Xavi Hernández

[serghei]

Not comparing Gomes with Xavi, but Xavi was 27 at Euro 2008. Now, probably even at 27 Gomes won't be the best player at a high profile competition like that, or the best midfielder in the world, but that doesn't mean he can't be a great player on his own right and someone we can use at Barcelona.

 

[Horatio]

Not comparing Gomes with Xavi, but Xavi was 27 at Euro 2008. Now, probably even at 27 Gomes won't be the best player at a high profile competition like that, or the best midfielder in the world, but that doesn't mean he can't be a great player on his own right and someone we can use at Barcelona.

I like your way of thinking. A lot of people seem locked on the idea of needing players of the same quality as those during Barca prime. Xavi was exceptional, we probably won't get a player as good as him but that doesn't mean we can't develop a great team.

inb4aintgonnahappenwithlicho

 

[George_Costanza]

Not comparing Gomes with Xavi, but Xavi was 27 at Euro 2008. Now, probably even at 27 Gomes won't be the best player at a high profile competition like that, or the best midfielder in the world, but that doesn't mean he can't be a great player on his own right and someone we can use at Barcelona.

Exactly, 2003-2007 Xavi was a squad player. He was on the bench for 2006 UCL final. When I think of Rijkaard's team, I think of Deco in the MF not Xavi. At that time I never thought Xavi would become a world class. I mean he himself saying that so why do we have to argue lol Xavi: "'They never really noticed me until 2008 when I had already been here for 10 years."

Now not comparing Gomes to Xavi but Gomes is only 23 years old. People keep forgetting this and think players like Xavi were world class at his age. Not even close!

 

[FlaFCB]

Exactly, 2003-2007 Xavi was a squad player. He was on the bench for 2006 UCL final. When I think of Rijkaard's team, I think of Deco in the MF not Xavi. At that time I never thought Xavi would become a world class. I mean he himself saying that so why do we have to argue lol Xavi: "'They never really noticed me until 2008 when I had already been here for 10 years."

Now not comparing Gomes to Xavi but Gomes is only 23 years old. People keep forgetting this and think players like Xavi were world class at his age. Not even close!

Xavi a squad player... He was a starter. And he was on the bench in CL 2006 final because of the serious knee injury he had in that season, that sidelined him for months... Don't think you were watching Barça back then as you claimed. Xavi has 767 appearances in 17 seasons for Barça, an average of 45 matches per season. Squad player

This is Xavi at 23-24 years old, and yes, he was already world class:

That just shows you weren't really watching him back then.

Gomes wishes he was that good right now.

 

[BBZ8800]

Exactly, 2003-2007 Xavi was a squad player. He was on the bench for 2006 UCL final. When I think of Rijkaard's team, I think of Deco in the MF not Xavi. At that time I never thought Xavi would become a world class. I mean he himself saying that so why do we have to argue lol Xavi: "'They never really noticed me until 2008 when I had already been here for 10 years."

Now not comparing Gomes to Xavi but Gomes is only 23 years old. People keep forgetting this and think players like Xavi were world class at his age. Not even close!

I am not sure why that CL final in 2006 always returns in Xavi's debates.

Mate, you also forgot one thing (a lot of users forgot this fact):
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SPORT/football/12/02/spain.xavi/

Xavi broke knee ligaments in December of 2005 and was out for 6 Months.
He returned on a field 2 weeks before a CL final.

This is why our Cms in that CL campaign were mostly Deco-Van Bommel with subs Iniesta and even 2nd choice Cdm Thiago Motta.
Edmilson was a first choice Cdm.

Xavi was a starter in early 2000's, in early Rijkaard's era, in late Rijkaard's era and always ever after (Pep, Tito, Tata).

 

[Galning]

Gomes wishes he was that good right now.

I do too.

 

[DonAK]

These arguments about Xavi not being World Class until his late twenties are based on groundless myths.

 

[Potroh]

Quite funny, Gomes as world class player... come on... Aren't you Gomes fans a bit subjective and wishful?

But let's just see Gomes at Euro-2016:
Against Iceland at the shameful draw, Gomes played almost the entire game, got only substituted at the 84' minute. He played bad but his entire team did.
Against Austria he played bad again and got substituted in the 83rd min.
Against Hungary (another very lucky draw & game) he got substituted in the 61st minute and played even worse.

A very LUCKY Portuguese team to go further with only 3 draws...

Against Croatia played invisible and got substituted in the 50th.
Against Poland he didn't play.
Against Wales, he came on in the 74th minute and had two touches.
In the final he didn't play and wasn't even substitute.

So I don't think he would even be a regular on his NT level not to mention "world-class" which is just a wishful dream by his fans.

But: most often it was Renato Sanches who substituted him (or vice versa), who is younger and is much much more talented. Sanches is already a very creative player, so usually it was nice to see him in place of the sluggish Gomes, even if Sanches yet plays with a lot of mistakes.
A better or more mature version of Sanches could be a Barca material, which Gomes will never ever be...

 

[serghei]

Who said Gomes is a world class player? Nobody I know said that.

These arguments about Xavi not being World Class until his late twenties are based on groundless myths.

Depends very much on your criteria of being world class, and what does the term means to you. Because it doesn't have the same meaning for everyone. You can make a case for him being world class at 23-24, or not being world class at that age depending on what criteria do you use. According to my own criteria, Xavi was not world class at that age.

 

[Gnidrologist]

He certainly wasn't regarded as superstar by sports media and pundits until late 20s, when he became pivotal for Pep's tiki-taka. Then again one may argue the press doesn't understand shit, which i agree to some extent.

 

[George_Costanza]

Xavi a squad player... He was a starter. And he was on the bench in CL 2006 final because of the serious knee injury he had in that season, that sidelined him for months... Don't think you were watching Barça back then as you claimed. Xavi has 767 appearances in 17 seasons for Barça, an average of 45 matches per season. Squad player

This is Xavi at 23-24 years old, and yes, he was already world class:

[video=youtube;_fPBrJSubcc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fPBrJSubcc[video]

[video=youtube;pdms_QaaK-g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdms_QaaK-g[video]

That just shows you weren't really watching him back then.

Gomes wishes he was that good right now.

I can't argue with a guy checking the wiki for game appearances. He wasn't influantial in that system, he himself said so, who are you to argue with Xavi himself? Nonsense! I can PM you another football board that I'm a member of since 2000. You can check older games threads and see who did think Xavi was influential between 2003-2007.

 

[serghei]

Not only the press. But he wasn't really a pivotal player in Spain's Euro 2004 team was he? A world class player for me has to be an important member of his national team. Xavi wasn't in 2004 as proven by him being a squad player for Spain in the major tournament of the period.

 

[FlaFCB]

I can't argue with a guy checking the wiki for game appearances. He wasn't influantial in that system, he himself said so, who are you to argue with Xavi himself? Nonsense! I can PM you another football board that I'm a member of since 2000. You can check older games threads and see who did think Xavi was influential between 2003-2007.

Lol. You weren't watching any games, if you think that about Xavi. There's even video proof showing that at 23 he was playing like he did when he was 28, but you keep the nonsense. And it's not only me, there are other members here, like @Bojan and @BBZ8800 who also watched Xavi back then. You have no idea what you're talking about, and resorting to the "I can't argue with a guy checking the wiki for game appearances" shows that even more. Nice trolling after getting found out so hard. It's amusing to see you changing your argument, too. First Xavi was "a squad player". After that being debunked, now he wasn't "influentional"...

His injury, that bad last season under Rijkaard, and the criticism that followed, made him give those statements. It's nice to take things out of context, though. You didn't even know he was injured in 2006, and that's why he missed the UCL final. As I also said before, I'm not talking about general clueless perception from people. Xavi was my favorite player, and I could see his qualities back then. He didn't come out of nowhere, nor Pep taught him how to play football. He was playing like that since ever.

 

[FlaFCB]

Not only the press. But he wasn't really a pivotal player in Spain's Euro 2004 team was he? A world class player for me has to be an important member of his national team. Xavi wasn't in 2004 as proven by him being a squad player for Spain in the major tournament of the period.

Again this? Spain in 2004 had a terrible coach, Iñaki Sáez. It wasn't by chance they went out in the group stage.

 

[serghei]

Again this? Spain in 2004 had a terrible coach, Iñaki Sáez. It wasn't by chance they went out in the group stage.

It is not that easy. The players that played in front of Xavi were the starting CMs of the best team around that time. Valencia was champions of Spain in 2003-04. He had every right to pick them.