How many of our players have been good enough to get into their team over the last few years though?
Half of our squad would be up for sale if the criteria is 'who would get into Barca's team'.
Thiago Alcantara | Signed for Bayern Munich
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How many of our players have been good enough to get into their team over the last few years though?
Half of our squad would be up for sale if the criteria is 'who would get into Barca's team'.
No they wouldn't.
Okay, 35%, if it makes you feel better. Whatever the number is, quite a few wouldn't get in.
Barcelona have a quality midfield, granted. But if Thiago's failed to make much, if any, impact at Barcelona I don't see why he'd automatically be good enough for our midfield.
He would automatically be good enough for our midfield.
Based on what? Sitting on his arse at Barcelona?
I'm all for signing this guy, by the way. There's definite potential there. Just wouldn't be getting too excited about him. He'd be a work in process...
Not that we'll sign him...
I'm all for signing this guy, by the way. There's definite potential there. Just wouldn't be getting too excited about him. He'd be a work in process...
Not that we'll sign him...
He wouldn't however he has a lot of potential. The most gifted midfielder under 21 if you ask Rozay.
. Honestly though I'd be happy with him here he just wouldn't be the second name on the midfield sheet like some think.Potential, agreed. But I don't think he'll be our midfield solution, not next season anyway.
Considering FCBarca would rather sell fabregas compared to thiago, I think he would definitely make an impact here. At barca, he is competing against xavi,iniesta,busquets and fabregas while here it will only be cleverley. If we sign him he will definitely make an impact.
25m Euros for Thiago would be a rip-off.
To be fair in his breakthrough season(s?) under Pep, he got plenty of playing time and looked superb. I think he started 38 games last season. So that's hardly 'doing nothing'.
The simple fact is that Vilanova has decided to stick with Fabregas, and has stopped playing Thiago nearly as much.
The simple fact is that Vilanova has decided to stick with Fabregas, and has stopped playing Thiago nearly as much.
I actually think that's a great price, if you're being serious.
£21million for a young central midfield player with big potential, probably as good a deal as you'll get today.
That's the price Liverpool paid for Henderson, near enough. It would be mind-bogglingly low for Thiago.
Comparing other clubs dealings with Liverpool's always makes the other club look better off in fairness. £35million for Carroll...
The thing is Barca can't really ask for anymore than that either, he isnt a main stay in their first team and has not actually proved anything yet at the top level.
Sure he has massive potential but anything more than 25M would be ridiculous really.
Sure he has massive potential but anything more than 25M would be ridiculous really.
For me, he'd be an upgrade on Cleverley, whom the consensus seems to be is our first-choice partner for Carrick. People say he's some sort of #10, but he often plays deeper than that.
His natural talent is amazing. He can glide past people, and he is a very creative passer. I think he can work in a two for us in most games. Put Shinji in front of him and Carrick and we will have something on par with those '3 amigos' gimps at the Bridge.
All the flaws Fabregas has are evident in Thiago so I don't understand all this gushing praise myself. Holds onto the ball for too long when he should release it early, lots of sloppy, casual passing when Barcelona are trying to move it about patiently and no clear role for him in the team at the moment. The caf now has a Wilshere fanboy and a Thiago fanboy and they wear that obsession over one player as a badge of pride. Strange stuff.
Signing him for £21m, along with player sales, should also leave enough to get a more defensive back-up option for Carrick.
No, it really wouldn't. It's just lazy journalism. Oh he wants to leave, oh his former coach is at Bayern, let's write a story. We've got enough midfielders and some great youth players in midfield (Can & Hoijberg) looking for a few appearances with the first team. It's obvious we want to build a team around german players and players from our own acadamy who want to stay and not Barca youth players who come here for Guardiola and feck off when he leaves.
If Guardiola wanted to build a copy of Barca, he would have gone to City. Pretty sure he thinks it's more interesting to help create something new, something fitting for Bayern and german football and will stay away from his former Barca players, out of respect for his old club and because of the ideas at his new club. Sammer as director of football will make sure of that. If a player offers something different like Martinez did, we try to bring him in, of course. I highly doubt that's the case with Thiago though.
Wheras you obviously wear your superior footballing knowledge to every other mortal as a badge of pride. This is a Thiago thread isn't it?
I suppose in caf terminology, only two people can possibly exist in a Thiago thread. A Thiago 'fanboy', and those that 'hate' Thiago. I suppose I am in the fanboy list then.
If he's a raw a talent as some are saying, there's probably zero point going for him. Not when we have Cleverley and Powell to work on here, two players who probably won't want to leave should they reach their potential.
We need a midfielder who is ready to go, in the Premier League at least.
We need a midfielder who is ready to go, in the Premier League at least.
Also, he is 21 years old. All the flaws he has are not technical and are things he can reasonably be expected to eradicate with experience.
Jeez he isnt that "raw". Not many others could hold their own in a Barca midfield at 21.
There's lots of people that would like us to sign Alcantara. I'm one of them. That's entirely different to being a fanboy. I'd classify a fanboy as someone that takes pride in reminding everyone how they've already mentioned so-and-so is going to be super amazing. The sort of person who says this...
And then this just slightly further down the page says this...
Oh whatever.
Understatement. It would be a very good price, based on what is thrown around these days.
He's absolutely good enough. If there were no Leo, he'd be Ballon D'Or material. I believe that.
High praise indeed.
Why do you state your opinion as if it's fact?
I'd take every member of our back 5 over theirs bar possibly Rafael though that's debatable. Nani's probably better than Sanchesz or Pedro on his day and I'd take Rooney, RVP, Hernandez or Welbeck over Villa right now and I wouldn't swap Carrick for Busquets. In fact I'm not sure how many of their players would get into our first team barring the obvious Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Fabregas.
I suppose my personal affinity for Thiago comes from having followed his career for quite a few years and being impressed. I was finding scraps online of Barcelona youth games years ago when everyone was initially raving about Gai Assulin being the 'new Messi', and there was hype around Iago Falque and Bojan. Everytime I watched, I noticed the guy wearing #10, 'Thiago Alacantra', as I thought he was then called. I predicted from then that he would go on to become a star, and have had an interest in his development since then.
Jeesuz, Gai Assulin. Would love to know who started that hype on the kid (His agent, Zahavi?), it's absolutely the most ludicrous hyperbole of any cantera player I've seen in over a decade. He was, for me, always a racecar with zero end product
Would love to know who started that hype on the kid (His agent, Zahavi?), it's absolutely the most ludicrous hyperbole of any cantera player I've seen in over a decade. He was, for me, always a racecar with zero end productHe went to City, didn't he?
Off topic, but how is Gerard Deluofeu doing recently FC, any ideas?
Think I read the other day that he'd signed a new contract with a massive buyout clause.
Jeesuz, Gai Assulin.
What about Juan Roman? He was supposedly the jewel in City's academy then Barca nabbed him at the end of last season.
Well to be honest, my statement that quite a few of our squad would not get into Barcelona's over the last few years is pretty much fact. We have seen when meeting them in recent years that they have been quite a fair bit better than us.
We have a better defence than them I reckon, and they are superior in front of of the defence. I'd say only van Persie would get into their side. As for their wide men, just because theirs aren't as good as Messi/Iniesta doesn't mean they are not very good. Football fans always seem to think any old winger is better than Pedro, for instance. What has Nani done to prove himself better than Pedro? 'On his day'? Which day is that? On most days, he's a substitute.
I think their 'mortal' players get judged harshly simply because they have a few ridiculously good, amongst the best ever playing next to them. For this reason, people are now going as far as to say Danny Welbeck is better than David Villa, when again, very little backs that up.
Jeesuz, Gai Assulin.
The thing is, it's very difficult to intepret ability with youth team players and make accurate projections. It seems ridiculous in hindsight to think certain players were predicted as future greats, but I don't think that these comparisons were necessarily invalid at the time.
Loads of gifted players don't fulfil their potential. For various reasons, but not always because they didn't have the ability to. Players like Quaresma may have been touted as the next this or that, but subsequent players who have actually gone on to deliver on such hype may not have had more ability than Quaresma. I reckon there are some players playing at lower league clubs who have more ability than Premier League players. And I know some players who have made it pro who were not as gifted as others as kids.
We are often premature with wild claims and comparisons, but I think many people can intepret special ability when they see it. Of course, doesn't mean it will ripen, but at the time, the kid may have enough skill to become a great.
Have you ever considered being a professional scout? Sounds like you'd be perfect.
He went to City, didn't he?
Like the previous poster, I watch a lot of youth matches, even attend them and I remember the hype on Gai. When I finally saw him live, I really struggled to understand how he was ever hyped to begin with. Had to have been Pini Zahavi pulling the media strings there. It's shameful how overhyped he was
Just renewed through 2017 after being courted by City et al. Up until he was being called up for 1st team training (You cannot play for the B team when you train for the 1st team in that week), he was the pichichi in the Segunda. He will also lead the line for the U20 World Cup side in Turkey next month.
He will be promoted to the 1st team this summer although there are lots of rumours that he will be loaned out - presumably if indeed Neymar lands
Personally, I have not always been a fan but mainly because he's not your prototypical Barcelona player. He's fairly cocky for a cantera player and very little humility to his game. I think that along with his stepovers is why he has been compared to CR so much in the past. I can still recall a match he played for U17 where he was out on the break and was dispossessed. He stood there with his arms on his hips complaining to the refs and the opposition proceeded to score the equalizer off that turnover and him doing nothing. There isn't an attacking player with that sort of lousy attitude in the team
He hasn't really impressed with the 1st team when he's played, some thinking he has felt the weight of the pressure or that he trying to hard to make a splash. The last time he had a run out for the 1st team this year, he played for less than a quarter hour but he actually looked much better than he ever has. A youth player, for me, has to have 3 things to succeed in 1st team football - talent, mentality & workrate. I always say this about him, the talent is undeniable. I don't like his personality or his attitude but he has the right sort of aggression & confidence for a wide player that the team needs - he wants to humiliate defenders. Is he a hard worker though? That's really the only question going forward.
Seems to love the club despite his massive ego because he's been pursued by Premiership clubs since he was 14 and you'd think a player with that sort of mentality would take the money & run
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