Ivan Rakitić

[Ode to Django]

Nothing wrong with Keita, he was a fine backup

 

[DinhoR10]

Nothing wrong with Keita, he was a fine backup

But he was never world class he was an excellent backup though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mazp]

for all the people talking about bench and WC players, look at our midfield back up when we won the last three CL, not many WC players outside the First XI, players that fit the system is more important

While I agree. But keep in mind you had those guys in their prime. In prime Xavi, Iniesta, etc you don't need to rely on bench players..

 

[Ghostmaster]

I still think that this signing will be good for Rafinha, I mean the guy costs like 20M, he is not Catalan, not from La Masia, not world class player, so not many people will be very upset if he is left on the bench from time to time, so that Rafinha can get more playing time.

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

The problem I have with signing Rakitic for Cesc is that our midfield won't have that many starting calibre players. We'll have depth and utility, but actual starters? Busquets, Iniesta are world-class... I guess Xavi can put in a shift if he's well rested and is still one of the best at what he does, but who will rest him? Rafinha is very promising but in my opinion not ready to start yet, Mascherano is a fairly solid DM for Argentina but I don't know he would do for us, Song is pretty good if he gets played as a box-to-box but we have yet to see if that will happen, and Roberto and Rakitic seem to both be utility men. What do we do if Iniesta gets injured (as happens quite frequently)? Play Rafinha and pray? Start Rakitic? Even Rakitic's biggest supporters have to admit that there is a huge drop off in quality from Iniesta to him.

Cesc, meanwhile, has arguably the best vision on the planet, puts in a lot of goals, and brings quality. This season, he lost his starting spot to Iniesta after winter break, who finally got back into form, and then Cesc got handfuls of appearances, some at false nine, some at left wing, some as a midfielder in a weird 4-4-2, some as a CM to rest Xavi... of course he's going to be inconsistent! It would be much better to keep him and tell him to just play CM, and organize a 3-man rotation between him, Xavi and Iniesta, with the two in the best form starting the big games, and then Rafinha providing the competition and depth and utility. Now, we have two starters and 3 bench players, with a clear distinction between them. Could it work? Maybe. Is it an improvement to the team? I can't see it being one.

Pretty much sums up how I feel about the end of the Cesc saga.

Well done.

Rakitic played very well though and I think tonight he showed some things that would really be useful to this team. Whomever played next to him in the midfield would have a lot of freedom with him doing a lot of the dirty work defensively while keeping it simply and calm when on the ball. I was impressed although he did give the ball up on the build up to Oscar's goal, he still as a whole played excellently. Him, Modric, Srna and Olic can definitely take this team at least on to the knockout stages.

Croatia as a whole should go out with their heads held high. They played an excellent game last night and if they come out like that against Mexico, they will dismantle a very naive Mexican side. The game was nicely placed on a knifes edge before that terrible penalty call and if not for that, that game could have turned out much differently. Also, as a whole, wasn't that impressed with Brazil. Neymar and Oscar were really the only ones who showed their class tonight, with the latter in particular beating his marker consistently in 1-on-1 situations and delivering intelligent balls into the box. Brazil as a whole need to improve because they got lucky with that call tonight. If they play like this against the likes of Columbia, Germany, Spain or even Argentina, it won't end well for them.

 

[anguy]

Rakitić excels when he plays as an attacking midfielder, just like Fabregas. And Thiago. And Rafinha. And Iniesta. And Sergi Roberto. How many times are we going to go through this? We're looking for someone to rotate with Xavi, and again we buy a player who excels at attacking displays. FFS, for the NT he's played more as a winger than as a CM.

But compared to them Rakitic is far more universal. He can even play DM and I believe after some time he will be even able to adapt for Xavi's role. He is also taller and stroger, than our midfielders, which is good after seeing how Atletico bullied our mids during last season match.

 

[Deco 20]

Rakitić excels when he plays as an attacking midfielder, just like Fabregas. And Thiago. And Rafinha. And Iniesta. And Sergi Roberto. How many times are we going to go through this? We're looking for someone to rotate with Xavi, and again we buy a player who excels at attacking displays. FFS, for the NT he's played more as a winger than as a CM.

Not Roberto

 

[ebieymjunior]

Not Roberto

What I like about Rakitic, and Thiago, Roberto and Rafinha are the same, is that they are extremely versatile. Iniesta too, if for some reason he'd have to play in CM, I bet he'd do great. It's true that most excel in more attacking roles, but they are also really good in holding roles.

Maybe a distinction would be, where do they play best now, or where would they benefit the team most?
In that case, Roberto and Rakitic in a more central, holding role and Iniesta and Rafinha in a more attacking midfield role.

 

[USWAY]

for all the people talking about bench and WC players, look at our midfield back up when we won the last three CL, not many WC players outside the First XI, players that fit the system is more important

Exactly. Cesc is the type of player who is a starter. He's not a good defensive presence, he isn't strong, and he can't wreak havoc with pace or dribbling, and his finishing isn't consistent enough that he's really a threat forward so he isn't really that versatile coming off the bench. Signing him was just squad stacking, not actually fitting a need. Rakitic seems like a guy who will be able to play along side Iniesta or Xavi, just like Keita before him. He's not the playmaker/assistman that Cesc is, but he provides alot more in his arsenal (no pun intended) I can really see him becoming a great squad player for us.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

The way I see it, maybe Lucho still wants Xavi to be his main XI CM but wants Rakitic to manage his games while adding more depth to the squad.

Either way, Rakitic is not a player of the same caliber as any of our starting midfielders; so why can't we sign Gundogan, a player who may end up costing as much (because of his injury) but who actually has the potential to be a long term replacement for Xavi, shares many of Rakitic's distinguishing attributes (versatility, workrate, etc) and who would allow us to play with a double pivot without loosing our possession game.

 

[Egert]

The way I see it, maybe Lucho still wants Xavi to be his main XI CM but wants Rakitic to manage his games while adding more depth to the squad.

Either way, Rakitic is not a player of the same caliber as any of our starting midfielders; so why can't we sign Gundogan, a player who may end up costing as much (because of his injury) but who actually has the potential to be a long term replacement for Xavi, shares many of Rakitic's distinguishing attributes (versatility, workrate, etc) and who would allow us to play with a double pivot without loosing our possession game.

We should see how he does this season. He has become very fat and we shouldn'y buy him. Next summer we are trying to go for Reus if the transfer ban isn't on and if we can't get Reus, I imagine us getting Ilkay instead of him.

 

[Tomchin]

So, the Rakitic-deal won't be concluded before next week apparently. So Zubi needed a whole week to negotiate that Denis Suarez buy-back clause, or what? At this rate, it's hard to imagine how he will be able to finalize all the transfers that we need so desperately before the end of the transfer-window.

 

[darthvader7888]

We should see how he does this season. He has become very fat and we shouldn'y buy him. Next summer we are trying to go for Reus if the transfer ban isn't on and if we can't get Reus, I imagine us getting Ilkay instead of him.

The thing is though, Gundogan would be cheap right now. I can understand waiting until next summer to buy him, but buying him now could pay off big time.

 

[KingMessi]

We should see how he does this season. He has become very fat and we shouldn'y buy him. Next summer we are trying to go for Reus if the transfer ban isn't on and if we can't get Reus, I imagine us getting Ilkay instead of him.

Not VERY. Just as much as would be expected considering he can't exercise at all.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

Bayern bought Neuer for 22m when he had 1 year left on his contract, so if Gundogan has a good season with BvB his price will skyrocket.

So it doesn't make sense for us to wait, because if we buy him now 1 of these 3 possibilities is going to happen:
1) He recovers & gets his old form back = we have an XI CM for what we would've paid for his backup (Rakitic)
2) He recovers but not completely = we may still be able to use him as backup CM (i.e. same scenario if we had bought Rakitic).
3) He doesn't recover = Xavi remains our XI CM, and we would still be looking to find his replacement.

But even if (3) ends up materializing, we will still be facing the same situation had we bought Rakitic. So at worst, we loose 15-25m on Gundogan and that's assuming that he's no longer even good enough to be a backup. But if not, instead of paying 20m for Rakitic + 60m for someone like Koke; we would be paying a fraction of that amount for a player of the same caliber and if Xavi accepts a reduced role, we may not need to worry about finding a backup CM.