22 - İlkay Gündoğan

[Co0ter]

Gundogan is not even worth 25m euros. He was a good player like two seasons ago but he hasn't impressed at all after coming back....from a terrible injury no less. He backs doWn from tackles and gets rid of the ball really quickly, you can tell a player like that still has the injury in his head. He is absolutely not ready what so ever to play at Barca, both physically and mentally. Koke is great but paying 60mil to rivals isn't ideal. Koke is however a safer signing imo.

Some love Pogba, some think he is a gamble and he definitely is. 70-80mil is a lot of money but imo he is worth it. He is a beast and just turned 22. I think people under rate his passing and possession under pressure too. Under Pep,no thanks. Under Lucho he can be perfect. In the end you have to ask yourself, is wasting 30mil on Gundogan worth it when it could be put toward a player who has the potential to take our midfield to the next level? Our best midfield has been Iniesta, Busquets and Rakitic...do we need to take a chance on Gundogan "the new xavi" when we don't even use a system that suits Xavi anymore?!

 

[Gasgas]

Gundogan is not even worth 25m euros. He was a good player like two seasons ago but he hasn't impressed at all after coming back....from a terrible injury no less. He backs doWn from tackles and gets rid of the ball really quickly, you can tell a player like that still has the injury in his head. He is absolutely not ready what so ever to play at Barca, both physically and mentally. Koke is great but paying 60mil to rivals isn't ideal.Koke is however a safer signin imo.

Some love Pogba, some think he is a gamble and he definitely is. 70-80mil is a lot of money but imo he is worth it. He is a beast and just turned 22. I think people under rate his passing and possession under pressure too. Under Pep,no thanks. Under Lucho he can be perfect. In the end you have to ask yourself, is wasting 30mil on Gundogan worth it when it could be put toward a player who has the potential to take our midfield to the next level? Our best midfield has been Iniesta, Busquets and Rakitic...do we need to take a chance on Gundogan "the new xavi" when we don't even use a system that suits Xavi anymore?!

 

[Sumlit]

Gundogan is not even worth 25m euros. He was a good player like two seasons ago but he hasn't impressed at all after coming back....from a terrible injury no less. He backs doWn from tackles and gets rid of the ball really quickly, you can tell a player like that still has the injury in his head. He is absolutely not ready what so ever to play at Barca, both physically and mentally. Koke is great but paying 60mil to rivals isn't ideal.Koke is however a safer signin imo.

Some love Pogba, some think he is a gamble and he definitely is. 70-80mil is a lot of money but imo he is worth it. He is a beast and just turned 22. I think people under rate his passing and possession under pressure too. Under Pep,no thanks. Under Lucho he can be perfect. In the end you have to ask yourself, is wasting 30mil on Gundogan worth it when it could be put toward a player who has the potential to take our midfield to the next level? Our best midfield has been Iniesta, Busquets and Rakitic...do we need to take a chance on Gundogan "the new xavi" when we don't even use a system that suits Xavi anymore?!

Firstly, Gudogan is definitely worth €20-25M right now, without a doubt. He hasn't played as well as he did before his injury, but he is still a good player and worth that kind of money without a doubt.

Secondly, Barca's current style of play most definitely suits a Xavi type of player. You're looking at a 35 year old Xavi whos physical attributes are starting to let him down and formulate opinion based on that, but forget how a younger Xavi played all over the field with quickness and agility. Watch merely a 30 year old Xavi run up and down Real Madrid in barca's 6-2 victory before Guardiola's style took root and the team still played quick.
Moreover, Gundogan two years ago played for Dortmund side that was even more up and down and hectic than this current Barca side and was excellent for them.

I would prefer Koke and Pogba, but Gundogan for that reasonable price is a worthy shot, specially if you buy Pogba as well.

 

[DrPepper]

How does the system not suit Xavi anyway? Not until long ago, Xavi performed much better than Iniesta whenever he played.

 

[Kohe321]

How does the system not suit Xavi anyway? Not until long ago, Xavi performed much better than Iniesta whenever he played.

Yeah, I don't get that either. Put a prime Xavi into Luchos system and he would be a sure starter in every game. Perfect match. Yet people talk about Koke being a good fit, but how is his style more fitting than Xavis? Xavi's style was never outdated, it was him who physically couldn't cope with starting every game anymore.

 

[Leo_Messi]

There is no doubt that Pogba has been the better player for the past 2 seasons, that he is almost 3 years younger and that he has a bigger potential.

The thing though is that he is also 3-4 times as expensive as Gündogan and he is apparently demanding an insane wage too. Nor is it guaranteed that he would become a success.

I too would prefer to buy Koke and Ilkay or a young player such as Óliver Torres or Tielemans instead of going all in on Pogba.

I have to say though that a midfield of Busquets, Rakitic (Don Andrés) and Pogba looks very good to say the least. All 3 players would compliment each other very well.

 

[Co0ter]

What is Gundogan going to offer at the moment for 30mil? Is he going to bench Rakitic? Should we halt Rafinha's development for him? Our midfield this year is going to be the same minus Xavi. If we are going to buy a midfielder, we should buy someone who can make us better. To me, Gundogan doesn't do that. No way I would bench Rakitic for him. We buy Pogba, that is Iniesta, Gundogan and Rafinha on the bench...if you are going to spend 30mil on him, might as well spend a little more on a player that can potentially be better for us than Rakitic.

 

[Leo_Messi]

What is Gundogan going to offer at the moment for 30mil? Is he going to bench Rakitic? Should we halt Rafinha's development for him? Our midfield this year is going to be the same minus Xavi. If we are going to buy a midfielder, we should buy someone who can make us better. To me, Gundogan doesn't do that. No way I would bench Rakitic for him. We buy Pogba, that is Iniesta, Gundogan and Rafinha on the bench...if you are going to spend 30mil on him, might as well spend a little more on a player that can be better for us than Rakitic.

I doubt that anyone here would settle with just Gündogan alone. I for once would buy him alongside Koke if we could get him for 25-30 million euros instead of going all in on Pogba and likely paying 80-85 million euros.

I get your drift though. Gündogan alone won't cut it.

 

[Kohe321]

What is Gundogan going to offer at the moment for 30mil? Is he going to bench Rakitic? Should we halt Rafinha's development for him? Our midfield this year is going to be the same minus Xavi. If we are going to buy a midfielder, we should buy someone who can make us better. To me, Gundogan doesn't do that. No way I would bench Rakitic for him. We buy Pogba, that is Iniesta, Gundogan and Rafinha on the bench...if you are going to spend 30mil on him, might as well spend a little more on a player that can be better for us than Rakitic.

No, he wouldn't bench Rakitic, he would obviously start in left midfield and slowly take over for Iniesta. Rafinha would keep rotating with Rakitic like he has been doing. Apart from Pogba and Verratti, there are no other midfielders I think would fit Barca better than Gundogan right now, and who could step right in and most likely play at the required level. That is, if you don't count Modric who is an even more impossible target than Verratti.

 

[DrPepper]

I have to say though that a midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Pogba looks very good to say the least. All 3 players would compliment each other very well.

Don't know. There's still a distributor missing. When people complain about a lack of control with a Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta midfield I don't expect it to get any better with Pogba. That's why I'm very keen on Koke or/and Gündogan. Both are dynamic and mobile enough for box-to-box roles but still possess very good playmaking abilities.

 

[Co0ter]

We didn't attack heavily with both fullbacks under Pep...we held possession and wingers played wide while also pressing relentlessly. Messi doesn't do that, Neymar does a little bit. BOTH fullbacks attack high up, with Rakitic and Iniesta staying back more to defend. How is that anything like Pep?!!! That system doesn't suit Iniesta either, how many times does he shy away from headers or back out of tackles? Xavi and Iniesta did better under Pep defensively because they had one fullback staying back and wingers who helped them a lot.

The system is a lot different.

Edit: I know and agree Xavi still has good games and he can't play a lot because of his age. My point is even in Xavi's current state, I don't think Gundogan will be better.

 

[Ini8]

Gündogan + Oliver Torres would do it for me, as they will be worth the money. Not too sure on Pogba, it seems like he has three choices: us, RM or City. I read this morning that PSG are being limited by FFP and therefore can only spend €48m, which is nowhere near enough for the young starlet. I guess if we want him, he will be ours.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Don't know. There's still a distributor missing. When people complain about a lack of control with a Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta midfield I don't expect it to get any better with Pogba. That's why I'm very keen on Koke or/and Gündogan. Both are dynamic and mobile enough for box-to-box roles but still possess very good playmaking abilities.

A distributor? Busquets says ¡hola! Rakitic (look at his Sevilla days where he was the key midfielder and distributor) nor Pogba are poor on this front.

Anyway you could play with Busquets, Pogba and Don Andrés from the start instead depending on the opponent.

A midfield trio of Busquets, Rakitic and Koke or Busquets, Koke and Don Andrés would not be too bad either.

Gündogan + Oliver Torres would do it for me, as they will be worth the money. Not too sure on Pogba, it seems like he has three choices: us, RM or City. I read this morning that PSG are being limited by FFP and therefore can only spend €48m, which is nowhere near enough for the young starlet. I guess if we want him, he will be ours.

Good to see that you have joined me on the Óliver Torres bandwagon.

 

[Sumlit]

What is Gundogan going to offer at the moment for 30mil? Is he going to bench Rakitic? Should we halt Rafinha's development for him? Our midfield this year is going to be the same minus Xavi. If we are going to buy a midfielder, we should buy someone who can make us better. To me, Gundogan doesn't do that. No way I would bench Rakitic for him. We buy Pogba, that is Iniesta, Gundogan and Rafinha on the bench...if you are going to spend 30mil on him, might as well spend a little more on a player that can potentially be better for us than Rakitic.

Gundogan would very much compete for a midfield spot with Iniesta and Rakitic. Lets not be prisoners of the moment and forget up until 2 weeks or so ago, Iniesta was woefully under-performing for the entire season and Rakitic even with his improvement is still better suited for a versatile rotational role. Rakitic is a jack of all trades master of none type of player, perfect for rotations and versatile formations.

Also, Rafinha's "development" should in no way ever hinder or stop the team from getting quality players. Rafinha hasn't really showed enough to convince you he should be trusted enough not to go and get players.

Barca need two midfielders. Xavi leaves and you're betting the entire season on Rafinha who hasn't impressed and Roberto who no one knows what the hell type of player he is. If you can get Pogba and then a player of the caliber of Gundogan currently, who might even recuperate his top form, then that's an option very much worth taking.

 

[Sumlit]

We didn't attack heavily with both fullbacks under Pep...

Well now you lost me.