11 - Ousmane Dembélé - V1

[El Flaco]

10 goals and 21 assists as a 19 year old in Bundesliga are incredible stats.

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Also this (although Dembele had yet to play 2 remaining BuLi matches + DfB-final).

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[Ousmane Dembélé]

But lets not pretend he didnt play for 2nd best team in bundes, im not saying he is bad, just unproven on biggest stage and he can at the end become flop, 150 for that is a joke

Those stats a great for any teenage player playing on any team. 20+ assists in a single season as a teenager is unheard of. Of course paying 150m was a bad deal on our part, but it would've been the case no matter which player we went after. Teams knew we had the 222m from the Neymar deal and were really desperate to get someone in; we were always going to have to massively overpay.

He's 20, he hasn't had many chances to prove himself on the big stage. He still had 2 goals and 6 assists in 10 matches in the CL last year, which is still very good.

 

[vlad]

One season in Ligue 1 in a bottom half table team too, but you probably don't even know about that.

I surely didnt watch him there, did you? Or just you tube compilations? I noticed guy likes to hold on the ball and lose it often, finishing is also not his best strength, i would not complain if he came at reasonble price, but now he has to become matchwinner fast to start showing he might be worth it, and i doubt he will do that.

 

[Alik]

I surely didnt watch him there, did you? Or just you tube compilations?

I guess everyone that you haven't personally watched is unproven then.

I noticed guy likes to hold on the ball and lose it often, finishing is also not his best strength, i would not complain if he came at reasonble price, but now he has to become matchwinner fast to start showing he might be worth it, and i doubt he will do that.

That's different from summing him up as a unproven player with fancy skills.

I don't expect him to light the world on fire immediately either, as he is just coming back from injury, has built to team chemistry at all, and will depend on Valverde's tactics.

 

[vlad]

Those stats a great for any teenage player playing on any team. 20+ assists in a single season as a teenager is unheard of. Of course paying 150m was a bad deal on our part, but it would've been the case no matter which player we went after. Teams knew we had the 222m from the Neymar deal and were really desperate to get someone in; we were always going to have to massively overpay.

He's 20, he hasn't had many chances to prove himself on the big stage. He still had 2 goals and 6 assists in 10 matches in the CL last year, which is still very good.

Look, dont understand me wrong, i hope you are right and dembele helps barca reach higher level, but im not convinced and its a huge gamble

 

[Devils]

Look, dont understand me wrong, i hope you are right and dembele helps barca reach higher level, but im not convinced and its a huge gamble

So tell us which non Youtube skillz player would have been a less of a gamble and the fee for which we could have bought him for to replace a key player like Neymar.

 

[xXKonan]

Not surprised by Vlad's posts. He's not exactly a fan of dembele going by his posts during the whole transfer saga on here.

 

[vlad]

So tell us which non Youtube skillz player would have been a less of a gamble and the fee for which we could have bought him for to replace a key player like Neymar.

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

 

[vlad]

So tell us which non Youtube skillz player would have been a less of a gamble and the fee for which we could have bought him for to replace a key player like Neymar.

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

 

[Devils]

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

We rushed to replace Neymar because Barca, in recent decades, has always operated using a three forward attacking system.

There was pretty much zero chance that the majority of that Neymar money was gong to be used on anything other than an attacking replacement.

 

[henias]

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

What do u mean similar type of player? They needed a quality young winger, and Dembele just happen to be what they wanted.

And they wanted Coutinho as a midfielder.

And a RB which is Semedo.

How is it only about the "mighty front 3"?

 

[Aryagorn]

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

In fairness to the board, they had also tried to bring in Coutinho even after they got Dembele. Imagine we had succeeded in bringing Coutinho.

Add bringing in Semedo to that and they not only solved the RB problem from last year but also brought Roberto back to midfield (on top of the addition of Coutinho)

That's addition of 2 quality midfielders, RB and a replacement for Neymar.

The board's stupidity lies in being stubborn and chasing only non-signable players like Veratti or waiting on the same transfer target till it's too late like in the case of Veratti & Coutinho and just plain incompetence in general like losing out on one of the best players in the world.



Unfortunately, the above does not seem very clear because an equally stubborn manager that we have onboard who just does not want to bench stars! Also of course, we couldn't sign Coutinho cause of their incompetence

 

[JamDav1982]

How did 'incompetence' lead to Coutinho not being signed?

 

[MessiCam]

In the first place, why did even barca rushed to replace neymar with similar type of player? Didnt last two seasons teached us that having so unbalanced squad is not solution, mighty front three and average midfield, i would not replace neymar with same type of player and for sure i would not spend such money on attacker when in midfield rakitic is in first 11.

But now barca will buy probably coutinho for 100+ m, how far barca can keep like this we will see.

Neymar and Dembele are very different players but wingers are and always have been an integral part of the way Barça play.

However, I agree that these 100 Million + signings are not sustainable for a club like Barça and that the midfield needs sorting ASAP.

 

[Aryagorn]

How did 'incompetence' lead to Coutinho not being signed?

As far as I remember there was not a lot of difference between what we were ready to offer for him & what Liverpool were demanding.

Who plays a hardball in bidding when you desperately need a player, there's not a lot of time left in the transfer window and the said player is a star player at one of the biggest clubs!? Besides we had already overpaid for Paulinho at least by that much anyway and there just was no way we could do that!

The incompetence lies in not making the right choices!

Overpaying for a 29 some thing unproven player & overpaying for a proven player who is 4 years younger. Which one would you choose!?