Éder Álvarez Balanta

Aryagorn

Improvin' Perfection!!
Éder Fabián Álvarez Balanta (born February 28, 1993) is a Colombian footballer who plays for Argentinean River Plate in the Primera División. His overall versatile capabilities has led him to be liken as one of the more promising young defenders from South America, earning praise even from Europe.

In Colombia, he started as an offensive midfielder, a #10 type player, for Deportes la Equidad and later Academia Compensar, but was later moved back into a central defensive midfield role. Once in Buenos Aires, he was switched to the left-back role as there were already quality prospects at the academy in his former position. He was later moved once again to play as a central defender. Balanta arrived in Argentina early in 2011. After a brief trial with that team, the Colombian tried-out at River and was promptly signed to their famed youth divisions.

Balanta is superb when faced with one-on-one situations. He’s also very good at reading the game in defensive situations. Balanta is quite a good passer of the ball and actually prefers to play the ball to a team-mate rather than clearing with power as is so common. Because of his speed in getting to the ball, Balanta prefers standing challenges and rarely makes sliding tackles. When it comes to aerial challenges, his height is certainly not a problem. Not only is Balanta good with headers, he’s also got very strong legs and can jump as high as he needs to in order to win a ball. His positioning is quite good and he’s always making himself available for team-mates to pass the ball back to him.




The kid is being linked to us... The fact that he would come very cheap gives me some confidence that our miser would sanction signing him.
Come on Tata, bring him in
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
Balanta (River): "Barça following me? Don't know, don't think it's true... But if it would be true, it's a great honour and I'd thank God."
Balanta (River): "As far as I know, no Colombian has played at Barça. It'd be a privilege. First Colombian ever, can you imagine!" [sport]

Seems to be a transfer that could very well be worthwhile. He's obviously very keen so he'll work hard to become a starter.
 

evilhita666

Barçapocalypse NOW!
I don't know if he'd come that cheap though... I'm expecting 10 to 15 million, because even though River Plate is in a difficult financial situation, 80% of Balanta's transfer rights belong to a corporate conglomerate, who will undoubtedly try to milk as much as possible from a possible transaction...

I'm not totally sold on the guy, but I wouldn't mind him going to Europe as soon as possible mostly because of the WC... So far he hasn't been called up to the NT, but I think our defense could use some depth and I'm not too fond of our current CB pair (Yepes is alright, but Perea is way past his prime, and Valdéz and Mosquera as backups are a disaster waiting to happen)...
 

evilhita666

Barçapocalypse NOW!
Heard he hasn't yet signed a professional contract with River Plate

That, I don't know...

However, reports emerged today that River vice president has priced Balanta at 15 million, even though there isn't a formal offer from Barca... But they say they still have the transfer rights of the player, which conflicts with my previous post, so I'll dig into that and see what I can find...
 

Superfly

Banned
I don't know if he'd come that cheap though... I'm expecting 10 to 15 million, because even though River Plate is in a difficult financial situation, 80% of Balanta's transfer rights belong to a corporate conglomerate, who will undoubtedly try to milk as much as possible from a possible transaction...

I'm not totally sold on the guy, but I wouldn't mind him going to Europe as soon as possible mostly because of the WC... So far he hasn't been called up to the NT, but I think our defense could use some depth and I'm not too fond of our current CB pair (Yepes is alright, but Perea is way past his prime, and Valdéz and Mosquera as backups are a disaster waiting to happen)...

Valdez isn't that bad, he's a lot better than Perea at the very least.
 

Jaguar

Flair Trait
Balanta is superb when faced with one-on-one situations. He’s also very good at reading the game in defensive situations. Balanta is quite a good passer of the ball and actually prefers to play the ball to a team-mate rather than clearing with power as is so common. Because of his speed in getting to the ball, Balanta prefers standing challenges and rarely makes sliding tackles. When it comes to aerial challenges, his height is certainly not a problem. Not only is Balanta good with headers, he’s also got very strong legs and can jump as high as he needs to in order to win a ball. His positioning is quite good and he’s always making himself available for team-mates to pass the ball back to him.

Sign him up! Seems exactly like the type of center back Barcelona desperately need.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Seems like he might not come in January after all if our CBs remain injury free and perform well.
 

Hellsangel

Member
Interesting prospect! LB/CB, young, pacey, reads the game, strong, good on the ball... all qualities we are looking for in a defender
 
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te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
All I know about him is that he is a complete beast in FM
redface.gif
 
J

jurgo

Guest
would buy him. probably he's not as expensive, maybe he will have a great development
 

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