Thiago Alcantara | Signed for Bayern Munich

Status
Not open for further replies.
It was really as strange move by Pep if you think about it. IF the deal was as close as all the papers are saying, why would he need to come out and say THIAGO I LOVE YOU PLS JOIN ME XXXX

The more I think about it, the more it seems like it was a hail mary.

Sod it though, if the kid leaves Barcelona and joins Bayern its jumping out of the pan and into the fire. We are the only club out of the choices who could offer the type of game time he supposedly wants.

We should have got Agent Ronnie on the case - look how things turned out for him comin here?!
 
There's some quality muppetry going on here.

Guardiola wants him. His agent is Guardiola's brother. Mundo Deportivo - which, by all accounts, is Barcelona's mouthpiece reports that Thiago wants to go to Bayern.

Yet some people still cling to the hope that we're going to sign him somehow. It's just delusion at this stage, folks.
 
Odd how some of them seem indifferent to the prospect of signing Thiago. Many of them probably hope to retain their German core.
 
When you have players like Kroos possibly missing out becuase you are signing a young spaniard, its not a suprise they are a bit confused.
 
Odd how some of them seem indifferent to the prospect of signing Thiago. Many of them probably hope to retain their German core.

Its understandable given the riches they've got in CM. We are threadbare in midfield in comparison. Not one of our midfielders would make their team. They have every right to bat off Thiago whilst we cling onto hope he might still come here.
 
There is part of me that wonders how MD suddenly know Thiago's wishes. He would have been fully aware of Pep's intentions over the last month so surely, likewise, he would have internally expressed his own desire at some point.

Seems quite convenient that Thiago has suddenly (secretly) revealed his wishes after it's been made public that Pep wants him.

Still, all feels too scripted for him to go anywhere but Bayern now. Best club in Europe and an old manager that clearly rates him. He'll get game time and be awesome.
 
Pep said at the press conference that he not only wants Thiago but he needs him because he has unique abilities no player at Bayern possesses. He said he can use him in any midfield role and he can even play as a striker, so playing time won't be an issue. We probably have to wait how true that is, I'm sure Pep thinks about more than just one season. He mentioned that Shaqiri can play several roles as well, for example, even play as a left back.

I posted a while back in one of the Guardiola/Bayern threads, that I believe Bayern's future in a few years might be a 343 with Shaqiri as a wing back and Alaba in midfield. It looks more and more likely that we see something comparable already in Pep's first year. Thiago would be perfect in such a system. I'm a bit worried, because signing Thiago might hinder the development of some of our own youth players, but in reality, the club wants to be at the top of europe, so signing a probably even bigger talent than what we have won't harm the club overall, at least not for €18m. We probably will make a profit if we sell any of our midfielders.

Bringing in two young players who are good enough to start after an incredible season isn't over the top. Two players with huge salaries already left (Gomez & Tymoshchuk) and there's more than enough time for other players to leave until the end of August (Gustavo for example), if they don't fit in with Pep's ideas. It's not a major overhaul of the squad, it's just building for the future and bringing in a few new players in to keep the mentality of the team in check, it doesn't allow anyone to relax, no one is sure of his starting spot in the team, not even Schweinsteiger, Ribery and Lahm.

Well no matter how you spin it, the fact remains that you'll have Götze, Ribéry, Robben, Müller, Kroos, Thiago, Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Shaqiri and Luiz Gustavo for five positions. I can see Shaqiri and Luiz Gustavo quietly accepting a fringe role but the rest of them? They're all high profile players. And it's all well and good saying that Martinez will be moved to CB... but will the side be stable and solid enough with Schweinsteiger as the only "defensive" midfielder? He's very different to a Busquets or even a Carrick.

Guardiola surely knows what he's doing but signing Thiago makes very little sense. Unless he just doesn't rate most of the players already at the club.
 
First post in this thread for a while.

I noticed some sad faces after Moyes' said "I never said Thiago was a target". I don't understand why. Moyes wasn't going to say "Yes, he is a target" otherwise he'd be a hypocrite. Plus, the quote doesn't even mean that he isn't a target. It's a clever reply.

This Bayern link. It will be disappointing if true but I'm not worried yet. We've both been equally heavily linked, and just because Guardiola has actually come out and said he wants Thiago sounds like a desperate plea for him to change his mind. He may have succeeded at that, but maybe not. If Thiago is serious about playing time, then it's more of a risk for him to go to Bayern.
 
Taken from Bayernzone, this post is quite relevant to those (including myself) who cannot wrap their heads around how Pep will provide them all with enough minutes:
I did some research on Pep's habit of rotation.

In 2011/12 Barcelona was stacked in midfield, just as much as we are this season. He also had the same program with league, national cup, CL, club world cup, European supercup etc.

That was the result of it

Mascherano - 4,403 minutes (52 appearances)
Busquets - 3,865 minutes (52 appearances)
Xavi - 3,551 minutes (51 appearances)
Fabregas - 3,252 minutes (48 appearances)
Iniesta - 3,004 minutes (46 appearances)
Thiago - 2,866 minutes (45 appearances)
Keita - 2,171 minutes (42 appearances)
JdS, Sergi Roberto, and Rafinha - 716 minutes (14 appearances)

In my opinion this shows that in order to press relentlessly, and this is Pep's philosophy, you need a deep bench because you want to avoid fatigue and injuries.

Guardiola spreading out a lot of playing time between Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Gustavo (if he stays), Kroos, Thiago, Gotze, and even Can/Hojbjerg isn't an unheard of task. He's done it before and gotten results so nothing is there to say he can't do it again.
http://www.bayernzone.com/transfers/3407-thiago-alcantara-40.html#post304770
 
Yeah, that post conveniently ignores one little thing: that Mascherano played exclusively as a CB.
 
Well no matter how you spin it, the fact remains that you'll have Götze, Ribéry, Robben, Müller, Kroos, Thiago, Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Shaqiri and Luiz Gustavo for five positions. I can see Shaqiri and Luiz Gustavo quietly accepting a fringe role but the rest of them? They're all high profile players. And it's all well and good saying that Martinez will be moved to CB... but will the side be stable and solid enough with Schweinsteiger as the only "defensive" midfielder? He's very different to a Busquets or even a Carrick.

Guardiola surely knows what he's doing but signing Thiago makes very little sense. Unless he just doesn't rate most of the players already at the club.

Well, it depends on yer perspective. There seems to be a lot of people these days who reckon the lad will the best midfielder in the world in a couple of years. Signing him up for a relatively modest fee does make sense, even if Bayern are already more than well stocked.

But. I will say this: Pep was never known to rotate much during his incredible spell at Barca. In fact, his model depended on a core group of players NOT being rotated at all, almost. He does have an abundance of very good players at Bayern, it seems. And how that will turn out in terms of dressing room atmosphere once the season gets underway is - well, let's just say it could be a challenge for him.
 
I never call for threads to be locked, but that was a good shout from the modmins imo as emotions were far too high in here for sensible posting.



Well on the English speaking Bayern forum they don't seem overly enamoured with the idea to say the least.

Posts such as:


And on Barcaforum a lot of the posters think that he won't get more game time there as he's leaving a team with world class players ahead of him in midfield for another one:



so Bayern fans don't want him, Barça fans think United will be better for him and don't want him strengthening the team that beat them 7-0 over two legs, and we are crying out for him. Sucks if he doesn't end up here (still clinging).

Thanks for that LR7.

It does seem we are the best destination for him but hey what can you do if he's got the peppy love.
 
Well, it depends on yer perspective. There seems to be a lot of people these days who reckon the lad will the best midfielder in the world in a couple of years. Signing him up for a relatively modest fee does make sense, even if Bayern are already more than well stocked.

But. I will say this: Pep was never known to rotate much during his incredible spell at Barca. In fact, his model depended on a core group of players NOT being rotated at all, almost. He does have an abundance of very good players at Bayern, it seems. And how that will turn out in terms of dressing room atmosphere once the season gets underway is - well, let's just say it could be a challenge for him.
Read Skywarden's post.
 
Pere Guardiola played us, might have been passing all info to pep, including our playing assurances all along, including our terms, let us haggle the VAT whilst telling Pep to pay the VAT and swoop in late and blind side us. If Thiago can't see us as amongst the 3 biggest club in the world, he can go to bayern and compete with 5 midfielders, I wonder how training's going to be. With us he would be the main midfielder, given authority and respected, in Bayern he would just be another big fish amongst other big fishes.

Pep better know what he's doing, by dismantling a winning treble formation, his Barca system got found out by a determined 4-1-4-1,
 
Yeah, that post conveniently ignores one little thing: that Mascherano played exclusively as a CB.


Doesn't that prove his point further, rather? You move Mascherano down and you'll have six midfielders vs. Bayern's five (six if Gustavo stays, four if Martinez is moved into a CB role). There will be enough minutes and games available to fit Thiago into the rotation and satisfy his desire of more getting play time.

Edit: Formatting.
 
I don't understand people saying that Bayern Munich came out of nowhere on this. I'll even refer you to my first post in the thread
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/thi...-but-no-new-news.355208/page-19#post-13542213

There's been a few changes since then, mostly related to damage limitation by the Barca board but they were always interested. I think we were in pole position at one stage but where you finish doesn't always depend on where you start.

Is it over? I won't say it's over until they wheel him out in his Bayern shirt. I still think we're the best option for him, and it was actually the perfect arranged marriage, but then I would think that. Maybe he'll realise that and make a last minute run in our direction. In any case I doubt we've got long to wait before we know for sure.
 
If a player, even under contract, declares their intention to depart, there is no holding ransom - they look to move the player. I imagine the only holdup is the terms which the board will look to salvage what little dignity remains and get as much out of the transfer as possible. But it's too late, this transfer is as good as done.

Strange turn of events, without question. Pep's public reaction or declaration for Thiago, doesn't really surprise me - I was waiting for him to eventually respond to Rosell et al. The same with Thiago & Mazinho's actions thus far. I say only the timing of things catches me a bit by surprise. So either Pep had this planned all along which would be uncharacteristic of him or it came about late in the sequence of events when United may or may not have been in pole position. Still think Mazinho had been looking to get a bumper contract improvement for his son from Barcelona but when Pep came calling everything changed. Could be as simple as that. On the one hand, there's been a battle waging in the media between Rosell/board & Pep over the last 6 months to a year. Clearly the Tito issue angered Guardiola but the Neymar rumours probably pushed him over the edge. And with Thiago in the middle of a club tug of war, might be as simple as Pep punching the board/Rosell in the eye - especially if Pep felt they had put the player in a tenuous position regarding his future via hardball negotiations Rosell & Zubi were apparently employing.

Pep had to have had a pretty clear understanding of Thiago's situation from even before the U21 Euros and before the Neymar deal was done. Did the lies over his involvement with Neymar push him to get involved late in a deal that could've been construed as tampering with his boyhood club from fans? Would make less sense if he had been involved from the beginning in the pursuit of Thiago which, for me, makes Rosell et al look even worse. They've had a bad couple of weeks, no wonder Sandy made a dash for the ladies loo
 
Taken from Bayernzone, this post is quite relevant to those (including myself) who cannot wrap their heads around how Pep will provide them all with enough minutes:

http://www.bayernzone.com/transfers/3407-thiago-alcantara-40.html#post304770

I hadn't seen the minutes for that year.

If I were a barca fan I'd find it hard to stomach Thiago leaving using lack of minutes as the excuse. I assume he was fit that year whereas last year he had injuries. Of course he'll get less minutes.

I wonder if united decided not to go in for him because of this?
 
Which isn't going to translate well outside of redcafe.

If we saw that on RAWK it would get the same reaction on here as it did there.

If they're going to spend so much time reading the muppetry on 'rag cafe' they'd do well to recognise that one in every 10 posts in the transfer forum is serious.

Most posters on here recognise a wum on RAWK too.
 
If a player, even under contract, declares their intention to depart, there is no holding ransom - they look to move the player. I imagine the only holdup is the terms which the board will look to salvage what little dignity remains and get as much out of the transfer as possible. But it's too late, this transfer is as good as done.

Strange turn of events, without question. Pep's public reaction or declaration for Thiago, doesn't really surprise me - I was waiting for him to eventually respond to Rosell et al. The same with Thiago & Mazinho's actions thus far. I say only the timing of things catches me a bit by surprise. So either Pep had this planned all along which would be uncharacteristic of him or it came about late in the sequence of events when United may or may not have been in pole position. Still think Mazinho had been looking to get a bumper contract improvement for his son from Barcelona but when Pep came calling everything changed. Could be as simple as that. On the one hand, there's been a battle waging in the media between Rosell/board & Pep over the last 6 months to a year. Clearly the Tito issue angered Guardiola but the Neymar rumours probably pushed him over the edge. And with Thiago in the middle of a club tug of war, might be as simple as Pep punching the board/Rosell in the eye - especially if Pep felt they had put the player in a tenuous position regarding his future via hardball negotiations Rosell & Zubi were apparently employing.

Pep had to have had a pretty clear understanding of Thiago's situation from even before the U21 Euros and before the Neymar deal was done. Did the lies over his involvement with Neymar push him to get involved late in a deal that could've been construed as tampering with his boyhood club from fans? Would make less sense if he had been involved from the beginning in the pursuit of Thiago which, for me, makes Rosell et al look even worse. They've had a bad couple of weeks, no wonder Sandy made a dash for the ladies loo
Whatever the situation with Rosell, courting Thiago away is still hurting barcelona. Still fine with it? Or are you taking solace in the fact that Thiago was anyway going to go.
 
he's stated his intention according to Mundo Desportivo, to join Bayern, its more than likely over, where is Dave when we needed him.
 
Pere Guardiola played us, might have been passing all info to pep, including our playing assurances all along, including our terms, let us haggle the VAT whilst telling Pep to pay the VAT and swoop in late and blind side us. If Thiago can't see us as amongst the 3 biggest club in the world, he can go to bayern and compete with 5 midfielders, I wonder how training's going to be. With us he would be the main midfielder, given authority and respected, in Bayern he would just be another big fish amongst other big fishes.

Pep better know what he's doing, by dismantling a winning treble formation, his Barca system got found out by a determined 4-1-4-1,

Good point esp where he would need to compete with 5 midfielders. Still hopeful we get him...
 
I hadn't seen the minutes for that year.

If I were a barca fan I'd find it hard to stomach Thiago leaving using lack of minutes as the excuse. I assume he was fit that year whereas last year he had injuries. Of course he'll get less minutes.

I wonder if united decided not to go in for him because of this?


Yeah he played around ten games less last year due to injury (correct me if I'm wrong).

We are getting more and more information the longer this saga continues. One thing I haven't seen be touched upon is the report about Bayern not allowing buy-back clauses. I posted this but none picked it up for discussion:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/thi...but-no-new-news.355208/page-368#post-13790709

This could be what is keeping the transfer to either of the interested clubs on hold.
 
I hadn't seen the minutes for that year.

If I were a barca fan I'd find it hard to stomach Thiago leaving using lack of minutes as the excuse. I assume he was fit that year whereas last year he had injuries. Of course he'll get less minutes.

I wonder if united decided not to go in for him because of this?

Where'd you hear we weren't / are not, in for him?

I think its pretty clear we were / are, to be honest mate!
 
And to think Scholesy retirement announcement was to appease him into signing, :mad:, we should tell players to tell us straight up if they want to sign, agree terms and then deal with club, the way i see it, we should do what Barca and Madrid do, whether other clubs like it or not, we're too 'by the book', that way at least we know where we stand. instead of dilly dallying on VAT, the stingy glazer tact.
 
And to think Scholesy retirement announcement was to appease him into signing, :mad:, we should tell players to tell us straight up if they want to sign, agree terms and then deal with club, the way i see it, we should do what Barca and Madrid do, whether other clubs like it or not, we're too 'by the book', that way at least we know where we stand. instead of dilly dallying on VAT, the stingy glazer tact.
No-one knows we're 'dilly dallying' on VAT. The people reporting that are the same full-of-shit news sources who said he'd agreed terms with us 7 days ago.

People are too readily willing to jump to conclusions. You really think we wouldn't have known how much the deal would cost under each circumstance? We would have gone into negotiations knowing that the buyout+VAT was X amount, that just the buyout on its own was X amount, that we may need to negotiate with Barca which could be X amount. You think we just went in, and they said 'yeh it's gonna be £21m, not £18m' and we said no?

These Twitter Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime/unreliable news sources are saying we wouldn't pay to vindicate the bullshit they've been spewing for the best part of a month. 'Oh well he did agree terms with United like we exclusively told you but now they won't pay so he's going to Bayern'.

No-one knows what happened in this transfer, but with Pep/Pere being involved i doubt it's as simple as we just weren't willing to pay, which i don't even think was the case.

No-one knows either how 'by the book' we are. Just because we don't air stuff in public doesn't mean that stuff isn't going on that we're not privy to.
 
Just went on that Bayern site, their gif is shit compared to what our own Jeston and Olly create. If Thiago wants to sign for a team who's fans can't even make a decent enough tribute to him, then...
 
Yeah he played around ten games last year due to injury (correct me if I'm wrong).

We are getting more and more information the longer this saga continues. One thing I haven't seen be touched upon is the report about Bayern not allowing buy-back clauses. I posted this but none picked it up for discussion:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/thi...but-no-new-news.355208/page-368#post-13790709

This could be what is keeping the transfer to either of the interested clubs on hold.

Probably trusts Pep to play him enough, but then the one in his Barcelona contract was from when Pep was manager.

I still think moving there makes little sense. Pep or no Pep.
 
And to think Scholesy retirement announcement was to appease him into signing, :mad:, we should tell players to tell us straight up if they want to sign, agree terms and then deal with club, the way i see it, we should do what Barca and Madrid do, whether other clubs like it or not, we're too 'by the book', that way at least we know where we stand. instead of dilly dallying on VAT, the stingy glazer tact.
Sorry but in regards to Madrid, they have spent so much in the last decade and been less successful than us.

They may sign players but if they aren't winning as many trophies how can it be seen as a better model?

We have no idea why this deal has stalled. Conspiracies vary from Pere Guardiola being the problem to us trying to cut out any tax issues. It's not public business to know such intricacies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.