If you had an option to buy only one midfielder for the next season who would it be?

If you had an option to buy only one midfielder for the next season who would it be?

  • Coutinho

    Votes: 19 22.9%
  • B. Silva

    Votes: 7 8.4%
  • Fabinho

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Naby Keita

    Votes: 8 9.6%
  • Christian Eriksen

    Votes: 22 26.5%
  • Koke

    Votes: 9 10.8%
  • Other (who?)

    Votes: 16 19.3%

  • Total voters
    83

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
Also, Keita and Seri are fairly short (5' 7'' and 5' 8''). I know midfielders aren't historically the tallest of players, but wouldn't it be nice if we could add a bit of height to our team?

We ruled the world football with midgets. Shorter players are technically better (exception Zlatan), way more agile which is an advantage when the room in midfield is tight. This is La Liga, not PL.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
We ruled the world football with midgets. Shorter players are technically better (exception Zlatan), way more agile which is an advantage when the room in midfield is tight. This is La Liga, not PL.

Ronaldo and Rivaldo were both tall and technically gifted. Cr7 is also very gifted player specially in his younger years
Tbh I won't put too much emphasis on height in either way, you obviously need some height specially in defense but we already got that
 

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
Ronaldo and Rivaldo were both tall and technically gifted. Cr7 is also very gifted player specially in his younger years
Tbh I won't put too much emphasis on height in either way, you obviously need some height specially in defense but we already got that

Of course you are right. I made a mistake by mentioning Zlatan as the original discussion was about midfield. Taller players are always good when it comes to defending corners/indirect freekicks. We had that problem few years ago but I wouldn't say that we still have it like you mentioned too. We have Piqué, Umtiti, Busquets, Rakitic and Suárez in our starting XI over 1,8m compared to only Busquets and Piqué in for instance 13/14.

When talking about midfielders we are talking of an possible Iniesta-replacement in starting XI. Iniesta never was a help when it came to height so we don't need to replace him with a taller player. There are not many players around you could trust to do it when it comes to quality. Just Pogba and arguably Hamsik bring height with them, but none of them are realistic either because of their club or their age.

We already have Gomes for additional help when it comes to height/muscles (although he is a good example that height isn't automatically a guarantee for being a good at heading) so lets wait how he can develop under a new coach.

We need a new midget in our CM ffs. :iniesta: :xavi:
 

Raketa10

Senior Member
Well Koke just signed a contract extension with ATM until 2024 so he will most probably stay there until the end of his career.
 

DHorozov

Member
1. Eriksen
2. Bernardo Silva
3. Tolisso

However, looking how things are going, most of the players in this poll could be unavailable even before we state who is our new coach ...

Eriksen (can't see Spurs selling him unless some ridiculous amount is given, which we won't do)
Bernardo Silva (already in Manchester according to the media, so could be a done deal before we name our new coach)
Tolisso (I don't think he is even in our plans, even though I really wanted him to be)
Coutinho (not available in my eyes, Liverpool are not looking to sell and it should be some kind of a transfer record to bring him, which I don't think is happening and also don't think is worth it)
Keita (more and more linked with Liverpool, so he could be out of the picture soon as well)
Koke (signed a new contract, but he was not coming anyway and to be honest I do not like him that much)

Overall, at the end, after Valverde is named our new coach the options could already be really small and it looks like it could be another eventual talent/prospect, as I could not think of a really good/world class midfielder available at this point.
 

Raketa10

Senior Member
1. Eriksen
2. Bernardo Silva
3. Tolisso

However, looking how things are going, most of the players in this poll could be unavailable even before we state who is our new coach ...

Eriksen (can't see Spurs selling him unless some ridiculous amount is given, which we won't do)
Bernardo Silva (already in Manchester according to the media, so could be a done deal before we name our new coach)
Tolisso (I don't think he is even in our plans, even though I really wanted him to be)
Coutinho (not available in my eyes, Liverpool are not looking to sell and it should be some kind of a transfer record to bring him, which I don't think is happening and also don't think is worth it)
Keita (more and more linked with Liverpool, so he could be out of the picture soon as well)
Koke (signed a new contract, but he was not coming anyway and to be honest I do not like him that much)

Overall, at the end, after Valverde is named our new coach the options could already be really small and it looks like it could be another eventual talent/prospect, as I could not think of a really good/world class midfielder available at this point.

All of this raises the question WTF was Robert doing entire season? The point is to prepare transfers before the window opens! We are becoming joke of a club with this incapable board and sports director who doesn't know shit about conducting a transfer before others. We are either buying players nobody is interested in (Digne, Alcacer) or some old players well past their prime (Mathieu, Arda) or we end up overpaying wrong players (Gomes). In the end we probably agreed terms with Valverde few months ago so they had enough time to determine transfer targets with him.
 
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putogusiluz8

The Pale One
YEaAaAAAAaaAAa :guitar: :rockon:

What a badass, what a god, what a master is Verratti, kicking ass is his motto like he's practicing karate.

He's coming guys. He's coming to town.
 

BarçaBarça

New member
Verrattiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii :rockon:

Alright, if it is okay to mention unrealistic players are I think Kevin de Bruyne gets far too little praise in here, compared to Verratti.
If Verratti is 'the closest thing to Xavi' as I have seen many suggest, then De Bruyne surely is 'the closest thing to Iniesta'!

Even with that in mind (that they have different roles) I would suggest that De Bruyne is the better player. De Bruyne makes his team better than Verratti makes his team, and delivers better performances in a waaay harder league (that is backed up by stats: De Bruyne performs better in EPL than Verratti in Ligue 1).

I get why De Bruyne isn't mentioned more - he is literally un-buyable (=even 150M€ won't persuade ManCity). But it is a little tiresome to hear people keep ranting about Verratti mostly because he is unavailable, but secondly because he obviously doesn't want to go anywhere but Paris (he has extended his original 5 year contract 4 times!).
I guess people need a name to hold unto as a jesus-like resolving figure who would solve all problems, and that is why he is still mentioned.

On topic, I think Coutinho would be great here: Available to buy, imo, and would fit the role as attacking midfielder/no.8. He knows Neymar and Suarez - has delivered top-performances with them, has been consistent since 2013 in a very good league, and therefore is as little a gamble you can get (without loaning him first). When Mané has been out for Liverpool he has delivered goals too, but out-side-the-box-screamers is only one of his abilities - he has had some of his best performances as a no. 8-role, and that is very promising for us. All of this is great, but he is reasonably young, and therefore also has potential to peak with us, when playing consistently with better players than in Liverpool.

I also like the idea of Eriksen playing for us, but as a Dane he has just disappeared so many times in the national team, that I'm not overly hyped about him, combined with the fact that he would be at least as expensive as Coutinho and maybe a little less realistic to get.
 
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Raketa10

Senior Member
Since majority of world class midfielders are off limits we have to go full force on Coutinho. IMHO he would be perfect for Iniesta spot.

B.Silva is gone, Koke is tied to ATM for life, Eriksen is off limits for now, Keita and Fabinho are headed to PL so Coutinho is maybe the only solution.
 
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gasgas

Senior Member
How do you guys know that we are going to need a player for Iniesta role next season

We didn't even need Xavi role under Lucho

What if now we eliminate Iniesta role and return Xavi's role, or Van Bommel role or any other role
 

BarçaBarça

New member
How do you guys know that we are going to need a player for Iniesta role next season

We didn't even need Xavi role under Lucho

What if now we eliminate Iniesta role and return Xavi's role, or Van Bommel role or any other role

Because we have Busquets and Rakitic and a Iniesta who can't play over half of the games next season.
A player who can play with skills similar to Iniesta will be crucial no matter what the system is, imo. The suggestion is Coutinho - he can play as an 8, a 10 and as leftwing (+maybe rightwing). That would be an asset across most systems.
 

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