Theo Corbeanu

[dyslexic nam]

I think it is giving Theo a bit too much credit to think he is too good for Segunda.  If he can use next season to lock down a starting spot at that level and help fight for promotion it is absolutely not what I would consider to be beneath his proven level.  

[CanadaFan123]

16 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I think it is giving Theo a bit too much credit to think he is too good for Segunda.  If he can use next season to lock down a starting spot at that level and help fight for promotion it is absolutely not what I would consider to be beneath his proven level.  

Yeah he needs this I feel. His past couple loans to 2nd division sides he’s been in tough situations/dispensable but now being a young player with quite a bit of experience this will hopefully be his first true full year of being a regular player for his club for a full season. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

28 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Yeah he needs this I feel. His past couple loans to 2nd division sides he’s been in tough situations/dispensable but now being a young player with quite a bit of experience this will hopefully be his first true full year of being a regular player for his club for a full season. 

I said here's hoping, up the thread.

He is owned by the team, it is helpful but also takes away an excuse for him not getting minutes. 

He will have over 1/2 a year in Spain under his belt. (The opportunity was great but still think he might have been better off in more familiar surroundings for a permanent move.)

You can't expect the standard of football on his team to get better. And it was quite poor at times. Does anyone know if they are losing people?

But, all said he has quality and physical attributes to be very good.  Says all the right things on socials.  

[DeRo_Is_King]

4 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

I think it is giving Theo a bit too much credit to think he is too good for Segunda.  If he can use next season to lock down a starting spot at that level and help fight for promotion it is absolutely not what I would consider to be beneath his proven level.  

Not beneath him, but being in LaLiga would accelerate his development. 

We've been waiting for some of our other youngish guys to make the jump to EPL from Championship. I just hope it actually materializes and they don't end up career Championship or Segunda players.

[Unnamed Trialist]

18 hours ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I said here's hoping, up the thread.

He is owned by the team, it is helpful but also takes away an excuse for him not getting minutes. 

He will have over 1/2 a year in Spain under his belt. (The opportunity was great but still think he might have been better off in more familiar surroundings for a permanent move.)

You can't expect the standard of football on his team to get better. And it was quite poor at times. Does anyone know if they are losing people?

But, all said he has quality and physical attributes to be very good.  Says all the right things on socials.  

Granada has a lot of players they brought in on loan (like Pellistri from Manchester United, two CBs in Piatkowski from Salzburg and Vallejo from Madrid), and then a few who are out of contract (Puertas, Gumbau). Then others who are ageing (Jose Callejon) and really should either retire or be 2nd division players. They say they'll sell the Albanian striker Uzuni.

The team has to be remade, like they are losing 2/3 keepers, most CBs. There are only 4 more players besides Theo with contracts until 2027. He has to grab this chance and make it good.

[InglewoodJack]

Lot of players are fringe top div guys, go down to the second tier, have a breakout year, and either go right back up with their club, Granada should be a favourite for promotion, or they position themselves for a nice transfer elsewhere. Most of the top players in La Liga 2 last season or the Championship are back in the top flight, or ended up at top clubs in the neterlands, portugal, so on. Looking at a player like Raul Garcia who has a similar pathway to corbeanu- spent years not breaking into real betis, gets a loan to Leganes in LL2, has a massive season, moves to Osasuna in La Liga this year, has a good 6 goal year, looks like he ended the season as a solidified starter too, just turned 23.

That said, I think it's put up or shut up time for him- if he's not a top player in the league next year, you have to start re-framing what his potential might be. With the tools and experience he has, and the fact that he'll be at a pretty strong second div club next year, there should be no reason he's not towards the top of the league in goal contributions, starting every game, etc. If it's the same story with a good start, then benching, then fringe minutes with no production, I'm probably going to start wondering how his playmaking abilities might just be what CF Montreal needs to start clawing out of the trenches.

[Obinna]

22 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Lot of players are fringe top div guys, go down to the second tier, have a breakout year, and either go right back up with their club, Granada should be a favourite for promotion, or they position themselves for a nice transfer elsewhere. Most of the top players in La Liga 2 last season or the Championship are back in the top flight, or ended up at top clubs in the neterlands, portugal, so on. Looking at a player like Raul Garcia who has a similar pathway to corbeanu- spent years not breaking into real betis, gets a loan to Leganes in LL2, has a massive season, moves to Osasuna in La Liga this year, has a good 6 goal year, looks like he ended the season as a solidified starter too, just turned 23.

That said, I think it's put up or shut up time for him- if he's not a top player in the league next year, you have to start re-framing what his potential might be. With the tools and experience he has, and the fact that he'll be at a pretty strong second div club next year, there should be no reason he's not towards the top of the league in goal contributions, starting every game, etc. If it's the same story with a good start, then benching, then fringe minutes with no production, I'm probably going to start wondering how his playmaking abilities might just be what CF Montreal needs to start clawing out of the trenches.

I love the sentiment, but I would quibble with the details a bit.

Think of Josh Sargent for example, going from the Premier League with Norwich down to the Championship. 

In the Prem, he made 26 apperances and scored 2 goals, for a team that got relegated. In Corbeanu's half season with Granada, he racked up 1 goal in 9 apperances. Maybe that translates to 18 games and 2 goals across a full season, which is close enough to validate our comparison.

So, how did Sargent do in the 2nd tier Championship? Well he scored 13 goals in 40 matches. Pretty big improvement in numbers, and good for top Norwich goal scorer, but well off the top goal scorer in the league that season (Chuba Akpom 28 goals). 

Rather than expect Theo to be amongst the league leaders in goal contributions, let's look for him to be one of the leading goal contributors for Granada?

If he can do that and Granada have a strong season, he should end up where you expect him.

Edited May 27 by Obinna

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I love the sentiment, but I would quibble with the details a bit.

Think of Josh Sargent for example, going from the Premier League with Norwich down to the Championship. 

In the Prem, he made 26 apperances and scored 2 goals, for a team that got relegated. In Corbeanu's half season with Granada, he racked up 1 goal in 9 apperances. Maybe that translates to 18 games and 2 goals across a full season, which is close enough to validate our comparison.

So, how did Sargent do in the 2nd tier Championship? Well he scored 13 goals in 40 matches. Pretty big improvement in numbers, and good for top Norwich goal scorer, but well off the top goal scorer in the league that season (Chuba Akpom 28 goals). 

Rather than expect Theo to be amongst the league leaders in goal contributions, let's look for him to be one of the leading goal contributors for Granada?

If he can do that and Granada have a strong season, he should end up where you expect him.

Josh Sargent has not been called into the US national team set up in 2 years now, he's not a player who is being considered as a future star for their NT or a high impact top flight player or anything. Expectations for him are tempered- he's going to be a very strong championship player, one of the best players on one of the strongest teams, and that's totally fine. We (me?) still think Corbeanu can become one of the best players in our entire pool with potential to reach a really high level- to do that, by 22, 23, you need to start separating yourself from the pack. Sargent is a lot closer to the Ike Ugbo (Sargent is better though) tier of player than Corbeanu who (we hope) can become a top player in all of concacaf. Not a bad player to have at our disposal, especially considering our depth, but as I said, we will have to temper our expectations for him if that is the case.

[Obinna]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Josh Sargent has not been called into the US national team set up in 2 years now, he's not a player who is being considered as a future star for their NT or a high impact top flight player or anything. Expectations for him are tempered- he's going to be a very strong championship player, one of the best players on one of the strongest teams, and that's totally fine. We (me?) still think Corbeanu can become one of the best players in our entire pool with potential to reach a really high level- to do that, by 22, 23, you need to start separating yourself from the pack. Sargent is a lot closer to the Ike Ugbo (Sargent is better though) tier of player than Corbeanu who (we hope) can become a top player in all of concacaf. Not a bad player to have at our disposal, especially considering our depth, but as I said, we will have to temper our expectations for him if that is the case.

Firstly, Sargent is literally part of the current USA selection.

Yes, he's been passed over for some selections, but with other selections it has been unfortunate timing with his ankle injuries. And it was only a year and a half ago that Sargent was chosen for the World Cup ahead of Pepi.

For me he's right up there with Balogun and Pepi, who have been 1 and 2 recently, but I do think it's a 3-horse race. 

Secondly, I think Sargent is beyond someone like Ugbo, who I would put in the Haji Wright category if we are comparing with US internationals. Both Ugbo and Haji have a similar level of goals and appearances for club, and both had similar goal scoring records in the Championship this season. And they are both the same age. Both are fringe internationals for Canada and the USA respectively. Sargent has 5 goals in 23 caps for the USA.

Thirdly, I do agree that Corbeanu has the potential to be a top player. He's our best prospect in the 2002 cohort NOT named Kone. I don't think he was ever on the Giovanni Reyna or Yunis Musah trajectory, but if he panned out to be a Sargent-level player (the guy just scored like 16 in 26 in the Championship while battling injury) then he's become who we think he can be. I mean let's face it, Sargent would probably be first off the bench for Canada, at minimum. 

There was another thread where I ranked the best Canadian and US player into tiers. I won't re-hash it completely, but I believe it basically went

1. Davies, David

2. Pulisic, Reyna, Musah, McKennie, Balogun, Dest, Eustaquio, Buchanan, etc.

3. De La Torre, Sargent, CCV, Aaronson, Johnston, Larin, Millar, etc.

4. Everyone else

So, Theo is in the "everyone else" category at the moment, but he has serious potential to make it up to the 3rd tier, if not that 2nd tier. I also think Sargent is borderline in that 2nd tier as well.

Anyway, to sum it up, I generally agree that Corbeanu needs to start fufilling his potential NOW. I am tired of his inconsistency and Canada need some guys younger than 2000 to begin stepping up, and he's one of them. He can be a top 5 league player, I am convinced, but whether he actually will I am not yet certain. Next season will say a lot. 

 

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Firstly, Sargent is literally part of the current USA selection.

Yes, he's been passed over for some selections, but with other selections it has been unfortunate timing with his ankle injuries. And it was only a year and a half ago that Sargent was chosen for the World Cup ahead of Pepi.

For me he's right up there with Balogun and Pepi, who have been 1 and 2 recently, but I do think it's a 3-horse race. 

Secondly, I think Sargent is beyond someone like Ugbo, who I would put in the Haji Wright category if we are comparing with US internationals. Both Ugbo and Haji have a similar level of goals and appearances for club, and both had similar goal scoring records in the Championship this season. And they are both the same age. Both are fringe internationals for Canada and the USA respectively. Sargent has 5 goals in 23 caps for the USA.

Thirdly, I do agree that Corbeanu has the potential to be a top player. He's our best prospect in the 2002 cohort NOT named Kone. I don't think he was ever on the Giovanni Reyna or Yunis Musah trajectory, but if he panned out to be a Sargent-level player (the guy just scored like 16 in 26 in the Championship while battling injury) then he's become who we think he can be. I mean let's face it, Sargent would probably be first off the bench for Canada, at minimum. 

There was another thread where I ranked the best Canadian and US player into tiers. I won't re-hash it completely, but I believe it basically went

1. Davies, David

2. Pulisic, Reyna, Musah, McKennie, Balogun, Dest, Eustaquio, Buchanan, etc.

3. De La Torre, Sargent, CCV, Aaronson, Johnston, Larin, Millar, etc.

4. Everyone else

So, Theo is in the "everyone else" category at the moment, but he has serious potential to make it up to the 3rd tier, if not that 2nd tier. I also think Sargent is borderline in that 2nd tier as well.

Anyway, to sum it up, I generally agree that Corbeanu needs to start fufilling his potential NOW. I am tired of his inconsistency and Canada need some guys younger than 2000 to begin stepping up, and he's one of them. He can be a top 5 league player, I am convinced, but whether he actually will I am not yet certain. Next season will say a lot. 

 

If we rate Sargent in the same tier as Balogun and Pepi, I think that says more about the relatively disappointing seasons that both those guys have (Pepi has crazy g/90 stats though) and the general lack of quality up top for the Americans (great opportunity to point to our far superior depth, of course) but Americans still hold on to both those guys becoming future European stars- Sargent, not so much.

As for the Ugbo comp, it's less about their form or numbers- Sargent is better- but their position in their respective national team settings. Both guys have an obvious ceiling, they won't be these high impact national team players who are future top players in the conference. Both are guys who will continue to have very productive seasons in the championship and occasional call ups, maybe they find their way into the premier league if everything falls into place one offseason.

For the tiers you mention, my expectations are that Corbeanu can reach that second tier- he has the best skill package of anyone not named David or Davies in our entire pool, and he has a better physical profile than like 95% of Concacaf players. If he maxes out in that third tier, I'd consider it disappointing, but as you say, Sargent would be a big player for us, just like that version of Corbeanu would be, and we can always use a guy with that production- it's just not as high as I think he can go. You mention Aaronson in that third tier- I'd like to think that's Corbeanu's floor; okay/mediocre top flight player, will probably be a top player for Leeds in the championship if he isn't sold this summer.

In any case, the bolded is exactly what I'm getting at. At this age, with the experience and skills he has, potential only goes so far, and it's time to take that leap and produce at a high level for a full season. If he smashes the league, and I think he has that quality, he'll be on a good track to be the player I think he can be. If he falls short of that, but is still a very good player for Granada, I think we'll have to accept that his ceiling is probably lower than we suspect it is, and that may still give us a solid player worthy of frequent call ups, but a tier below the truly transformational players for us.

[Obinna]

Just now, InglewoodJack said:

If we rate Sargent in the same tier as Balogun and Pepi, I think that says more about the relatively disappointing seasons that both those guys have (Pepi has crazy g/90 stats though) and the general lack of quality up top for the Americans (great opportunity to point to our far superior depth, of course) but Americans still hold on to both those guys becoming future European stars- Sargent, not so much.

Indeed. This is exactly how I see it.

And I agree nobody south of the border is excited about Sargent (anymore). He's still only 24, but if you aren't smashing it in a top 5 league at that age (like David), your window to be a future European star is probably closed.

If Pepi and Balogun have back-to-back disappointing seasons, the optimism about them (and their striker pool in general) will cool off.

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

As for the Ugbo comp, it's less about their form or numbers- Sargent is better- but their position in their respective national team settings. Both guys have an obvious ceiling, they won't be these high impact national team players who are future top players in the conference. Both are guys who will continue to have very productive seasons in the championship and occasional call ups, maybe they find their way into the premier league if everything falls into place one offseason.

I think with Ugbo you're probably right, with David and (to a lesser extent) Larin in front of him.

But for me jury is out with Sargent. He is not high impact at the moment, but someone is going to lead that USA line and score and right now it could be any of those 3. Balogun is still in pole position, but this could be Pepi or Sargent's spot in the near future at this rate. They may also continue sharing this limelight with neither really becoming a concacaf legend if they split the time 3-ways. It'll be an interesting battle.

7 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

For the tiers you mention, my expectations are that Corbeanu can reach that second tier- he has the best skill package of anyone not named David or Davies in our entire pool, and he has a better physical profile than like 95% of Concacaf players. If he maxes out in that third tier, I'd consider it disappointing, but as you say, Sargent would be a big player for us, just like that version of Corbeanu would be, and we can always use a guy with that production- it's just not as high as I think he can go. You mention Aaronson in that third tier- I'd like to think that's Corbeanu's floor; okay/mediocre top flight player, will probably be a top player for Leeds in the championship if he isn't sold this summer.

I think we generally agree here and maybe I am just a little ahead of you in terms of re-adjusting my expectations for Theo. I do hope he gets to that 2nd tier. 

9 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

In any case, the bolded is exactly what I'm getting at. At this age, with the experience and skills he has, potential only goes so far, and it's time to take that leap and produce at a high level for a full season. If he smashes the league, and I think he has that quality, he'll be on a good track to be the player I think he can be. If he falls short of that, but is still a very good player for Granada, I think we'll have to accept that his ceiling is probably lower than we suspect it is, and that may still give us a solid player worthy of frequent call ups, but a tier below the truly transformational players for us.

For sure. I hope he can have a massive season in 24-25. There's no reason why we cannot see him come into his own. If the stars align and he is one of the top threats for Granada and they go back up with him, the stage is set for him to make an impact in La Liga, and from there he's going to be on the cusp of that 2nd tier.

As you can see though, a lot has to go right for that scenario to play out. 

[Big_M]

he needs stability before anything...stay at a club for a couple years so he can get used to the environment and style of play and make himself a starting spot...7 clubs and 4 countries in his first 3 years as a pro is a lot

[InglewoodJack]

3 hours ago, Obinna said:

Indeed. This is exactly how I see it.

And I agree nobody south of the border is excited about Sargent (anymore). He's still only 24, but if you aren't smashing it in a top 5 league at that age (like David), your window to be a future European star is probably closed.

If Pepi and Balogun have back-to-back disappointing seasons, the optimism about them (and their striker pool in general) will cool off.

I think with Ugbo you're probably right, with David and (to a lesser extent) Larin in front of him.

But for me jury is out with Sargent. He is not high impact at the moment, but someone is going to lead that USA line and score and right now it could be any of those 3. Balogun is still in pole position, but this could be Pepi or Sargent's spot in the near future at this rate. They may also continue sharing this limelight with neither really becoming a concacaf legend if they split the time 3-ways. It'll be an interesting battle.

I think we generally agree here and maybe I am just a little ahead of you in terms of re-adjusting my expectations for Theo. I do hope he gets to that 2nd tier. 

For sure. I hope he can have a massive season in 24-25. There's no reason why we cannot see him come into his own. If the stars align and he is one of the top threats for Granada and they go back up with him, the stage is set for him to make an impact in La Liga, and from there he's going to be on the cusp of that 2nd tier.

As you can see though, a lot has to go right for that scenario to play out. 

I think ultimately what this season will tell us is whether Corbeanu is a game breaker or just a fine player. 
 

Sargent could be their best striker currently (per form) and long term too- it’s crazy how the US cannot produce one world class striker or even someone as good as Larin.

Speaking of Pepi though, maybe we can compare him to Corbeanu, but for a better comp, I’m going to share my favourite graphic ever without any context: 

 

[TGAA_Star]

1 hour ago, Big_M said:

he needs stability before anything...stay at a club for a couple years so he can get used to the environment and style of play and make himself a starting spot...7 clubs and 4 countries in his first 3 years as a pro is a lot

Yeah but where can he go

[costarg]

2 hours ago, Big_M said:

7 clubs and 4 countries in his first 3 years as a pro is a lot

We keep coming back to this.  The scenario has played over and over again.  There has to be something going on off the field that is turning teams and coaches off.  It's just too weird of a coincidence.

I feel it's safe to add Canada to the list of teams and coaches that didn't stick with him.  He's been Immediately successful everywhere he's gone, yet no one is interested.

Edited May 27 by costarg

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, costarg said:

We keep coming back to this.  The scenario has played over and over again.  There has to be something going on off the field that is turning teams and coaches off.  It's just too weird of a coincidence.

I feel it's safe to add Canada to the list of teams and coaches that didn't stick with him.  He's been Immediately successful everywhere he's gone, yet no one is interested.

Granada were interested.....

Agree with your take, but hopefully that merry-go-round came to an end in Q1 2024, when he arrived in Spain.

Full season now in La Liga 2, where he should hopefully be a key player for them. They've taken their chance on him and trusted him enough to play 9 La Liga games, which is far more time than Wolves gave him. And he even scored a goal (a nice goal) for them as well.

Edited May 27 by Obinna

[TGAA_Star]

8 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Granada were interested.....

Agree with your take, but hopefully that merry-go-round came to an end in Q1 2024, when he arrived in Spain.

Full season now in La Liga 2, where he should hopefully be a key player for them. They've taken their chance on him and trusted him enough to play 9 La Liga games, which is far more time than Wolves gave him. And he even scored a goal (a nice goal) for them as well.

Well I wanna see what he does in La Liga 2nd division because he obviously needs more time there and then if he impresses there with a full season under his belt, then he would probably have more of a chance to get future Canada 🇨🇦 call ups post Copa going into Nations League 24-25

[Unnamed Trialist]

I don't get these long conversations about Pepi and Aaronson related to Corbeanu, and even less so when judging attacking and scoring stats. Not relevant for Theo, who is a wing, or a wingback, and not a scorer. 

20 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

Lot of players are fringe top div guys, go down to the second tier, have a breakout year, and either go right back up with their club, Granada should be a favourite for promotion, or they position themselves for a nice transfer elsewhere. Most of the top players in La Liga 2 last season or the Championship are back in the top flight, or ended up at top clubs in the neterlands, portugal, so on. Looking at a player like Raul Garcia who has a similar pathway to corbeanu- spent years not breaking into real betis, gets a loan to Leganes in LL2, has a massive season, moves to Osasuna in La Liga this year, has a good 6 goal year, looks like he ended the season as a solidified starter too, just turned 23.

That said, I think it's put up or shut up time for him- if he's not a top player in the league next year, you have to start re-framing what his potential might be. With the tools and experience he has, and the fact that he'll be at a pretty strong second div club next year, there should be no reason he's not towards the top of the league in goal contributions, starting every game, etc. If it's the same story with a good start, then benching, then fringe minutes with no production, I'm probably going to start wondering how his playmaking abilities might just be what CF Montreal needs to start clawing out of the trenches.

Agree with this, mostly, and also because you are not comparing Theo with all these attacking guys able to move between 2nd and 1st tiers, Pepi, Ugbo, whatever, for me those arguments are not relevant. Theo was not signed for goal production, he was signed as a wing or attacking mid option. With goal scorers on the edge of a top flight it is different, as what you see is a guy has one good scoring season, clubs say "he can score", then he gets signed here, loaned out there, and the profile is to have on and off seasons. Like Ugbo, like Pepi. Theo has a teammate at Granada, the Israeli Weissman, who is like this, was at Valladolid then they moved him to get Larin, then Granada loaned him to Serie A. He is a back and forth, off and on striker, like many guys who live on the reputation of the odd good season. 

So I don't agree with being able to judge Theo on goal participations, or thinking he'll be a standout. I think the main argument will be "he is playing and the team is competing well enough to promote to La Liga". If they play well, he is getting minutes, and with 5 games left they are in the mix for promotion, it's a good season.

First, because goals are even harder to get in 2nd than 1st division (the best scorers have far less in Segunda than La Liga, the scoring leader without penalties has just 17 in 41 games), and then because it is too damn competitive, you can't even run up stats vs. the supposedly weaker teams. As I mentioned on another thread, with 2 games to go in Segunda, there were no teams promoted, no relegated, 11 with a chance at the promotion playoff still, and 9 still threatened with relegation. Only two teams had nothing to play for. 

About the Raul García you are talking about, apparently Arrasate the Osasuna coach wanted to take him to Mallorca, but the guy has re-signed there and won't move for now. But a good example, did not know folks were paying attention to him. A player who is a step away from making the national team. 

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I don't get these long conversations about Pepi and Aaronson related to Corbeanu, and even less so when judging attacking and scoring stats. Not relevant for Theo, who is a wing, or a wingback, and not a scorer. 

Agree with this, mostly, and also because you are not comparing Theo with all these attacking guys able to move between 2nd and 1st tiers, Pepi, Ugbo, whatever, for me those arguments are not relevant. Theo was not signed for goal production, he was signed as a wing or attacking mid option. With goal scorers on the edge of a top flight it is different, as what you see is a guy has one good scoring season, clubs say "he can score", then he gets signed here, loaned out there, and the profile is to have on and off seasons. Like Ugbo, like Pepi. Theo has a teammate at Granada, the Israeli Weissman, who is like this, was at Valladolid then they moved him to get Larin, then Granada loaned him to Serie A. He is a back and forth, off and on striker, like many guys who live on the reputation of the odd good season. 

So I don't agree with being able to judge Theo on goal participations, or thinking he'll be a standout. I think the main argument will be "he is playing and the team is competing well enough to promote to La Liga". If they play well, he is getting minutes, and with 5 games left they are in the mix for promotion, it's a good season.

First, because goals are even harder to get in 2nd than 1st division (the best scorers have far less in Segunda than La Liga, the scoring leader without penalties has just 17 in 41 games), and then because it is too damn competitive, you can't even run up stats vs. the supposedly weaker teams. As I mentioned on another thread, with 2 games to go in Segunda, there were no teams promoted, no relegated, 11 with a chance at the promotion playoff still, and 9 still threatened with relegation. Only two teams had nothing to play for. 

About the Raul García you are talking about, apparently Arrasate the Osasuna coach wanted to take him to Mallorca, but the guy has re-signed there and won't move for now. But a good example, did not know folks were paying attention to him. A player who is a step away from making the national team. 

Very good insight here overall. For the bolded part, he's been a score-first offensive player ever since he came up, minus his half season in Switzerland when he became a playmaker, his fault being that he's so inconsistent. I'd find it odd if Granada went and grabbed a guy with his profile and experience and not expect a strong finishing product for him. Moreover, my whole premise is that I think he's really good. Not hitting these arbitrary G/A totals on a season doesn't necessarily mean he had a weak year or that he can't grow, just that he's this player with all this potential to play in these great leagues, be one of our top players, all of that, and I think if that's really the case, at 22, playing in a level that he should be very comfortable at considering where he's already been, he should show that he's truly head and shoulders above the competition. If not, he will still develop into a productive player, that I am sure of, but expectations will be more tempered.

[blueseeka]

Some grest points in here. We all want Theo to succeed.  For a man to have been through so many coaches, teams and leagues and not stuck anywhere for longer than 6 months. There obvious are some issues with his play or attitude.

He definitely has the talent to play in a very high level. I truly thought Grasshopper would be a great stepping stone for him this year but it wasn’t. Started on fire and moved to the bench and barely playing by 10 games.  Rinse and repeat with all of his previous stops.

On a positive, his playmaking and willingness to use his teammates certainly improved. He began trusting the system more than just taking on every defender one on one.

He had two starts with Granada and did almost nothing in both games. Hopefully he stays with Granada and gets real playing time next year. He needs the playing time

His omissionon this CMNT roster wasn't surprising but a little disappointing. Marsch has stated that he picked more European based players to get a couple extra days with them training before the MLS guys come over. But he skipped picking Corbeanu. They keep Swiderski around but can't bring over Corbeanu from Spain. Wish they just bumped it up to 30 man roster.