soul24rage
Senior Member
Our new LW if Nico Williams doesn't join
You were going somewhere until you mention Mikautadze.Whatever way you slice and dice it, this has been as inept a signing as there has possibly been at any club, let alone Barca. To spend 40m on a 18 year old that doesn't really seem to excel in ANY facet of football, is quite something. When you add in our financial plight, especially at the time, his signing is surely up there with Dembele, Griezmann and Coutinho.
Remarkably, we could have fixed this mess had we been smarter by simply selling him and using the money to go and get Mikautadze. A player with a play style incredibly similar to Vitor, but just simply better at everything, and for half the price (18m).
There is a chance that Mikautadze could have had a Kvaradona style first season at a big club and he certainly had the potential to oust Lewa from the starting line up. Vitor certainly doesn't.
I repeat again, our sporting department is fairly shit. Not much has improved in that department at all, despite the changes.
Looks like he was deployed as a LB instead of even a LWFor those who don't follow friendlies.
Looks like he was deployed as a LB instead of even a LW
I second this post.It's the whole process I've described in previous post.
Originally he was supposed to only join us this summer. But we advanced his signing and now have decided in few months after he has played 300 cameo minutes (in which he scored 2 goals despite playing out of position most of the time) that he's not good enough. Does that really look like a longterm plan to you? And what message that sends to other young players who still might consider joining us in near future despite Barca being far from a prefered destination for most players these days for obvious reasons? The way club is handling him is just wrong on so many levels.
He was described by Deco as a strategic signing and bought for his potential and what he could be in 2-3 years not what he's now. He was supposed to be brought to the team slowly and integrated as Lewy's longterm replacement. If we sell him now what's really the plan? Keep playing Lewy full 90 minutes every game next two years and then look for another striker who will need to have immediate impact or he'll be sold again? Keep in mind we maybe also lost Guiu because of Roque's signing (although I think he would still leave for 2-3x higher wages he got in Chelsea).
Even a world class player like Henry struggled here in his first year. And that's even more understandable for younger players who besides adapting are also still developing as players. I've wached Pep's Barca documentary few days ago and Xavi was talking about how newbies rarely get time to adapt. He also mentioned his own example when he was seen as a bum and club tried to offload him and said adaptation process is twice as hard for foreign players than La Masia graduates.
Why not give Roque a full season and see how he'll do? There are other players who have been here longer and not showed enough that should be offloaded before Vitor.
You need to have patience with young players but that's something this club and even less this fan base never had. People were making fun out of Vini after few months and some RM fans even wanted him gone but Madrid were patient believing in their plan (they actually had one) and look at him now. Barca would sell him after a season and he would be a class player now for City or Liverpool while we would still be looking for a LW.
Roque is a work in progress but has attributes that other players in this squad don't have. It's up to the coaches to get that out of him and put him in a position to succeed. Xavi couldn't do that or I'd say didn't want to as he prefered a DM in January (there was no good one available though) and Deco brought him Roque instead. I liked overall work Xavi did but he was stubborn in regard to some players and never gave them a fair chance. He made out his mind about them in 5 minutes and never changed his opinion. Hopefully Flick is different because young players have obvious weaknesses in their game but can improve in time. For all we know Roque could already improved a lot over last 6 months but never had a chance to show that.
He should be played close to and inside the opposition penalty box and finish off the chances. That's his biggest strength. He's a poacher right now but has potential to develop other aspects as well with time. Especially technical side of his game which people are so obssessed with. I don't think it's that bad but ofc can improve. He'll never be a great dribbler but as a striker he doesn't need to be. But his technique is good enough to create a space for himself. I'll take a few bad touches every game like I did with Suarez.
Also has good physical traits. Will ofc never be great in the air but that's not the way we play anyway. That said he actually scored quite a few headers in Brazil with his good instincts. He has good work ethic that can be used in high pressing Flick wants to play (ofc he'll need to learn how and when to press but that's on coaches to set the right patterns not only for Roque but whole team). And he also has intelligent movement to get into positions to score. With Yamal, Raphinha and potentially Nico alongside him and Pedri and Gundo behind him we have players who can create those chances for him.
I'm probably the only one here who still fully believes in this kid and think it would be a big mistake to sell him. Time could prove me wrong but I think if he's consistently brought off the bench for last 20-30 minutes and starts let's say every third league game he would easily be a double digits scorer next season. And we don't have many of those in current squad. So why get rid of one player who could do that if used properly rather than find a way for him to succeed? Goal scorers don't grow on trees and Vitor is a born scorer, just need a chance to show that. But if you expect a flashy player who will entertain people like Neymar and R10 then you will always be disappointed with him. He's not that type of player and will never be. He has more than enough other qualities to make it here though.
Don't know what videos you've watched, he's been in all of them.