6 - Carles Alena

You never know. It was safe to consider Deulofeu finished as far as his Barca future was considered but things worked out for him in the end. Looking at things our midfield is just too stacked even if it's mostly with trash. I think it's way too early to write him off, personally. He wasn't even going to be loaned until the board brought in Paulinho.

I guess we'll see.

He has to get to play regularly and do well for them to consider it I think. Deulofeu had some nice moments at Milan and Samper need that and more right now IMO.

Alenya should get promoted next summer and not go out on a loan and we'll definitely sign a midfielder or two as well. So for Samper to come back and all that to happen, they have to move around a few pieces such as Arda, Gomes, Rafinha, Rakitic and I don't really see it happening.

In fact we'll probably keep Rakitic until his contract runs out.

Alena should be getting 1st team minutes on Camp Nou soon. See what's the easiest game at home in the next period and give him some game time there. See how it goes. I expect to see him getting 4-5 games in La Liga.

serghei said:

Alena should be getting 1st team minutes on Camp Nou soon. See what's the easiest game at home in the next period and give him some game time there. See how it goes. I expect to see him getting 4-5 games in La Liga.

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Yeah and I hope he gets a game with our best possible team.

Would be disappointing if he ends up in a midfield with Gomes and Rakitic

DonAK said:

Yeah and I hope he gets a game with our best possible team.

Would be disappointing if he ends up in a midfield with Gomes and Rakitic

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You might as well keep him at Barca B then. Always said that the way to grow youngsters is to play them in the working platform. Alena, the kind of midfielders he is needs players who are on the same wavelenght as far as passing is concerned. I'd play him in a midfield with Busi and Iniesta, and he'll deliver for sure on Camp Nou against 75% of the teams in La Liga.

Honestly if Valverde would have promoted him this summer and sold Gomes our midfield would look a lot better going into the business half of the season. The main reasoning for keeping Alena with the B team have very little to do with his actual quality, which speaks volumes about the type of player he is. He's one player Pep would have loved to have come through when he was around but alas at the time he was just the Xavi Simons of the Pep Era.

God Serena said:

Honestly if Valverde would have promoted him this summer and sold Gomes our midfield would look a lot better going into the business half of the season.

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Hmmm, no
Right now Rakitic and Iniesta are the starter,Paulinho third and probably Denis and Roberto are ahead of Gomes. The 5th or 6th option aren't really our problem in midfield. Alena replacing him would make a little difference. we were open to sell Gomes but failed to and probably the only reason we are playing him is to keep him having value.

God Serena said:

The main reasoning for keeping Alena with the B team have very little to do with his actual quality, which speaks volumes about the type of player he is.

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The main reason is his development, he is good but at this stage of his development he is better for Barca B
That said, he need to get Thiago 201-2010 amount of game time in 1st team

God Serena said:

He's one player Pep would have loved to have come through when he was around but alas at the time he was just the Xavi Simons of the Pep Era.

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Not trying to argue for sake of arguing, but through out 8 seasons as 1st team coach,Pep has really promoted only 3 players (not speaking about routine promotions as Jeffren or out of need like Cuenca) and those were Thiago,Busuqets and Pedro. 2 of those he coached in B team. Thiago was exceptional talent, a player I followed since he was 16 and he was advanced in most things over Alena (who still has a chance to be better)
If Pep wasn't Barca B caoch before he arrived, I would suspect that he would be slammed for not using youth like most of our coaches.
Also, Alena of kind of late bloomer unlike Simmons who was always a star since he joined

Aleña was a big talent even in the early days but it's true that he really bloomed around the Juvenil levels. Over the past year he's been proving that he's fully capable of performing at every level, Segunda and 1st division included. His growth has only been accelerating and he's still not even 20 yet, he'll become more and more imposing with time.

Thiago was exceptional and it's fair to say that he was better than Aleña at this point, but IMO it's extremely close. Thiago had the better final ball and 1v1, but Aleña's dribbling in tight spaces and ball carrying is equal or greater. I'd say they're the same in terms of orchestrating and passing play, Aleña's movement and game instincts are top notch which allows him to fit in so well with the first team continuously. If you watched any of the open training sessions in pre-season, Aleña was often one of the most impressive players in training even on the first team and connected really well with Messi. Even if Thiago was better at this stage, Aleña is surely in the same tier as a talent. A truly special player and our team will benefit greatly when he comes of age and becomes a regular player.

DonAndres said:

Aleña was a big talent even in the early days but it's true that he really bloomed around the Juvenil levels. Over the past year he's been proving that he's fully capable of performing at every level, Segunda and 1st division included. His growth has only been accelerating and he's still not even 20 yet, he'll become more and more imposing with time.

Thiago was exceptional and it's fair to say that he was better than Aleña at this point, but IMO it's extremely close. Thiago had the better final ball and 1v1, but Aleña's dribbling in tight spaces and ball carrying is equal or greater. I'd say they're the same in terms of orchestrating and passing play, Aleña's movement and game instincts are top notch which allows him to fit in so well with the first team continuously. If you watched any of the open training sessions in pre-season, Aleña was often one of the most impressive players in training even on the first team and connected really well with Messi. Even if Thiago was better at this stage, Aleña is surely in the same tier as a talent. A truly special player and our team will benefit greatly when he comes of age and becomes a regular player.

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Agree with this very much. And I like something more in Alena that bothered me with Thiago. Alena doesn't feel the need to show off. Doesn't overcomplicate things, just to show off his undeniable skils. Thiago, for all his quality, had and still has to this day some unnecessary embellishments in his game. I have seen Thiago purposefully trying fancier passes when a simpler pass would've been quicker and more effective, and it only makes sense that he tries the fancier passes just because he can do them, not because they help the team. Thiago was and is more individualistic and that's something Alena doesn't seem to be for me. Which is very nice.

Thiago may have been a little better, but if Alena plays his cards well, and we take good care of him, he has all the chances in the world to surpass Thiago at 24-25 years of age. Have to say Thiago would've evolved much better at Barca than he ended up evolving at Bayern. No doubt about that.

Smart kid.

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Aleña was so amazing today. Shame he's playing under that idiot Gerard Lopez. No system + Lopez style of play is so boring. Btw everything is about development and not results so if we talk about Aleña's performances today,then I can say he's our future. Very smart kid.

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Alena also made an interview with MD, but I can't find translated quotes for this..

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Yesterdays game against Sporting was one of Rakitic worst game ever. He's so retarded and braindead which is why I know Aleña is way better. Only differnce between Aleña and Rakitic is experience because he's still young and needs to grow. I still think Aleña is way better than croatian Fellaini. People think Rakitic is world class because he scored in CL final. Watch him play and you can see that he's really braindead and bad for a team like Barca.

Alenya is better for one simple reason.

He tries to create something every time he's on the ball and knows what pass to play. He's obviously still raw, but he's very confident and been a leader for his entire journey through La Masia so I don't think pressure will faze him too much.

Rakitic isn't even a Fellaini. At least Fellaini is useful for Man Utd by winning headers and bullying other players when Mourinho need it. Rakitic isn't even bullying a Barca Cadete player.

Just leave kid to develop properly in B team. This is the best thing for him right now. Next year he will be part of the the first team and I hope he will be our next star!