I agree that Raphinha has been a better asset for the club, but it doesn't mean Dembele was poor, they are both great players. Dembele just had severe injury issues.
I think Raphinha is somewhat worse technically, but he is much better than Dembele in the physical and mental sides of the game which makes him the better and more dependable player overall. I think Dembele is the better talent but in football availability also matters and he was always being injured.
It would have frankly been nice to have both here, then we wouldn't need to go after Nico as we'd already have those profiles we need.
Raphinha is not worse technically, Dumbele is more agile in his ankles (slim bones) and has a bit more acceleration.
That results in him making some forced driblings or nice cuts. But that Fraud has no talent otherwise, he hits the ball randomly, has no ball control.
I prefer Raphinha over Nico and Dumbele. Has better workrate and is a bit more talented, that's why is more productive. But people here see running fast and cutting in as a talent so they rate those runners higher.
They have the peasant syndrome.
I think if we cut the hype off, Raphinha might be better than Lamine on the right. Yeah, Lamine has finishes, has some passes, has smoth skills, but that is more the trade of a finisher, he is rather slow and he is less mobile.
Lamine worked better than Raphinha because Xavi used his "wingers" as parking spaces for the ball. You stay wide, get the ball and wait for others to move.
The idiot refused to realise that tactic worked because Messi carried their legendary asses.
You need a briliant striker and a AM for that tactic to work, otherwise you pinball back to your keeper.
But in that scenario that failed, of creating time, Lamine is vastly superior. He was briliant for Spain too.
BTW now we have the AM for the tactic Xavi wanted.Still not Messi but clearly better than Gundo, we also need a more agile striker or a force of nature.
