Mehdi Benatia

[Bertus]

He's a great defender indeed. But I for one am happy we got two left-footed defenders (though I like Benatia a lot), cause we have Bartra.
If the reports had been true that Pique would be sold and Benatia bought, I'd have been the happiest person right now.

And I was one of the people against buying Marquinhos, so sure am relieved we didn't get him!

I didn't try to criticize Barcelona's choice. I just dislike how some people try to imply Benatia is no good just to try to prove it's good Barcelona didn't buy him.

That's stupid. Especially when their main argument is "but they didn't watch him play", hell, as if all the people that shit on benatia really watched more than one Roma game if not zero.

Those who watched him play a good part of the season know he's good. And no, it's not just because of Garcia. Even if a coach can make a better use of a player, they are not magician that create great players just like that. Benatia was already good. Same for those comparison about Atletico players. Simeone didn't transform shitty players in good players. They were good already, and Simeone via his management allowed them to show their true skills, that's all. He's not a magician either.

2 years ago already, via Anigo, Marseille board said they did one of their biggest mistake in History when they decided to ditch Benatia.

 

[DonAK]

^ And that also resulted in France losing what would have been one of the best, if not the best and most dedicated CB and potential captain for the National Team.

Benatia was never given a fair chance by Marseille anyway so it wasn't really they who ditched him, he decided to leave as they were continuously ignoring him.

As he himself said, when he was loaned to a second div team and then offloaded where performed consistently well, 'No one pays attention to you unless you're a Giroud(Strikers and attacking players)'

Luckily for him Udinese did.

Btw, I agree with you. This fixation with that Benatia is overhyped and not good enough and that he only looks good due to Rudi's system is ridiculous(He's defo WC IMHO), He has performed well since his Udinese days and been very good with Roma.

Those people saying those things have probably never seen him play either or just saying that because they are tired of the hype train which I can understand somewhat, but that doesn't justify it.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

You guys are having fun belittling what people think about Benatia just to try to prove Barcelona dodged a bullet by not buying him.

As someone who watched him at Roma (since Garcia was appointed as coach, i followed them last year), I will still say what i said here, Benatia is a very good defender and I don't see why he would not have been fit to join Barcelona from what I've seen.

Buying him would not have been more crazy than buying Marquinhos.

I'm not so sure, Benatia has neither Marco's potential nor is he of the same caliber as TS; and unlike both of them he's not an ideal fit for us (a factor that often gets dismissed until after we've bought the player; e.g. Fab/Alexis).

Buying him would've also meant that we would've had no choice but to pass on better CB prospects if they came our way for the next 2-3 years, since there wouldn't have been a place for them in the XI.

The signing of Mathieu, like that of Rakitic is a pragmatic rather than world class signing. Is Rakitic the long term CM replacement that we were looking for? No. But that's not why we signed him. We signed him as a short term solution to a long term problem because a long term replacement (e.g. Gundogan, Koke, etc) was not an option; and the same logic applies as to why Mathieu was signed, instead of Benatia.

 

[Bertus]

I'm not so sure, Benatia has neither Marco's potential nor is he of the same caliber as TS; and unlike both of them he's not an ideal fit for us (a factor that often gets dismissed until after we've bought the player; e.g. Fab/Alexis).

Buying him would've also meant that we would've had no choice but to pass on better CB prospects if they came our way for the next 2-3 years, since there wouldn't have been a place for them in the XI.

The signing of Mathieu, like that of Rakitic is a pragmatic rather than world class signing. Is Rakitic the long term CM replacement that we were looking for? No. But that's not why we signed him. We signed him as a short term solution to a long term problem because a long term replacement (e.g. Gundogan, Koke, etc) was not an option; and the same logic applies as to why Mathieu was signed, instead of Benatia.

I totally disagree with you.

Contrary to many people here that talk about what they don't know, I'll be honest and only compare with the TS from PSG since I admit i didn't fully follow him when he was at Milan.

Benatia is as good as TS first year at PSG, and definitely better than what TS did since then. Yet Barcelona harrassed us last year for TS, and nothing proves beside speculations that TS would have performed differently in barcelona than he did at PSG.

As for Marcos, in real life, logicially people prefer to splash 40M on the one of the best defenders of the year if not the best, instead of on an unproved young talent. As much as I like Marquinhos, he still didn't prove he's the next TS. And no, 27yo is not too old.

Now please tell us what "not fit for Barcelona" means? Because I don't see what benatia lacks.

 

[Cule4life]

I'm not so sure, Benatia has neither Marco's potential nor is he of the same caliber as TS

Excuse me but what has this kid Marcos shown to insinuate that Benatia would be lucky to be mentioned in the same sentence with him?

And TS is the best CB. No one is of the same caliber as him. But form also plays a part. I daresay based on form Benatia was better than him last season

Buying him would've also meant that we would've had no choice but to pass on better CB prospects .

Thas a ridiculous statement. Benatia is 27 himself. Plus we should always look to improve. If someone like Pique doesnt perform we can offload him to make way for a good CB.

The signing of Mathieu, like that of Rakitic is a pragmatic rather than world class signing. Is Rakitic the long term CM replacement that we were looking for? No. But that's not why we signed him.

Who is this long term godly CB you are talking about for which we ditched the puny Benatia? Hummels? Marquinhos? Apart from these impossible targets i doubt there is anyone in the near future who would be at Barca level and have the relevant experience.

And we are not getting Koke. Nobody knows if Gundogan will reach his old level. There is too much uncertainty to pass up current good targets just to wait for "potential" godly players in the future

 

[Bertus]

Benatia is 28 himself.

He's 27 years and 4 months old. Not 28 yet.

 

[DonAK]

They passed on other CBs to get Vermaelen(In spite of our supposedly 120m budged exc sales), not Mathieu. Mathieu would have come regardless of anyone else.

They wanted Marquinhos, but couldn't get him so they settled for an average and not so costly CB to get Cuadrado and have failed to get him as well it seems.

 

[Cule4life]

They passed on other CBs to get Vermaelen(In spite of our supposedly 120m budged exc sales), not Mathieu. Mathieu would have come regardless of anyone else.

They wanted Marquinhos, but couldn't get him so they settled for an average and not so costly CB to get Cuadrado and have failed to get him as well it seems.

A short and bitter truth of this boards idiocy.

Inb4 jamdav says the board is always right....

 

[JamDav1982]

A short and bitter truth of this boards idiocy.

Inb4 jamdav says the board is always right....

Very good but you need to stop thinking so much about me. Its not healthy old boy.

 

[Maria]

I'm not so sure, Benatia has neither Marco's potential nor is he of the same caliber as TS; and unlike both of them he's not an ideal fit for us (a factor that often gets dismissed until after we've bought the player; e.g. Fab/Alexis).

Buying him would've also meant that we would've had no choice but to pass on better CB prospects if they came our way for the next 2-3 years, since there wouldn't have been a place for them in the XI.

The signing of Mathieu, like that of Rakitic is a pragmatic rather than world class signing. Is Rakitic the long term CM replacement that we were looking for? No. But that's not why we signed him. We signed him as a short term solution to a long term problem because a long term replacement (e.g. Gundogan, Koke, etc) was not an option; and the same logic applies as to why Mathieu was signed, instead of Benatia.

So after not buying a CB since 2009 we chose Mathieu and Vermaelen instead of Benatia because in 2016 there might be a super prospect for the CB position and we wouldn't want to hinder his development?

 

[te amo barca]

I would be surprised if 10% of people on this forum have ever watched a full Roma match, it's probably closer to 1%.

You are too harsh here Roma were joy to watch last season, and also entertaining games earlier under Zeman, I think many people watched at least one match.

 

[Icarium]

Benatia is good but very overrated. Some people just want a "big signing" that is it. There is a reason why Benatia, Leanardo Castan and previously Marcos looked like world class center backs. It is the system not the players being world class. Miranda and Godin were epic too then. All those players have very high chances of failing in barca. We play very high defense line and they have to be very comfortable with the ball and they won't have two DM's and Full backs to provide cover for them. Benatia is good but not as good as people here make out be. Hummels is world class, Thiago Silva is world class. Benatia not so much compared to them.

Maybe we should have tried Benatia instead of signing Vermaelen but we got Vermaelen for only 10M while we had to pay 40+ for Benatia. And if Vermaelen returns to his original form without injuries he will be 100 times better fit than Benatia. I don't know why barca tried for marcos, maybe they thought they can develop him into a world class CB that fits our system. Signing a young player and making them learn our system is far better than buying Benatia and that is what barca tried and they failed. Vermaelen was backup who is ideal for our system but is a gamble, we did not have much choice that is why we signed him.

If he goes for anything less than 35m i will be slightly disappointed for not trying but i won't complain about it as if we missed on messi and signed Giroud instead of him. Because that is not the case. If we decided to sell Pique (not gonna happen) i would prefer Hummels over Benatia any day. Hummels will be great in pique position.

 

[GoobiePls]

First you want to spend 60m on Benatia and now that he's moving to a different club he's overrated?

 

[CatalinR10]

 

[Icarium]

First you want to spend 60m on Benatia and now that he's moving to a different club he's overrated?

Take my world no club will buy him for 60M. He is good but not worth 60M. I don't understand the hype. Yes he is overrated, 60M for a CB?! only psg can do that. He is not the best CB right now. If we signed Benatia instead of Vermaelen and Mathieu it will be great. But it did not happen for unknown reasons. And i am not that worried about it because we got 2 CB and both can help the defense.