Upon his arrival at the Catalan club, Gerardo Martino learned of the interest in signing a top-level central defender. Martino looked at the list, studied the details of the negotiations and dismissed them all. Neither Liverpool’s Daniel Agger, nor Chelsea’s David Luiz, fitted in with the new manager’s plans.
The club insisted though, that over the last few seasons the team has demonstrated a weakness in that area, but martino was having none of it. For him, everything was clear.
The fact that both Guardiola and Vilanova had already asked for a central defender who never came, was not an obstacle for Martino to voice his opinion on the matter and today, Barcelona will not sign a central defender unless the back line is hit with so many injuries that there is no other option left but to buy.
The idea of the Argentine coach, who has taken control of the technical management, is to rule out the type of central defenders that ex Barca president Nunez would have signed in the twinkling of an eye.
Martino wants to forget the big names of the great clubs for two reasons. 1: Any player that the club has its eye on fails to fully satisfy Martino’s requirements. 2: That being so, without being convinced of the target in question along with the sellers knowing full well that Catalan club want to buy, it would therefore be foolhardy to pay over the top for a player that may not fit in with the team.
Martino is therefore waiting for Carles Puyol, who’ll be ready and willing in two or three week’s time. In the meantime, he wants to give match time to Marc Bartra and put his trust in the youngsters of the youth academy. Martino wants to use Bagnack and has his eye on a young central defender from a certain modest team.
The club is working out a list of possibilities. They are boys who will be meticulously scrutinised and followed over the coming months and one of them could arrive in the January transfer window. It appears that Barca’s need for a central defender at all costs is certainly not the issue now with Martino at the helm.
we need a central defender,i would be happy to see inigo martinez at barca come september 2.
I hope this works well 4 the team, mes que un club!
I agree with Tata, every club will take advantage of the situation. please give Bagnack more chance. the guy is good to go.
I barca fans we need to sign mats hummer from dortmund i will be glad if barca do that
Tata is a stupid idiot he needs a good central defender. They need to loan out barta an hopehe gets better because now he sucks. Tata what a dumb ass puyol won’t last long unfortunately. Barca need a good defender. Tata u suck hope the fans will turn on you. I wish they would have signed jurgen klopp as coach he would have got central defender and someone to replace thiago like Christian Erickson, and he would have brought Matt hummels. Do Tata kiss ass
dude stop deceiving people. Martino did not mention anything about a young central defender n u r not in his mind
Yes, I want barca to sigh a cb.
barca shld make sure dey get at least one strong defender like dat of Luis or Agger,but i prefer Luis.Luis had neva appear 4 chelsea since d openin of premier league,there4 we shldn’t relent on him.Hence4t barca ‘ll b trash vry soon.
Barca needs a good centre defender as a matter of urgency
We must trust our young footballer I support you Martino and I hope you will succeed
When we were having d likes of Ronaldinho nd Deco, no one eva tot dat champions league’s materials lyk Xavi nd Iniesta were existing in its real sense. Pep made dem known to d world wen we were so afraid of losing d big names in d team den. We’ve gotten a lot of players 4rm other clubs who find it difficult to integrate themselves into Barca style of play. Any other outside player may not be an exception nd we av no reason to waste much on dem since as our products can as well be put to competitive test. I’m in support of Tata. I hope dat he succeeds.