Village Idiot

People around here are surprised about his performance too. He was signed to boost Barcelona B, but he will probably get chances for the seniors now. Even if it was just a summer friendly, dude looks too good for Spanish Segunda B. With Vermaelen soon to be out of the door he would become 5th choice on paper.

There's been a change of sponsor and La Liga will now be known as "Liga Santander" (after a bank) and the Second Division will be known as "Liga 1/2/3" (after their main banking product) which is probably the most idiotic name for a league competition I can think of. The first time I read it I thought they were changing the whole scheme so all divisions below the first would go as Liga 1 / Liga 2 / Liga 3 like in England. But no, it's "Liga 1/2/3".

He was great for Rayo many moons ago. Seems a solid signing to me if he hasn't significantly declined since.

No sponsor on the shirt Since we resigned with Qatar for the current year I expected we would line up with it in the shirt.

We're being linked with like every striker under the sun right now. Wouldn't pay much attention to it.

Barça - Madrid friendlies in China were floated out a few years ago too. Fortunately it didn't get anywhere... for now.

Atlético have reportedly reached a deal for Gameiro, as replacement for Vietto. Vietto seems torn between going to Sevilla or Barcelona, according to the Spanish press.

You'll have had an excellent window if Vietto signs Only shame is Dani Alves leaving. Think there's anything in the quotes from Rakitic's agent who seems to be unhappy with all the new midfielders being brought in? That guy apparently no longer represents him. He has apologized all the same. But yeah, if Vietto comes I'll be really happy with our window. We've signed a bunch of young players on positions we needed cover in. This is a drastic change in strategy, and a welcome one. Ah right, didn't realise that. Thought it was a bit strange he was kicking off because I'd have thought Rakitic would still be first choice anyway. It's a complete change from signing the likes of Vermaelen and Arda for extremely overpriced fees The fees are still very overpriced, but in a world where Higuaín commands nearly 100 million this is the reality of the market. At least it's young, hungry players instead of aging players with no upside. Yeah, a world of a difference with Vermaelen, Mathieu, Turan, etc... And yeah, Rakitic should still be first choice. We now can afford to actually rotate players.

You'll have had an excellent window if Vietto signs Only shame is Dani Alves leaving. Think there's anything in the quotes from Rakitic's agent who seems to be unhappy with all the new midfielders being brought in? That guy apparently no longer represents him. He has apologized all the same. But yeah, if Vietto comes I'll be really happy with our window. We've signed a bunch of young players on positions we needed cover in. This is a drastic change in strategy, and a welcome one.

Barcelona press claims we've reached a deal with Atlético for Vietto. Hope it's true; loved him back at Villarreal.

Mayoral has already left? That leaves Mejia and Odegaard, maybe Lienhardt? Hard to tell because Segunda B is a really shitty level Even if his Bundesliga move collapses, Mayoral will probably get better options than the C'ship. Pretty sure they will want to retain Mejía if they want to push for promotion again this year. Benítez didn't seem to like Odegaard at all, so I guess you could count that one out too. Liendhart is a decent shout given your lack of depth at CB.

Benítez surely will have an eye on some decent Castilla player I guess, he managed there last season and they had mixed training sessions. I can't see the real good prospects going to the C'ship, though.

He's pants, unless you want him just to be able to sport a Newcastle kit with "Zidane" on the back, which is fair enough

What about black power? With the sales of Sissoko and Gini the side will need more of it.

What I like about him, besides his technique and ball control, is the fact that he's pretty physical. Luís Suárez is the only attacking player at Barça who's also a physical presence, and he uses that to magnificent effect. We can use more of that.

He's the only natural RB in the squad. So I hope he is... It will be him and Sergi Roberto on that position. A downgrade from Alves, for sure, but we have improved in other areas hopefully.

Problems adapting. The whole 6 month forced holiday was terrible business. Neither him and Vidal never looked like getting going. It seemed that Lucho was going to give him this season to see if he could get back to his best, which is why I am surprised to see us splurging so much cash for another midfielder. But I like Gomes; he's also young so I believe he can grow a lot as a player.

Like André Gomes a lot. Wasn't expecting this, really. I suppose this means Turan will be on his way.

We have appointed Lopetegui as Spain manager. He did a mediocre job with the youth teams, so you can write us off for the next international cycle.

Being reported by our media and Manchester local rags. It's a "will be completed" kind of deal.

City have bought Gabriel Jesús from Palmeiras for €32m. He was one of our stiker targets but just no way we were going to match that.

I think Pogba's still really raw. His decision-making is sometimes poor and it's one of those players that somehow isn't able to get the most of his natural ability. Consistently at least. But at his age the upshot is really high. I just hope that Mourinho isn't expecting to turn him into another Essien (like he tried and failed with Mikel), because he's another kind of player. Funnily (since we know what happened), Ferguson would have been a brilliant manager for him imho.

Yeah, Baptistao is still young and with lots to prove, but the performance of the other signings will depend on how much they are arsed at this point in their careers. Flores has worked with a few of them already, so here's that. If he can get them to perform, Espanyol should have a decent season, and watch better football to what they are used to.

Espanyol linked with Mata. Now that would be quite the coup for them. Besides that, they have bought quite well this season, imho. They have got a bunch of players on the cheap that were once very promising but never quite delivered: Baptistao, Piatti, Jurado, Reyes, Roberto... those are very good players for a team in their position, if they can be motivated.

Yeah, not too fussed about this. I don't think they would bother to cheat the draw for the CL group stages tbf.