🚨 Fermín López will miss the 2026 World Cup, Sport and Mundo Deportivo report. ❌Barcelona midfielder’s surgery means he will be out for 4 up to 8 weeks. pic.twitter.com/lYsXIs0BTk— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 18, 2026
I mean this is just standard fan discourse across all clubs. You'll find polar opposite opinions and everything inbetween about any player.
Well yes but how good you think a player is shouldn't depend on whether you think he's going to sign for you or not. I'd understand if he'd signed for City and then calling him shit or If he signed for Utd than calling Keane 2.0. Its the lack of self awareness that gets me.
I don't know, it's just the standard biases that you see in most football discourse. It's why I find statistical analysis as the better way to understand the truth. That said, most of the United fan opinion I've read is more in the range of 'good but not worth £100m' to 'he will become one of the best about'.
100m is a lot but thats the benchmark for elite midfielders now. If he has a good world cup it could be more.
Fermin Lopez being out is lowkey a bit of a blow to Spain. He's come on leaps and bounds this year and offers something different to the other options. They like to play with a 10 and Olmo & Baena are the next preferred options there, both of whom have really struggled this season. There are quite a few question marks surrounding their squad now. Yamal is obviously heading into the tournament injured and will miss the first two games, Nico Williams has been on and off injured all season and just picked up another niggle last week, while Rodri has struggled for fitness all season too. Merino is also out after playing a bit part in their Euros win. There's obviously a world where these players manage to get fit and peak at the right time too but it's something that could go either way. One to keep an eye on.
Richarlison is a pretty big miss too. Not everyone’s cup of tea but he leads the line pretty well for them and has a decent scoring record internationally. Does the donkey work for the better options around him. Who even starts as a CF for them? Cunha? Vinicius?
They're going to need vinicius Jr and Raphinha to have good tournaments otherwise there's nothing else. Can't see neymar being up to it anymore
It’s another big team squad that you look at and instantly think ‘I’m not keen on those full backs.’ It’s only when an international tournament comes around when you realise the dearth of options in certain roles.
Cunha apparently. That makes it seem like Ancelotti (understandably) wants a 9.5 profile to bring the best out of the likes of Vinicius and Raphinha, which makes it all the stranger that he's left Joao Pedro out. At least on paper his skillset is far more suited to that role than Cunha's.
I actually think we have one of the best sets of fullbacks compared to other nations when you look at the lack of quality overall
🚨 Carlo Ancelotti: “Neymar will be an important player for us at the World Cup”.“We spent the entire year analyzing Neymar. We realized that in this last period he had continuity and was in good physical condition”. pic.twitter.com/zzPXdPxVPb— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 18, 2026