It has just been made official that Jeremy Mathieu will sign for Barça for the next four years. Barça will pay the €20 million asking price to Valencia for the Frenchman. This morning Mathieu travelled from Valencia to Madrid with the Valencia squad en route to South America for preseason friendlies, but once the transfer was confirmed the player has remained in Madrid and is expected to travel directly to Barcelona to complete the signing. Finally we have signed a defender though it is not the one anybody I know of wanted. Mathieu is by no means a bad player but he’s played most of his career at left back and only converted to central defence last season. He wasn’t considered good enough for the French World Cup squad (behind the younger Sakho who we didn’t want last summer) and he is now 30 years old. I really really hope I’m proved wrong but €20 million for this player seems like a big mistake and makes more evident the massive spending we have spent on other positions which were not as in need of reinforcement.
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I don’t like the price, but I like him as a player. Versatile, and physically imposing (6 ft 3 in)–excellent on the ball. Always seemed to play well against Barca. Will be nice to add size for set pieces (defense and offense). My only issue is his price relative to his age, but it seems like we overpay for most players we buy from other teams in Spain. (I guess this is the way teams other than Barca or Madrid get even for lack of equality with television revenue!)
I’m pretty happy with this one too! Bit expensive of course, but he adds good depth to our squad, knows La Liga perfectly and seems well suited to our play. Something that strikes me about our defense is that it losed composure with the loss of Abidal. Could Mathieu play a similar role? I like Alba, but with him and Alves in the line-up, we’ve been weak at the back for two years now…
I like mathieu too. But definitely disagree with the price. Age is also on the wrong side. Should definitely be able to replace alba for some games. I wonder if they still plan one more central defence signing.
20 million for a 30 year who is not a natural CB? Yes, that’s the type of signing I’d expect from the Barca Board. Hadn’t these guys heard of Vertonghen? I’m sure we could have gotten far better players for less than this amount but then we shouldn’t forget we have paid ridiculous amounts for unsuitable players like Chygrysnky and Caceres in the past.
I almost forgot about another gem – the Brazilian CB Henrique who we bought as one for the future. I believe he made it to the last Brazilian WC squad.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1987224-scouting-report-jeremy-mathieu-in-jan-vertonghen-out-at-tottenham-hotspur
A good article looking at the Mathieu’s performances during the last season.
I’m ok with us signing him Jeremy, But I feel that we over paid quite a fair bit.
Needless to say, I strongly feel that Barcelona the transfer if Luis Suarez is a move that I completely disagree upon. We should have hunted a Cavani rather than a Suarez for that fee.
I really hope another good CB comes in real soon. We are not at all steady at the back and this won’t change much even with Jeremy’s signing.
Question: is it vital for us to continue with such a high defensive line? Why oh why can’t we be tactically realistic based on the set of players we have at the back? What are your thoughts?
Argghh I couldn’t help think about how we could have paid 60M for Hummels instead of Suarez! 😁😁😁
I don’t agree; Cavani for me has always failed to live up to the hype. Suarez is much more skillful and a more clinical finisher, especially in the past 2 years. Better goalscoring record for both club and country and same age.
The one question for me with regards to Suarez is his behavior…. if he can finally stop doing crazy things, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be a fantastic success for the club. This guy is too skillful and competitive not to be. He is an absolute animal in terms of competitive drive and has an unstoppable motor. Also a very unselfish player, who can play with both feet and give a killer pass, as well as of course score goals.
Clasicos will certainly be interesting! Just keep him away from Pepe please LOL!
Dumb. That’s all I can say. Remember how we’re supposedly not going to be able to sign players next year? And how we’ve been short at CB for three or more years? And how we’ve done nothing to fill that gap? And now signing a 30 year-old converted left back is the fix? Dumb. If we don’t sign another CB and have defensive issues I don’t see a way this board will be tolerated. We need a much younger CB that will be able to adjust to Barça for the long run, not a player who doesn’t even make his national team…
In regards of Cavani
1- Cavani is a threat in aerial situations
2- Cavani can be used to defend corners.
3- Cavani is better at hold up play. This will enable Neymar and Messi to score tons!!
4- Suarez will not shine when playing a disciplined role. He needs room for creativity and movement. Question is- can we afford to give maximum freedom to our front three? My answer- A complete NO!! We need a connector to bring Out the best from both Messi and Neymar. Suarez is not the answer. Mark my words- when Suarez plays… In most situations either Messi or Neymar will have a very quiet game. This front 3 has no balance!!
Barca4Lyfe,
I think you wanted to reply to a different comment…I didn’t say anything about Cavani.