I don't like the onwers anymore than the next man, but those who are huge fans of Xabi and the manager would do well to remember that we haven't got to sell him, owners or not. Alonso wants to stay and he is our player. Clearly, Rafa thinks that Barry is a better player (whether or not we agree with him is by the by) and is prepared to take a financial hit to do the swap. Absolutely nothing to do with the owners on this occasion, Rafa seems to have made his mind up all by himself.
Does he? I mean, not me, but other posters like S@int, who are bias-free, have not any footballing prejudice whatsoever because they're english (which removes you any possible bias)
have said a number of factors like
* Possible fall outs with Gerrard
* The preparation for the 6+5 rule was another
* Some posters even have mentioned that Barry must not be seen as a direct replacement for Alonso (Mascherano could be a good candidate for that when it comes to direct comparisons)
I could add that sometimes a player doesn't have to be any better in Rafa's mind, but simply lacking something the team needs more at the moment.
You're actually quite sure that Rafa thinks Alonso is a worse player, and you use a "clearly" on it despite when giving yourself an opinion on both players you don't find big differences and even stated that on his best, Alonso is the better player. My point is that making his mind up about selling a player doesn't mean Rafa thinks he's a worse player. I doubt Rafa would think Benayoun is better than Luis Garcia for instance, despite at some point decided to bring Benayoun's attributes to the team.
That is, I can understand the posters who say they think Barry is better, because that's their opinion. But I can't see like you clearly that Rafa thinks Barry is better. Unless I missed an obvious quote somewhere, in which case I stand corrected.
If Barry is better, mind you, it will be good news for me. Because it will mean Barry will be used a lot, like Xabi has been, except when injured of inmediatly after the last injury. Xabi, much lower than his standards or not, has been used a lot and in important matches this 4 years, and if Barry is better than that, Rafa will use him a lot, he won't be "an option". That would be good for us.
My point is that if he's really better, he won't enter the team progresively like Lucas, but will play regularly, which is the least I expect if we swap somebody for Alonso. I hope he's not an "option" used every 3 weeks, for the sake of the team.
Bad Bob says
But, weren't Barca after him just last summer? You make it sound like we've had Xabi in the shop window for ages and can't manage to get anyone to take a punt. It seems to me that this is the first summer since he's signed that we're even listening to offers rather than working hard to rebuff them. Juventus have come in with a strong offer and it's being considered. There may be others sniffing about as well who haven't been quite as public in their pursuit or who are waiting to see how other deals unfold. Even if there isn't, I don't think that means there aren't teams out there that would love to sign him. Rather, they will have other targets, other squad holes to fill, etc.
Real Madrid Bob, was fuming because Liverpool got ALonso at a price they could reach, while they thought their 8M offer was going to be good enough. They were caught in a race for a player and they were angry about it.
Men like Valdano, the guy who conducted that offer, has written so repeteadly.
The press, coaches, and overall football gurus do not consider Alonso a worse player than the young one, some of then like SER radio even say ALonso should play in a football club where they actually play quality football -- as you see Bob, journos here also talk bóllocks and can reach the "grade A cúnt" level.
So quite frankly I doubt Real Madrid themselves won't raise to an offer at some point of the summer, especially if they don't have to splash 70M on Ronaldo.
Like it.
Why reply, deep down you know its not cr.ap but wont admit it. 
