That's just impossible, no coach in the world would have two of his best midfielders out, then scramble something waiting for the season to end and will say no to any decent player he got hand on !!
Let's chart that trajectory of minutes played Before the injury, which is anything but a trajectory proving the coach confidence improving
View attachment 10383
It's clear De Zerbi never wanted him as a starter in the PL, bur rather a squad player who can rest others for Europa & FA cup.
And now we are talking about FC Barcelona, so either we'll have to put our standards lower than "Brighton & Hove Albion" in order to accept that this kind of player have any meaningful addition to the team or he has to remarkably transform himself ...
By this standard Dembélé is a club legend !
1) I didn't say he had to scramble something. I said other people were by then into Brighton's rotations other than Fati. When Pedro and Mitoma were out, the first ones to get the nod were them and not someone who had just started training after 3 months out.
Doesn't it sound reasonable to you?
2) The chart is misleading.
Because it includes only EPL games, and not the midweek ones where he was starting most of the times
And it doesn't take into account other factors. For instance, the Oct. 8th game where he didn't play was against Liverpool, and De Zerbi had a special plan that day which could not accommodate Ansu
3) Then, it's again reasonable that De Zerbi did not make him a starter.
A player that arrived at the very end of the window, with EPL already started, not having done pre-season with them.
No coach in the world would make him a starter, unless we are talking about prime Messi or that level
De Zerbi wanted him, pushed for him, and it is obvious he had a plan for him that was much more than filling a seat on the bench
4) I say, let the kid have preseason under Flick. Let Flick see his level, let him assess what he can get of him.
If Flick decides to keep him, then he knows better and he thinks the can revive the player
5)
@khaled_a_d so much doom and gloom. We are talking about a kid that is still 21, how can you say with such certainty that he is done, when so many players had this injury and came back.
Look at VVD for instance.
Even R9 with with knee totally destroyed could come back and conquer the world again.
Why everyone here immediately thinks of Umtiti?
Who by the way was the guy that refused to get surgery and undermined himself his long-term prognosis