Agree that Rabiot is much superior player (why this even debate) and perharps would contribute much more to Barca than Fat king Arthur (still hasn't played for Liverpool lol)
Imo, 3 the most overrated players on this forum were: Arthur, Puig. And Halilovic (he wasn't that hyped/loved for a long period) but he was nicknamed Croatian Messi, Messi's successor and similar.
I was personally insulted the most regarding Halilovic and Arthur.
About Halil, he is from my country and I knew him better so I wrote right away that he is a one trick pony, quite dumb, lazy, won't defend, with a horrible physique.
And that Dinamo Zagreb has masked his flaws, built a team around him so that he could look way better than he is, in order to sell him to some naive big club. Barca, in this case.
But those were the different days, while Barca was still on top of Europe and back then the sentiment was still: our system/idea/DNA/development of young players is the best formula in Europe and we need to stick with it.
So, in those days, 6-7 years ago, players like Puig, Halilovic or Denis still looked perfectly normal and not too many has seen anything wrong with 165cm short, lightweight midfielders who struggle when the stronger wind blows.
About Arthur, in those days, on our forum there was a theory that the key to Barca's success during Pep was "a controller" aka Xavi.
Which is not wrong, though, but...
Anyway, a lot of guys were desperate for a new controller and there was an enormous amount of hate towards all midfielders who weren't of Xavi/Iniesta/Thiago mould. Raki and Vidal were hated a lot.
So, there was a push among fans to buy a classic, 165cm short, technical controller who will bring us back to greatness.
For years, the ultimate favorite was Verratti.
Since we couldn't get him, the board also jumped on "a controller" ship and we started to look for a new Xavi.
We almost bought that clown Jean Michel Seri from Nice, who was a horrible, short and light midfielder with some nice possession-recycling passes who was a ghost in defending and with overall horrible physique (dead tired after 20 minutes).
We have almost signed him and dodged a bullet in the final minutes.
He moved to a mighty Fulham, played meh and moved to Turkey soon.
But our obsession with a controller hasn't stopped and suddenly the best young new midfielder in the world on our forum started to be young Arthur and young Frenkie.
Forum jumped into a: we need to get them both, we will dominate the world for the next decade with these two magicians.
Arthur was supposed to be the new Xavi.
And Frenkie was Frenkie, the best thing since the sliced bread.
Also, back in those days, people still haven't realized that in general our style was outdated, and that one controller or one change won't save us.
So, we still had a sentiment (my favorite lol): if executed perfectly, nothing can EVER beat TikiTaka
Lol. Every style, tactic, formation EVER got outdated over time, but our fans thought that TikiTaka is so eternal that nothing will ever be able to outsmart it.
So, in those days, during Lucho and EV, people pointed fingers towards Rakitic, Vidal and Paulinho as reasons for our CL failures, as in: they are not true Barca DNA players, they can't circulate the ball like Xavi and Iniesta and they are not good in press resistance.
So, apart from an idea that a controller will save us, suddenly the most important footballing skill for our fans started to be: PRESS RESISTANCE
I mean, in general, fine. Press resistance was a good skill to have.
But instead of trying to find new ways to get the ball to attackers (long balls? Counters? Wings?), we were stuck in the past and for us, the only way to play football was: building from a GK and defenders, who then pass the ball to 1 or 2 controllers who are supposed to resist the press, dribble past 2-3 players and get the ball to midfielders or wingers.
So, since we were stuck in those ideas how we should never change, how we will eternally build from the back and try to TikiTaka opponents on the ground eternally = in that state of mind, Frenkie and Arthur, who both had better press resistance than let's say Rakitic or Vidal, seemed like perfect fits for us, for our fans.
But... not too many questioned: what about other traits: like creating, long balls, counters, scoring?
Well, back then we had a sentiment: midfielder doesn't need to score. Because Xavi and Iniesta didn't score too much and we still dominated. So the logic was: we just need to find copies of Xavi and Iniesta who will recycle possession till death and eventually Messi and attackers will do their magic.
A lot of fans then called for selling of Raki, Vidal and similar players since we have enough of Barca DNA midfielders for the next decade in: Arthur, Frenkie, Alena, Puig and Oriol Busquets. (Who are all, except Frenkie, more or less the same shit and more or less the same type of a player).
Back then, I wrote that football is moving away from Barca DNA lightweight midfielders and that they'll get eaten alive in Europe and that eventually we'll need at least 1-2 players in roster like Rakitic or Vidal to give some physical balance.
In that sense, since we'll need some stronger or different midfielders, my idea was always: why not sign also Rabiot, since he was free. Since we paid 40m for a clown Arthur and 85-90m for a semi-fraud Frenkie?
Arthur/Frenkie/Rabiot debate was one of those where I got the most insults ever in a 10 years history of posting here.
Since, Frenkie was considered as a the sure thing, the future best midfielder for the next decade.
And Arthur was the next Xavi. They were sure deals.
Me mentioning Rabiot or that we could have signed Rabiot instead one of them was a total blasphemy back then.
And as always, fans didn't want to listen or see bad indicators regarding their new favorite toys, like:
Arthur:
-- playing only one good season in a questionable Brasilian league
-- Arthur playing only backpasses even at Brazil. Fans replied: he is young, he will improve. Or: he needs better teammates who run into space so that he could play forward passes.
-- also, his press resistance was a better fit for a crazy South American football where the opponents run like kamikaze/headless chicken towards you and you just have to move left and right with the ball, just like in some video game
-- when Arthur came, it was evident after 2 matches that he looks slightly overweight for a footballer and that he is dead tired after 20 minutes of every match. Fans defended him: he is tired because he runs his ass off, because Busi and Raki don't run so a poor Arthur has to do everything by himself
-- also, I often pointed towards his lack of defensive skills and how his defensive stats are quite bad for a pivot. Fans replied: well, he pressures the opponents and then they mistakes so Raki and Busi steal those balls. But Raki and Busi have good defensive stats mostly due to Arthur who does all the job and they just pump their stats because of Arthur. Like lol
-- about Frenkie:
-- he also had only one good season and even in that season he has spent like 50% of time playing as a playmaking CB for Ajax, so he wasn't a CDM or midfielder at all before joining us. Or, to be precise: we bought a 90m midfielder who played 20 matches as a midfielder in his life. And then we wonder 4 years later why Frenkie still struggles as a midfielder and why he hasn't got a clear midfield role/position. Maybe because he never had one, lol?
-- also, in his Ajax days, I wrote: young players often shine in one system and struggle when they move to a different club.
-- also: young players are often not taken seriously and they get tons of room since the opponents think: this kid won't try anything, he is young and afraid. So, Frenkie had tons of space as a young, unknown playmaking CB at Ajax and a part of his good displays came from a fact that no one has marked/closed him down too strictly and he was enjoying an open field, to do what he does the best: run with the ball past the opponents who run at him
-- but even, towards the end of a season in matches vs Bayern (iirc) and Germany who figured out that he is dangerous when he gets too much space, Germans put a man-marker on him and Frenkie was invisible
I asked back then the same question: what if Frenkie actually sucks when he doesn't have an open field infront of him to run with the ball?
His defenders replied: you just hate him for no reason, he is young, he will improve.
But, 4-5 years later, exactly that happened. Once when Frenkie is not a playmaking CB with tons of space, he is quite meh as a creative CDM or CM in tight spaces. He is not too fast in releasing the ball, he can't dribble in tight spaces and he is not too creative.
We got some Dutch Cardioman in midfield for whom no one knows what is his best position or what his main attributes are.
And today, if you ask someone from outside of Barcaworld, who is a better player: Frenkie or Rabiot, imo they are probably regarded as players of more or less the same quality (or with the same amount of flaws).
Regarding Arthur vs Rabiot, that is not even a debate anymore. Arthur is barely a footballer and Rabiot played for big clubs, more or less as a starter or the 12th player for Psg and Juve for the last 10 years in a row and played an important role for French NT team, who is in top 2-3 in the world.
Also, one thing that people forget is a sample of matches.
When we discussed young Arthur, Frenkie and Rabiot, look at their stats before Barca/Juve:
Rabiot had 150 matches for Psg in league 1, and 36 Champions league matches under his belt. (Even playing in Psg:Barca 4:0 as a starter).
Frenkie had 57 league matches for Ajax and 23 European matches.
Arthur had only 35 Brasilian league matches in his career and 0 European experience.
So, in hindsight, who had logically bigger chances to flop?
Brasilian guy with 35 league matches in his career or Rabiot with 186 matches for a rich and strong Psg (who would have had even more matches if he wasn't sent to stands in his last season because he didn't want to renew with Psg)?
So, for me Arthur remains the textbook example of everything what is wrong with Barcafans and Barca's board, where people are stuck in the past.
And people who see one trait from the golden era (possession and press resistance in Arthur's case) and they neglect 1000 of other more important footballing skills for a modern era because of 2 skills which remind them of TikiTaka from 2011'.
Laporta is till guilty of this with obsession with Catalan or Spanish players.
And Xavi has probably seen Ferran Torres as a new Pedro or something.
Anyway, for me, Arthur will always remain the most hated player who played for us and an example of everything what is wrong among our fanbase.
But, tbh, majority of our fans are less delusioned lately and majority of them moved away from "Barca DNA purists" idea and accepted some new ideas and realized that Barca's way from 2011 is probably not the best option to go in 2025 or 2030'.
