Nico Williams

[mc_lovin]

Are you for real or just very unlucky in your thought process?

I am stealing that one

 

[Nello]

Maybe Flick will try Yamal at the CAM position. Personally I think Yamal could absolutely cook in central areas.

Much more so than Raphinha at least, who some people keep suggesting should play as 10/AM or whatever. Just because he struggles when pushed wide to the sidelines, doesn't mean he's got the skills to be an attacking focal point centrally.

 

[serghei]

See I want him to play regularly. Yes, he is the biggest since Messi. But if we get Nico, he will have to become a substitute. Which I don't think will suit him. He needs to play 50-60% of the total games played with some being important ones. That's how you develop. If Nico comes he will mostly be a glorified Sub or we wasted the money on Nico. Both is not what we want.

Yamal is not gonna become a substitute. He is gonna get more rotation but still plenty of game time, including as a starter.

 

[jamrock]

Yamal is not gonna become a substitute. He is gonna get more rotation but still plenty of game time, including as a starter.

This is the way

 

[draconifire]

Yamal is not gonna become a substitute. He is gonna get more rotation but still plenty of game time, including as a starter.

I hope it happens. We will see eventually.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Xavi played both Yamal and Cubarsi because they were good enough to play for the 1st team (the phrase "if you are good enough, you are old enough" applies to them both). Did the injuries and loss of form of other players helped them both in getting those crucial initial game time? Yes, but they justifiably kept their place due to their good performances even when there were other options as well such as Inigo Martinez and Raphinha in their respective positions (even when both of them came back from injury, Cubarsi and Yamal still justifiably kept their place)

Xavi could and should have rested them both more in the 2nd half of the season. Not just Cubarsi and Yamal, but all players shouldn't be overplayed and sufficient rest needs to provided to them all. With Flick, I have no idea what his thought process is and it'll depend on the transfer for this season, but my guess is that Cubarsi and Yamal will still be starters for this upcoming season.

You aren't an "established starter" if you are playing thanks to injury and just beating bench player.
Cubarsi is atm a limited CB who managed to beat Inigo in the starting line up (thanks to the Basque being beaten by Osmihan) and Faye who is a mistake prone CB in B team. He didn't beat any starter to be called an established starter. Same argument was made about Bojan 16 years ago when he was getting ton of minutes due to injuries and lack of depth, and the moment we fixed that it was seen that his role got immediately diminished.

Lamine didn't beat Raphinha for RW, he simply showed less versatility and it made sense to make the one who can make impact on the left play there, leaving Lamine as the only valud option as RW.
If we get Nico and he doesn't flop, and everyone is healthy, then Lamine shouldn't be a starter as things stand.

And if you good enough is a bs, there is a reason ton of talented yputh players don't get promoted this early elsewhere, even unquestionably more talented players of previous generations (Messi is the prime example) because they might be goid enough, but there is a good chance you are risking their entire career for few exciting months.

 

[jamrock]

How pep handled foden and palmer is a perfect example of how we should be managing yamal.

Well maybe not keeping him on the bench that long, but he shouldn't be a argued starter

Gavi, balde, pedri are all now 19-21 and can be starters, wouldn't make sense to bench them now, but in a different world, they would only now be starting to push for the starting XI.

Cubarsi should start period and I'm not as down on him as others are, I think he's great.

But I think the more experience you have in the spine of your team the better.

GK
CB
DM
At least one CM.
Should all be in their early 20's at the very least.(PS this is why I dislike de jong, he should be that guy)

 

[M3ls]

@khaled_a_d is right in his assessment of Cubarsi's current level. Small, quite slow, but with an excellent pass. We already had such a player - Garcia. At the same time, Garcia is better in aerial duels.

 

[soul24rage]

You aren't an "established starter" if you are playing thanks to injury and just beating bench player.
Cubarsi is atm a limited CB who managed to beat Inigo in the starting line up (thanks to the Basque being beaten by Osmihan) and Faye who is a mistake prone CB in B team. He didn't beat any starter to be called an established starter. Same argument was made about Bojan 16 years ago when he was getting ton of minutes due to injuries and lack of depth, and the moment we fixed that it was seen that his role got immediately diminished.

Lamine didn't beat Raphinha for RW, he simply showed less versatility and it made sense to make the one who can make impact on the left play there, leaving Lamine as the only valud option as RW.
If we get Nico and he doesn't flop, and everyone is healthy, then Lamine shouldn't be a starter as things stand.

And if you good enough is a bs, there is a reason ton of talented yputh players don't get promoted this early elsewhere, even unquestionably more talented players of previous generations (Messi is the prime example) because they might be goid enough, but there is a good chance you are risking their entire career for few exciting months.

If the Champions League final is tomorrow, Cubarsi and Yamal will be starters. That's what I mean when I say "established starters". Obviously, they should never be guaranteed a spot, but name our starting XI for a Cup final, majority will have Cubarsi and Yamal as starters. If there are better players than them, then sure, I'd play them but as of right now, there isn't.

"Lamine didn't beat Raphinha for RW" Lamine did beat Raphinha. There's a reason why Lamine's general play has been lauded. Although he has decent G/A, Raphinha's general play has been disappointing in the RW until he found life in LW and more recently in the CAM (You should go look at the posts in Raphinha's thread)

Ideally, we should be bringing them slowly, but the reality is that in the context of this squad, they are important and will be important for this upcoming season.

 

[M3ls]

Now I have my doubts about Niko after watching two full matches of him. I didn’t like his ball control. It felt like his legs are “wooden” and this prevented him from controlling the ball well.


Our analytical department must analyze everything well.

There's no margin for error here.

 

[mc_lovin]

He's a case of interesting profile rather than great player. Would take him over Ferran, but I don't think he's necessarily a better player.

 

[DonAK]

If you're going to wait for a great player you better be ready to pay 100m+ or hope Brazil or a country that historically does can produce another great LW talent again and be able to sign him in front of Real Madrid or a crazy Chelsea offering insane money.

I'd be fine if they pass over Nico, but they'll need to go and find a LW regardless of that profile and cannot wait to dick around for years as they've already done.

It's a pity Bartomeu decided to cheap out on both Vinicius and Rodrygo whilst he spent insane money and salaries on some worse players/talents.

 

[DonAK]

His close control isn't as good as Vinicius and Rodrygo and I'm not saying he'll be as good or better, but his decision making is already good. He played a very good game last night.

Rarely do you see him make a dumb decision and try to go on a blind dribbling raid. Profile-wise he's perfect for us and price isn't that terrible either considering similar players go for much more.

Latest rumors do suggest that Deco prefers Luis Diaz from Liverpool though so I think he stays one more year at Athletic or joins a team like Arsenal possibly.

 

[khaled_a_d]

There is rumour about some Basque tax that will balloon his release clausw cost north of 80M. Don't know if it is accurate info or an outdated one.
If it is the former, then yeah it doesn't make any sense to go for him as it will be an overpay and big cash investment too.

 

[jamrock]

There is rumour about some Basque tax that will balloon his release clausw cost north of 80M. Don't know if it is accurate info or an outdated one.
If it is the former, then yeah it doesn't make any sense to go for him as it will be an overpay and big cash investment too.

Yikes, it true.

Hard pass on that, he's not a 80m+ player, will likely never be.

But then again it today's market maybe one day, but not today.