Alejandro Grimaldo

[JamDav1982]

It is different because there simply is no other player left! Alba (who was also injured), Adriano (who is injured all the time) and Mathieu who has proven that he should never play LB again. So why not promote Grimaldo, let him train with the team and give him some minutes in games against Levante or Las Palmas.
For all other positions there are other players available and I would never complain about Lucho playing Sergi Roberto or Masche in midfield instead of Samper e.g.

Again it is quite simple....Lucho rates Mathieu as the better LB and would rather keep more experienced players on park and hope he starts playing better.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

But I am expressing a different opinion and this is a discussion forum. Just describing status quo adds nothing to a discussion.

 

[DonAK]

Can see this being another Fabregas saga some years down the road if he makes it big.

You can argue that Mathieu and Adriano are 'safer' options and that Lucho trust them more, but Lucho didn't even call him up for the pre-season tour!

Didn't even see the need to give him some minutes in a pre-season tour which would not have hurt at all so I think it's as simple as Lucho not rating Grimaldo and probably wouldn't really care if he left. Sad because I think he atleast deserved a few minutes in those meaningless games...

 

[Flavia]

Grimaldo wasn't given a shot. I don't know the reason, but from what I watched from him last season, at least a chance he should had gotten. Gumbau is getting chances, ffs. Grimaldo played way better than he did last season.
Maybe it's because Grimaldo refused to renew... who knows. All we can do is speculate, until someone says what's going on.

 

[DonAK]

Grimaldo wasn't given a shot. I don't know the reason, but from what I watched from him last season, at least a chance he should had gotten. Gumbau is getting chances, ffs. Grimaldo played way better than he did last season.
Maybe it's because Grimaldo refused to renew... who knows. All we can do is speculate, until someone says what's going on.

If we talk about meritocracy then Grimaldo was ahead of any other B team player that got a chance, and that too in a position where he easily could've gotten some minutes.

 

[Zebulun]

Because Grimaldo has been let go?

Plenty of La Masia players are getting chances.

What big club is giving youth players a chance more than Barca?

its no secret Masia hasn't been producing the kind of talent that we had in the past and i don't see munir/sandro making it here either. Roberto had one foot in stoke city before Lucho tried him at RB. lets not even discuss gumbau the valiant. To me its just seems as though the club is sending the wrong messages to the youth players, why would they work hard and aspire for first team if you know that adriano, whose not a reliable player they're willing to offer a new contract and you the opposite. i'm not saying that every masia player is worth fighting for as we all know some are bojan's, assulins etc. Grimaldo was one of B's top performers last year and didnt even get a look in for preseason. lets not forget the thiago debacle, will never forgive them for that.

 

[God Serena]

Mathieu been poor no doubt but so have Pique/Masch. Arguably been just as bad...... so lets just call up B team players.

Mathieu has been far worse than the both of them but even if he wasn't, if all of them were really performing on such a low level, perhaps bringing in a B team player wouldn't hurt. Or, we could, you know, use Bartra, who is ironically playing pretty well right now.

Rakitic been terrible.....call up B team players.

Our midfield is so depleted that we practically have no choice but to use B team players. I know the thought hurts you but that's just how it is right now.

Ter Stegen been poor.....should play Masip.

Or perhaps we could consider letting our starting goalkeeper play?

You are not living in reality. Coaches will in general play the better players even if off form when the alternative is a B team player.

Undoubtedly an on form Adriano or Mathieu is regarded much higher than Grimaldo.

Mathieu isn't a LB and should not be played there as it spells disaster nearly 100% of the time. Adriano isn't even off form, he just sucks.

Whether they're regarded to be higher or not, they're both quite large liabilities and if Grimaldo were to, say, contribute to us conceding four goals against Sevilla, we wouldn't actually be any worse off than we already are.

 

[JamDav1982]

Mathieu has been far worse than the both of them but even if he wasn't, if all of them were really performing on such a low level, perhaps bringing in a B team player wouldn't hurt. Or, we could, you know, use Bartra, who is ironically playing pretty well right now.



Our midfield is so depleted that we practically have no choice but to use B team players. I know the thought hurts you but that's just how it is right now.



Or perhaps we could consider letting our starting goalkeeper play?



Mathieu isn't a LB and should not be played there as it spells disaster nearly 100% of the time. Adriano isn't even off form, he just sucks.

Whether they're regarded to be higher or not, they're both quite large liabilities and if Grimaldo were to, say, contribute to us conceding four goals against Sevilla, we wouldn't actually be any worse off than we already are.

You are trying to blame Mathieu for Sevilla scoring four?

Was it his fault that Bilbao scored four?

Was it his fault Celta scored four?

The sevilla game that they scored four the whole defence was a shambles.

Masch/Pique/Barta were abysmal in those games. Arguably worse than Mathieu was.

You dont seem to grasp the idea that Matheiu like the other players is off form and the manager will think getting Mathieu back on form he is a better left back than Grimaldo.

He has proved in the past he is a better LB than he has been showing.

 

[El Flaco]

[tw]651650749974380544[/tw]

 

[El Flaco]

[tw]651478195447930880[/tw]

 

[Galning]

This looks like a new Jordi Alba case. Sad to see such a talent leave but this is the way Barça is being run at the moment.

 

[BBZ8800]

What other players? Mathieu and Adriano? Both older players. What youth do we have at LB that i'm unaware of? We offloaded alot of our youth recently because they simply were not going to get chances in the first team, but Grimaldo plays in a position with 2 injury prone senior squad members and 2 cbs who can technically play there, one Vermalaen isn't even a real player he just shows up once every couple months and Matheiu just doesn't play well there.

I suppose this was decided long ago, because it's incredibly odd that with our injury problems that grimaldo was never called up.

Edit: So the club I guess doesn't want him anymore. Hopefully they buy a senior deputy and recruit some youth.

For the beginning, we have Alba who will play here for years.
We have somewhat playable Mathieu and Adriano, who are miles better than Grimaldo. Not to mention experience and actual defending.

So, we will probably just buy a random 5-10 Million reserve LB from some La Liga team and have him for the next 5 years.
A player like Sylvinho, Belletti, or Adriano when he was younger.

Anyway, people are jumping (not you, I am talking in general) for every young player we let go as if every youngster is a future Xavi or Puyol.
Omg, we let Deulofeu. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Adama. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Montoya. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Samper. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Grimaldo. How is that possible?

Barca usually makes 1 mistake in 10 years and 50 right judgements in the meantime.
The problem is, as always, that our fans are rating our youngster too high and fans are still blinded with that lucky La Masia generation from a few years ago, which happens once in 1000 years.

It is very probably that in 2-3-4 years, all players mentioned above will play for Everton, Levante, West Ham, Benfica and a random Russian team.
Let's see how many of those will make their career outside of Barca.

The only thing I agree, we should make more money from those transfers, if possible.

Can see this being another Fabregas saga some years down the road if he makes it big.

You can argue that Mathieu and Adriano are 'safer' options and that Lucho trust them more, but Lucho didn't even call him up for the pre-season tour!

Didn't even see the need to give him some minutes in a pre-season tour which would not have hurt at all so I think it's as simple as Lucho not rating Grimaldo and probably wouldn't really care if he left. Sad because I think he atleast deserved a few minutes in those meaningless games...

He won't be a new Fabregas.

That excuse can be used on every single young player...

 

[gasgas]

For the beginning, we have Alba who will play here for years.
We have somewhat playable Mathieu and Adriano, who are miles better than Grimaldo. Not to mention experience and actual defending.

So, we will probably just buy a random 5-10 Million reserve LB from some La Liga team and have him for the next 5 years.
A player like Sylvinho, Belletti, or Adriano when he was younger.

Anyway, people are jumping (not you, I am talking in general) for every young player we let go as if every youngster is a future Xavi or Puyol.
Omg, we let Deulofeu. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Adama. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Montoya. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Samper. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Grimaldo. How is that possible?

Barca usually makes 1 mistake in 10 years and 50 right judgements in the meantime.
The problem is, as always, that our fans are rating our youngster too high and fans are still blinded with that lucky La Masia generation from a few years ago, which happens once in 1000 years.

It is very probably that in 2-3-4 years, all players mentioned above will play for Everton, Levante, West Ham, Benfica and a random Russian team.
Let's see how many of those will make their career outside of Barca.

The only thing I agree, we should make more money from those transfers, if possible.



He won't be a new Fabregas.

That excuse can be used on every single young player...

 

[BBZ8800]

This looks like a new Jordi Alba case. Sad to see such a talent leave but this is the way Barça is being run at the moment.

No, seriously, is there any I told you so, or a betting thread here?

People should remember all current players and see where will they be in 2-3-5 years.
If we sell Halil, people will say that we will lose the next Messi.
Deulofeu, well, a similar story.
Adama will terorize EPL defenses. Well, let's see about that.
Grimaldo is the new Alba, Fabregas.
If we sell Bartra, he will be the next Pique...

Barca sold 100, but seriously, 100 players since Alba, Pique and Farbegas.
3 of them turned out to be mistakes.
Other 97 were Muniesa's, Cunca's, Bojan's and 80 weak players.

Yes, there is a chance that 1 out of 10 players rejected this year will turn into a 10-20M player.
But that is the risk.
It was discussed before.
Barca can't aim for sixtuple or 12-tuple if we will give 100s of chances to Grimaldo, Samper, Munir, Sandro, Rafinha, Bartra, Montoya, Halil, random new 10 players next summer.

We can either win CLs and sometimes make a mistake about some youngster.
Or, we can try every promising youngster in 20 matches (in order to not let him go by a mistake), but then you won't get a team's chemistry with our 15-16 squad players and you won't win CLs.
You can't have both CL titles and Wenger's little playground where every youngster gets 20 chances before we sell the kid.

Imo, luckily, our board picked CL titles.
In terms of youngsters, that means:
1. try to be a GOAT in Bteam and earn your chance
2. when you get minutes in Ateam, try to be awesome right away
3. if you get loaned, try to be awesome there

Grimaldo is a school-book example of a player who won't get chances at Barca.
Ok player, but he didn't shake the world exactly in Bteam and that's it.

Personally, since we are winning CLs, I am more than satisfied that:
-- Munir, Sandro, Bartra, Roberto, Rafinha, Halil, Gumbau, Samper (in a preseason) got chances

Imo, we can't ask for more.
But some of you want both:
1. CL titles and chemistry
2. and millions of chances for every La Masia prospect

Also, it is not only Lucho.
If Grimaldo is that good, I am sure that Gerard Lopez, our former player and who knows what level of talent Barca's first team needs, would whisper to Lucho: "oh, Lucho, keep this kid. He is very good."
Lucho and Gerard trained (as kids and as players) with 1000s of young players.
They played against 1000s of fullbacks.
And now, they trained a lot of kids who are fullbacks.

I think that their sample and their knowledge is slightly better than ours.

 

[Bran the Greenseer]

For the beginning, we have Alba who will play here for years.
We have somewhat playable Mathieu and Adriano, who are miles better than Grimaldo. Not to mention experience and actual defending.

So, we will probably just buy a random 5-10 Million reserve LB from some La Liga team and have him for the next 5 years.
A player like Sylvinho, Belletti, or Adriano when he was younger.

Anyway, people are jumping (not you, I am talking in general) for every young player we let go as if every youngster is a future Xavi or Puyol.
Omg, we let Deulofeu. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Adama. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Montoya. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Samper. How is that possible?
Omg, we let Grimaldo. How is that possible?

Barca usually makes 1 mistake in 10 years and 50 right judgements in the meantime.
The problem is, as always, that our fans are rating our youngster too high and fans are still blinded with that lucky La Masia generation from a few years ago, which happens once in 1000 years.

It is very probably that in 2-3-4 years, all players mentioned above will play for Everton, Levante, West Ham, Benfica and a random Russian team.
Let's see how many of those will make their career outside of Barca.

The only thing I agree, we should make more money from those transfers, if possible.



He won't be a new Fabregas.

That excuse can be used on every single young player...

I agree that chances are Grimaldo is not/will not be good enough for barca, i'm not saying he's going to end up being as good as Alba. But considering the problems at that position, it seems odd to me that Grimaldo was never given a proper run out even with his good showings for the B team. I'm not just talking about the fact that he hasn't been played now, but the fact that he wasn't called up for any of the preseason games. This means to me that this decision about him was made a long time ago, if so one would think that like with Pedro/Xavi and Montoya deputies would have been purchased this summer (Turan/Vidal). The LB position just seems too thin to me, Mathieu is playable in an extreme bind like now but a real deputy like Adriano used to be (He's declined and never fit) is what we need. Hopefully its taken care of in January.