playing. Lets be realistic for a moment, Henry will be 32 next year, his position requires A LOT of running....quite frankly I am a little surprised he has been able to keep up so far and we may see him dip a bit at the end of the season. How many top class wingers do you know who are 32?? I think that by bringing Ribery and keeping Henry you will allow two things to happen; 1. Henry can rest more, this will allow him to be at his best when he does play. 2. Ribery can adapt to our game at a steady pace instead of being thrown into the starting 11 and expected to perform straight away. Our style of play is incredibly unique and just because Ribery is amazing does not mean he will adapt overnight. We must all remember he has yet to play at the very highest level (no disrespect to Bayern). I am sure Henry realises he is getting closer to the end of his career and he might actually appreciate a Larsson type super sub role.

It would be expensive, but when you consider the youth coming through, if we make these buys now we might not have to make any big buys in the next few years. We would have the best team in Europe; a young, versatile, hungry team with depth and healthy squad competition. Oh and probably 4 of the best attackers in world football :)

eklavya we are just envious and living in denial :D

From Prague ;)
The shop was filled with them. not only barca but all teams with 5 players inside, ranging from maradona to maldini to messi, hell I even saw a kerrison doll!!

so no one is talking about my doll :(

I love Hernanes. Talk about versatile, the guy can play every single midfield position and do it well. He is also a damn good media-punta (supporting forward, think Gerrard in relation to Torres).

The small Eto'o looks cute, even from behind :)

Where did you get it from, eklavya? I could use this for my vitrine.

Hector, i think we, barcelona fans must feel lucky for witnessing this era. Its not normal to get than many talents from your youth ranks in the same generation (Xavi-Iniesta-Messi-Puyol-Busquets, and the rest will come), i know Barcelona works well on youth but you cant create a talent, you just polish it. So there is luck in that.

Add to it -with the same importance- Having this board of directors (and I still feel angry every time I remember the percentage of members who voted to kick this board out from the back door last summer).

Amazing job was done. Some people forget how this team was few years ago. I remember a period of time when people were caught by surprise every time I say i am a Barcelona fan. Those who has been around back enough can tell.

We improved Financially (regardless of the claims of some smart *****), the club image is something to be proud of. We make good signings and keep the mutual respect with other clubs. We are building for the future through the projects in Argentina, Brazil, Africa....

By the way, while everyone scanning Europe with wishful thinking. Txiki next bang may come from south America this summer.

Most likely signing Hernanes.

If anyone else has watched Man City v Hamburg it is a great advertisement for the Uefa Cup. Fantastic match

Agreed 100%. Ribery can cover Xavi, Henry, Iniesta, and Messi...and do it awesomely. All in one neat little package.

That is a B-A-R-G-A-I-N, my friends.

I think if you sign Ribery and have iniesta, you don't really need to worry about Xavi cover. Both can play that role in my opinion. And it will ease the sharpness of the competition on places. We cant really have two direct subs for every starter. Versatile players can offer you depth with a balanced rotation pressure.

I know this sounds stupid on the wake of the last two year but can we give Txiki some love, he has gotten it done with a minimum of fuzz (compared to Hair Gel over at Real Madrid). Last year everybody wanted his scalp because of Henry and Abidal. This year, now that they are adapted plus factoring in the Yaya's impact and how good Henrique is looking right now, everybody is going like "damn, that dude with the funny name knows his shit after all".

The defense Rambling is a general opinion. I agree with Jason that its unlikely we sign defenders

I love Xabi Alonso as a player! However, whereas he is perfect for Liverpool's style, he is not perfect for us. He reminds me so much of an in his prime Andrea Pirlo minus the free kicks. A deep lying playmaker who is quite good at defending but usually needs a more physical mid next to him to cover his butt (see Mascherano and Lucas or Gatusso and Ambrosini). The reason that Senna instead of Alonso is the preferred center mid next to Xavi in the Spain NT is that Xavi and Alonso as good as they are, don't ideally mix. They both are used to being the conductors of the orchestra and they both do it in different ways. They've played together a couple of times but the results haven't been the best. As for covering the 4, Alonso is, and I think Cesc may also partly have this, more in the mold of Guardiola than Xavi, used to playing further back and spraying passes from behind the other mids, I have rarely seen him crashing the box like Xavi constantly does.

*Sigh* I don't know. I love the guy but it just seems that he is a fit for a different style of team. He is perfect where he is and I think hew would tear it up in a team playing a double pivot. I'm sure as hell glad he is not in Madrid. He would be horrifyingly good next to Diarra.

Jason, I am Xabi alonso fan myself. But he is too slow for our system, and physically he can't cover for that. I think he suits a more slow tempo than ours.

The thing is that we need to take financial factor in account. If we are going to upgrade in midfield, if we are going to by ribery, if we are going to buy a keeper (to compete with valdes), I can see the defense transfers dropping deep in the list of priorities now that we have:

- LB: Abidal, Caceres, Sylvinho , (I am not so sure but i read once that henrique can play there as well)

- RB: Alves Henrique

- CB: Puyol, Pique, Marquez, Milito

8 defenders plus sylvinho plus youth defenders.

And most importantly with the defenders Versatility with Henrique, Caseres, Abidal can play CB. With Puyol being able to play on the flanks. plus youth players.

If Milito bounced back to form. I think any new defender we sign, means a player to offload (regardless of Sylvinho situation). we simply have no room for more.

@ Everyone. In Refence to our Transfer Needs.

While Iniesta is the only person capable of covering Xavi, we use him too much to cover everyone the hell else. PLUS common sense (plus experience watching this season) dictates that whenever Xavi is tired, Iniesta is tires since they are both part of Barca and Spain's Starting eleven. So resting one, while putting the other one in while tired, and them forcing the one in to do both of the workloads isnt really doing them a favor.

Plus as we know Iniesta CAN get injured, probably because he is foled alot, and is overused. So, once he is out, covering EVERYONE else becomes complex.

anywho. Back to transfer Needs.

a Left Back. as much as we love him, Sylvinho is getting old, and were not even sure he will want to stay. Puyol is getting too old for the flanks. Since we have so many centerbacks i say Pep should make Caceres into fullback.

Right back. i think it could help to have a defensive Right back. cuz their might come a day (i hvnt seen it yet,) but Dani Alves could get tired. Again, i think Caceres could also cover, and i think out of all the positions i saw VicSan play i liked him most at right back.

So i think we have the players to cope with those, so back to where i started:

Center mid. Xavi needs a break sometimes, as does Iniesta. Toure has AFC in next year. Cesc is tempting, but i think the one player off the top of my head that can most closely fill all three positions would be Xabi Alonso. (Although i think his arrival will mean an exit for Keita. and probably NO gametime for Osito)

With Eto'o also out for AFC, Henry and Bojan will probably split the striker role. currently that would leave MEssi and Iniesta playing the wings. Both are easily injure with the amount of fouls they take, and again Iniesta is needed else where. So i say Ribery would probably be a good purchase. Ribery and Pedro! can rock the wings if Messi feels like playing some 9.

so MY suggested squad for next season

Valdes, Pinto, Jorquera?
Puyol, Marquez, Pique, Henrique
Alves, Abidal, Caceres, VicSan
YAYA, Busquets, (Alonso), Guddy
Xavi, Iniesta
(Ribery), Pedro!
Messi, Henry
Eto'o Bojan

In: Ribery, Alonso. Out: Keita, Hleb

i was tempted to say Ibra, Torres, and Essien, but i was trying to stay realistic and rational

I believe the use of "Hector" as a verb is a sign of respect in many cultures. Or at least in Barça Offside culture.

Hector all of you!

Somehow, I imagined my name to take a sort of different meaning due to my impact in life :) .

@Matryoshka Dolls. I would have never guessed that the first ones were Messi and Puyol. I thought they were Tevez and Tevez.

these responses are all in reference to the previous post... but i copy and pasted because i didnt want to get Hectored.

_____________________________________

@Hector. Joe Cole is out for the season.

@Isaiah. not proud to say this, but i was one of the ppl last year calling for Abidal's head. (not on this blog.) Of course now i love the guy!

@Tajh. One the whole Ribery one more year at Bayern thing. You have to remember that the longer he stays at bayern, the more money he will cost us, because he is only getting better, and as time continues, more essential to Bayern. But on the other hand, i feel it would be a shame to take Henry's spot away after he has had such a great season. Henry looks like he has another season, but i also want Ribery, so my suggestion is this:

We buy Ribery this summer, but agree to let him stay another season at Bayern on loan, for a discount on his transfer fee. And maybe throw in a clause that says that we can take him during the winter for a certain amount of money. (the Purchase but leave at current club is what Real Madrid did with Ezequiel Garay).

This way Henry gets another season. We secure Ribery. and we Buy 2010 Ribery for a 2009 price.

Ribery's Price should equal: Ribery's Transfer Cost - 1 year loan deal - Hleb's Transfer Cost. (if we can trhow Hleb in the deal.) That way we can get him for not TOO much money.

as for the 2010-2011 season, Henry is still in contract for us, and i dont think i would mind having him as the Veteran Second Striker that comes off the bench alot (ala DelPiero, Raul, or think Shearer and Bergkamp at the end of their careers)

YAY! :D