Unnamed Trialist Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 2 hours ago, Ruud said: Sure - why not start a partnership with every single small market team and get right of first refusal for every player in the planet? It's not like Barca doesn't already have right of first refusal on most players from Ajax! this is silly - Ajax already have a "special" relationship but that doesn't mean they want to give a discount on transfer fees to their "special" Catalan partner. Meanwhile, Barca just want to load up their stable and then loan out underachieving players until they figure out which ones will be superstars? I thought Chelsea were also well on their way to doing that. We actually have very few loans, nothing like Chelsea which is disgusting. I bet Ajax abuses the loan arrangements more than Barça. Apart from that, historically Barça has had ties just as strong with PSV as with Ajax, if you look at where players have come from. In fact, our Dutch players have come from many clubs, we do not really have a special relationship with Ajax. The fact we bought de Jong, and are looking at de Ligt, has more to do with their youth and talent than any Ajax connnection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, Ruud said: Sure - why not start a partnership with every single small market team and get right of first refusal for every player in the planet? It's not like Barca doesn't already have right of first refusal on most players from Ajax! this is silly - Ajax already have a "special" relationship but that doesn't mean they want to give a discount on transfer fees to their "special" Catalan partner. Meanwhile, Barca just want to load up their stable and then loan out underachieving players until they figure out which ones will be superstars? I thought Chelsea were also well on their way to doing that. I would love for Tabla to join Ajax, but outside of that, I don't like formalizing this already existing partnership. I really disdain bigger clubs like Chelsea or Manchester City buying their way to success. That is the entire reason I gravitated away from Real Madrid and towards Barcelona. So much for that, hey? Barcelona are now seemingly out-real madriding real madrid .... Edited March 25, 2019 by Obinna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Obinna said: I would love for Tabla to join Ajax, but outside of that, I don't like formalizing this already existing partnership. I really disdain bigger clubs like Chelsea or Manchester City buying their way to success. That is the entire reason I gravitated away from Real Madrid and towards Barcelona. So much for that, hey? Barcelona are now seemingly out-real madriding real madrid .... How? Just curious. You referring to the transfers we've paid for players lately? I take it as the kickback from selling Neymar, you get so much money in, you can't buy anyone without paying a massive amount. But I'd agree there. That said, on any given day Barça still plays with 4-6 academy players in the lineup, even with Iniesta gone, so it is not a bad %, close to half. Thing is, Madrid is also doing well with their academy, they have brought up some great talents, like Reguilon: but it also means losing and being out of all competitions--so I doubt that experiment, however admirable, will last. Edited March 25, 2019 by Unnamed Trialist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said: How? Just curious. You referring to the transfers we've paid for players lately? I take it as the kickback from selling Neymar, you get so much money in, you can't buy anyone without paying a massive amount. But I'd agree there. That said, on any given day Barça still plays with 4-6 academy players in the lineup, even with Iniesta gone, so it is not a bad %, close to half. Thing is, Madrid is also doing well with their academy, they have brought up some great talents, like Reguilon: but it also means losing and being out of all competitions--so I doubt that experiment, however admirable, will last. Yeah. I never liked the Dembele transfer. It felt like a panic buy. I get the need to fill the void, and I get it must have been hard to negotiate down when sellers know how much money you are sitting on, but I always felt they could just sit on that money and wait. Dembele is a great player, but I think they wasted a lot of money to get him. jpg75 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 21 minutes ago, Obinna said: Yeah. I never liked the Dembele transfer. It felt like a panic buy. I get the need to fill the void, and I get it must have been hard to negotiate down when sellers know how much money you are sitting on, but I always felt they could just sit on that money and wait. Dembele is a great player, but I think they wasted a lot of money to get him. I think it will turn out to be a great buy. He has evolved a lot from last year, has gotten over injuries, no longer has discipline problems (playing Fortnite into the wee hours and missing training), and he scores, with both feet, and assists. And breaks open games. Right now he is about a year and half ahead of Davies in development, thinking they are both attacking wide players with speed. He is not the player Mbappe is, but the latter being in France it is hard to gauge the numbers. It is the Coutinho money most are worried about, since he has really stalled. Barcelona spends about 60% the total budget of almost a billion euros on football salaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheatsheafSK Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 22 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said: We actually have very few loans, nothing like Chelsea which is disgusting. I bet Ajax abuses the loan arrangements more than Barça. Apart from that, historically Barça has had ties just as strong with PSV as with Ajax, if you look at where players have come from. In fact, our Dutch players have come from many clubs, we do not really have a special relationship with Ajax. The fact we bought de Jong, and are looking at de Ligt, has more to do with their youth and talent than any Ajax connnection. Hard to argue that Barcelona and Ajax do not have a "special" relationship considering the influence that Michels and Cruijff have had on the two clubs, and the shared philosophies. In fact it is that shared philosophy in developing academy players that undermines your suggestion that Ajax abuses the loan arrangements more than Barca. I agree that Barca and Ajax are not attached at the hip and Barca has bought numerous great players from PSV and Feyenoord as well (e.g. Romorio, Ronaldo, Larsson, Koeman, Van Bronkhurst). However, that combination of shared philosophies, managers and influential players do set Ajax and Barca's relationship apart. 17 hours ago, Obinna said: I would love for Tabla to join Ajax, but outside of that, I don't like formalizing this already existing partnership. I really disdain bigger clubs like Chelsea or Manchester City buying their way to success. That is the entire reason I gravitated away from Real Madrid and towards Barcelona. So much for that, hey? Barcelona are now seemingly out-real madriding real madrid .... I would not want Tabla to join Ajax as I would be concerned that he would end up with Jong Ajax in the Ereste Divisie (second divisions) which would be below his current team's competition. As to your point about big club buying success - I could not agree more. The only good thing about this rumoured agreement between Ajax and Barca is that it is public. The problem with such agreements is that they are never made public and there is no clear way to evaluate them. That said, I much prefer this openess to the hidden agreements e.g. Chelsea-Vitesse where Chelsea has loaned approx. 50 players to Vitesse, Abramavich is alleged to have financed the purchase of Vitesse, yet both clubs maintain there is no special relationship. Chelsea has bought so many youth players and have used to Vitesse to dumped them off Chelsea's books while placing them in the shop window. I don't mind the when a team makes key purchases (e.g. de Jong to Barca) but I dislike when the entire team (and potentially the development squad) is filled with transfers. Obinna 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoginess Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 I just want Tabla to go to a team where he can be a quality starter and get minutes... Ruffian, apbsmith, Addona and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 1 minute ago, Yoginess said: I just want Tabla to go to a team where he can be a quality starter and get minutes... He'll go back to Barça B after the season, in early June. He just might get to play a few games in the promotion playoff, if they can make it. If they promote, they can play him in 2nd division next season as that would be an acceptable level, and they can't call up their u-19s as readily for the level. If they don't promote, another loan, but starting with a team's pre-season. Eventually, however, since he does not seem to be a legit contender for a Barça first team roster spot, he'll have to go find a pro team and make a career of it. In some ways these first 6 weeks in Albacete, with skim minutes, is his first real test, it's up to him to rise to the occasion. apbsmith, BenFisk'sBiggestFan, BCM and 4 others 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamrock Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 8 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said: In some ways these first 6 weeks in Albacete, with skim minutes, is his first real test, it's up to him to rise to the occasion. THIS! Battling for minutes in a team that has no objective of progressing you, same thing for Miller over in Schotland. This is how you get stronger (or not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_Impact Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 (edited) Ballou missing from the 18 again...? I really don't understand this, it's not like the team is filled with gifted attackers from what I've seen. He seemed like one of the more positive players in the one game he did sub in. A problem with attitude, or the way he trains? Edited March 29, 2019 by Chad_Impact Yoginess and Kadenge 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1996 Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 23 hours ago, Chad_Impact said: Ballou missing from the 18 again...? I really don't understand this, it's not like the team is filled with gifted attackers from what I've seen. He seemed like one of the more positive players in the one game he did sub in. A problem with attitude, or the way he trains? Again I’m surprised people don’t talk about this much, however, I think that any Canadian player going to Europe has to overcome this bias I think these soccer countries have against Canadian players and even American players. You have to be a lot better than their domestic players or even their foreign players that come from more known and more successful soccer playing countries . So I don’t think it always has to do with how talented a Canadian player is in my opinion unfortunately. spitfire and Gian-Luca 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadenge Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 1 hour ago, 1996 said: Again I’m surprised people don’t talk about this much, however, I think that any Canadian player going to Europe has to overcome this bias I think these soccer countries have against Canadian players and even American players. You have to be a lot better than their domestic players or even their foreign players that come from more known and more successful soccer playing countries . So I don’t think it always has to do with how talented a Canadian player is in my opinion unfortunately. One could argue that there is the same bias against Cdn players in MLS . David has broken through in Belgium and there are several American players starting in the Bundesliga. However I am concerned about Ballou's lack of playing time. In terms of technical ability I would put him top of all our young players, so is it tactical, attitude or lack of hard work? In the short video clips I have watched when playing for Barca B his body language gives the impression he is not happy...wish we could get some insight as to the situation. He has not looked great for Canada to date but that may simply be attributable to his lack of playing time at club level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohanz Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 38 minutes ago, Kadenge said: One could argue that there is the same bias against Cdn players in MLS . David has broken through in Belgium and there are several American players starting in the Bundesliga. I would argue that for David he was given very few minutes as a late sub (better than nothing) but absolutely forced himself into the picture by being a goal scoring phenomenon. Not that a teenager should expect any more opportunities than he has hadin the Belgian league, but I don't think his ascent disproves the bias theory. He has performed completely above the standard expected of him and made it impossible to be ignored, so if anything his story supports the theory of there being a higher bar for imports. shamrock and johnyb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoginess Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 21 minutes ago, kohanz said: I would argue that for David he was given very few minutes as a late sub (better than nothing) but absolutely forced himself into the picture by being a goal scoring phenomenon. Not that a teenager should expect any more opportunities than he has hadin the Belgian league, but I don't think his ascent disproves the bias theory. He has performed completely above the standard expected of him and made it impossible to be ignored, so if anything his story supports the theory of there being a higher bar for imports. Sometime with young players I wonder if it's all about perception. If Ballou gets on in a couple games and gets 2-3 lucky goals off his backside (and have nothing to do with his skill/ability) suddenly he's perceived differently, given more minutes and more opportunities to actually showcase his underlying skills. I hope he pots one for this reason. kohanz and Keegan 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 (edited) He probably only trained two days this week, last week, not at all. It would have been hard to justify dressing him, especially since last week they won as well. Right now, at home, they are 2-1 up in the 2nd half. Which puts them back into a direct promotion spot, Spanish 2nd being so damn tight. He'll have 12 more matches in the season to try to figure it out. Edited March 30, 2019 by Unnamed Trialist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Does anyone else think he needs to slim down a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamrock Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 If he doesn't get minutes soon, I doubt he gets the call over Akindele or maybe even Elva this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) 29 minutes ago, shamrock said: If he doesn't get minutes soon, I doubt he gets the call over Akindele or maybe even Elva this summer. Akindele or Elva would have to really strike a rich vein of form for this to happen. Akindele is injured as well, so chances are this won't happen. As for Elva, he's probably competing with someone like Jordan Hamilton. Not really a Tabla replacement, though he's played some winger in the past. Don't know where he's been playing latley for club, but for Canada it's been at striker. Even if he was to be called as a winger, this would essentially be introducing another player (and personality) into a tight knit group right at the final hour, as it were. We may only have one match left before Gold Cup. I don't think we see an addition to this group, unless it's someone high profile, like Tomori, joining the program. Edited March 31, 2019 by Obinna Keegan, apbsmith, johnyb and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamrock Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Well, if he doesn't play he doesn't deserve to be there. Akindele is injured (don't know how serious though) but was keeping Dom Dwyer on te bench which is pretty strong. So IF Akindele starts playing again he would be an option. Elva plays on the left side of a 4-man midfield lately. I guess he has had to adjust because as a real winger, he would have a lot less defensive work to do. He could play where Miller or Tabla plays. Again, once it's summer and one has been playing consistently and one hasn't, my choice would be simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoginess Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 7 hours ago, Obinna said: Akindele or Elva would have to really strike a rich vein of form for this to happen. Akindele is injured as well, so chances are this won't happen. As for Elva, he's probably competing with someone like Jordan Hamilton. Not really a Tabla replacement, though he's played some winger in the past. Don't know where he's been playing latley for club, but for Canada it's been at striker. Even if he was to be called as a winger, this would essentially be introducing another player (and personality) into a tight knit group right at the final hour, as it were. We may only have one match left before Gold Cup. I don't think we see an addition to this group, unless it's someone high profile, like Tomori, joining the program. I'm convinced James will get called in but I doubt it Ballou losing his spot in the 23. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 9 hours ago, shamrock said: Well, if he doesn't play he doesn't deserve to be there. Akindele is injured (don't know how serious though) but was keeping Dom Dwyer on te bench which is pretty strong. So IF Akindele starts playing again he would be an option. Elva plays on the left side of a 4-man midfield lately. I guess he has had to adjust because as a real winger, he would have a lot less defensive work to do. He could play where Miller or Tabla plays. Again, once it's summer and one has been playing consistently and one hasn't, my choice would be simple. I agree with the spirit of that. No play, no NT selection. Tabla though is far too talented to leave off the roster. For me, if he isn't playing at all and Elva/Akindele (or even Edwards) are playing out of their mind, then I would have to strongly consider. I still don't think Herdman drops Tabla though, unless he gets injured. shamrock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 22 minutes ago, Obinna said: I agree with the spirit of that. No play, no NT selection. Tabla though is far too talented to leave off the roster. For me, if he isn't playing at all and Elva/Akindele (or even Edwards) are playing out of their mind, then I would have to strongly consider. I still don't think Herdman drops Tabla though, unless he gets injured. Ballou has to be that guy who breaks down a defense wide late in a game that matters. So he is an okay guy for the bench, not everyone can do that. His dribble is much tighter than Davies, though he has yet to show full adult pace and real intensity on the field to merit anything close to starting for us. So a guy on the bench, for that specific role if needed. I think he'll have to get on a least a few games for his club and do that this season, to make it easier for Herdman. Obinna and yomurphy1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longlugan Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Elva has had a really good run lately for Würzburg though...notice should be taken. It took him a while to get integrated but it seems he's won himself a starting spot. Blackjack15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ansem Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 Ballou finally played for Albacete yesterday toontownman, Admin and shamrock 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toontownman Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 I feel for him. I dont know about his work ethic but he needs some good luck and a coach to believe in him. Last of all and more importantly he needs minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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