My take on the Ibrahimovic signing is that Barca are basically trying to offload Eto'o, but the striker will only go to Inter. Rather than lose him on a free next summer, they are using him as a makeweight in this deal thus giving him some value if you will. So while it looks like an astronomical fee, Eto'o would otherwise sit his contract out and end up earning Barca nothing, so really they're only paying about 35 million for Zlatan in theoretical terms.

In all honesty, I haven't seen much of Alonso tbh. Is he really worth all this hassle and commanding around £30 million?

He's a fantastic midfielder who is cute on the eye. Not quite in that bracket, but it's an inflated market. Liverpool are demanding that fee for him because they don't want to lose him.

I think Silva would cost too much.

I'm a bit mixed, really. A few months back somebody at Valencia leaked our interest to the press in an attempt to pump up the fee, but it seems that everything around Silva has gone quiet. I've not read much about Valencia rejecting bids or him being close to signing for anyone. Still, I thought if we were to sign Silva it would have been at the start of the summer, to avoid any bidding wars or whatever.

I'd certainly rather Silva than Villa, and he'd probably cost half the price. I'd rather Silva over Sneijder as well.

Is the signing of Alonso needed though really?

How will Madrid line up?

GK Casillas

RB Ramos
CB Pepe
CB Albiol/ Garay
LB Marcelo/ Heinze

RW Ronaldo
CM/CAM Kaka
CM/DM Diarra
LM/W Robben

ST (two of Raul, Benzema, Higuain, RVN)
ST " "

Or will they go with 5 in midfield and 1 up front?

Riera looked a lot better than Silva in the Confederations Cup.

I think in terms of balance and getting the best out of certain players, it would be better to play Kaka behind Benzema up front. However, Pellegrini is a 4-4-2 man, but he always seems to play with two anchor men, so I can't see Kaka playing centrally in a 4-4-2.

Silva looked a lot better than Riera throughout their time in la liga




Riera's good, but he's far too inconsistent and he lacks serious competition for his place.

Atleast Pellegrini should bring back the exciting football that Madrid are used to.

I'm sure CR9, Benzema, Kaka and co. will help with that

, I still think Madrid are a midfielder and a left back short from a balanced, complete first XI

A left back is a MUST, someone like Clichy would be spot on although the La Liga followers on here know how much I rate him


Another world class centre back would be good too, someone to compliment Pepe. Just like Vidic and Rio do, although having Garay and Albiol there fighting for a spot is good news as both are quality.

Midfield isn't too bad when you look realise they have;

CR, Kaka, Robben, De La Red, Lass Diarra, M. Diarra, Gago, Guti, Sneijder, VDV & Drenthe. Most teams would die to have that set of midfielders in there team. Fair enough some of them are on there way out and Alonso would be a top signing, but other areas need to be sorted first imo.

Other than de la Red, I don't really think any of those midfielders would be top partners for Diarra, if Gago fulfilled his potential he might, but that's a massive if because he's always looked poor for me.

Alonso fits the bill perfectly for Madrid, I also read somewhere (can't remember where) that de la Red is being given next year off, or he won't be part of the first team next year because of what happened last season.

VDV, Sneijder and Kaka all thrive off that role behind the forward, Drenthe is average and a wing back, and CR9 is a winger, so it leaves Guti and M. Diarra. Guti's pretty much finished, Diarra would be a good back up for Lass, but I think a lot of these players will be shifted on.

Very surprised Madrid didn't move for Maxwell, he's immense.

I agree, and was really suprised that Barca have signed him seeing as they already have Abidal, and for £4.3m

What a bargain.

Jeez, Silva must have been crap then. Riera is a typical winger - all approach play and no end product. Final ball invariably pish.

Silva is twice the player Riera is.

But we'd have to pay three times the price to bring him here. I'd much rather see Riera and Babel fight it out on the left than us bring in a very slight winger for £25million.

Priority will lie in the middle if/when Alonso goes.

I think Babel is terrible to be honest.

I'm glad that you know what I personally have done for the last 20 years – particularly since I haven't been on this forum for 20 years and it hasn't even existed for 20 years.

Obviously you have amazing telepathy talents. Perhaps you should offer these skills to the police or the security forces or some other 'good cause'?

Oh. And we're the "real Manchester club" because we're actually in Manchester, as opposed to outside it.

The first match that I was allowed to attend live was in April 1979 (I'd had to settle for live Northern Premier League before that, although I'd been a City fan since around 1974) – a re-arranged game between City and Villa. Villa won 3-2. Colin Bell played – and both our goals were scored by Kazi Deyna. I still have the photos, somewhere, taken by the schoolfriend I went with, of me (in school uniform) with Deyna and with Gary Owen.



Nail, head, on.

Quote ="Hooja Nikabolokov"Did somebody mention sunbeds icon_lol.gif www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielde ... en-Ireland'" You've got to love him. At least he's dressed. www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21528677/ How many blokes keep nude pics of their brother on their ipod?

Quote ="Hooja Nikabolokov"Did somebody mention sunbeds icon_lol.gif www.mcfc.co.uk/Players/Midfielde ... en-Ireland'" You've got to love him. At least he's dressed. www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21528677/ How many blokes keep nude pics of their brother on their ipod?

Quote ="Cibaman"You've got to love him. At least he's dressed. www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21528677/ How many blokes keep nude pics of their brother on their ipod?'" i read that before and was wondering the same thing

Quote ="Cibaman"You've got to love him. At least he's dressed. www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21528677/ How many blokes keep nude pics of their brother on their ipod?'" i read that before and was wondering the same thing

Wesley Sneijder and David Silva = IN

Xabi Alonso = out!

Yes please.

I think Adebayor is a quality signing for City. I've always liked him and in a side with an abundance of attacking talent, he should be scoring 20+ with ease, providing he is City's first choice striker.

Plus he can run at 145 KMH!!