Yashar1899
New member
Whay?
6 - Carles Alena
- Thread starter raki
- Start date
Whay?
navidjaan
New member
Sorry man, but you're completely wrong. As soon as he began to grow in the Cadete years, he even more than before became his team's best midfielder, even more so than before. Maybe Ayoub played better in 09/10, but that's it. When Lee joined in 2011 (when he was 13), the two of them EXPLODED together and were the team's two best players. He has always been the starter even with competition from two great talents like Ayoub and Spanoudakis, both of whom have left now. Even before he started to rapidly grow in size, even at football 7, he was a small and fast winger and the captain of his team. He has been a class player and the leader on his team's since the day he stepped in to La Masia. I have no idea why he hasn't gotten more hype neither, but it will hit him like a wall now for sure.
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navidjaan
New member
So happy for him I could cry! I remember when I watched him for the first time in 2014 when he played for Juvenil B as a Cadet player. Hasn't changed his style a bit since then, only grown extremely well as a footballer. Even Xavi praised him when he was asked about him in Barça TV's 'Promeses'. I'm hoping for a good year as a rotational regular at Barça B (Kaptoum, Gumbau, Xemi will probably be preferred over him to begin with), and then a breakthrough year in 2017/2018, with promotion to the first team the next year. Lucho seems to love him, given that he, as a just finished Juvenil player, has participated in all training sessions so far and got a third of the game vs Celtic. Very promising.
BarcaJack
New member
I remember that I watched a Juvenil A game in which he and Lee combined to DESTROY the opposing side within 20 minutes. Yeah I knew it was only a Juvenil A game but he and Lee do have A LOT OF talent.
For now Alena needs to work on his decision making (often he's too confident when holding the ball) and the tactical awareness (the vision, when to make long passes, etc.).
For now Alena needs to work on his decision making (often he's too confident when holding the ball) and the tactical awareness (the vision, when to make long passes, etc.).
I don't think Lucho is interested in developing players. Roberto was played only when there was noone left to play.
And with all signings we made this summer there will be even leds chances for kids.
God Serena
New member
Up to this point he hasn't had any really special talents to develop. The only true potential for development was Samper and he kind of needs minutes elsewhere... Alena seems to be a bit different.
God Serena
New member
Why do you think he's leaving? I don't see him going until he causes a meltdown ala Mourinho.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
For someone who had no problem staying 3 years in the B team I won't be surprised if Lucho ended up with more years here than Rijkaard.
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
Aleña was always one of the talented youngsters but he wasn't the biggest standout of his generation back then. Lee was obviously the biggest and most hyped star and Ayoub was pushed up to advanced youth categories beyond his years because of the belief that the technical team had in him. He was younger than Aleña and still put into Juvenil A while the latter stayed back in Juvenil B. Even Kaptoum who was a year ahead and Oriol Busquets who was a year behind were both probably spoken of as much as or more than Aleña. I remember some of the older profiles on him likened him to a left footed Fabregas with a really good shot. That cluster of years had an abundance of extremely promising young players and Aleña wasn't the most hyped of them.
It was in the past 2 years that he's truly made a name for himself and surpassed them all. The ban stifled Lee and pushed Ayoub to leave but even then Aleña stepped up and has had an upward curve in his trajectory while most talents tend to falter and slow down at that level. Khaled wasn't doubting Aleña's talent, just saying he wasn't always the most recognized player of his generation before. Now he is and looks like he'll have a great shot at the first team soon enough.
I think Lucho is more selective with developing youth than reluctant altogether. He trusted Munir and Sandro from the get go of his managerial stint here even though he had a lot of pressure to get results. He even continued to give Munir several chances despite the fact that his initial high form quickly plummeted. He gave Roberto a lot of chances in his first year and then oversaw his development into a capable fullback and absolute utility player. Roberto looked pretty mediocre under 2 managers until Lucho brought out something in him that most of us never would've expected.
There are other cases where Lucho didn't want to use kids. He completely rejected Deulofeu from the beginning because of his flaws and eventually Adama too. He's been kind of reluctant with Samper overall because of his defensive weaknesses and didn't care much for Halilovic either. It's basically a matter of whether or not he's drawn to the player's ability from the beginning and notices that they have a good enough foundation to serve the first team while growing. So far he's shown that he thinks pretty highly of Aleña IMO.
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God Serena
New member
And Aleña's been called up for Leicester as well. Hopefully he gets even more time to show us what he's got.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Lucho trusted both Munir & Sandro since 2014,when Pedro was there and Deulofeu was called back and he even had the option to force buying another attacker rather than a 5th CB.
Munir started playing with B team in January when the rotation of 1st team was set and the B team was fighting relegation and had need for every possible help. Also they both were promoted b4 Pedro departure.
Munir started playing with B team in January when the rotation of 1st team was set and the B team was fighting relegation and had need for every possible help. Also they both were promoted b4 Pedro departure.
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