20 - Sergi Roberto

I like Roberto. I think he's underrated. Few RBs are defensively good enough these days to fight off players without the help of the winger. If we had Pedro as RW and Messi false 9, we wouldn't view Roberto as defensively weak as we do. It's all relative.

When you are isolated, and left alone, and a winger is running at you, most often than note you will get beat. Roberto is not a very good defender, true, but I don't see better fullbacks at other teams, with 2-3 exceptions at best all of which can't be got.

I think our RB pair is among the best in Europe. They get a lot of heat because our system doesn't have a RW that can help them in both phases of the game. This is bound to affect the way they play.

In the few games where Dembele was fit, in form and playing RW, the right side with Roberto/Semedo + Dembele was our strongest and most active. That should be food for thought.

The moment when you play 4-3-3 and allow Messi to roam centrally at his own will, you basically concede the right wing is going to perform in a limited way. It's just how it works, and it's not related to player quality in the RB position at all.

JamDav1982 said:

Firpo was the back up LB far more than Semedo.

Todibo is not ready to play for Barca. He needs to learn how to play CB and stop being so rash/risk taking.

Will be hard for him to learn that as a back up and needs to go on loan again or be sold if teams offering 20m+.

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i agree he's still raw but a rough diamond. i predicated the entire argument based on the fact that we're broke and we have to find 70 mil to balance the books. so if worst come to worst i'd do that. but if its one thing we know bartomeu/this board knows how to shift around numbers.

DonAK said:

I completely disagree and think it's foolish. If you can bring in a good replacement for Semedo/Roberto and use the money you get from him to sign a better midfielder, and actually improve the team and its chances of winning major trophies then it's a good deal.

An average utility player is not worth more than that. He steps up against Real Madrid though so I'll give him that.

In a year you'll have to renew his contract and he'll likely demand a much higher salary due to his standing in the squad. We got to stop giving average players higher salaries than they'll get elsewhere.

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agree with you on the financial point, it seems we grossly overpay everyone that's part of the reason we struggle to sell on players.

We could potentially get two good fees for both Semedo and Roberto if we somehow end up selling both.

But I wouldn't be shocked if we end up with replacements like Di Sciglio and Dest and they end up being worse than Roberto/Semedo. I'll give Dest plenty of time as he's young but Di Sciglio? Lol if there's one thing the Roberto vs Semedo Factions would agree on is, why the fuck would you spend any money and replacing either of those two with Di Sciglio.

He's homegrown at club and a good servant. Selling him would be another dumb mistake. The market for fullbacks is also thin.

I'm not a fan of selling him. There are many others that need to go before even thinking of selling him.

serghei said:

I like Roberto. I think he's underrated. Few RBs are defensively good enough these days to fight off players without the help of the winger. If we had Pedro as RW and Messi false 9, we wouldn't view Roberto as defensively weak as we do. It's all relative.

When you are isolated, and left alone, and a winger is running at you, most often than note you will get beat. Roberto is not a very good defender, true, but I don't see better fullbacks at other teams, with 2-3 exceptions at best all of which can't be got.

I think our RB pair is among the best in Europe. They get a lot of heat because our system doesn't have a RW that can help them in both phases of the game. This is bound to affect the way they play.

In the few games where Dembele was fit, in form and playing RW, the right side with Roberto/Semedo + Dembele was our strongest and most active. That should be food for thought.

The moment when you play 4-3-3 and allow Messi to roam centrally at his own will, you basically concede the right wing is going to perform in a limited way. It's just how it works, and it's not related to player quality in the RB position at all.

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Good post.

On the other hand I also agree with @DonAK. Both Semedo and Roberto are serviceable players and far from our biggest problem right now but if we want to improve longterm we should aim to replace them.

Problem with Roberto is he's 28 and his contract expires in two years so we'll need to make a decision about him. Do we want to repeat a mistake we did with other seniors and reward him with a new longterm contract which we'll probably regret in a few years (it's true he doesn't have the same "weight" in the locker room as Suarez, Busi, Pique,.. and so he'll be be easier to bench). I'm fully against giving him a 5-year contract with a big pay raise but if he would agree to a 2-3 year extension on the same wages with no promise to be a starter I would be ok with that.

This way Roberto would become a free agent when he turns 31-32 and we would see what his situation would be at that point and either let him leave or renew him on a year to year basis. I think this should be a strategy for a new board. Regardless of how important a player is for the team don't give him a 5-year contract when he's already 29/30 like we did with Busi and Alba. Give them 3-year contracts at most and then see how they'll "age". Once they are 32-33 renew them on a year to year basis if they keep performing if not let them leave. I prefer risk of maybe losing some still useful players for nothing than having multiple players on high wages underperforming for years with no chance to sell or replace them.

But if we decide to sell this summer is our last chance to get a good money for Roberto. His versatility is great but I think he's replacable so if we get a good offer I'd sell and anything above 40m would be a good offer in this market for me (a bigger problem is we would probably spend this money wrongly). Surely there are other players we should sell before him but there just isn't much market for them. If we can get back Emerson a year earlier or buy Dest I would be ok with selling Roberto. He didn't really play all that much as a midfielder so someone like Alena or Collado could get his minutes there next year and longterm we can find better players.

Still, selling both Semedo and Roberto in the same transfer window seems very unlikely and I think chances of Semedo leaving are much higher so I believe Roberto will stay and most likely be our starting RB next season.

I think we shouldn't worry about the right wing at all. I view the RB position one where we are well covered really. The only thing that can improve it is to play Messi false 9, play Dembele RW, or move Messi in a more clasic winger role. I doubt we'll see any of that.

At this point, what is missing is better management. In no way of shape or form this team should have lost 4-0 to a Liverpool with Shaquiri and Origi in attack. That's just no way. A match like that can only happen if you are mentally frail, and unprepared tactically and physically. Basically, the only way you lose a tie like that with Liverpool's injuries and the first leg score, is if you are horribly scared and the only reason why you are scared is because you are unprepared, thus unconfident, and hesitant.

We lack good management the most, board + technical director + manager. This translates to tactics, transfers and player dealings, match preparation, squad handling, everything. This idea that players manage themselves is bullshit. The sole job of the manager is to make sure the team is prepared and focused. I stand by what I said repeatedly. In the last decade, we only had 1 top tier manager - Guardiola, and one good manager - Lucho. Rest were mediocre and out of their depth.

The only reason why we are still successful is because we are stacked with talent and skill. And this somehow compensates all other issues, at least on the domestic front.

Sergi is so underrated, he is one of the few who would die for the club. If he played in a team with a real RW, he would be one of the best in the world.

No RB will be good enough at this Barca team without a proper winger, only prime Alves could do it, and he is one of the all time best RBs, if not even the best.

Catta said:

Sergi is so underrated, he is one of the few who would die for the club. If he played in a team with a real RW, he would be one of the best in the world.

No RB will be good enough at this Barca team without a proper winger, only prime Alves could do it, and he is one of the all time best RBs, if not even the best.

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That's questionable as well, but yea, Alves might just cut it, only just. In Alves' best seasons, we always had a clear right winger.

Well to be fair in the 2015/16 season when Messi was going more centralized Alves did have a number of games where he was isolated and didn't have that strong Messi-Alves Connection like in the past.

xXKonan said:

Well to be fair in the 2015/16 season when Messi was going more centralized Alves did have a number of games where he was isolated and didn't have that strong Messi-Alves Connection like in the past.

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And our right side was exploited badly at the end of that season. Zidane exposed that side in the classico.
He didn't do any better as lone RB, though he was past his prime.

Catta said:

Sergi is so underrated,

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He's not underrated, more like underappreciated by fans and actually overrated by several managers and whoever it is that doesn't see the need to improve upon him at RB.

This circlejerk is too much for me.

Yes, Roberto and Semedo would benefit a lot from having a true RW in front of them. It's a no-brainer, but they wouldn't turn into World Class RBs.

If Roberto is that great why isn't he the starting RB for Spain?

Wouldn't call it a circlejerk, but it's a bit odd that somehow people seem unable to separate positives and negatives that were debated for ~4 years on this forum and come to a conclusion that isn't absurd.

a) He's an average player, got rinsed many a time, doesn't do anything most players don't already do in that position...
b) ... and yet he's good enough to be a 2nd or 3rd squad option if managed properly (i.e. Vazquez or Nacho in Madrid)...
c) ... which doesn't warrant keeping him at the cost of 30-40M if you can spend it to invest on a better player...
d) ... which would unquestionably leave you without a La Masia product who either did well or had an important moment in bigger games i.e. PSG or Clasicos, is the only middle-ground 'vet' who's not the member of the clique (partly because of how shit he is compared with the rest), and probably DOES try more than most, but isn't the guy others would look to if things go south

All in all it'd be mad to keep him if anybody wants him for upwards of 30 and there's a plan in place for a replacement. If anyone offered to pay 30 for Vazquez at this stage of his career, every Madrid fan would know what's next. Hell, even Vazquez would. Callejon did when Napoli came for him, albeit for less money.