Thiago Alcantara

MTL_Barca

MTL_Barca

Well-known member
I don't really see De Jong as a CM next to Busquets at Barca. I think he either joins 2019 or would mostly be used as a Busquets replacement and CB for now.

Cou (and Denis if we keep him) on the wing, Alena as AM backup and then a new CM/AM next to Rakitic in starting lineup. Gomes and Iniesta out and no more midfield games for Sergi.

So theoretically we could fit all these players in, but it would be kinda tight of course. Busquets + 2 CMs + Cou on the wing would also mean Suarez benched (and we all know how likely that is) or Dembele benched and Suarez playing slightly on the wing.

De Jong/Busquets
Rakitic/Arthur, Thiago/Alena + Paulinho
Dembele/X, Messi/Suarez, Cou/Denis

But more realistic is probably no world class CM, Arthur and De Jong on the bench behind Buaquets+Rakitic, with Suarez+Messi upfront and Cou+Dembele in either a 4-3-3 or like 4-2-3-1/4-4-2
 
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Jombi

New member
vlad said:
Have a feeling barca are getting desperate in search of "next xavi, iniesta" some of the fans also, if thiago is truly WC player, bayern wouldnt let him go, they let kroos because he demanded more money. Then his injuries, are you willing to throw 60+m for a player which could miss out key parts of season?


And some fans expectations from that arthur is another story, guy could easily turned to midfield mina.

Rakitic isnt CM for barca, but he still provide some strenght in that weak team, every top psychical team eats barca, was the same with best midfield ever (chelsea, inter), so lets take rakitic out and put thiago in who cant manage to play full season.


La liga wouldnt be a problem, but CL trophy would still be far away
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We have three 30 year-olds plus Gomes, Denis. The overhaul in midfield is needed now more than ever. Players need the season to adapt to our style anyway. We are not signing Bale, Eriksen, Pogba or De Bruyne. Thiago is probably unavailable as well, but worth a shot if there are any truths whatsoever to the rumors and he is our former player, so we have some power there.
 
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Jombi

New member
tacticvarium said:
I would only sign one of De Jong and Arthur for the upcoming season since Aleñá is joining the first team.
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If we play mostly with 4 midfielders, including Coutinho on the wing and three 30 year olds who will decline as the season progress, we need the extra manpower in midfield. De Jong and Arthur and Alena would probably be gradually eased into our style and midfield anyway. Isnt Alena far too attacking to play in a 3 man midfield anyway?
 
Saladin

Saladin

Active member
Alena, Arthur and De Jong are all great prospects, but the starting formation should be Busquets - Rakitic - Thiago/Pjanic. Arthur and Alena should be rotating first year on the A squad and De Jong should be able to get alot of playing time as well, CB/DM/CM-wise; the Sergi Roberto of the midfield for us, if we can close the deal.
 
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NorthernCule

Banned
There is a reason he's getting benched by Spain at this World Cup and by Bayern in bigger matches. He's not good enough to cut it at the top level.

Dude isn't young anymore either, time to give up on this fantasy of "bringing home" and him becoming the "new Xavi."

Would much rather splurge 100m on someone like Savic who would offer a physical presence to this weak team.
 
Saladin

Saladin

Active member
NorthernCule said:
There is a reason he's getting benched by Spain at this World Cup and by Bayern in bigger matches. He's not good enough to cut it at the top level.

Dude isn't young anymore either, time to give up on this fantasy of "bringing home" and him becoming the "new Xavi."

Would much rather splurge 100m on someone like Savic who would offer a physical presence to this weak team.
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To be fair, Kroos was not rated highly at club or NT level prior to him joining Real Madrid for what turned out to be a bargain signing.


Thiago started in Bayerns most important fixture this season and was easily their best player (in that game at the Bernabeu). Thiago was subbed in Spains game against Portugal and is playing for the most skill-packed midfield of all the national teams in the world; Thiago is up against the likes of Iniesta, Isco, Koke, Saul, David Silva. All world class midfielders, it hardly means that he is not a class midfielder if he is not starting regularly with competition like that.
 
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gregorrin10

Senior Member
Saladin said:
Alena, Arthur and De Jong are all great prospects, but the starting formation should be Busquets - Rakitic - Thiago/Pjanic. Arthur and Alena should be rotating first year on the A squad and De Jong should be able to get alot of playing time as well, CB/DM/CM-wise; the Sergi Roberto of the midfield for us, if we can close the deal.
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Well said. For our starting lineup we still need a bit more experience and immediate injection of quality, that means an older, but already WC midfielder, age 24-27. Thiago could fit that bill, even though my first choice is Eriksen. I like Pjanic too, but he's also a year older than Thiago and 2 years older than Eriksen, and i consider Thiago and Eriksen as better midfielders anyway. And yes, even though Eriksen is more used to playing AM, we would have Arthur, De Jong and Rakitic for the CM position anyway, not to mention Eriksen himself is capable of playing CM too, if Coutinho plays AM, not LW. I'm basing getting Eriksen on making our starting attack Coutinho-Messi-Dembele and rightly so drop Suarez. But i get that Thiago is much more attainable this summer and he would be great to get as well.

In any case, i would get Eriksen/Thiago and De Jong now and Arthur in January. You may say that with Alena that makes it 4 new midfielders and that's too much, but we need a total revamp in midfield anyway, and i'm considering we of course sell Gomes, Rafinha this summer and then by next summer also Paulinho and maybe even Denis too, considering Alena's development this season. So that leaves only Busquets and Rakitic as our two worthwhile options right now, and that way getting possibly 4 new midfielders isn't a stretch at all.

Not to mention, Alena will slowly be returning from injury anyway and Arthur won't be here for the first half of the season. But more important, these arrivals are able to play more than 1 position, Alena can and should also be the rotation for Dembele in RW, along with playing the attacking CM role, that way he would get enough minutes altogether. Arthur would rotation cover for Rakitic (the defensive CM role). While De Jong could provide rotation cover for both CM positions, and for Busquets in DM and be the 4th/5th CB option as well. And going into the future, with Arthur and De Jong we would have 2 great options to always keep our first midfielders, especially Rakitic (who needs it most) on their toes and eventually replacing him in the next season or two, providing they develop well. And Rakitic does need to be replaced in a couple of years at the most. And then the same goes for Busquets a couple or so years after Rakitic. And if all goes well, we would already have the replacements for Busquets and Rakitic in De Jong and Arthur, if both turn out good.
 
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