8 - Pedri

[Nazario1985]

It is still crazy to sell him.

What's even more crazy is to turn him into Ansu Fati 2.0

 

[Blanco]

Selling Pedri is your best solution for financial problems if some club offers 50 mil. Barca has at least 4 better CMs (Gundo obviously, FDJ for sure, Fermin because of his impact in the final third and Gavi, because of his character, could argue for Roberto also, but he doesnt have the legs anymore). It's clear that your team play better without him slowing down the pace.

 

[JohnN]

Why don’t I see you in de Jong’s thread?

De Jong has had great individual performances even when the rest of the team was performing poorly. we have collectively improved but he was there during that time. Still, for the right amount he is nit indispensable.

 

[serghei]

Don't think it would be blasphemous to consider selling him anymore.

His value declined a lot though between injuries, poor form, lack of end product and subpar physique. Doubt anyone comes knocking at 90m or so. He'd be dead in EPL's pace and physicality, bar playing for City.

I'd still keep him than sell him for 40-50m.

 

[serghei]

As i've said before, nobody, NOBODY in this current disasterous period with awful management and coaching should be evaluated at face value. Every single player that looked great some years ago has deteriorated. Every single player that looked good at other clubs, when we acquired them, looks deteriorated. No exception. Only another up and coming guys like Yamal and Cubarsi, who are little kids yet and haven't eaten the poison enough, look outstanding despite their age. That should get you a clue. Complete revamping is needed. There's no way this squad should play worse football than Girona, let alone likes of Granada and Villareal. Stop with the emotional hysteria.

I don't believe current Barca squad is among top5 in the world like some people here have suggested, only because it's incredibly unbalanced in various ways. Lots of players with wrong profile/age/style/mentality have been acquired. Lots of very young kids have been played to death or used in wrong ways. Lot's of positions have not been served proper acquisitions at all. That's also on the disasterous incompetent management. But even with these makeshift squads we should do better. Much better than under the last years under Xavi and before too.

And then add up the woodoo doll injury contamination that has been problem for years under the similar staff, both training and physio. There's no way that's just unfortunate accident. Both shitty training routines and bad assessments from therapists have made the avalanche rolling.

tl;dr: everything is shit, Kali Yuga for FC Barca

Unbelievable delusion. Truly amazing.

Posts like this one are a vital reminder to not take this forum too seriously. It exists in its own illogical bubble, and is best treated as such.

Part of its charm I guess...

 

[Barcaman]

Can't wait to see him in front of this defense thats finally clicking

That's it. Few months ago everyone looked bad. Defense improved now and are looking more solid and getting better results.

Pedri is quality and will continue to be so.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Unbelievable delusion. Truly amazing.

Posts like this one are a vital reminder to not take this forum too seriously. It exists in its own illogical bubble, and is best treated as such.

Part of its charm I guess...

Whos cow would be mooing lmao. Playing one of the worst football in history since Cruiff for most part is just a fact that everybody without agenda has noticed. You're one of the rare ones, who refuses to see it because of your a priori love for Xavi. It would be great, if he can turn it around hollywood movie style, but we all seen what his coaching skills, especially tactically are like for enough sample sized chunk. He's an amateur and it shows.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Don't think it would be blasphemous to consider selling him anymore.

I was thinking about that the other day, there are plenty of comments about selling him on reddit and twitter because we play better without him, but the same exact comments are made about Frenkie and same exact angry reactions from other fans.

Diving deeper into it, I think there are fair arguments in both sides.

-On one hand, we played actually better without both, we were able to be faster, we were able to change pace and tempo in the game, got back the element of surprise.
The truth is, current midfield trio of Christensen, Gundogan and Fermin has different instinctive elements in it:
Christensen is pure destroyer, Gundogan is a controller of the game, pace, Fermin is an attacking midfielder who attacks space in opponents penalty area.
Each one does his job perfectly, Gundogan is allowed to be the sole controller of the game and he is like a coach on the pitch, without Pedri or De Jon interfering, Fermin is the goal scoring midfielder which is something that Xavi wanted to have from the start, and foolishly tried to change Pedri into one when it isn't his game.
Both Pedri and Frenkie are more of controller or b2b, both slow the game down. Frenkie keep the ball too much, Pedri wants to play in slower tempo. It is easier to become lethargic with those 2.

-On the other hand, from pure individual ability, only Gundogan is superior midfielder to those 2 players, Gavi is a level below and Fermin is even a level lower. What we have seen is a small sample size without them, and it was mostly against teams that won't sit deep against us, and wasn't that great in first place.
There is also a question of coaching, was Xavi the guy to get the best out of those 2? Is someone else capable of getting the best out of those 2? It is a fair question although I don't agree it is the case.
There is also the question of other factors, when those 2 were out 3 other things that helped the team happened:
1-Ter Stegen is back, and actually back in form. Having a good GK is essential factor.
2-Raphinha is back, and he is statistically our best G/A per minutes in the team. Our best and quickest attacker who moves the most without the ball. Giving us more option in attack.
3-Cubarsi emerging, and while I have question marks about his defense, he is undeniably the best passing CB since at least Marquez (and might be even better) and this is helping the team to get out of the back better, in a way it makes the need of a midfielder dropping back and being the carrier a redundant trait.

And we can add a 4th factor, which is Christensen doing a 5/10 job as DM, which helps the team well, it is better than anything we had in the position this year.


_________________________________________


But for me, I think what is clear is that while I don't think that either is the issue, I think that both Pedri and De Jong are simply not working well together, that we need to break this duo.
Sometimes in football that math isn't equivalent to the total of quality, 10 + 10 sometimes get you 30 and other times it equals 12 depending on the fit and the team dynamics. Both Pedri and De Jong are quality players but you don't get the best of them by putting them together, it makes things more complicated than it needs to be, it makes us slower and more predictable. One has to leave.

And the decision to sell one of them, needs to come from upper management, from Deco specifically, because a new coach is most likely to repeat Xavi mistake, he will want to keep his best players and try to make it work. Coaches usually have this ego thing of thinking they are the gods who can make their ideas work and they can change players.


It is also the easiest way to get some relief financially, and be able to improve other positions without weakening the team much in other areas, if we can sell one of both and get a CDM, LW, that is a Win. That will be done with selling, loaning deadweights and registering Roque, Fermin and signing back back up GK and Cancelo.

_____________

Now which one should be sold?
That is the tougher part.
Pedri has the bigger potential tbh, and Frenkie is currently the better player and the more reliable one. Frenkie is also our only midfielder who is in his prime and fairly athletic and physical. Both has contract until 2026 and contract talks should start soon.
I am leaning toward selling Pedri tbh, it is too risky as he might fulfil his potential elsewhere, but I believe it is always difficult to develop several players of the same age at the same time. Gavi, Pedri and Fermin won't last long together.

This will be a decision that should have the input of the coach and will also depend on the market.

His value declined a lot though between injuries, poor form, lack of end product and subpar physique. Doubt anyone comes knocking at 90m or so. He'd be dead in EPL's pace and physicality, bar playing for City.

I'd still keep him than sell him for 40-50m.

If a team paid 50M for Dembele at 26 with his injuries then Pedri at 21 should get us closer to 90 than to 50M.
Especially if Lucho stays with PSG, they will be the main contender to get him if we sell.

 

[FC B]

Better sell now than be feeling sorry like in Fati's case.

 

[jamrock]

Gavi>de jong 🥱

No one is gonna sell pedri in favor of de jong,even with his injuries, De jong is in his prime and doesn't offer us much, Pedri's prime is an unknown, so best to keep him and see how it develops.

 

[vegitot]

I agree with Khaled that Pedri and Frenkie are not a good duo. I mean, they have played together for 4 seasons already, yet no chemistry between them. Sort of Lampard and Gerrard thing (though Pedri and Frenkie are at club football instead).

 

[serghei]

Maybe sell both. Both have serious limitations. Neither is good on the defensive end and both lack end product to play more advanced. Lost hope of De Jong working as a DM and Pedri always seemed overrated to me. The fact that he can't cope with modern game intensity is a big fucking deal braeaker, does't matter how cute he is on the ball sometimes.

But we have to reinvest 200m in the squad to sign replacements.

For De Jong to work he needs to be paired with 2 specialist midfielders, a DM and an AM. We have neither bar old Gudogan who is so-so for us.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Maybe sell both. Both have serious limitations. Neither is good on the defensive end and both lack end product to play more advanced. Lost hope of De Jong working as a DM and Pedri always seemed overrated to me. The fact that he can't cope with modern game intensity is a big fucking deal braeaker, does't matter how cute he is on the ball sometimes.

But we have to reinvest 200m in the squad to sign replacements.

For De Jong to work he needs to be paired with 2 specialist midfielders. We have neither.

I have thought of this, but it is a drastic move tbh that is unlikely to work with Gundogan being so old and the rest of midfield being so young. It is just a big change in team dynamics in one summer.
Maybe over 2 years it could work, but asking the board to take that risk of selling one is already too much tbh.
Deco specifically said that they want to keep the core of the team intact.

 

[serghei]

They want to keep the core intact because selling our highest rated players has to he followed by some impressive signings. And I doubt they can pull off the 2nd part. Otherwise it makes zero sense to thin the squad even more.

 

[Porque]

We used to have arguements that we play better without Messi too, because it causes everyone else to stepup, work hard and be accountable. And I'm talking the version of Messi 8 years or so back, not the later years Messi.

What's causing us to look better without FdJ and Pedri (and Gavi) is that the whole team is peaking in their fitness now compared to when they were available. We would still look like Turdistan still right now not converting chances and conceding on the counter if Lewandowski hadn't of pulled top form out of his ass for example.

If all three were at their peak fitness and inside the squad, then undoubtably we would be better than we have been of recent with Fermin and Christensen.

If you go to our peak last season before injuries ravaged us, so around the SuperCopa triumph to before the Man Utd games roughly, we were a better side and playing better in that brief period. Frenkie was there.

So sell Pedri? Well yes, but only if his injuries lead him down the path of Ansu. But if he recovers, then he is an asset that we have just forgotten how good he really is.