6 - Carles Alena

[gregorrin10]

And now the next flop Arthur is coming. Alena is screwed.

So stupid. Arthur is a pure controller type, and Alena is not even a pure CM, he's half AM, half attacker. Bringing Arthur in does nothing to diminish Alena's chances. Getting sick and tired of people bashing how La Masia is falling apart every time we bring in a new player. On the other hand you same people will defend not good enough Denis until the end. Well guess what, it's exactly Denis, who is in Alena's way. So the way i see it, it's either Denis staying or more likely, Denis (and Gomes) being sold, and Alena getting promoted and getting a fair chance in the first team. While Arthur is the kind of midfielder this team has been craving for 3 years now. This isn't FIFA, you can't play a 3 man midfield with Denis, Alena and Coutinho, since they're all the same type of players and all play the same position basically. Arthur or at least his type brings balance, calmness, passing and vision to our midfield that we've been missing since Xavi. And this is not me saying this kid will be a proper replacement for him, it's about the profile we're lacking and that Arthur brings into our midfield.

 

[messi1995]

Couldn't said it better, gregorrin10. If there is any player that block Aleña's chance it's china maestro Paulinho, gomes and Denis. We should sell them all. Right now we are lacking a controller so signing Arthur doesn't block la masia players chances to play for Barca first team. Remember that Busquets had to compete with peak Yaya Toure and sometimes Keita too when he was promoted. Aleña like Greogorrin said isn't even a controller which is a profile we clearly need. We don't even have a controller in the B team.

What our plan should be is: buy players we need because la masia players needs experience before they can be starters. Buy players we need, but at the same time let us promote youth players so they can fight and compete. Nothing wrong with the signing of Arthur. F.ex we needed a LCB before umtiti and we bought him, but it still doesn't block Jorge Cuenca's chance to play for the first team. Would you rather promote Jorge Cuenca and play him instead of buying Umtiti? no way even tho Cuenca is fantastic. But ofc I'm talking about players in the same postition. But when it comes to profiles, Aleña and Arthur are different. We don't have a controller so let us buy Arthur because we need him and it won't affect Aleña.

 

[tacticvarium]

 

[xXKonan]

According to Cadena Ser, he will be promoted to the first team next season.

 

[God Serena]

According to Cadena Ser, he will be promoted to the first team next season.

Probably promoted and loaned to whoever looks set to get relegated next season.

 

[messi1995]

Tired of loaning out la masia players. Use him as one of our backup players so we can get a better squad depth. Right now I don't see any good backup midfielders for Iniesta, Busi and Rakitic except for Coutinho and he needs time to adapt. La masia players usually fails when they are loaned out so why not promote Aleña and let him learn from the best.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Probably promoted and loaned to whoever looks set to get relegated next season.

Iniesta already stated that he will have to make a choice about moving to China before the end of April. With Coutinho arrival I can see him doing it. Gomes and Denis have one leg outside of the club already and it seems Arthur won't join in Summer.
So there is a chance that only midfielders we have in our squad in September are: Busquets-Rakitic-Coutinho-Paulinho and Samper who will likely be sold too, along Vidal if we continue 442.
We might have a need for Alena to stay, also club seem more interested this days to prove they are La Masia friendly, was one of the reasons we got Gerard back

 

[God Serena]

Iniesta already stated that he will have to make a choice about moving to China before the end of April. With Coutinho arrival I can see him doing it. Gomes and Denis have one leg outside of the club already and it seems Arthur won't join in Summer.
So there is a chance that only midfielders we have in our squad in September are: Busquets-Rakitic-Coutinho-Paulinho and Samper who will likely be sold too, along Vidal if we continue 442.
We might have a need for Alena to stay, also club seem more interested this days to prove they are La Masia friendly, was one of the reasons we got Gerard back

I didn't know Iniesta was on the fence about leaving, but I highly doubt Gomes actually finds his way out of the club, no matter how poorly he performs or how bad his mental state is. Samper I think could stay until January if Arthur doesn't come in the summer, especially with the club's heightened La Masia desperation (Although I believe he will and Mina will be sacrificed), so our options will most likely be: Busquets-Rakitic-Coutinho-Gomes-Paulinho-Samper/Arthur. However, I don't see Vidal lasting past this season, even if 442 continues, as by then his role will be diminished enough for Arnaiz or Nahuel or maybe some other surprise promote to fill it instead.

We might need Alena, for sure, but that's not enough to convince me he'll be with the first team next season. All he needs is one major flaw to his gameplay that will undoubtedly pop up when he starts getting minutes and his time here will come to an end. The standards for a B team player to succeed are nowhere near as low as players brought in from other clubs. If he does stay I'd be genuinely shocked.

 

[Horatio]

I saw an article posted somewhere explaining how there is a great generation of La Masia players coming up. Is this the general sentiment?

 

[FCBfan22]

I didn't know that Puyol is his agent...

 

[messi1995]

Puyol is the agent of some promising la masia youngsters like Aleña, Eric Garcia (Ex la masia, now city), Adria Bernabe and ablo Paez.

 

[BarçaBarça]

He should get a substantial amount of minutes next season if Iniesta leaves. We owe him and ourselves a fair chance for him to prove himself, and Copa-matches won't be enough, imo.
With Iniesta gone and Arthur not here there should be plenty of minutes for him, as I see it - Coutinho can't play all the time.

 

[God Serena]

With the injury to Busquets Alena has found himself called up for the clash with Athletic this Sunday.

 

[serghei]

With the injury to Busquets Alena has found himself called up for the clash with Athletic this Sunday.

Sweet. Hope he plays.

 

[tacticvarium]

[tw]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Valverde: Aleñá compared to Iniesta? Iniesta is a unique player, no one can be compared to him. But Aleñá is a player who has a bright future at this club, without a doubt." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fcbblive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#fcbblive</a> [md]</p>— barcabstuff (@barcabstuff) <a href="https://twitter.com/barcabstuff/status/975000902531801088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> [/tw]