Mauro Zarate

[HuggyBear]

Seen him play twice now and been very impressed with his touch, technique and passing skills, especially considering he is predominantly a striker. How the fuck did he end up at Birmingham? He's only on loan but if he carries on impressing in the remaining games this season other clubs will be coming in for him and I'd love it if we were one of them.

 

[yanno]

Mauro Zarate was signed by the Qatari club, Al-Sadd, for around £10 million last summer. This is equivalent to being "owned" by the kind of consortium that hawked Mascherano & Tevez round the EPL. Ie the Qataris bought a top young player as an "investment" on whom they hope to make a substantial profit.

In January, Zarate was offered to lots of European clubs for a transfer fee substantially higher than £10 million. Indeed, there are claims that Al-Sadd's asking price was £20 million. Nobody was willing to pay, so Zarate was offered on loan. Zarate chose Brum over Newcastle and us (yes we were in for him allegedly) because he thought he'd get more playing time for them.

I suspect any club willing to stump up around £12-15 million will be able to sign him in June. And there's the rub... That's a huge transfer fee for a promising young talent.

Zarate is a second striker or ACM type. If Berba goes, then we might be able to accommodate him as an ACM. But the price tag would make any move a huge gamble.

 

[HuggyBear]

He can pass well and score from free kicks, so not much of a gamble for us considering we cant do any of these things currently

 

[Marty]

I suspect any club willing to stump up around £12-15 million will be able to sign him in June. And there's the rub... That's a huge transfer fee for a promising young talent.

Zarate is a second striker or ACM type. If Berba goes, then we might be able to accommodate him as an ACM. But the price tag would make any move a huge gamble.

Of course there's always a risk when signing any player, but he has been phenomenal for Birmingham (why on earth didn't he start yesterday?) and I'd take him for that sort of money in a heartbeat if we lost Berbatov.

Hell, I'd take him for 10-12 mill even if we kept Berbs.

 

[yanno]

Of course there's always a risk when signing any player, but he has been phenomenal for Birmingham (why on earth didn't he start yesterday?) and I'd take him for that sort of money in a heartbeat if we lost Berbatov.

Hell, I'd take him for 10-12 mill even if we kept Berbs.

The truth is that all of us have seen the equivalent of YouTube porn about Zarate. He looks to have exceptional touch, good dribbling skills and he scores goals. We all love players like that. However, despite this, McLeish who sees him every day in training had him on the bench yesterday, so he clearly has some sort of reservation about him.

Zarate is lightweight and probably not disciplined enough defensively to play in a wide midfield position. So, if we lose Berba, and sign Zarate, then he'd probably end up as a second striker/ACM playing with either Keane or, more likely, Bent. I still think that would be a huge gamble at a pricetag of £12-15 million.

HuggyBear mentioned free kicks. Gareth Bale is a brilliant free kick taker, so if we get him fit for next season, then we won't be as devoid of decent setpiece takers as we currently are.

 

[HuggyBear]

HuggyBear mentioned free kicks. Gareth Bale is a brilliant free kick taker, so if we get him fit for next season, then we won't be as devoid of decent setpiece takers as we currently are.

Just the one basket for all our eggs?

 

[yanno]

Just the one basket for all our eggs?

I agree it would be nice to have more. I still don't understand why Berba doesn't take more free kicks. But Bale is exceptional, top class.

Plus lots of big clubs have only one specialist free kick taker: Ronaldo @ Manure; Ronaldinho @ Barca. And other big clubs don't really have any: who takes them for Chavski? Apart from Drogba's CCF goal against us, I can't remember him scoring many. Who is the goons' specialist set piece taker? I'm scatching my head.

 

[HuggyBear]

Now in talks with 2 premiership clubs. Anyone else like us to be one of them?

 

[ChRiStOpHe]

Beat me to it

I'd love us to be one of the clubs in for him. Seems to have something very special about him.

We were (apparently) in for him before he went to Birmingham, so you never know.

 

[HuggyBear]

He's not the finished article but definately got something about him as you say. If we could take him on the loan deal that brum had with the option to sign then we could see how he gets on, and having a spanish speaking manager must give us an advantage.

 

[dynamoSpurs]

never thought of Mauro and never really understood why he went to brum.

wicked player, future star. id love him at totty.

 

[Kendall]

Not better than what we have

 

[SpurSince57]

He's better than Taarabt. :grin:

 

[Kendall]

And Bong I guess

sign him up!

 

[Blotto]

I rate him, he'll only get better and his versatility is a big plus IMHO. Would be a bit of a gamble, but in the few times I saw him play I was impressed. Couldn't figure out why he didn't feature more for Brum.

 

[Makkaveli101]

I'd love him to be at Spurs....really rate him.....but for some reason I have this real hunch that he'll end up at Liverpool??

 

[HuggyBear]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/birmingham_city/7400878.stm

 

[bubble07]

he could be off to the scum for 20mil

 

[sihills]

Dont think anyone else has mentioned him yet???

What with berba staying still not a cert and argubly with bent and keane able to step up to the plate, would a talented young south american be needed at the lane??

 

[yanno]

Good player but would be very expensive because of who owns him. Thread here:

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=29902&highlight=mauro+zarate