There was a discussion when Dembele got injured on who should replace him and most of us thought it should be Deu. He played good at the start of the season and now he is as good as gone.
Things change fast in football.
He got found out after a few games. He is the ultimate one-trick pony, and a bad one at that too.
I wouldn't classify Robben as a one-trick pony, but even when the defenders know he'll cut in he's just so good at it that they cannot stop him. Deulofeu is the opposite. So shitty at his one trick that the defenders don't even bother as they know even if they get to him late he'll cross the ball into their legs.
Deulofeu and Adama two players with raw ability, but with no footballing iq whatsoever. Disappointing.
In this case, things don't change actually. He came here as a mediocre player and played as a mediocre player. Because he's a mediocre player. He was NEVER a Barcelona quality, his transfer was a mistake.
Club saw his market value being higher than buyback. It was purely financial call. He would have never had as many chances if Dembele would have stayed fit.
It was a cheap gamble but I think everyone knew what we were getting and we hoped that maybe playing with Messi and Suarez he could improve but it turns out some guys are just lost causes.
It's a good thing we got Dembele after Neymar left. I couldn't imagine going a full season with Deulo on the wings.
He tore it up coming through La Masia, but how many times have we heard of that token youth player in general that comes through said system that looks like the real deal only to completely fall apart once they hit the top level?
Deulo was a good example of this. He looked like the real deal coming through La Masia, but once he started playing at the top level his flaws that a lot of people seem to have not noticed were amplified to the extreme.
Same thing happened with Adama as well, he like Deulofeu looked like the real deal but even at Barca B however his flaws were apparent. He had speed,great technical ability , and he was physically strong as well. But he lacked the Brains to truly put everything together. Hell go back to 2008 when we considered Bojan to be jewel himself. He tore it up coming through the system only to never live up to the hype and level that he had shown then.
Players like Mbappe and Dembele despite being younger and while they do have flaws themselves have shown that they have the Brains and potential to live up to expectations down the line.
Yes good point. This is why it's a good idea to remain a bit calm and not over hype players that look fantastic in the La Masia system, or even in Barca B, because they need to continue scaling their level of play all the way up to world class for it to be relevant for the first team. Many times these young players can play with a lot of flair simply because they face very weak and gullible opposition, and since they never got challenged enough to properly build football intelligence and the basics properly, they could surf the wave of their initial young talent and athleticism throughout the academy system, only to crash hard when finally faced with tough opposition with the first team. I'd be more hopeful about a player who shows intelligence, humbleness and hard work, and who is able to scale his level of influence on the pitch year after year, all the way up to the first team. Many of the players that have ended up making it have had slow ascents to the top.