You said it right Flops. La Masia does not always produce a Messi or an Iniesta. If even someone in our mgmt thinks that Tello is as good as Neymar, he should be shown the door. A mix is what gets us results. La Masia combined with talents from all over the world. Anyone who is narrow minded and thinks that only players from one region is what is required can just take a look at the failure of a club named Athletic Bilbao

Good analysis Meme. It would have been good if we got another striker just to have depth like a Klose. Martinez is a strict no no. If we get him for anything close to 40 million, I have to say that someone in the Barca mgmt lost his marbles:) Real Madrid looks stronger on paper mainly because of the fact that they have such a good attacking force. Messi is better than Ronaldo but Ronaldo is really top class too. Villa should be equal to or better than Benzema but we do not know for sure if he will hit top form. Higuain is really good with his finishing and though Pedro or Sanchez are good, I am not sure that they are as good as Higuain as yet. I would not be worried about RM getting Modric because they will have to sacrifice either Khedira or Kaka to play him and Kaka is on the way out. I think we should get a CB because to keep beating teams like Real, we need to have depth. We have been able to dominate Real in head to head in the last few years but to keep it that way, we need to think straight. I hope our management does what is required. Tito is still new and he needs some time. It would be unfair to rate him already. I of course personally think he is not as good as Pep and never will be. I hope he will prove me wrong.

Promoting Marc Bartra may be a good idea but I think he needs more playing time against easier opponents before we test him against good teams. I keep hearing rumours about Tito being obsessed about Javi Martinez. I hope it is not true and if Barca pays 40 million for him, it is a big mistake. I also see people already judging Tito saying he is not good but I think that we need to cut him some slack. It is too early to judge him. I will judge him based on how we perform in the Champions League and how we perform in the El Clasicos. I doubt that he will ever emulate Pep just because of the fact that Barca achieved a lot under Pep. However, if Tito makes the right choices, Barca can still do well. What alarms me is the way the management is going about the process of buying a CB. Something tells me that some wise guy or guys there think that we should either get Javi or otherwise our La Masia will provide us with an answer. I think this is wishful thinking. There are a lot of others out there . Javi is good but not the answer to our problems. People keep arguing that we conceded the least no of goals last season. Sure, but we also conceded when it mattered the most. I still cannot believe how we allowed Chelski to get back after being 2 goals up. I mean all we had to do was to defend. Instead we kept playing the 3-4-3. You play a formation like 3-4-3 when you have super quick and good defenders at the back and a great goalkeeper. Other than Alves and now Jordi, which other defender of ours is super quick? Is Valdes as good as Casillas. No. I hope our management gets back to their senses and looks around. Our La Masia is good but not all players who come through it are world class. That is something we have to accept. Otherwise, teams like Real Madrid will just get the better of us and that I would hate. I would like to know what my other fellow cules think about the policy of the management et al. I invite constructive feedback and not trolls. Thanks. Viva Barca

Promoting Marc Bartra may be a good idea but I think he needs more playing time against easier opponents before we test him against good teams. I keep hearing rumours about Tito being obsessed about Javi Martinez. I hope it is not true and if Barca pays 40 million for him, it is a big mistake. I also see people already judging Tito saying he is not good but I think that we need to cut him some slack. It is too early to judge him. I will judge him based on how we perform in the Champions League and how we perform in the El Clasicos. I doubt that he will ever emulate Pep just because of the fact that Barca achieved a lot under Pep. However, if Tito makes the right choices, Barca can still do well. What alarms me is the way the management is going about the process of buying a CB. Something tells me that some wise guy or guys there think that we should either get Javi or otherwise our La Masia will provide us with an answer. I think this is wishful thinking. There are a lot of others out there . Javi is good but not the answer to our problems. People keep arguing that we conceded the least no of goals last season. Sure, but we also conceded when it mattered the most. I still cannot believe how we allowed Chelski to get back after being 2 goals up. I mean all we had to do was to defend. Instead we kept playing the 3-4-3. You play a formation like 3-4-3 when you have super quick and good defenders at the back and a great goalkeeper. Other than Alves and now Jordi, which other defender of ours is super quick? Is Valdes as good as Casillas. No. I hope our management gets back to their senses and looks around. Our La Masia is good but not all players who come through it are world class. That is something we have to accept. Otherwise, teams like Real Madrid will just get the better of us and that I would hate. I would like to know what my other fellow cules think about the policy of the management et al. I invite constructive feedback and not trolls. Thanks. Viva Barca

That sucks but I guess that Leo should be back in time for the matches that matter. I feel sorry for the Hamburg crowd who were hoping on seeing Messi play. Do any of you guys know who Barca is looking at for the position of a CB. There are a lot of rumours but you cannot really believe most of it. I hope the management has not given up on looking for a CB this season. I feel that we need a good CB.

I doubt that this is what Tito said. It could only be media BS. If Tito is the one who thinks Javi is the only answer, then I am not sure that Tito has it right there. As I said time and again, Javi is good but what we need is a young, fast, tall and physical CB. Javi is young but fast he is not. When we face teams that park the bus and teams like Real Madrid, Javi cannot match up to quick counter attacks. If we were looking for a defensive midfielder, the guy is a good buy but still not for 40 million. For a CB, Javi is not going to solve our problems. This is my opinion because I do not want to see Barca suffer again in crucial matches just because of problems with our defence. If we continue to play formations like 3-4-3 , we need quick and physical defenders and a good goalkeeper. Valdes is quite okay but still not so great and if we get people like Javi as a CB and then also, play 3-4-3, it is a death sentence for us. I hope better sense prevails. It will God willing.

It kind of beats me too as to when is Barca going to sign a defender. Everything is under wraps though some media reports say that we are looking at Agger. It is almost August and I would like to see our roster complete by the time we face Real Madrid on the 23rd. Alba is done and we need a good solid defender. I want to see Barca take Real to the cleaners:)

Yes catalinutzR80, if we were even thinking of the possibility of spending 40 million, why not spend it on Hummels or Kompany. Of course, now it is too late to get either of them. Anyways, read the link I posted. The Bayern Munich chief thinks that the price for Javi is too unrealistic and that no club will buy him at that price. Well said by him. I mean it is like someone asking 100 million for Kaka. Kaka is good but not worth that anymore. Javi was never worth 40 million and I doubt he will ever be. A reasonable price for him would be 20 million and that itself would be stretching it:)

Could not agree more my friend. Good to see many cules who think Javi is not worth it

I agree with you Meme. I have a feeling that the Barca management will waste all its time and resources on Javi and in the end, we will not get him and would not have gotten any other CB. There are so many other cheaper and probably better options available. Javi is good but overrated. He is not really Barca material. I think Barca needs to buy a CB and if in the end, only Jordi is going to be our buy, then it will kind of suck. Do we not want to make our defence water tight? Tito, are you listening? Real Madrid are no pushovers and what does he mean by Champions League or La Liga? Was he misquoted? You have the best player in the world in Messi and arguably the best midfield in the world and you are only aiming at either of the two ( CL or La Liga). Tito should focus on making our defence stronger. Valdes is not the best goalkeeper but at the moment, given the circumstances, we have to stick with him. I do not want to see us struggling against teams like Real like we did when we lost to them in Camp Nou. We should beat the crap out of them and that dream will be a reality as soon as we get a tall, fast and physical defender and not Javi. Viva Barca