Vitor Roque (loaned to Real Betis)

[serghei]

Endrick. He is predicted to be the next big thing.

Damn, fucking finances, we missed out on him then. Did he prefer Madrid or they came up with the cash?

 

[serghei]

You can sign players like Vitor Roque, Enzo Fernandez, Vinicius Jr and others for anywhere between 20 to 40m.......or you can sign them two years later for 100m+.

Or sign Ferran Torres for 55m.

Not saying we absolutely need to sign Vitor Roque, but he's at least one of those top class/highly rated talents that's worth considering paying this much money for. This is obviously where proper scouting comes in. Something Barca either don't seem to possess or simply ignore when they go out spending loads of money for misfits or scrubs no one rates.

Araujo and Pedri the only success stories of the past 5 years or so, if not longer.

Need to get smarter and develop better instincts at this talent-rating game. It's our only chance really looking at the prices in recent years.

 

[DonAK]

Need to get smarter and develop better instincts at this talent-rating game. It's our only chance really looking at the prices in recent years.

It's not about the instincts. It's about hiring the right people in charge and having some continuity. Not all signings are going to pan out so need to have some patience too. I bet less than 10% of the people in here even know the name of the man responsible for Madrid's transfer policy.

Need more competence in the club.

 

[DonAK]

Jose Angel Sanchez is their de-facto Sporting Director and the man who has the final say in whether to pull the trigger for a signing or not. Juni Calafat is Real Madrid's chief scout and has a significant say.

Both have been there for the last 8-10 years or so in their roles.

I don't think Barca's problem is scouting or identifying the right players. It's that our SDs keep getting changed and are mostly stupid and hired because they are ex-players. Planes was good and competent, but seemed to think a bit small sometimes, and did probably have less say than Abidal lol.

God knows who our Chief Scout is. Seems like we hired some random guy with little experience to head the scouting department.

 

[serghei]

Something to improve in the near future for sure. Managers should have a say, but can't be trusted completely, since it's not their main job to follow players. They say yes too easily sometimes.

Managers should ask for a profile, or for a player that can do this or that, and from then on the SD should make sure the club lands that type of player in good conditions for the club.

 

[mc_lovin]

Araujo and Pedri the only success stories of the past 5 years or so, if not longer.

We also did a good job with La Masia (Balde, Gavi). With the two you mentioned that's basically half of our current first 11 (!), which is a phenomenal return. Then you have Yamal coming up, who has an equal standing to the mentioned Brazilians.

There's plenty of competence.

 

[Luftstalag14]

It never works out like that.

Perhaps not, essentially it is a gamble, and in my opinion a necessary one. If we never gamble on young prospects like him, we will be spending upwards of 100m and much more later on, money we won't have in a great while. Or spending 50m+ on rather established players like Torres. In my opinion I'd rather we gamble on younger players/prospects with less money now than potentially spending much more later.

 

[mc_lovin]

Perhaps not, essentially it is a gamble, and in my opinion a necessary one. If we never gamble on young prospects like him, we will be spending upwards of 100m and much more later on, money we won't have in a great while. Or spending 50m+ on rather established players like Torres. In my opinion I'd rather we gamble on younger players/prospects with less money now than potentially spending much more later.

I agree with that, freaking Real showed the way. But don't expect to return the money if one of those transfers fails.

 

[serghei]

We also did a good job with La Masia (Balde, Gavi). With the two you mentioned that's basically half of our current first 11 (!), which is a phenomenal return. Then you have Yamal coming up, who has an equal standing to the mentioned Brazilians.

There's plenty of competence.

La Masia clearly been producing top players for us. But transfers have been so-so at best, even under Xavi so far.

 

[DonAK]

We also did a good job with La Masia (Balde, Gavi). With the two you mentioned that's basically half of our current first 11 (!), which is a phenomenal return. Then you have Yamal coming up, who has an equal standing to the mentioned Brazilians.

There's plenty of competence.

I'm primarily talking about our acquisitions and decision making for the first team. Balde has been at Barca since he was like 9 years old and Gavi was signed 8 years ago too.

There's competence in La Masia(not always Barca B though) and less so for the first team.

I'm excited about Lamine Yamal, but so far he doesn't have equal standing to Roque and Endrick. Yamal is yet to become a regular for Juvenil A while those two have played professionally in the Brasileiro.

Roque has even played and scored in the semi-finals of the Libertadores.

I'm not questioning Yamal's talent or making a judgement on who's better or not, but at this moment Yamal should not be mentioned in the same conversation until he at least starts playing regularly for Barca B.

 

[mc_lovin]

La Masia clearly been producing top players for us. But transfers have been so-so at best, even under Xavi so far.

It was just to add a bit of perspective. Getting half our current team from La Masia/low cost gambles is pretty insane. Ferran hurts to be honest. Only one under Laporta so far that annoys me (unless I am forgetting someone).

 

[serghei]

I agree with that, freaking Real showed the way. But don't expect to return the money if one of those transfers fails.

Depends how he fails a great deal.

Say, if raphinha fails, he isn't gonna be like ferran torres, but more like alexis sanchez. You get some if not almost all money back.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Do you guys think the fact that so many younger, promising players joined Dortmund was due to Dortmund actually having really great scouts, or the players wanting to go to Dortmund knowing its high replenishment rate, its reputation for starting young players and being used as a springboard for something greater later on? Both?

 

[mc_lovin]

I'm primarily talking about our acquisitions and decision making for the first team. Balde has been at Barca since he was like 9 years old and Gavi was signed 8 years ago too.

There's competence in La Masia(not always Barca B though) and less so for the first team.

I'm excited about Lamine Yamal, but so far he doesn't have equal standing to Roque and Endrick. Yamal is yet to become a regular for Juvenil A while those two have played professionally in the Brasileiro.

Roque has even played and scored in the semi-finals of the Libertadores.

I'm not questioning Yamal's talent or making a judgement on who's better or not, but at this moment Yamal should not be mentioned in the same conversation until he at least starts playing regularly for Barca B.

Okay, let's scratch La Masia and focus on low cost gambles like Araujo/Pedri. What's the success rate for other top teams (meaning genuine starters right now)? Can't be more than two, right? Who's the best at it? (not counting 2nd row clubs)

 

[DonAK]

Okay, let's scratch La Masia and focus on low cost gambles like Araujo/Pedri. What's the success rate for other top teams (meaning genuine starters right now)? Can't be more than two, right? Who's the best at it? (not counting 2nd row clubs)

Bayern are pretty decent with low-cost gambles with Gnabry, Davies and Kimmich in their squad. Not sure if Gnabry is a starter anymore but he was a year ago I think?

My point wasn't about low-cost gambles or high cost gambles though. More about the lack of direction, consistency and continuity from our sporting department which have been hurting us.

We've spent an insane amount of money on transfers the last 10 years or so and it's not been very good.