Osimhen has whatever problem that landed him in Turkey at 26. Funny you were critical of old players going to Saudi league for money, but Osimhen's high wage demand ended up wasting one prime season of his career. Mbappe scored 36 goals in La Liga and CL. He had a slow start, but has played well since including in last 3 Clasicos. Anyone objective wouldn't blame him for RM's failure in La Liga, CDR and CL this season.
I don't know he had a pretty bad miss first half, first leg against Arsenal. He scores there the match and the tie are on a totally different trajectory and Real Madrid. Here's where a person could then argue that Mbappe didn't want to go back to Paris and play against his old team and therefore missed on purpose and didn't score at all in the two games. And that's how we arrive at it's Mbappe fault we didn't repeat as CL winners.
It's not a needle mover. You can get as mad as you want, this is an engine room position in the sport.
I think the way i phrase it makes it seem like i'm negative about it but personally, what i say is this, unless i have somebody of truly special ability, what i want in this position is people that play with maximum intensity, speed and acceleration. Carvajal is exactly what i see in this, a player that is not particularly gifted as a football player but plays with total aggression and intensity. Unless the guy is a Marcelo level extra midfield player on the field, i can't allow myself to have a player that takes a single run off. For me being a soft runner or a bad athlete is worse in that position than being an average football player.
One is completely gone under the radar and will see his stock plummet even further due to AFCON, the other is looking likely to be the Spanish League's top scorer.
Lol.... Look how good what turned out? Mbappe, yeah he was an absolute great buy. It's funny people come here to talk about the players Hendrix wants for RM lol even though management has made no attempts to bring in the players he wants. When people remind him why management don't want him he goes on and on and on. And on and on a out why we should... absolute clown
Or, one proved that he is elite which was stupidly questioned before, and the other one sucked all the spirit of this team, racking up empty stats at the expense of making all of his attacking teammates worse in every conceivable way and ended up winning nothing. Both as anticipated, but this board simply never learns. Then we shouldn't buy anyone. Its hilarious because no one would be able to name five leftbacks better than Theo, but then I get that obviously a top 5 leftback has a cost so it is normal to be wary. Yet the price being mentioned is shocking, and instead of pouncing on the opportunity, the argument is "nah he got a red card" and zero basis prophecies that he will decline suddenly because of some mysterious lifestyle. Media narratives and reputations cook people's brains and then you get the meme with everyone in the pool standing in their own piss laughing at the guy in the middle who is in the clear water.
We brought Kylian that scored more goals in his worst season than Oshimen in his best season. Idk if he got life style problems, but I can tell you this dude is greedy AF.
Well that's because regardless of who people name, you'll still argue against it (just like whatever nonsense you're trying to say about some guy in Turkey and Mbappe), and that it's nothing special to be "top 5 LB" in the world. It's a position that being top 5 in is both subjective and immaterial; you're either a FB that will fit the system you're in or not, which either makes you good or bad. I think the way @4x4s described the position earlier is spot on.
"its nothing special to be top 5 in the world in your position, it doesn't matter". I guess we've come full circle then. I'd love to hear an explanation on how TAA (or Carreras) fits the system but Theo doesn't. That should really be the cherry on the cake of this entire desperate jumping through hoops. btw its for attackers, midfielders and CBs that you look at whether they "fit the system" before you buy them, because they have different profiles that fit different teams. For full backs its just their individual ability, as 4x4s said. You have your premise completely upside down, but its on point with the toeing the party (club) line.
On the topic of LBs, I think Carreras has the advantage of no baggage plus a track record of going head to head with Barcelona and basically shutting down Yamal. It is just hard to argue with these details.The problem is that is a smaller sample size and we really only have one year of Carreras as the top level to go on. But his height, defensive abilities etc. make him a more natural LB to have when TAA is on the other side. I have a less concrete opinion on Kerkaz. He has looked really good when I have watched him but I think I may have only seen him in 3 games (video highlights do not count). None of Carreras, Kerkaz, and Theo are exactly bad options. In another year where only one of these were available, we would just grab them and not give it a second thought. But if I would have to rank them right now, its probably Carreras, Kerkaz, then Theo. Compared to these three, Miguel is at a massive disadvantage because of his defensive issues. When Girona was functioning a year back, Miguel fit like a glove in their system and was probably the best LB in La Liga. But this year has illustrated that he needs to be in an optimal system that accentuates his strengths and minimizes his defenciencies. If there was no Fran, I would probably get Miguel to be Carreras backup. I also think Miguel can be utilized as a bit of jack of all trades that can be helpful in Xabi's systems. But it will be hard enough to find a way to jettison Mendy, never mind both Mendy and Fran in the same summer.
Theo is a very good LB and I think everyone would acknowledge that. Factors like his age and contract don't seem to be a major hurdle. The club line clearly values Carreras over Theo. We can speculate why that is whether its age, potential, character, profile, etc. but I don't think any of us are aware of the scouting the club has done on Carreras to come to that conclusion. If toeing the line is giving the club the benefit of the doubt, what else could we do? Do you disagree so passionately with this because you've extensively watched Carreras yourself and believe he will be a flop? I'll admit I haven't seen him much, but I think its tough to assume he would be worse than Theo given his small sample size and potential. It's also still not set in stone that Carreras will come.
Unless Real Madrid has no issues paying his buyout clause, it is far from a done deal. Benfica usually makes teams pay. Real Madrid is probably not only ranking their options based who they like best but taking into account the transfer fee and wage demands. Once those are taken into account, the relative preference between the LB targets could change.
Thats a good post but you can see even an honest argument for Carreras is hanging on a bare thread tbh. The bold is just plain wrong when one guy is a top Premiership leftback and the other one the most experienced and decorated out of the three (not to mention the cheapest). But the Miguel analysis is interesting, I largely agree - hes basically a left sided Spanish TAA without the hype. But I'd rather have him than Fran honestly as the second option. Fran labors more defensively but to the same effect. Also, its interesting how nobody doubted whether TAA will fit the system or mentioned the fact that he got benched by Connor Bradley. We are only looking for the red flags that we are encouraged by party cues to look for. Meh. Im out of this discussion.
Fair enough, I haven't seen a lot of him, so I am indeed using a lot of peripheral cues here. I watched him once specifically because I like to try to evaluate young talent; he was solid but didn't seem like anything special and I could say the same thing about many young fullbacks I watched. Especially going forward he seemed conservative and kept things very simple. Having watched Theo many times (like most of us here did) I don't think its a contest. But its getting tiresome, all the arguments have been made so it is what it is. I'd say definitely better Carreras than no one, and I hope the club is right about him.
I think Fran to replace Kerkez at Bournemouth is more likely than finding a European club that will take on Mendy's wages. Fran did well under Iraiola at Rayo.
TAA is a done deal so I don't really see the point of going back and discussing whether it was the best option until we see him play. He was never my first option. But it is not like there were that many top level RBs really available, and Madrid will soon need 2 RBs. Carvajal is like 34 now. If Carvajal returns to his old level, he is a better RB than TAA. But father time is coming for him, especially after these serious injuries. I think the best scenario for Carvajal is is he returns to his old and we end up with a 1A/1B rotation with TAA so we can drag out Carvajal's career a bit longer. He could be a decent backup for a couple of years assuming his speed does not drop off a cliff.
I have a hard time seeing Fran leaving because I don't think he ever came to Madrid thinking he would be a starter. He would be perfectly fine being the backup, and I don't see Xabi almost ever playing Mendy at LB. I think Xabi chooses Camavinga at LB over Mendy. If I put myselt in Fran's shoes, I wouldn't leave. It is not what we want but what Fran wants.
I don't need to explain it to you because simply, I don't know what system the coach will play or has in mind, and neither do you. The club clearly 1. has no interest in Theo, which could be because he didn't have a good season nor has a great track record from a work ethic and attitude perspective (he got let go from Real Madrid because of his rumored poor off the pitch habits), 2. doesn't fit the profile that the new coach is looking for, 3. they value a younger player who counts towards their home grown count as a bonus. You keep making up criteria and dismissing every point of view because of your simple and purely subjective classification that he's a top 5 LB on some made up metric that you only know.
IN: Real Madrid have an agreement in principle with Álvaro Carreras. Juni Calafat and José Ángel Sánchez are pushing to finalize the deal. @berger_pj 🚨 JUST IN: Real Madrid have an agreement in principle with Álvaro Carreras. Juni Calafat and José Ángel Sánchez are pushing to finalize the deal. @berger_pj pic.twitter.com/89FGobFDlt— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) May 19, 2025 Talks with Benfica over Álvaro Carreras are ongoing, but not easy due to his €50m release clause. Real Madrid are working to bring the fee down. @berger_pj 🚨 Talks with Benfica over Álvaro Carreras are ongoing, but not easy due to his €50m release clause. Real Madrid are working to bring the fee down. @berger_pj pic.twitter.com/0kOxi0RAP4— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) May 19, 2025
This is all CWC. If it wasn't for CWC, the transfers would be getting dragged out until the end of the summer. The CWC allows them to have like 36 players registered, I assume many will be youth players. But it means you can buy and not worry about selling until the after the tournament.
He says Carreras is Xabi's preferred choice for LB. 🚨⚪️ Real Madrid have an agreement in principle with Álvaro Carreras (22/🇪🇸), who is Xabi Alonso’s preferred choice at left-back. And the Spaniard wants to join @realmadrid. Juni Calafat and José Ángel Sánchez are pushing to finalize the deal. Talks with Benfica are ongoing -…— Patrick Berger (@berger_pj) May 19, 2025