Thuram and Zambrotta to Barca

Macca · 21 Jul 2006 at 00:10

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5201744.stm

Barcelona have won the race to capture Juventus defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta following the Italian club's relegation to Serie B.

Thuram, 34, has signed a two-year deal, while the 29-year-old Zambrotta has put pen to paper on a four-year contract.

bingham67 · 21 Jul 2006 at 00:28

Good signing with Marquez there going to be pretty rock at the back Barcelona.

Champions again i predict.

Nedved11 · 21 Jul 2006 at 00:49

Thuram is past it, rarely say that of players but he has. Was making too many mistakes at Juve and at the pace La Liga is played he will most certainly be caught out. Will get the odd run around I feel, unless Rijkaard has other ideas!

tsinc80697 · 21 Jul 2006 at 01:18

looks like all the spanish clubs getting dibs on the demoted clubs players

Ex-RoNiN · 21 Jul 2006 at 08:17

Zambrotta makes sense, with Gabri leaving they only have Belleti as a "proper" full back on the right.

Thuram, though, I don't understand. I rate him higher than Oleguer, but lower than either Puyol or Marquez. Back-up I guess :confused:

sanofi · 21 Jul 2006 at 08:24

tsinc80697 said:
looks like all the spanish clubs getting dibs on the demoted clubs players

More like those are the clubs that the players consider to be going anywhere. Or have the prestige/money.

I agree that Thuram may not be the best signing but he will be good cover for Puyol or Marquez and they have edmilson back too. Now with Zambrotta on the wings along with Gio and Belletti, Barca's defence should be a lot tighter.

memphisto · 21 Jul 2006 at 08:29

thuram will be brought in as cover for both Cb and RB seems a good signing, he may be poast hius best but certainly worth having in yer side as a squad player.

Matrix · 21 Jul 2006 at 09:22

BoomAM said:
Its funny, because people will be expecting the likes of Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Buffon, Toni, ect; to be moving out of Italy. Unlikely.
The only Italians likely to goto teams outside of SeriaA are the ones who have no chance of getting into the national team anyway.

Zambrotta is a quailty player barca have a great player there.

5ingh · 21 Jul 2006 at 09:26

iGiDK · 21 Jul 2006 at 09:34

Matrix said:
Zambrotta is a quailty player barca have a great player there.

agreed 100% really rate him highly

it'll be interesting to see where the rest of the Juve players will end up

Hlebio · 21 Jul 2006 at 10:35

Oh dear, just when it looked as if Real were catching up with Barcelona..

kdd · 21 Jul 2006 at 12:12

Hlebio said:
Oh dear, just when it looked as if Real were catching up with Barcelona..

well i'd favour emerson and cannovaro to make more of an impact than thuram and zambrotta. Also real needed their 2 players more than barca did.

Matrix · 21 Jul 2006 at 16:21

kdd said:
well i'd favour emerson and cannovaro to make more of an impact than thuram and zambrotta. Also real needed their 2 players more than barca did.

Real needed a ball winner like Emerson is.

kdd · 21 Jul 2006 at 16:50

Matrix said:
Real needed a ball winner like Emerson is.

Yes like i said real were in need of the two players they signed, emerson can fill the hole claude makalele left and cannovaro will shore up a defence that was looking to fall back on woodgate lol.

Tommy B · 21 Jul 2006 at 22:09

Juventus must be absolutely and utterly loaded now!!

wedgie · 21 Jul 2006 at 22:14

Shame no decent players will want to sign for them

Tommy B · 21 Jul 2006 at 22:22

wedgie22 said:
Shame no decent players will want to sign for them

Yeah but when they get back to Serie A they'll be ready to have a spending craze.

wedgie · 21 Jul 2006 at 22:30

Possibly, I think that's the absolute best case scenario tho. At the moment it's looking like most of their better players are going to leave, in which case will they even have a squad good enough to get promotion? I would certainly say promotion is out of the question for at least this season due to the 30pt deficit. Does anyone really expect the likes of Viera, Nedved and Ibrahimovic to be there in 2 years time?

Matrix · 21 Jul 2006 at 23:08

wedgie22 said:
Possibly, I think that's the absolute best case scenario tho. At the moment it's looking like most of their better players are going to leave, in which case will they even have a squad good enough to get promotion? I would certainly say promotion is out of the question for at least this season due to the 30pt deficit. Does anyone really expect the likes of Viera, Nedved and Ibrahimovic to be there in 2 years time?

Viera is off to Inter so it seems.

Nedved11 · 22 Jul 2006 at 00:56

Del Piero and Nedved have stated they will stay at Juve. Buffon has also said this but not sure about him. Del Piero is Juve and Nedved is near the end of his career. You have to remember they will still be getting the same wages... The best paid players than any league. Most of the rising stars of Juve will stay and they have more than enough talent their to see them back in Serie A after two seasons in Serie B.