Lucho once said that Douglas was a great player and that he's got as much a chance of playing as anyone else in the squad.
Pretty safe to dismiss anything he says publicly as his actual opinion, he tends to take things safe when he's not bantering.
I've never been a fan of that mentality. Starting non-defenders in defense for the sake of playing from the back. I'd rather not concede than have CBs who can pass, thanks. If Gumbau had any sense of positional awareness he could probably fulfill that role playing as CDM, anyways.
What kind of guidance would you expect from Puyol that he wouldn't get from his current agent? If anything I'd be inclined to think Puyol would tell him to wait it out, it wouldn't be the first time.
5 CBs is overkill. That 5th CB is so rarely used or even needed that we could just give a B...
I can almost guarantee he'd sign a new contract if offered. If he was any more intelligent than that he'd have left a long time ago.
Having five CBs has already proven to be way more than what we need. One of those three should leave even if we don't sign another CB. If we do, two of them...
He has a tendency to forget to mark his man. Was a total passenger when the goal was conceded, which is never something you want to see from the backbone of your defense.
Other than that I'd say he had a decent game, though.
Well, Bravo on his current form would be a nice upgrade to what a lot of the bug clubs around Europe have. I forsee him going the Diego Lopez route and showing nothing of his Barca days after leaving, though, so you're probably right.