Tabarez uses like 4 or 5 different formations though, Sometimes he uses Alvaro as a wingback, in a lot of instances he uses Caceres on the left and Alvaro in front of him, but in that case Urugauay is often playing a slightly off-kilter 3-4-3 with Maxi a bit deeper. But part of that has to do with the fact that Alvaro is a more multi-dimensional attacker while Maxi can only run in a straight line. Alvaro is not exactly a guy who will bring defensive responsibility but he plays LB plenty of times, and in Uruguay there's shifting roles so it's hard to judge absolutes from that.
all true.
but 9 times out of 10, he keeps Alvaro in advanced positions.
it's just a red flag to me.
Oh, and technically Alba isn't a "graduate", he was basically a la masia reject who the club gave up on when he was 16. He was also never a fullback at Barcelona, he was trained entirely as a winger until Valencia decided to convert him. I know your theory that every Catalan who ever stepped foot in the Barcelona youth ranks has a mystical connection, and he's no doubt a very technical player familiar with the league, but we are talking a guy who was a fringe prospect until Valencia saw something in him.
he was a left-winger. Ronaldinho had that spot locked the fuck down in the first-team, and we were playing a different style of football, it's no surprise he was "rejected." we were about to reject Pedro, too, and Busquets was seen as no great shakes either.
and while Alba was not earth-shattering as a winger, the move to fullback has ignited his career. and we obviously just didn't think to do that. but then I'm not surprised given we had Ronaldinho at LW working with Gio & Sylvinho at LB, and they were all seasoned professionals. real men. there was no room blood a youngster on that flank, so I'm not surprised no one tried.
And there's also the fact that Alba is a slight player. Pereira is not an intelligent defender but he has tracks back and the physical edge makes a difference.
Alvaro is bigger, yes, congrats to him.
but if we're talking about physicality being a plus then we may as well go for Bale. he's even
bigger, even
faster, even
younger and even more likely to be an absolutely
storming LB for us. Alvaro to me just seems like an uninspired middle ground between Alba and Bale, and he'd be hugely expensive to boot. I mean Chelsea couldn't get him for £20m last summer ffs, and Porto just won the league again and don't have to spend money this summer securing Hulk's rights.
there's just no chance he'll be cheaper now, and paying €30m for what is essentially a bit of an upgrade on Adriano except he's not really an upgrade on Adriano is just fucking retarded. we don't need our own Coentrao.
I know you have a relentless chubby for Uruguayans but honestly you're closer to the mark when you say we should bring Cacerés back. Alvaro is a looney idea.