Football

Michu was a bargain then.

A normally very well informed Spanish journalist has said on radio last night the Mata to Barcelona transfer will be concluded early July :(

#nothappy

Michu was a bargain then.

Yah - and Benteke too.

Even Alan Shearer could see in August that Michu was the bargain of the season.

Jaw, not saying it'll happen and I'm not sure where Mata would fit in the Barca midfield, a more creative outlet rather than pedro wide on the right?

If he does go is this a rationalisation by Mourinho, over how much creativity he needs in his squad, with Oscar and Hazard maybe thats as much as he needs, maybe he doesn't want the headache of trying to keep them all happy, by playing them all, and not having the defensive cover he requires to keep games tight...

Or he doesn't value mata, and the money could be used better in replacing mikkel/lampard in a year.

Jose isn't scared of creativity (otzil, cr7,a number of others).

Fabregas to move in the other direction to replace Lampard?

pluto pop - Mata can play a variety of roles, out wide on the right is only one of them

If (a big if) Thiago Alcantara leaves than it would leave Barcelona short of first team midfielders that would be able to cover more than one position. They're not short of defensive midfielders. Xavi is getting on a bit and is not expected to continue to play 90 minutes for 50+ games a season. Mata would fill that gap quite handily.

If Barcelona are to keep Alcantara and get Mata than they would be on course for a very, very strong midfield for years to come.

All they really need is a striker that gives them plan b (a lump like Lukakaku) and a CB.

Or he doesn't value mata, and the money could be used better in replacing mikkel/lampard in a year.

Mikel is off to Galatasaray and Jose wants to sign Kondogbia (also wanted by Real Madrid funnily enough) who's exactly had one good season in La Liga.

Chalfie, Mourinho is a pragmatist, he wants his attacking players to work hard defensively.

He sacrifice creativity for workrate in a heartbeat.
Real under him were at their best a crack counter attacking team, pace to burn, snappy one touch passing, the best option taken and Ronaldo whacking them in for fun. But they were built to defend and hit you quickly. Not so much going hunting for goals, but turning your mistakes, mistimed passes, or their own interceptions into goal scoring opportunities, going a goal down to them was murder, because you went chasing the game and they kept hitting you on the counter.

They were pretty in really short sharp moments, but overall like most counter attacking teams they don't get the heart racing (in my mind anyway) because they were always waiting for an opportunity rather than dominating and creating one themselves..

Chelsea in his first reign were the same, muscular in the center of the park, strong defensively, couple of swift forwards and hitting on the counter.. Until he lost the pace on the flanks and the muscular midfield and defense got old...

@ Jaw, not sure how viable the rumours of Alcantara wanting away are, and if he does go Barca will ask a lot for him.
Think his best bet is to knuckle down and get some of those minutes that are taken away from Xavi, or go on loan, make a splash and provide an even bigger market for his skills if/when he decides to go, or make it so difficult with those performances for Barca to let him go..

I think we're arguing around the same point (on here!? Never!).

I agree, his teams have always had creative, fast, players, who are willing to defend.

How about this:
Jose mourinho, a sexy arrigo sacchi impersonator?
No specialists, all system players.

corndog - Alcantara has a buy out clause that allows him to move on for €18m which expires on 31/7/13 as of 1/8/13 his release clause will be €90m. No speculation there, just simple facts. It's for a very simple reason that the Barcelona hierchy want him to stay.

They cocked up last year by not playing him for more than 30 minutes in 60% of their games.

@chalfie, we are talking in circles.

Personally I don't think you'd get the quality you'd need in midfield for the money that you'd get for Mata, not enough to buy two quality midfielders, and you let go one of the keys to the defensive locks you'll see all season.

Also connected, to this conversation is the possibility of Romeu Oriol heading back to spain to celta vigo, now there's a player that could step in and replace Mikel, probably better, but not sure how he's recovered from his knee injury, but before that happened he seemed to have been holding down a place in the team quite ably..

Not convinced about Romeu, he looked lost whenever I've seen him play. The tempo in the PL might be too high for a player like him. I'd love to say that he's going to be our controlling midfielder but it looks like Mourinho has made his mind up.

Still not happy about shipping out Mata, regardless of the motive behind it.

FIFA U20 WC starts tomorrow. Pisti will be pleased to hear that young Ross Barkley has been selected.

But of a cluster fuck from FIFA/UEFA when you think of it. UEFA U21, Confederations and the FIFA U20 WC all being played in the same month.

A normally very well informed Spanish journalist has said on radio last night the Mata to Barcelona transfer will be concluded early July :(

#nothappy

ooof first sign of decent for the special one

where's that goddamn image TS uses to reflect saint jose

You must be new here.

Dicki will eat Jeez for desert.

Apparently personal terms agreed with Higuain...

I can see Thiago leaving for Manchester united

Arsenal actually buying a striker with a proven goalscoring record? Big shift in policy from Wenger, it might actually pay off.

Forlaaaan

Arsenal actually buying a striker with a proven goalscoring record? Big shift in policy from Wenger, it might actually pay off.

4th place is all but confirmed.

Looking forward to this season, it's not going to happen based on Higuaín alone but I'd love to see Arsenal become a credible team again.

And Chester FC in the Conference proper now which means more away days.

Chatting with an Arsenal mate the other day, I suggested I wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge for the title, if only because of consistency.

Technically speaking they've got one up on the competition this coming season.

Consistency in all senses, manager, players, finishing 4th. The lot.

Can't see any players leaving either, simply because none of the top clubs in Europe are interested in them.

They're laying out £50m on Higuain alone, surely internally they expect Arsenal to do better than last year.