Umtiti and Denis will be Barca starters for many years to come
Squad player, yes.
A starter? Only if he'll improve insanely in upcoming years or if we will drop a level of our required quality even more.
Not true on both accounts. I've seen Gomes play for Valencia in the season before we signed him. He was one of their best players. As for Isco, he's not 10 times better than Gomes. Not then, not now and not ever. The season Gomes had at Valencia was enough to convince Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus to sign him. So, he is not a proven average player. That is nothing more than trash-talking about a player you don't like at all.
If I remember, Isco also wasn't too good in his first season in Real.
Some would say that he isn't that good even now, so it is is hard to say that Isco from then or now is that much better than Gomes.
About Gomes, once when he'll fit, I think that he can do more or less everything what Rakitic has been doing for us in 2014/15 and 2015/16, except scoring.
Rakitic is way better in that area.
On the other hand, Gomes has a way better stamina and can play more than Rakitic who was always a player with the weakest stamina in our team.
Imo, he plays the best when he is a hard-working Rcm, the same as Raki.
Gomes is not a new Iniesta.
He plays well when he has a creative player alongside him.
Iniesta-Gomes-Busi can work.
Denis-Gomes-Busi can work.
Rafinha-Gomes-Busi could work.
Arda-Gomes-Busi might work, even though we may lack some movement here.
Rakitic-Gomes-Busi will never work, this is the slowest and the strangest midfield combination for our team.
The same as how Iniesta-Denis or Iniesta-Rafinha also never works, from different reasons (2 Cams).
Last matches from Gomes:
Las Palmas 5:0 (Rafinha-Gomes-Busi)
-- he played with a Cam alongside him
Osasuna 3:0, Iniesta-Gomes-Busi
-- he played well again
MGladbach 4:0
-- he played as a Cdm
Real 1:1
-- Raki-Gomes-Busi
-- an absolute horror show from our midfield before Iniesta stepped in
Sociedad 1:1 in La Liga
-- Rakitic-Gomes-Busi
-- another horror show with this trio in midfield, oh surprise, surprise, who was have predicted that, lol?
The only poor game with Gomes+Cam lately:
-- Villareal 1:1 in La Liga
-- Iniesta-Busi-Gomes
So, for the beginning, about Gomes, he should NEVER play alongside Rakitic, that is a midfield with 2 workers, without zero Cams and our team lacks movement and build up with those two as a pair.
So, lineups with Iniesta-Denis, Iniesta-Rafinha and Rakitic-Gomes pairings should be forbidden.
When he was a Rcm with a Cam alongside him, he was usually ok.
The problem is that Lucho:
1. pairs him with a Cam in a few matches
2. then pairs him with Rakitic in a few matches, and that is a totally different system than Gomes+Cam, so he is lost again since he doesn't have a clue who should be a Cam and who should be a worker in that system
3. after that, he is also used as a Cdm often, which is a totally different position and duties for him
He is a new guy, he needs to adjust to a system, but Lucho makes too many changes in our lineup and change position of some players, so that should be considered also.
About Gomes:
1. him as a CAM=he doesn't look like Barca's material
2. him as a workhorse Rcm=he looks like Barca's future starter material at that position (paired with a CAM)
3. him as a Cdm=hard to tell
I would like to see more from Gomes ONLY at Rcm position. I see him as "next Rakitic" type of a player for upcoming years.
Not as a new Iniesta or as a new Busi.
** I won't look at Cdr matches
