Why? All the players from France that we signed in the recent years were flops of some kind. It was because different reasons but nobody really impresed. I think this generation of players from France is very talented but also very stupid on and off the pitch.
Anywas, did Laporta ever talked about Alemany or is that only a rumor? I know that Font didn't talk about a sporting director, as far as I understand he expects that Xavi will become an English type of manager who would be a coach and a sporting director?
Our current French players were not bought from Ligue 1 directly except Todibo who was just a cheap gamble.
Griezmann has played his whole senior career in Spain so he can't be included here.
There were rumours Robert Fernandez wanted to sign Dembele in 2017 before he went to Dortmund. He obviously didn't want to come here sitting behind MSN who have played every game back then. But if we'd know Ney would leave we could've bought him for like 15m and loan him for a season to get regular minutes. Then even if he'd turn out injury prone like he has nobody would consider him a flop. And we'd probably already sold him with a small profit because other teams would still think his potential is worth a risk.
Monchi has signed Lenglet from Ligue 2 for 5m (the same thing Madrid did with Varane). Regardless of what you think about his recent form if we'd got him for that cheap nobody could really complain if he'd turn out into what he's today. And even with what we've end up paying for him I think his return was still better than what we've gotten from most players in a similar price range and even much more expensive ones over the last 5-6 years.
Sure, sometimes you need luck but you don't get lucky if you don't try. And it's also true players will usually develop better if they'll go through Dortmund/Sevilla as the stepping stone to a big club. But once they prove themselves in those developing/selling clubs they're already 3-5 or maybe even 10 times more expensive than they were just a year or two ago.
So in our current uncertain financial situation we should look to discover Dembeles and Lenglets of Ligue 1 before they're sold to other clubs. We've tried that with Todibo and he didn't pan out but nobody can blame the club for trying. He should've probably been loaned out immediately after signed in January to get experience in La Liga before returning in the summer but the idea behind his signing was understandable.
If some players are not considered ready yet for Barca at the time they're signed they could be loaned out to their original club (this could also drop transfer fee a bit) for another year to develop. We've done that with Pedri and it seems to be working for him. I just believe we should do those type of deals much more often than we did in the past. Emerson is also developing well at Betis. He might never be good enough for us (I do believe he deserves a chance though) especially now when Dest seems to be a real deal but he's clearly no Douglas like people were affraid off at the time we've signed him. If he won't make it here we should still make a solid profit on him.
I know in our current situation it won't be easy to pay 5-10m for a player we won't have immediate use for in the first team but if we discover the right player who could turn out to be an important player for the future in a year or two it's well worth a risk. Sure, you can find those players everywhere, even in MLS (Alphonso Davies) but I believe Ligue 1 right now produces the most talents (both quality and quantity wise) who are available for relatively cheap if you discover them soon and actually buy them not just keep monitoring them like we usually do and then 2-3 years later when they're young stars in other teams there are articles in MD/Sport how we could've signed them for next to nothing. Like how Wenger could've signed Messi and CR.
After Ligue 1 I'd put Bundesliga but mostly for their foreign talents as most German players will choose to join Bayern as soon as they'll show interest. Then followed by Eredivisie. Ajax won't sell their key players/stars for cheap (we got lucky they didn't seem to rate Dest too much) but maybe you can get someone in PSV/Feyenoord or other smaller teams. And Overmars's knowledge of the market could be useful here to possibly bring us some hidden gem from a team like Utrecht.
Or maybe also use his links there to possibly loan our kids who are not ready yet. Players like Ilaix or Balde could get regular first team minutes in Eredivisie in a year or two when they're too good for Barca B. I mean, RM has loaned out Odegaard to Eredivisie for 2 or 3 years and let him develop. We'd probably put him in Barca B for a season or two and then sold him for a small profit when we'd think he's not good enough for the first team while all he'd need would maybe be just a year or two more of playing at a higher level.
Regarding Alemany there were only rumours Laporta wanted him but nothing confirmed. Laporta didn't really say much about his plans publicly so who knows what he's doing behind the scenes.
OTOH Font said so many things I didn't really keep up with him
but AFAIK he was adamant Xavi would be his coach and has later backtracked saying he could keep Koeman (when he was starting the season well) with Xavi as his boss or something which was just a BS. I'm sure Xavi will be our coach next season if Font is elected but have no idea about who he'd bring as a SD.
