The chopping board at FC Barcelona

Barca needs a change. Yes, vote Obama…

With Edmilson being the first head chopped, Deco is probably the next on the chopping board and he won’t be limited in his options. He’s still valuable and has top-tier skills. A playmaker and visionary, he should fit in nicely with teams creative midfield teams like Man Utd, Arsenal, AC and Inter. Where Edmilson goes, who gives a rat’s ass. I thought he was always as useless as Thiago Motta, a name that I had a hard time remembering because he sucks more than a 5-dollar Thai ladyboy.

But lets get serious with the big names. Ronaldinho. Going or staying? Even Maradonna has urged Barca’s decision makers to keep the bucktoothed Brazilian. Something like “Don’t do him like they did me, or he will hate you forever.” Ok Diego, whatever you say man. You must have forgot, maybe during the times you were away in rehab, that football has become big business and business decisions need to be made. And lets face it, noone wants to make the mistake like Chelsea, buying Shevchenko at the peak of his form for a s**tload of money. Teams are cautious about paying too much for a player who has already won FIFA World Player of the year, World Cup trophies, Champion League titles etc etc. Actually, I think, since ‘Dinho has really nothing else to compete for, that a move to the US would be a great move for him, at least commercially. Maybe something for the new San Jose Earthquakes at our brand new Buckshaw stadium in Santa Clara? Hey man, they upped seating capacity to around 10,000 seats, ok? Ok, maybe not the ‘Quakes, but definitely something sexy like LA Galaxy. I mean, ‘Dinho is already a big marquee name for Nike so his marketing presence would serve the US market well. Now only if Nike can come up with boatloads of money to lure him over, maybe even dropping Lebron James to scrounge the cash to pay for ‘Dinho’s endorsement deals, cuz one things for sure – ‘Dinho will only see his MLS paychecks as toiletpaper. It’s nice to dream for the MLS, but heh, he’s most likely gonna go to another big namer. The AC Milan’s, Inter Milan’s, Chelsea’s, Man United’s of the world. Whereever he goes, is not really my concern here. The question is, is Barca making the wrong move by letting him go?

And how about the fiery Samuel Eto’o? Is he not happy at Barcelona? Will he abandon one of the world’s premier medical facilities in the world, since he spends so much time there anyways? Well, in my eyes, Sammy Eto’o is one of the world’s best strikers. He plays with nothing but burning passion. He works hard and above all, he doesn’t try to cheat (ie. diving like Drogba). But sometimes his emotions take the best of him. I think he should stay and try to work on a working partnership with Thierry Henry. If he leaves, then Barca is gonna go through another disappointing season trying to find a proper replacement for him, and there aren’t very many who can fill up that role. Great Barca strikers of the past, Hristo Stoichkov, Romario, Ronaldo, Cruijff (to mention a few) are one-of-a-kind players. A Dimitar Berbatov, for instance, will not satisfy this demand. Sammy Eto’o is a one-of-a-kind player, and so is Thierry Henry.

Barca’s style of play calls for the main striker to be a playmaker first, to allow support from the flanks and midfield to flood. I think Barcelona has a case to pick up Robin v.Persie from Arsenal. Although injured and vulnerable, he is a top player. An injured v.Persie is still better than the average striker. v.Persie is a playmaker first, deadly finisher second. Although my preference would be to bring Ruud v. Nistelrooy over, Madrid would never let a man that lethal in front of the goal go to their primary rivals. Other options for the front lines would be Obafemi Martins, lightning fast and hard working, but maybe too little to handle the load. But then again Romario was a little guy, and he went on to score a self-professed 1000 goals. Xavi, Iniesta, Gio dos Santos, Bojan are small guys too and they tear it up too. Since Barca has a knack for attracting Dutch players as well as Brazilians, attackers like Robinho, Vagner Love, Jo, Afonso Alves, or a revitalized Adriano, would be interesting to watch in a Barca jersey. I would lean more towards Afonso Alves and Adriano to come to Nou Camp as they are proven goal-scorers of the highest calibre while having that samba-style that Barca fans love so much.

Another name on the guillotine is Eidur Gudjhonsen. Lets face it, he’ll never be the same guy who scored 60+ goals in 200+ games like he did for Chelsea in 6 years. Maybe the Spanish game doesn’t suit him. Maybe a venture to the Bundesliga would be good for him. A move to Werder or better yet Stuttgart would be impressive.

On the defensive front, Abidal, Zambrotta, and Thuram are in danger of being axed. Zambrotta and Thuram only left Juve after they had to be relegated in that match-fixing scandal. But they were over the hill anyways. Thuram won a couple of World Cups and Zambrotta only enjoyed his World Cup victory right before coming over to Barca. Eric Abidal isn’t the type of attacking wingback that Barca likes to play with. The type a la Gio v.Bronckhorst or Sergi Barjuan. Here I’d like to see a Daniel Alves replace Zambrotta and/or Abidal on the right.

I’d love to write more but my 8 hours at work is almost over. So I will be writing more later…