Marc Cucurella

[Messi983]

I would still like Cucurella to get more playing time to develop faster so I would either get Monreal or Luis as back up for maybe 2 years and then bring in Cucurella.

I think this decision really depends on if the club sees Cucurella as a potential future starting LB. He's been one of my favourite La Masia players but I don't believe he'll ever be good enough to replace Alba and Barça seems to rate Miranda's upside higher as well.

If I'm wrong and they still believe he could be a longterm starter then loan/sell with buy-back to get regular playing time and signing a veteran backup while he develops makes sense. See how he'll progress and decide if he's good enough to return in a year or two. He should go to a better club than Eibar where he would play most of his minutes as a left-back and not LM/LW. Teams like Valencia or Sevilla would be ideal but they have established starters (and well, Valencia has probably produced the most quality LBs in Europe if not in the world over the last decade) so maybe a foreign club like Ajax or a BL team (it worked well for Carvajal in Leverkusen) could be a good choice.

If they don't think he can be a future starter then getting Cucu back to play 10-15 games/season for a year or two makes sense. He's cheap, knows the system and would give his best every time he would get a chance but unless he would really convince in his limited playing time we would then replace him with either Miranda or (more likely) buy a LB in 2021 who could be Alba's backup for a year or two before taking over as a starter. Obviously Cucu would need to accept this role and while he's young and wants to play as much as possible this is probably his only realistic chance to get a season or two in our first team so he could decide to stay. But if he believes it's better for his career to leave I think we'll try to make some money on him while try to negotiate a relatively low buy-back option to still have him "under control" for the next 2-3 seasons. By then he'll be 23-24 and we should be absolutely sure if he's good enough to have any kind of future at the club.

 

[raki]

4M. Bring him back

 

[Messi983]

4M. Bring him back

From what I understand Eibar's buy option is 2M and our buy-back is 4M. So it's basically 2M which is a good price to pay since they've given him a full season of La Liga experience (though not at his natural positon). The same can't be said about most of our loanees to other clubs in the past.

 

[raki]

From what I understand Eibar's buy option is 2M and our buy-back is 4M. So it's basically 2M which is a good price to pay since they've given him a full season of La Liga experience (though not at his natural positon). The same can't be said about most of our loanees to other clubs in the past.

Even better. La Masia kid, with experience and can give Alba proper rest.

No brainer.

 

[Galning]

We are talking about Valverde though he is probably looking into signing a 30+ year old strong back up with experience in La Liga. Don't think we will sign him back to keep him, only to sell to a higher bidder.

 

[Alik]

Would be nice if he could be a reliable back-up option at LB.

Would be nice to bolster the La Masia numbers in the squad.

 

[xXKonan]

I have been mixed about him in the last couple of years.

When he broke through at Barca B under Lopez, I thought we had ourselves a pretty good prospect, not as good as Grimaldo was but still a solid one. In the second division though he didn't look all that great and Miranda looked better in some aspects and during Preseason I thought he was largely poor and I was dissapointed :/

But going by this season even though he did play LM/LW for most of Eibar's matches I do like the look of him. I would love for us just to give him a shot to be Alba's back up and loan out Miranda.

 

[God Serena]

The thing is, Miranda is far and away a superior talent. He struggled with the first team this season but his development with Barca B has actually been quite impressive, it's no wonder the club values him so highly. Bringing Cucu back would still at best only be for a single season or possibly two, and that's just about how long we would need a veteran 30+ year old backup for Alba...

 

[gregorrin10]

Cucu deserves a season or two here, honestly. Miranda needs that time to go out on loan and get some real first team experience under his belt, and Alba will probably world class for that longer too, so bringing anyone else until then is pointless too. And I'm also against bringing another 30+ year old into the team, even if it is strictly for a backup role and for a limited time. This is not the Barca that we know, we always preferred to give a chance to La Masia when in situations like these. And what we should've done in the case of Vidal/Alena too.

Anyway, after the next 2-3 seasons we can see where Cucu and Miranda are with their development, and if we need to sell both of them or one of them and keep the other as the rotation option. Or if Alba would be willing to step down to a rotation role at that time, we can keep him as the backup. As for the starting spot, after Alba slows down, and if neither Cucu nor Miranda will be ready, I've always had a feeling that we might go and bring Grimaldo back home at some point like we did Alba.

 

[te amo barca]

Cucurella's potential is a Montoya at max imo. Would be happy to be proven wrong in the future of course, but talent-wise they are quite similar. Of course he would be good enough to be a back-up at LB though.

 

[khaled_a_d]

For me, I still think he is superior talent to Miranda, the later whom I doubt has any future as LB at least not here.
Doubt either will be Barca starting LB in the future, but I think there is hope that Cucu can be a long term decent back up LB here.

 

[serghei]

For me, I still think he is superior talent to Miranda, the later whom I doubt has any future as LB at least not here.
Doubt either will be Barca starting LB in the future, but I think there is hope that Cucu can be a long term decent back up LB here.

Cucu is Montoya level. Miranda is weak overall.

 

[Slevinn]

Pretty ‘meh’ today. He played as left winger and had almost no attacking output.

 

[God Serena]

I actually think Cucu is better than Montoya. The simple fact that bringing him back is considered an option at all should be a testament to this.

Potential wise, Miranda blows him out of the water. Whether or not he'll make it with the first team is up in the air as just being good enough is far from the only thing you need in your favor (Grimaldo, Thiago, etc.), but if he can get his feet under him on loan with a La Liga side I think he'll definitely be good enough to at least be a backup here.

 

[Messi983]

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