Bobo32
Senior Member
Jeffren was never good enough. He's behind Gio dos Santos, Munir, Sandro and Cuenca in terms of usefulness, and these are behind Tello.
And you're way too far-fetched with Neymar. He came, won titles, was among the best players in the world and earned us more than double we paid for him when he left. All in all a great transfer, shady Rosell deal aside.
What then happened after has nothing to do with Neymar. Look at it this way: would you rather we didn't buy Neymar in 2013 and him most likely going to Madrid instead?
Jeffren was good enough for his role, as was Cuenca, Tello and some of the others. Gio was more of a potential 'crack' that wasn't good enough, like Deulofeu.
These players weren't starters most of the time, but Pedro was and the team was at its best with him as a starter.
Neymar was brilliant, and for one or two years, he was maybe the right kind of player to bring success on the field, tactically. The entire world had started to insta-park the bus against Barcelona and perhaps there was a hint of truth to the general opinion that Barcelona had turned a bit toothless and drab. He was good to get through the bus, and also clinical enough when Lucho decided to turn the game a bit more chaotic.
My point with Neymar is he (and Enriques success in 2015), gave fuel to the idea that most supporters have naturally - "if only we could buy this new hyped player that has performed very well for the last months in another system, it would solve our problems!". And the turning to less control through the ball (that was possible partly through Neymars brilliance) was very bad for the club, long term.
I have called the 2015 victory a pyrrhic one. Neymar brought money and won games in the end, but I'd probably still prefer him to have gone to Madrid yes, with Barcelona taking a very different direction.
To stay on topic - I am positive since I think they are on the beginning of the right track again!