Martin Montoya

[darthvader7888]

All of this is so absurd. We'll end up selling Montoya, telling ourselves that "he wasn't good enough" (where in reality he was pushed out of the club), and wasting a huge amount of money (as we always do) for an urgent replacement that won't be much or any better than him. Then some time later a great cheap young RB will emerge and Bayern will buy him for 2M or something. I can see every step of it before it happens. Have some goddamn sense and give him a reason to stay. Nobody says he needs to play the CL or every LL game or anything, but a compromise can be made. But that's obviously not something our administration or management are familiar with. Montoya's ceiling is greater than just "good enough", and he's a canterano to boot. Why not have him around for a while longer and give him and the club a chance to see if it makes any sense for him to stay. If yes, then HELL YEAH, we've finally done something well. If not, we can still sell him and search the market later when there will possibly be better choices than now. It boggles my mind that our club can be this inept.

+9001

Although I won't be as pissed about Montoya leaving as I was with Thiago (but I am pissed). And there are good RBs that we can get to replace him, like De Sciglio or maybe Manquillo. But knowing Zubi and co, they'll probably pay 20m+ on some guy like Zuniga (this is probably what pisses me off the most about this, more than Montoya leaving itself does)

 

[Stric]

I hear what you're saying, but Barcelona cannot afford to play average players to see if they can become something eventually. That is what Montoya is right now, just an average player with potential. He has played plenty for a back up fullback, he is not better than our two starters, and he has not played better than Adriano.

Barcelona cannot go on blindingly trusting La Masia players just because. They need to get the best players that can best help the team, regardless of where they come.

What they should have done is found a quality starter caliber fullback, even before last season, bring him in to compete with Alba and/or Dani Alves, and loan Montoya somewhere where he could play more and face good competition. That is the way a top team finds out if their fringe players are good enough to make the next step. You don't experiment on your own team, not when your objective is to win it all every year.

If they would have done this, not only would our fullback situation would have been better right now, but you could have potentially seen over a full season of Montoya playing regular competitive minutes, and you'd probably have a better measure of what he could bring in the future.

I disagree. As I said, no one says he needs to play important games to show what he's capable of. But he can by all means play the odd Liga game, for example, if for no other reason then just to rest Alves or whoever. (There are other, more important reasons, though.) Why would it be impossible to play Montoya against low-ranked opponents? To say that Barcelona cannot afford this is simply not true. No one loses a game or a league because of one player in one game. By that logic we cannot afford to play lousy wingers, yet we did that for 2 entire seasons. Not every player on the pitch in every game needs to be the best player in the world in his position. There are PLENTY of opportunities to play guys like Montoya, the problem is that the management is too stubborn to realize this.

Also, I never said that canteranos need to be blindly trusted. They don't. But giving them the benefit of the doubt every now and then, on the basis of them being homegrown players, is exactly how you become such a home-academy-based club like Barcelona. I, for one, care about preserving this. Selling every player of ours who's not as good as his starting-XI counterpart will do the opposite.

 

[Sumlit]

I disagree. As I said, no one says he needs to play important games to show what he's capable of. But he can by all means play the odd Liga game, for example, if for no other reason then just to rest Alves or whoever. (There are other, more important reasons, though.) Why would it be impossible to play Montoya against low-ranked opponents? To say that Barcelona cannot afford this is simply not true. No one loses a game or a league because of one player in one game. By that logic we cannot afford to play lousy wingers, yet we did that for 2 entire seasons. Not every player on the pitch in every game needs to be the best player in the world in his position. There are PLENTY of opportunities to play guys like Montoya, the problem is that the management is too stubborn to realize this.

Also, I never said that canteranos need to be blindly trusted. They don't. But giving them the benefit of the doubt every now and then, on the basis of them being homegrown players, is exactly how you become such a home-academy-based club like Barcelona. I, for one, care about preserving this. Selling every player of ours who's not as good as his starting-XI counterpart will do the opposite.

He has been playing the odd Liga game, he has played enough for a back up player. Playing him much more would be a detriment to the team because you'd be actively taking away minutes from better players, that's not smart. Also, the odd Liga game is an important game right now. Barca have tough competition for the lead from 2 teams, any slip up is costly.
You would bench more a still better player in Alves, just because you want to give more minutes to Montoya to see if he can become more than just a journeyman player? The goal of the team is to win, not to spread minutes about to keep everyone happy.

Giving canteranos the benefit of the doubt cannot come before the well being of the team. This type of preferential treatment is exactly how you destroy teams. Having a strong farm system is great, and Barcelona have done a commendable job, but their goal is to win, not to produce home grown players. Is the job of la cantera to produce world class players, but once they get to the first team, where they come from should no longer matter.

 

[KingMessi]

We should renew his contract and loan him. In the meantime we can find a better rb while he's on loan.

 

[The Observer]

All of this is so absurd. We'll end up selling Montoya, telling ourselves that "he wasn't good enough" (where in reality he was pushed out of the club), and wasting a huge amount of money (as we always do) for an urgent replacement that won't be much or any better than him. Then some time later a great cheap young RB will emerge and Bayern will buy him for 2M or something. I can see every step of it before it happens. Have some goddamn sense and give him a reason to stay. Nobody says he needs to play the CL or every LL game or anything, but a compromise can be made. But that's obviously not something our administration or management are familiar with. Montoya's ceiling is greater than just "good enough", and he's a canterano to boot. Why not have him around for a while longer and give him and the club a chance to see if it makes any sense for him to stay. If yes, then HELL YEAH, we've finally done something well. If not, we can still sell him and search the market later when there will possibly be better choices than now. It boggles my mind that our club can be this inept.

The club wants to renew him. He doesn't renew because he wants us to sell Dani Alves. That's more or less what his agent keeps indicating for over a year now. "Keeping track of Alves' contract situation", "it's hard for Montoya with Alves ahead of him" etc. Also he doesn't really impress when he plays. He's good on the overlap but messes up with poor touch or hesitation in the final third, doesn't have much linkup play (Alves is like an additional midfielder) and people mistake his reluctance to go forward with "defensively more solid" although Granada wingers run past him without any problems.

No one is "pushing him out" unless you believe Tata is not playing him for malicious reasons. It's a natural process rather. For Barca he isn't good enough at this point of time. For him we don't give him the playing time someone else can offer him. It happens. The entitlement of recent Masia prospects is surprising though. And at the same time annoying in the dressing room if Pique's and Xavi's statements are anything to go by.

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

We should renew his contract and loan him. In the meantime we can find a better rb while he's on loan.

to where? and who are we going to sign for 1 season. ( or how long he's on loan for )

 

[Cule4life]

We should only let him go if we find an upgrade like de sciglio otherwise we will regret it

 

[Stric]

Montoya hasn't once played a Liga game where there was any other choice for RB/LB. That says enough.

At some point last season Alves played over 10 games in a row or something like that. Are you implying that this is better for the team than it would be to rest him once or twice and play Montoya instead? Because if you are, I have nothing further to discuss.

 

[KingMessi]

to where? and who are we going to sign for 1 season. ( or how long he's on loan for )

Loan him to Liverpool, Inter, or something. And no by signing someone I meant a young rb who could compete with Montoya upon his return, if he does return.

In hindsight, though, the idea seems quite stupid.

 

[JamDav1982]

Montoya hasn't once played a Liga game where there was any other choice for RB/LB. That says enough.

At some point last season Alves played over 10 games in a row or something like that. Are you implying that this is better for the team than it would be to rest him once or twice and play Montoya instead? Because if you are, I have nothing further to discuss.

Alves was the starting RB and quite clearly the strongest in the squad.

Most teams will have their starting players playing up to ten games in a row.

If Montoya wants the RB place he has to show more when he has the chance not just get given minutes to rest Alves.

 

[JamDav1982]

+9001

Although I won't be as pissed about Montoya leaving as I was with Thiago (but I am pissed). And there are good RBs that we can get to replace him, like De Sciglio or maybe Manquillo. But knowing Zubi and co, they'll probably pay 20m+ on some guy like Zuniga (this is probably what pisses me off the most about this, more than Montoya leaving itself does)

You say this as if transfers have gotten worse under 'Zubi'!

They have got better easily than they were in the 2/3 years before he and Rosell arrived.

 

[DonAndres]

He deserves playing time, but he hasn't been on form recently. Benching him isn't right if he has something to offer which we need, but right now he doesn't. Granted, we still can afford to play him for a decent number of games and I'd encourage that we do so he can improve. Montoya has at least been better than Adriano this season, so he deserves to be primary backup for either Alba or Alves in the case of injuries or resting games. Otherwise, there's not much to complain about in terms of giving him chances.

I really hope he doesn't leave but it's looking like it could happen. Nonetheless, it's not something to go into a meltdown over unless they replace him with someone worse. We have first option on Manquillo at Atletico who is a top 5 fullback prospect in the world in terms of potential, and I doubt he'd be THAT expensive. De Scigleo is also a massive player, but he'll be harder to pry from Milan unless Allegri is truly a jackass. Mallo has been pretty good since his injury return, but he doesn't offer much in attack (good complement to Alba though).

 

[DonAK]

Forget De Sciglio and Manquillo, we'll most likely get Zuñiga anyway lol.

 

[Sumlit]

Montoya hasn't once played a Liga game where there was any other choice for RB/LB. That says enough.

At some point last season Alves played over 10 games in a row or something like that. Are you implying that this is better for the team than it would be to rest him once or twice and play Montoya instead? Because if you are, I have nothing further to discuss.

Montoya has played like the 4th best fullback in this team, and he has gotten 4th best fullback minutes. As long as there are better choices even for rotation, what good is it for the team that he play ahead of them?

This season, Montoya has played plenty for what he is.

If the club has still interest in his future and feels like he still has room to grow, then they should loan him out, because right now he is not good enough to be asking for more. The team needs better players to remain at the top.

 

[Alarcón]

Forget De Sciglio and Manquillo, we'll most likely get Zuñiga anyway lol.

We have first option on Manquillo so our management must have noticed him