22 - İlkay Gündoğan

Alen

New member
:D, i see your point, but you can't deny the rise of the machines, they do get some things right.

But regardless, i also have discussed his performance with a fellow Dortmund fan, in which he confirmed his dip in performance as well,

Anyhow the issue is beyond stats, 35 million, is not reasonable for a player who just came off a back injury, and i feel as though Raktitic has stepped up in the Xavi Position, who we truly need a cover for, is Iniesta and Gundogen, is just not it, specially when you take the current and future approach with regards to direct possession football...

It's not that simple. Iniesta is in charge of controlling the tempo so he's the one playing the "Xavi role". Rakitic fills up the holes defensively and brings that direct approach to our game. We're basically playing with two CMs who are very good going forward. Gundogan fits that description as he has great ball conservation abilities and vision. He also has a good work rate.
35M are too much though, but so are 100M for Pogba. I would take something like 25M + 5M in performance variables.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
It's not that simple. Iniesta is in charge of controlling the tempo so he's the one playing the "Xavi role". Rakitic fills up the holes defensively and brings that direct approach to our game. We're basically playing with two CMs who are very good going forward. Gundogan fits that description as he has great ball conservation abilities and vision. He also has a good work rate.
35M are too much though, but so are 100M for Pogba. I would take something like 25M + 5M in performance variables.

Messi controls the tempo more than anyone these days.

He drops deep and keeps it simple to slow it down or gets ball an quickens play when needed. He is about the only one given total freedom to go where he wants on pitch to do that.

Iniesta is more of a support player in his particular area of pitch.
 

Ovid

New member
35M are too much though, but so are 100M for Pogba. I would take something like 25M + 5M in performance variables.

That i agree with, again will always have Leo Messi, who donned the number 6 and number 8 jersey's this year
 

Ovid

New member
Iniesta, wasn't controlling any tempo this year, it was in most cases either Messi, or Busquets...Iniesta has faded so far in that regard, that he rarely displayed any urge to dictate any tempo!, that's the area of his game, that everyone questioned, but you can attribute that to many factors, age, hunger, and ofcourse the evolution of Messi from winger, to false 9, to false creative midfielder/winger

Raktitic has been the defensive sweeper of the direct football approach of this season.
 

Alen

New member
Iniesta, wasn't controlling any tempo this year, it was in most cases either Messi, or Busquets...Iniesta has faded so far in that regard, that he rarely displayed any urge to dictate any tempo!, that's the area of his game, that everyone questioned, but you can attribute that to many factors, age, hunger, and ofcourse the evolution of Messi from winger, to false 9, to false creative midfielder/winger

Raktitic has been the defensive sweeper of the direct football approach of this season.

Yes Iniesta has been bad. My point is Gundogan can do both Rakitic and Iniesta's roles. I can't think of another available MF who can.
 

KhaledBarca

New member
I prefer paying 35m to get Gundogan next January instead of paying 80+m to buy Pogba.

although, I wish that we can get Verratti but sadly PSG won't sell!
 

Alarcón

New member
I disagree with the notion that Gündogan is not as good as before his injury. Maybe he looks worse because Dortmund are worse. Dortmund fans try to downplay him now because it is clear he's leaving. Some of them even say they don't need him anymore as they have many midfielders who are better. That's as deluded as it gets. I watched Gündogan many times this season and he is still by far their best midfielder, and one of the best in the world in his position.
 

Ovid

New member
I highly doubt it'll be anything more than 20.

Amen, to that

I'm also under the impression, that if you give me both options Pogba at 80 and Gundogan, ill go with the latter,

But ofcourse remains that Verrati bee still stings.
 
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R

Ryu Hayabusa

Guest
Amen, to that.


Quite the contrary.

With Bayern, Barca and ManU all interested, it seems HIGHLY unlikely that he'll swap jerseys for less than 25M. Most likely will be the often reported 30M.
 

Co0ter

Senior Member
Yes Iniesta has been bad. My point is Gundogan can do both Rakitic and Iniesta's roles. I can't think of another available MF who can.

Gundogan plays very deep. He both creates from deep and defends deep. Iniesta defends a lot (covering fullback like Rakitic) but still not as much as Rakitic...he gets to attack more and stay up further...not sure what makes Gundogan ideal for Iniesta's position. He isn't an aggressive dribbler or takes on players, isnt very pacey and doesn't quite link up regularly in tight spaces (I know he does it, but it's not his forte), which is something we need vs parked buses.

He could be good in Rakitic's role however...
 
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Ovid

New member
Quite the contrary.

With Bayern, Barca and ManU all interested, it seems HIGHLY unlikely that he'll swap jerseys for less than 25M. Most likely will be the often reported 30M.

Highly doubt Bayern is interested, where is he going to fit exactly?, they have Thiago, Gotze, Muller, Xabi Alonso etc

I just feel as though Gundogen, is not what we need this year perhaps 3 years ago, remember, the Tiki Taka days of slow build up, and countless amounts of passing, that's my personal opinion however,

Prefer a player who takes more risks with his passes, rather than play's it safe, and would deliver these much needed through passes that have abandoned Andres Iniesta this season, either that or a player who would add new dimension to our midfield more steal and mobility to our midfield, ala Verrati plus the added shooting from distance in the case of Pogba, but if he's there for the taking at 20 million, you can't pass on that....
 

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