2009-08-07 - Added by manuel 
Supporter of Man Utd

Time.....

Doesnt seem as if the Bear has as much time on his hands to continue the argument with JamDav! that or he just cant win!

2009-08-07 - Added by JamDav1982 
Supporter of Newcastle

Eto'o

It is a lot of money £38m + Eto'o, but I think Barca would have taken £10m for Etoo nearer the end of the summer, as they were absolutley desperate to get rid of him.

Reasons being -
1. Out of contract next season, could leave for free
2. Could miss 2 months of this season at African Nations
3. The biggest thing is that he didnt get on with Pep. Supposedly they had regular training ground bust upsdue to Eto'osattitude. While Eto'o regularly ignored Guardiolas tactics during games as he was desperate to claim the Pichichi.
Therefore Barca are probably looking at it as paying £48m, which is a lot but Kaka went for £56m and anyone watching Italian football can tell you Ibra has outshone him in the last couple of years.

Look at recent transfers -
Ronaldo - £80m
Kaka - £56m
Benzema - £35m
Berbatov - £32m
Adebayor - £25m
Alonso - £25m.
I would say that £48m, although far too much, is probably the going rate for Ibra in this billionaire led market.

The biggest criticismslevelled at Ibra are -

1. Lazy, selfish, not team player - Not true, he has won 6 league titles in a row with 3 different teams (juve questionable). While he will proivide more asissts than any other top centre forward in europe. Hardly the description of a lazy, self centered player.

2. Not done it in the CL - This is a fair point as there is no doubt that a player of his ability should have a better record. However in the last couple of seaons he has a better record in europe than - Eto'o, Henry, Rooney, Anelka and Forlan, while playing in a much more defensive side.

3. Not done it for Sweden - 21 in 58 games. Although not fantastic it needs to be remembered he is not playing for a 'super power'. Compare him to the other two great Scandanavian strikers of the last 15 yrs - Larrson and Solskjaer - and his record compares favourably. On top of thishe currently hasa better international strike rate than Ronaldo, Mess and Torres.

4. Lacks Eto'os pace - Its true that he's not as quick as Eto'o but go and watch a youtube video of his goals last season and there are a good few in which he got in behind the defense and galloped away. On top of thishisstength on the ball meanshe can hold off defenders if they do catch him.
Another point is that in 90%of games teams 'park the bus' against Barca, meaning there is little or no space for pacey players to attack in behind anyway.

2009-08-07 - Added by Thebear 
Supporter of Sunderland

Good point Jamie! But no way is he worth eto and 40 million in my book! Thats insane!

2009-07-29 - Added by JamDav1982 
Supporter of Newcastle

Ibrahimovic

I must be in the minority but I think Ibra will be a very good signing for Barca, he has improved and matured so much in the last couple of years to the point that he is arguably the most complete centre forward in Europe.
· Goal scorer – The past two seasons he has an almost identical record to Samuel Eto’o. While Eto’o has achieved this as a spearhead of arguably the greatest attacking unit ever produced in club football, Ibra scored these goals in a disciplined Mourinho side content to win by the odd goal
· Target Man – Easily the best target man in world football. Here is a player the touch and skill of Dimitar Berbatov, the strength and aerial power of Didier Drogba, and in the last couple of seasons has scored more goals than Fernando Torres.
· Will improve those around him - Has more assists than any of the other top strikers in Europe, with 18 over the last two seasons, far more than Eton’s – 9, Torres – 6 and Villa - 11.
· Skill - Has more than enough skill to fit in with the Barca passing game and the assists from the last couple of years prove he is above all a team player that will give more to the other players than Eto’o did. He is not the selfish, lazy player that he is often made out to be.
· Options – The biggest change that Ibra will bring to Barca is the option of changing their style of play, which last season, despite their success, they did not have. His strength and touch mean that they can change to a slightly more direct style of play if required. That doesn’t neccearily mean long balls from back by Valdes or Pique rather but the option of 30/40 yd balls into the strikers feet from midfield.
I’m not suggesting for a second that Barca will give up on their passing game, but at the same time they do need to be able to even slightly tweak it when required.
Last season they didn’t really have the physical presence up front to switch their style away from the short passing game and very nearly paid the price against Chelsea, as they never looked like breaking down the strong organised defence.
Barca had unprecedented success last season and its easy to say why change a winning formula, but I think the Chelsea game has served as a warning to Pep Guardiola. He has foreseen that the passing game will not always be 100% foolproof, and the options Ibra brings ahead of Etoo will serve Barca better in these tight games in the future.
History shows that a successful teams that do not evolve, have always been caught out in the end.

2009-07-23 - Added by Thebear 
Supporter of Sunderland

Incidently that title was supposed toread barca gone mad as i am no way implying that they will go bad by the loss of eto'o!