Jordi Alba

Raketa10 said:

They have already decided to keep Alonso so keeping both him and Alba would be dumb as fuck. Considering his HUGE salary, Alba should be the one to go.

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Not that easy to let him go though, considering he still has a contract.

I also wonder what is point of keeping Alonso while we have Balde and Alba next year as LB?

Alonso, Kounde, Araujo, Christiansen and Garcia as CB and Inigo might come here.

Maybe Alonso will be switched to LB position and Alba will be sent on loan or contract terminated.

Alonso is more of a CB than LB as it stands.
He is essentially filling the Spanish quota in CB position

Jordi Alba's physical parameters are the best in the last 5 years. He has reversed his situation. [sport]

Impressive considering his fitness was below par at the start of the season, with even Xavi having said so. He must've worked hard during the season.

Makes you wonder what he did in the last 5 years :S

Anyway, credit where its due.

Porque commented some time ago that Alba usually only gets going when someone lights a fire under his ass and that Xavi actually had plans to bring him back into the lineup.

Spot on as not only is he back he's playing very well. And to be fair, he was very good last season too.

The last amigo standing.

ajnotkeith said:

Porque commented some time ago that Alba usually only gets going when someone lights a fire under his ass and that Xavi actually had plans to bring him back into the lineup.

Spot on as not only is he back he's playing very well. And to be fair, he was very good last season too.

The last amigo standing.

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That's actually true. Last time around was when Lucho didn't call him up to the national team. He was in great form back then.

For all his faults it does seem he has a bit of that "prove people wrong" mentality and starts to do much better when benched. It happened under Lucho already. Might be he's just motivated to play in (what will be most likely his last) WC though.

That said, he's still an overpaid mentally fragile cry baby who will succumb under pressure in big games. But luckily for him we don't play those very often nowadays.

I'll take it if we can get good second half of the season out of him but hopefully we'll manage to offload him in summer. If for no other reason then because for this whole stupid seniority reasons we're choosing our captains on he's the next in line to be first captain next season if Busi actually leaves. And he's just about the worst person one could imagine as a captain.

Crybaby, bad physic, overpaid etc, but he should have started in front of Alonso against Bayern and Inter.
He has improved a lot since getting benched.

Messi983 said:

If for no other reason then because for this whole stupid seniority reasons we're choosing our captains on he's the next in line to be first captain next season if Busi actually leaves. And he's just about the worst person one could imagine as a captain.

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Our captains are made by voting till 4th captain, and not by seniority. Although the squad value seniority in their voting it isn't the only element
Also, if Roberto gets renewed as expected, he will be the team captain and not Alba

It's "voting" only on paper.

Even if we forget about Busi and Pique for a moment there is absolutely no reason other than seniority and being Catalan than someone like Alba would be a 4th captain. Probably whole Europe laughed at us when he was wearing armband against Galatasaray last season. Now imagine him being actual first captain.

Roberto is not much better but would take him over Alba any day. But hopefully they'll all leave.

It's time for a fresh slate when it comes to captains. Ideal would be to select a long term captain like Puyol.

Think ter Stegen and Araujo specifically would rank high in a squad vote.

It's Araujo for me, easy decision. Followed by MATS and possibly Lewa (I know he won't be here longterm but just to give him some more responsibilities inside a young team). Then possibly another youngster for 4th captain. Possibly Ansu since the club already trusted him the #10 shirt. Would be a mistake to make him a captain at this point though imo.

Or well, Messi can return.

Definitely a motivation issue. Commented a while back that physically he can play at the top level for a while yet unlike the other amigos. It is unpopular to admit because he is personally dislikable but if he is motivated to be professional he still has a few seasons in him.

Reason I never liked the Alonso move as Alba was very good for us last season. Well atleast Balde has given a solution so the pair can have a similar minute count at the end of season. But yeah, wages are an issue but that is not really Alba's fault and he is in his right to want to keep them- just like Frenkie.

As for Alonso, when he is fit he will be a better last option at CB than current Pique (mainly because Pique has deterioted so rapidly through personal and physical issues). No problem I guess on a low-ish wage for experience and versatility alone.

But much prefer we enter the free agent pools and look for someone with more upside like Ndicka- or just blow our load and go for Skriniar while potentially cashing in on Araujo to the Premier League. Another unpopular decision but perhaps a truth we would want to look into.

Saying all that, would like to see Alba leave. Weak mentality.

Player who needs to be benched in order to move his ass or even worse to stay fit is an unmotivated clown. What's even worse, is that he is one of our captains. How the hell can he be an example to our young players? IMHO he is well past his prime and he should leave, if not in January than definitely next summer together with Busi. With Balde as our first choice and Alonso as a backup we will be well covered in LB position.