Rafinha Alcantara

[BBZ8800]

The games Thiago played for us he wasent convincing either. None of the brothers are. Neither is Halilovich, far from it.

To many of our current midfielders has the "Fabregas" syndrome. They are avarage in everything and dont excell at anything.

I wanted to write something the same earlier today, but gave up.

Rafinha was extremely "meh" for majority of the last season, and more often than not he was always "all over the place" and our play significantly deteriorated when he was on the field.
He was slightly better this season before the injury, but far from being a starter material.
But suddenly, during his injury, it seems that majority of people forgot how (average) he actually played while we had him.
Just remember matches from the last season, when Iniesta and Rafinha were our Cm pair.
We were totally lost in midfield in majority of those matches.

The best of our young midfielders is Roberto, but he is a jack of all trades, master of none.
Samper is also highly unlikely to turn into a starting CM material for us.
Halilovic isn't a midfielder for our system at all.

I have the highest hopes currently in Denis Suarez :/
It doesn't mean that he is better than these guys above, but I have lost a faith that these guys above can be starters.
They can be useful squad players, but that's probably it.

I have a feeling that our current "midfielders situation" may end the same as forward's situation from a few years ago.
On paper, it seemed that we have tons of world class future strikers in Deulofeu, Adama, Munir, Sandro, Dongou, Halilovic etc.
And that we are covered perfectly for the future...
But as the time goes by, it seems that none of them is good enough to be a starter.
What is worse, majority of them are even not good enough to be squad players here :/

So, you are right about your post. Majority of these players are good in a lot of areas, but almost none of them is good enough for Barca (none of them is a specialist good enough for Barca.)

So, about midfielders, while on paper it seems that we are covered, it still the most likely that it will end as:
1. Iniesta, Rakitic=Barca's level of starters
2. Arda=not good enough to be a starter
3. Rafinha, Roberto=squad players
4. Samper=miles away from any serious 1st team level currently
5. Halilovic=I won't even comment about him as a midfielder

So, on one hand, I somewhat understand why Lucho have so much faith in Arda.
Mostly because other guys are even way worse/average than him.

So, if we sell Arda (who isn't guy till now, that's true), we are back to square one, since we have only ageing Iniesta and Rakitic.

Imo, we will have to see how Denis will develop, and if maybe, magically, Rafinha or Roberto will improve a lot.
If not, in summer 2017, we will probably again look for new Mcs from other teams, whoever they will be in that time.

 

[DonAK]

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION] to start supporting a Pogba signing soon this way.

 

[SeloBarca]

When it comes to Dennis Suarez i mostly see him as an "ok" backup to our front 3, but not much better than Munir.
In midfiled hes not better than Rafinha or Roberto.

I wouldnt sign Pogba since we already have Iniesta, Rakitic, Rafinha AND Roberto for that role.
I would rather sell Arda, Rafinha and Halilovich. Samper could be an ok DM backup if hes ok beeing a squad player.
Get Gündogan and try to find another good young CM talent.
Verratti and Pogba are nice, but both way to expensive.

 

[El Guaje]

When it comes to Dennis Suarez i mostly see him as an "ok" backup to our front 3, but not much better than Munir.
In midfiled hes not better than Rafinha or Roberto.

I wouldnt sign Pogba since we already have Iniesta, Rakitic, Rafinha AND Roberto for that role.
I would rather sell Arda, Rafinha and Halilovich. Samper could be an ok DM backup if hes ok beeing a squad player.
Get Gündogan and try to find another good young CM talent.
Verratti and Pogba are nice, but both way to expensive.

The very best players are gonna be expensive, what did you expect? Both Pogba and Verratti are one of the best players at their position and on top of that they are very young which means that they will keep getting better and better + that you would have a player to build upon for years to come. Rather pay up than see the brightest diamonds go to someone else while you are left behind with leftovers.

 

[hardyboy]

Official: Rafinha has a thigh mucle overburdening, not yet clear when he will be available to play #fcblive

 

[Messi983]

We overplay him too son. Hopefully is nothing serious.

On paper, it seemed that we have tons of world class future strikers in Deulofeu, Adama, Munir, Sandro, Dongou, Halilovic etc.

How many of those did get a fair chance to prove himself in Barça' first team though? Only Sandro and Munir so far. While I agree that Sandro is not Barça quality, Munir has been good in CDR games. But at his age is hard to be consistent, especially when playing once every months or so. We can't really expect him to start ahead of Suarez but I still think he has a future here and could be our longterm replacemt for Suarez. For that to happen he needs to play regulary so we should loan him.

 

[gasgas]

Too weak to be suarez replacement

 

[SeloBarca]

We overplay him too son. Hopefully is nothing serious.



How many of those did get a fair chance to prove himself in Barça' first team though? Only Sandro and Munir so far. While I agree that Sandro is not Barça quality, Munir has been good in CDR games. But at his age is hard to be consistent, especially when playing once every months or so. We can't really expect him to start ahead of Suarez but I still think he has a future here and could be our longterm replacemt for Suarez. For that to happen he needs to play regulary so we should loan him.

Quite alot. You see quality when you see it. Deulo havent impressed in either team, Dongue has rather become worse then better, Halilovich has stagnated aswell, Adama i havent followed.
We need top notch talents, not avarage if we want to compete.

 

[Jombi]

The very best players are gonna be expensive, what did you expect? Both Pogba and Verratti are one of the best players at their position and on top of that they are very young which means that they will keep getting better and better + that you would have a player to build upon for years to come. Rather pay up than see the brightest diamonds go to someone else while you are left behind with leftovers.

The Verratti ship sailed away when we let PSG buy him. Forget about buying any PSG players they dont want to sell. They have money coming out of their ears. He is unavailable. Pogba will cost 200m euros.

 

[SeloBarca]

Yea PSG has way more money, they dont need to sell. Verratti would be awesome but its like less than 1% chance.
Juventus will try to milk us as much as possible to Pogba, and hes not worth it.
Gündogan wouldnt cost nearly as much, is just as good, and Dortmund are more likely to sell players.

 

[Keki]

i do like gundogan but his to injury prone , we don't have the budget for Pogba even doe i don't rate him as much as some , Verratti yes please

 

[SeloBarca]

Hes had like 1 injury, hes not really injuryprone.

 

[El Guaje]

The Verratti ship sailed away when we let PSG buy him. Forget about buying any PSG players they dont want to sell. They have money coming out of their ears. He is unavailable. Pogba will cost 200m euros.

Verratti is out of the question pretty much, yeah. Pogba though is available for the right price. He will most probably go for between 80-100m. Not even PSG that are made out of money would pay more than that.
The price tag is very huge but that is what players cost these days. Besides, who else could you possibly find that is as good and proven as Pogba is + being at the same age? I cant think of anyone. Barca would be foolish not to buy him. Iniesta is 32 so it is time to slowly start replacing him. And Pogba is 10 times the player our other midfielders are. Both Pogba and Rafinha are 23, yet Pogba has performed so much more and better. Sergi Roberto is very good, but not quite the replacement you would look for to replace Iniesta. I'd rather make him starter at right back. Arda has been mediocre. Shouldve saved that money and invested in Pogba.

 

[Jombi]

Verratti is out of the question pretty much, yeah. Pogba though is available for the right price. He will most probably go for between 80-100m. Not even PSG that are made out of money would pay more than that.
The price tag is very huge but that is what players cost these days. Besides, who else could you possibly find that is as good and proven as Pogba is + being at the same age? I cant think of anyone. Barca would be foolish not to buy him. Iniesta is 32 so it is time to slowly start replacing him. And Pogba is 10 times the player our other midfielders are. Both Pogba and Rafinha are 23, yet Pogba has performed so much more and better. Sergi Roberto is very good, but not quite the replacement you would look for to replace Iniesta. I'd rather make him starter at right back. Arda has been mediocre. Shouldve saved that money and invested in Pogba.

I think closer to 200m for Pogba is a more realistic price than 80-100m sadly.

 

[Behrox]

I wanted to write something the same earlier today, but gave up.

Rafinha was extremely "meh" for majority of the last season, and more often than not he was always "all over the place" and our play significantly deteriorated when he was on the field.
He was slightly better this season before the injury, but far from being a starter material.
But suddenly, during his injury, it seems that majority of people forgot how (average) he actually played while we had him.
Just remember matches from the last season, when Iniesta and Rafinha were our Cm pair.
We were totally lost in midfield in majority of those matches.

The best of our young midfielders is Roberto, but he is a jack of all trades, master of none.
Samper is also highly unlikely to turn into a starting CM material for us.
Halilovic isn't a midfielder for our system at all.

I have the highest hopes currently in Denis Suarez :/
It doesn't mean that he is better than these guys above, but I have lost a faith that these guys above can be starters.
They can be useful squad players, but that's probably it.

I have a feeling that our current "midfielders situation" may end the same as forward's situation from a few years ago.
On paper, it seemed that we have tons of world class future strikers in Deulofeu, Adama, Munir, Sandro, Dongou, Halilovic etc.
And that we are covered perfectly for the future...
But as the time goes by, it seems that none of them is good enough to be a starter.
What is worse, majority of them are even not good enough to be squad players here :/

So, you are right about your post. Majority of these players are good in a lot of areas, but almost none of them is good enough for Barca (none of them is a specialist good enough for Barca.)

So, about midfielders, while on paper it seems that we are covered, it still the most likely that it will end as:
1. Iniesta, Rakitic=Barca's level of starters
2. Arda=not good enough to be a starter
3. Rafinha, Roberto=squad players
4. Samper=miles away from any serious 1st team level currently
5. Halilovic=I won't even comment about him as a midfielder

So, on one hand, I somewhat understand why Lucho have so much faith in Arda.
Mostly because other guys are even way worse/average than him.

So, if we sell Arda (who isn't guy till now, that's true), we are back to square one, since we have only ageing Iniesta and Rakitic.

Imo, we will have to see how Denis will develop, and if maybe, magically, Rafinha or Roberto will improve a lot.
If not, in summer 2017, we will probably again look for new Mcs from other teams, whoever they will be in that time.

I agree with almost everything except your assessment of Roberto. The guy has proven that he can replace our starters without any significant dip in quality or buildup.