6 - Carles Alena

[DonAK]

Alena would be like Pele times Maradona in the current Eredivisie.

Tadic, a mediocre, inconsistent player who eventually rode the bench more often than not at Southampton instantly took the league by storm and because Ajax's best player by a mile. Even Jose Altidore and amateur Lucas Piazon looked like prime Henry and Kaka - respectively - when they played there. You can scout talents there but not performances - they're worthless.

Tadic has played well in the CL too.

 

[Riordon]

Simply love this kid. As I consider both De Jong and Arthur to be DM/CM-mixes I think those two will be too defensive together. Its either Alena+Arthur or Alena+Frenkie. I think the Alena+Frenkie duo will be special.

 

[FC433]

^Or all three.

Arthur(CCM) FDJ(CDM) Alena(CAM)

 

[Richard.H]

Very bright spot in our old aging team. Hopefully he will be in mid once the old guard goes away. We need to be more like RM and start thinking about the next generation

 

[Riordon]

^Or all three.

Arthur(CCM) FDJ(CDM) Alena(CAM)

Doubt Frenkie is able to play as a lone pivot. He isn’t that good defensively when it comes to awareness. Good at pressing though. He is a CM for me. Left CM is his best position

 

[God Serena]

This kid is an infinitely better player than Coutinho. It's actually kind of shameful.

 

[Raketa10]

Really happy for him. He is getting better and better.

 

[BarçaBarça]

He should start in El Clasico alongside Raktic...

 

[Arizona Scott]

Very bright spot in our old aging team. Hopefully he will be in mid once the old guard goes away. We need to be more like RM and start thinking about the next generation

Heck no, Madrid is 10 points behind. Why would we model them.

He's playing like a guy who everyone expected Coutinho to be.

Except younger and he was free.

Not exactly. Pre Barca Coutinho had the most out of box goals the last three years in the top leagues, or at least very near the top in that. He was really supposed to help us score against bunkered defenses.

In fact Alena has shown nothing comparable to what Coutinho did for us in league last spring. Of course Coutinho hasn't been like that Coutinho for Liverpool, or his first 5 months here. Sadly hard to know if he will ever get that back and selling him might be right.

Hopeful Alena progresses nicely, no reason he shouldn't as he just turned 21, and becomes a Barca starter, but he is a long way to go and is not yet one to pencil in our starting midfield.

 

[PhilS]

OK, the more I see, the more I like this young guy. You can see him improve, game by game. Right now, he can play mainly as a sub, first off the bench when a comeback is needed. He is the midfielder who will be starting on the hyperspeed Dembele Barca team in a couple of years.

 

[aqua2nd]

Simply love this kid. As I consider both De Jong and Arthur to be DM/CM-mixes I think those two will be too defensive together. Its either Alena+Arthur or Alena+Frenkie. I think the Alena+Frenkie duo will be special.

Sometimes it sounds like you have agenda against Arthur in favor of De Jong.
For now I rate Arthur higher than De Jong because he is already proven for us and has very valuable and unique contribution to the team. For more discussion about De Jong position in the XI we have to see him play with the team first.
In the end I'm sure that we will find a way to make all of them work well together.

 

[gregorrin10]

Simply love this kid. As I consider both De Jong and Arthur to be DM/CM-mixes I think those two will be too defensive together. Its either Alena+Arthur or Alena+Frenkie. I think the Alena+Frenkie duo will be special.

De Jong has actually been compared to Iniesta a lot, even more than to Busquets sometimes, so Arthur-De Jong CM pairing is definitely not too defensive, plus since Valverde likes his midfielders to defend a lot, it would be perfect actually until EV is here. I'm actually really excited to see De Jong in midfield with Busquets, he'd have much more room for creativity and great passing, and freedom to roam forward with the ball at his feet, which he LOVES to do. And at least we'd have creativity and great technical passing alongside defensive strength, not like now when we have exactly none of those things (not even defensive strength, even if Valverde likes us to think so) with Rakitic-Vidal.

 

[EdmondDantes]

Low key hoping he gets the nod to start tomorrow. Unlikely but who knows.

 

[tacticvarium]

　
　
There are things that need to be tweaked obviously but he is getting more and more comfortable against La Liga teams.
I think he is already good enough to handle Girona-level teams as a starter.

 

[EdmondDantes]

Got 5 minutes last night. How wonderful...