Erling Braut Haaland

DonAK said:

Talking about Falcao then he's 1.77m and an absolute threat in the air and was one of the best strikers in the World before his injury. A very complete #9.

He was perhaps the most important and the least talked player about when it comes to Atletico's redemption and rise from Patetico to a legit team. Without that Europa League and Copa del Rey win over Real Madrid I'm not sure they'd have a platform to build onto.

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I agree with you on this one. Falcaos contribution to Atleticos rise is criminally underrated.

I see some Falcao in Lautaro Martinez.

Doesn't mean the cost of his transfer is in any way justifiable, but the hope is that he can be a player like that/Aguero.

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I also see some Falcao in Lautaro. But not as strong, not as fast, a bit shorter, and more overrated than 23 year old Falcao.

23 year old Aguero was a different beast. Much much more proven than your usual 23 year old player.

I do understand that players don't necessarily have to take the same trajectory and that Lautaro might somehow end up better than both Falcao and Aguero. Yet my question remains, why take the risk? He is so overpriced and regardless of the Catalan propaganda no team other than Barca are willing to pay that much for him. Just as no team was willing to pay 120m for Dembele and 140m for Coutinho.

Back in 2013 when we took the risk and paid a lot for a young Neymar, I was really glad we did it because he was genuinely a rare talent than doesn't come often. In addition it was clear to see how marketable he was, and that he will have a good resale value. Just as nowadays Mbappe and Haland are rare talents that no matter how much they cost you wont overpay for them and as long as they avoid injuries they will have a good resale value if things don't work out.

Atletico Falcao was ridiculous too.

Moe said:

I agree with you on this one. Falcaos contribution to Atleticos rise is criminally underrated.



I also see some Falcao in Lautaro. But not as strong, not as fast, a bit shorter, and more overrated than 23 year old Falcao.

23 year old Aguero was a different beast. Much much more proven than your usual 23 year old player.

I do understand that players don't necessarily have to take the same trajectory and that Lautaro might somehow end up better than both Falcao and Aguero. Yet my question remains, why take the risk? He is so overpriced and regardless of the Catalan propaganda no team other than Barca are willing to pay that much for him. Just as no team was willing to pay 120m for Dembele and 140m for Coutinho.

Back in 2013 when we took the risk and paid a lot for a young Neymar, I was really glad we did it because he was genuinely a rare talent than doesn't come often. In addition it was clear to see how marketable he was, and that he will have a good resale value. Just as nowadays Mbappe and Haland are rare talents that no matter how much they cost you wont overpay for them and as long as they avoid injuries they will have a good resale value if things don't work out.

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Kun & Falcao are good references when discussing Lautaro (Although I would also include Luis Suarez) but it's also important to remember their career trajectories saw them erupt once landing in Europe (Kun at 18 & Falcao at 23). The only risk with a player like Martinez is really whether he becomes injury prone else a fighter like this cannot be taught/learned - it's either part of your makeup as a player or it isn't. He is not the finished article but you are paying for potential on what he can ultimately produce. Not to ignore he exploded at Racing & for NT as a junior

It's too easy to cite Coutinho & Dembele as panic buys or overpaying - the former never a good fit while the latter, simply bad luck or poor scouting to see what sort of lousy professional he is.

With Lautaro, we do not see a poor professional & frankly, we see something you see rarely in a forward. Probably already been mentioned elsewhere but the concentration test at Racing for assessing mental performance, his score was nearly perfect and importantly significantly higher than players who have gone through the club. Who else plays similarly at 22 or younger? Quick, mobile, vision, creativity, focused, instinctive, ambidextrous, strong, explosive and off the ball movement to create space - yet, still shows hunger to develop further. I see only an elite player here

BBZ8800 said:

(...)

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You are pretty sure of your assessment of Arthur and Lautaro when there really werent any comparable transfers to them (at least that I can remember). I dont think any other players here ever created so much controversy in terms of talent vs stats (and height^^). So we can only wait and see how things turn out, maybe guys like me got fooled by frauds or we recognised greatness first (technique, movement, certain games). Lautaro "had" me with his CL games this season (though I always thought he looked like a top talent when he came to Europe). For me theres no need to look any further, but then again, we will see whos right.

Jovic is a great example for your approach of scouting: he looked great on paper (no idea how you rated him to be fair), decent height, goals (...), but whenever I watched him he looked kind of shit (and like an actual 2nd striker despite his height and physicality contrary to Martinez, whos a 9). Haaland the same, whos technique/clumsiness will severely limit him in my opionion. But then again, theres no way to find out whos right just yet. We unfortunately have to wait.

Same for Arthur. He has been here for not even two seasons. Patience before you declare victory.

FCBarca said:

Kun & Falcao are good references when discussing Lautaro (Although I would also include Luis Suarez) but it's also important to remember their career trajectories saw them erupt once landing in Europe (Kun at 18 & Falcao at 23). The only risk with a player like Martinez is really whether he becomes injury prone else a fighter like this cannot be taught/learned - it's either part of your makeup as a player or it isn't. He is not the finished article but you are paying for potential on what he can ultimately produce. Not to ignore he exploded at Racing & for NT as a junior

It's too easy to cite Coutinho & Dembele as panic buys or overpaying - the former never a good fit while the latter, simply bad luck or poor scouting to see what sort of lousy professional he is.

With Lautaro, we do not see a poor professional & frankly, we see something you see rarely in a forward. Probably already been mentioned elsewhere but the concentration test at Racing for assessing mental performance, his score was nearly perfect and importantly significantly higher than players who have gone through the club. Who else plays similarly at 22 or younger? Quick, mobile, vision, creativity, focused, instinctive, ambidextrous, strong, explosive and off the ball movement to create space - yet, still shows hunger to develop further. I see only an elite player here

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What are you talking about lmfao, he's by no means explosive, nor is he ambidextrous lmao

I see that people are mentioning how Lautaro is young and that we are buying his potential.

As others mentioned, it is interesting how no sane club except Barto's clown Barca is interested in Lautaro.

Further, about us buying his potential, when was the last time when it turned out good?
7 years ago with Neymar.

Let's check which young players we bought since then, since all of them were supposed to improve over time:
Lenglet, stagnated
Semedo. Lol
Digne, stagnated
Firpo, lol
Denise, lol
Alejandro Gomes, lol
Arthur, I'll say lol again
Frenkie, stagnated for now
Dembele, lol
Malcom, lol

Mats=improved a lot
Umtiti, improved but got injured and ruined his career

So, out of our 12 last bets with young players with potential, only 2 of them improved compared to their level before Barca.
That is around 17% of success.

Now, since our record is so bad and since so many new gen players are heavily overhyped youtube and social media products, how can you guys fall into a same trap over and over again?

The most likely scenario with Lautaro is = it is what it is. He won't improve too much.
And then the question is: if he will stay the same player as today, would you be happy with him being Barca's no9?

No offense, for me, his shitty finishing skills are the level of: Milan, Roma, Inter, Arsenal and Tottenham.

There is a reason why no big team is after him.
Why on Earth would any top team want a short forward who can't score goals?

** mc lovin, you asked me about Jovic. I laughed at Jovic last summer when people said that we need to buy him and how he is banging goals with powerful, precise shots.

Jovic was banging goals in a team where even Croatian Cf Rebic was scoring a lot.
And Rebic is dumb as a brick with horrible decisions and poor finishing skills.

I mean, look at goalscorers from Italy this season without penaldos:
17 Immobile
15 Ilicic
14 Cr7
13 Lukaku
13 Joao Pedro
12 Caputo
12 Dzeko
10 Zapata
9 Lautaro
9 Berardi
9 Milik

Even in a granny Seria A, there are 8 players who scored more goals than our 110m wonderboy Lautaro, lol.

What could possibly go wrong with this transfer.

His stats on paper are shit.
He has a lot of red flags around his pace, height, passing, finishing.
He is too expensive.
And we are again relying on "what if he improves" scenario.

This is good post, almost 90% of the forum does not want Lautaro here because we all see that this is go is not good.

Just put money for Haaland.

BBZ8800 said:

Let's check which young players we bought since then, since all of them were supposed to improve over time:
Lenglet, stagnated
Semedo. Lol
Digne, stagnated
Firpo, lol
Denise, lol
Alejandro Gomes, lol
Arthur, I'll say lol again
Frenkie, stagnated for now
Dembele, lol
Malcom, lol

Mats=improved a lot
Umtiti, improved but got injured and ruined his career

So, out of our 12 last bets with young players with potential, only 2 of them improved compared to their level before Barca.
That is around 17% of success.

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Talk about false equivalence. Not every "young player with potential" is the same. And I dont think Semedo, Lenglet, Firpo, Malcom, Gomes, Denis or Digne etc pp got hyped here by reasonable users. At least I didnt expect anything from either of them - squad players at best. Arthur, Frenkie and Lautaro on the other hand... we will see.

As for Lautaros stats: Inter is a genuinely awful attacking team. Shit wingbacks, no creativity, punt the ball to Martinez as their plan A... put him into Dortmund and he easily scores 20+ goals. As for his price: hes probably the easiest to get high profile striker on the market. 60ME+players would be more than decent.

Just get Haaland that simple. Go all in for him and he will choose Barca and playing with Messi factor.

Martinez is preferred just to please Messi and if you want that sign Neymar and dump that bum Greaseman he has stunk up that left wing for long enough

I can see the argument being made for Lautaro being a fitting player type. But I'm sceptical at this pricetag. If you throw these ridiculous fees around you can't just marble about his fancy touches, while ignoring the actual output. I'd happily pay >100m for a guy I expect to bang in 35+ goals a season in all comps. Lautaro doesn't do that. He averages a goal from every 3 games or so at Inter (and doesn't add assists either despite playing in a 2 striker formation).

Essentially the issue is you are giving this amount of money for a striker who - if he can make it in the talent graveyard that Barca currently is - might amount about 20-25 goals in a good season. That's.. okay. But is that really gonna suffice as the longterm striker solution? What would be the point of this if Barca were to spend >100m on him, only to replace him with another expensive kid after 3 years because people expected him to miraculously reach Suarez' figures?

Yannik said:

I can see the argument being made for Lautaro being a fitting player type. But I'm sceptical at this pricetag. If you throw these ridiculous fees around you can't just marble about his fancy touches, while ignoring the actual output. I'd happily pay >100m for a guy I expect to bang in 35+ goals a season in all comps. Lautaro doesn't do that. He averages a goal from every 3 games or so at Inter (and doesn't add assists either despite playing in a 2 striker formation).

Essentially the issue is you are giving this amount of money for a striker who - if he can make it in the talent graveyard that Barca currently is - might amount about 20-25 goals in a good season. That's.. okay. But is that really gonna suffice as the longterm striker solution? What would be the point of this if Barca were to spend >100m on him, only to replace him with another expensive kid after 3 years because people expected him to miraculously reach Suarez' figures?

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Good post. That's exactly my biggest problem with Lautaro. I just don't see him ever being a 30+ goals striker. And from a 100m+ signing you should expect that.

Haaland is a killer infront of the goal. Yes, he could clearly fail here but I would have much higher hopes of him actually scoring goals if he'd be bought. Sure, he would probably have more bad passes or lost balls during the games in comparision to Lautaro but I'd be perfectly ok with this as long as he would bang goals.

We should for a moment forget about technique (which is an obsession for most people here) etc. and start looking for players who will do their primary job.

1. forwards who can actually score
2. defenders who can actually defend

Then if they can also do some other things well even better but at first they should be great at what they are supposed to do.

And add to that:
3a. midfielders who can run and defend
3b. midfielders who can create some chances

We already have midfielders who can keep possesion but struggle doing much more.

Messi983 said:

We should for a moment forget about technique (which is an obsession for most people here) etc. and start looking for players who will do their primary job.

1. forwards who can actually score
2. defenders who can actually defend

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That's a too simple way of seeing things.

Forwards can score in different ways and defenders can be good in defensive sides but exposed in offensive teams. Some players thrive in different systems and just because Immobile is beasting in Serie A for Lazio it doesn't mean he'd do the same at Inter or Juve.

Andresito said:

That's a too simple way of seeing things.

Forwards can score in different ways and defenders can be good in defensive sides but exposed in offensive teams. Some players thrive in different systems and just because Immobile is beasting in Serie A for Lazio it doesn't mean he'd do the same at Inter or Juve.

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Sure, it's a simplified view but at the same time you can't expect a player whose strengths are everything else but scoring suddenly become a killer in front of goal. We can expect Lautaro will still bring some positive qualities to the team (just like Griezmann) but his success here will ultimately be dependent on if he can provide us goals we'll lose when Suarez will leave. And I just don't see him as that kind of player so we will almost surely be looking for a new striker in 2-3 years again. If he would be available for 30-40m then I wouldn't mind getting him and hoping he can improve his scoring playing in another system with better players (well, mostly Messi) around him but for 100m it's just too much risk specially with how our other big money signings have turned out so far. But since he's definitely coming I hope he'll prove me wrong.

Bro just keep Suarez. He's better than all these shitty prospects

mc_lovin said:

Talk about false equivalence. Not every "young player with potential" is the same. And I dont think Semedo, Lenglet, Firpo, Malcom, Gomes, Denis or Digne etc pp got hyped here by reasonable users. At least I didnt expect anything from either of them - squad players at best. Arthur, Frenkie and Lautaro on the other hand... we will see.

As for Lautaros stats: Inter is a genuinely awful attacking team. Shit wingbacks, no creativity, punt the ball to Martinez as their plan A... put him into Dortmund and he easily scores 20+ goals. As for his price: hes probably the easiest to get high profile striker on the market. 60ME+players would be more than decent.

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Denis was a new Iniesta by some or at least good enough to be a nice copy. He had flair and everything needed.
Semedo was the best fullback in the world.
Malcom was a part of a holy quartet on whom we will rely for the next 10 years, and whom "stupid" EV has ruined by not playing those genius players: Malcom, Dembele, Semedo, Alena.

About Inter, you are living in some weird dreamland, mc lovin.
You are giving 100 000 credits to Arthur's creativity and suddenly you have tons of faith in Lautaro.
If I will ever sell some shaddy expensive stuff for naive people on internet, you will be my first pick in my phonebook.

Anyway, let's test your theory:
Seria A, shots per match:
http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=league_shots

15,3 Atalanta
13,5 Napoli
13,2 Roma
12,6 Lazio
12,2 Juventus
11,4 Bologna
11,2 Inter

Btw, Barca has 12,7 shots per game.
Inter has 11,2.

So, Barca creates 1,5 shots more per game.
And you are now expecting that Lautaro will turn into a goalscoring machine even though our team is creating almost the same amount of shots as Inter?
Not to mention that defenders in Spain are faster and of better quality than Seria A defenders.