Malcom

[George_Costanza]

Anyway our main goal this season is UCL so bringing more players always means good.
Welcome, Malcom.

Malcom is 21, Dembele is 21 and Arthur also 21. I would think they will develop much better in smaller teams and join big clubs at the age of 23+ unless we have a manager who believes in young talents and not afraid to give them bigger starting roles like Pep, Klopp or even Zidane. This would be my only concern under Valverde.

 

[DonAndres]

Any title is a good achievement for a coach, and I think Pep is a great coach, but I think people take it too far. Barca had won the Champions League just 2 years before he was the coach. The club was on the up for years and Pep is just part of it.

Do you think Zidane is a genius for 'transforming' Real Madrid?

Valiant effort btw at trying to say Pep overachieved at Bayern who had just won a treble the season before he came. I've not heard that one before.

All of this is so reductive in context. Pep is "just a part" of Barca's rise? Lol come on.

Zidane is no genius but he's very intelligent and sensible when it comes to continuation. The RM team he took on was the same one that was a world beater under Ancelotti, only underperformed under Benitez because he was uniquely shite. Even in 14/15 when they went trophyless I thought they were extremely good under Ancelotti but we were just unstoppable. In fact, I believe 14/15 RM is almost definitely better than 17/18 RM despite one being a CL winner and the other trophyless. Zidane took Ancelotti's system and added some good role players while keeping the squad motivated and clicking. I think he is what everyone believes Mourinho to be, a ruthlessly effective pragmatist.

Pep's team was not that similar to the team that Rijkaard took to the CL 2 years before. He completely recycled the squad and style of play, and did so without two of the main stars of the previous team in Ronaldinho/Deco. You really think Pep's team was just a continuation on Rijkaard and Van Gaal? That the idea of total football and tiki taka just happened to become the dominant discussion point in world football when Pep took over, but Barca was really practicing it the whole time?

Nonsense. You are only looking at results. Not style, substance, context, anything else. To deny that Pep had THE major hand in transforming Barca's style is baffling. To the point where I can't even come up with an argument except go watch some football highlights and see for yourself what the difference is. Because if you can't see it with your own eyes idk what to tell you.

How on earth could you not acknowledge that Pep has a clear, unique brand of football that transformed Barca? Did you not notice any of the pivotal decisions made in the creation of that team? Dropping Toure and bringing up Busquets? Moving Messi to false 9? I guess to you these were all just run of the mill managerial decisions. Nothing unique about it.

Are you gonna deny that he completely changed how City play too? I guess all the thousands of football discussions of "Pep brings tiki taka success to the EPL" after this league win is just irrelevant.

 

[Androutsos]

I live in New Zealand, and on the BeIN Sports channel we have we only really get La Liga and the French league so I have seen a few games of Malcom here and there throughout the last two seasons.

I always liked him, he reminds me a bit of Dembele more in the sense that you want him to get the ball so you can see what he can do. A lot of the time he makes a bad decision, and sometimes he does something incredible. I never thought Barca would sign him, at least not for another two seasons (which I think he needed to develop into a starter level player for Barca) but honestly having him on the bench and rotating could work out even better.

It is worth mentioning that he has never played with anyone at the level of Barca players, and this should help elevate his level as well.

 

[Androutsos]

A good look at a game vs a CL level team.

 

[Don Andrésº8]

i really hope that this wont affect dembele role on the eleven, cause dembele is better

 

[putogusiluz8]

This kid reminds of Pedro. Not too talented, he doesn't really have any incredible ability in any specific field but very dexterous all around, really nicely well rounded and more importantly has that fire and will to make an impact in any way that he can. Much better option for us that Willian, and I think really suits us.

 

[Andrew M]

All of this is so reductive in context. Pep is "just a part" of Barca's rise? Lol come on.

Zidane is no genius but he's very intelligent and sensible when it comes to continuation. The RM team he took on was the same one that was a world beater under Ancelotti, only underperformed under Benitez because he was uniquely shite. Even in 14/15 when they went trophyless I thought they were extremely good under Ancelotti but we were just unstoppable. In fact, I believe 14/15 RM is almost definitely better than 17/18 RM despite one being a CL winner and the other trophyless. Zidane took Ancelotti's system and added some good role players while keeping the squad motivated and clicking. I think he is what everyone believes Mourinho to be, a ruthlessly effective pragmatist.

Pep's team was not that similar to the team that Rijkaard took to the CL 2 years before. He completely recycled the squad and style of play, and did so without two of the main stars of the previous team in Ronaldinho/Deco. You really think Pep's team was just a continuation on Rijkaard and Van Gaal? That the idea of total football and tiki taka just happened to become the dominant discussion point in world football when Pep took over, but Barca was really practicing it the whole time?

Nonsense. You are only looking at results. Not style, substance, context, anything else. To deny that Pep had THE major hand in transforming Barca's style is baffling. To the point where I can't even come up with an argument except go watch some football highlights and see for yourself what the difference is. Because if you can't see it with your own eyes idk what to tell you.

How on earth could you not acknowledge that Pep has a clear, unique brand of football that transformed Barca? Did you not notice any of the pivotal decisions made in the creation of that team? Dropping Toure and bringing up Busquets? Moving Messi to false 9? I guess to you these were all just run of the mill managerial decisions. Nothing unique about it.

Are you gonna deny that he completely changed how City play too? I guess all the thousands of football discussions of "Pep brings tiki taka success to the EPL" after this league win is just irrelevant.

Look, I am not denying Pep did a fantastic job at Barca and popularised possession football. I just think people overstate his importance. We've had all sorts of records smashed in the last ten years and the person who unites them all is Messi. Pep even says himself that the players are the most important thing.

And I'm not prepared to get all giddy about his allegedly incredible achievements at Bayern. I think he has shown in CL away games either straight up naivety or complete arrogance as a fundamentalist ideologue. He is clearly a great coach and a great motivator, orator etc. but he is not some infallible football-philosopher-genius-theologian.

City's most impressive CL performances have so far come under Pellegrini. But of course I'm not allowed to bring up Champions League success (you know, the hardest trophy to win in club football) because apparently it's all about luck, fluke and chance and that doesn't fit into the Pep genius plot line

At Man City they have pretty much calibrated the club to his every whim and thrown him the keys to the castle with the biggest budget in the league and when he wins the title it's meant to be some landmark achievement. Yes, it's so impressive watching Man City batter all the EPL fodder into a pulp with that state funded squad.

 

[SeloBarca]

A good look at a game vs a CL level team.

Wasent really impressed with the other videos with him but i looked at this one and the Marseille one and he actually looks quite good.
Very pacy and likes to dribble. Reminds me a little of the young Pedro.
Needs some fine tuning on his key passes but if its anywhere he will get that training its in Barcelona.

He looks like Kanye West though lol. Very American looking.

 

[bastardo]

A good look at a game vs a CL level team.

From this video it seems like he does every little things right which might mean that he won't have the typical high and low performances of other young players.

 

[xXKonan]

I would love for him to end up being our own Douglas Costa and perhaps one that can rely on intelligence and technical ability than just pure pace He's definitely at this age where he can improve on a number of aspects as well.

Pedro got a lot of slack in his final seasons here but if Malcom can be like Pedro, he would be a success no doubt. A young Pedro, especially in the 2010/2011 season was absolutely excellent and he came up big when it counted as well.

Heck even a 31 year old Pedro would be mighty useful right now as well.

 

[SeloBarca]

The 2010-2012 Pedro even outshone Messi in some games and was the best player in the team for a long time.
To bad it didnt last.

 

[xXKonan]

Reading that he will depart to the USA tomorrow at 12 PM from Barcelona to meet up with the squad and he will be presented as a new Barca player there as well on Thursday.

 

[tacticvarium]

No one could replace the prime Pedro.
Time goes by too quickly.
Anyways it's time for Barça to sign more established players before the club becomes Arsenalized.
Youth development is already enough with La Masia which should be the club's first priority when it comes to signing young players.

 

[Jombi]

I thought that we are talking about buying young players (aged 24, lol) who made it at Real/Barca, not about just buying young players.
Whether Vinicius and Rodrygo have made it, we'll know the answer around 2024'

You were the one who talked about Barca acting like a small team like Porto or Dortmund because we are buying young players and you want us to sign experienced "established players" like Daniel Parejo, unavailable superstars and 28 year old strikers looking for their final big contract. Then you go on and praise RM which is a bit ridiculous when basically all they do is to buy young players with most of their career ahead of them.

So RM have been acting like a small team like Porto for a decade or more now according to this logic, because of all these young players they buy, and Vinicius and Rodrygo and Casemiro is a sign of that? Who else did they buy from South America? Higuain? Lucas Silva? Marcelo? We bought Neymar, which I am sure you were against as well as you always are. You simply can not with a straight face say that we are buying too many young players and instead urging us to sign players looking for their final contract while praising RM who do the exact opposite.

 

[Jombi]

No one could replace the prime Pedro.
Time goes by too quickly.
Anyways it's time for Barça to sign more established players before the club becomes Arsenalized.
Youth development is already enough with La Masia which should be their first priority when it comes to signing young players.

La Masia hasnt produced an established starter since Busquets. Arsenal have been a selling club so they would sell their big stars. We are not in danger of becoming a selling club anytime soon. And we have plenty of experience with Busi, Messi, Pique, Alba, Suarez, Coutinho, Raki etc