In related news, Ricard Puig absolutely killed it 3 preseasons in-a-row. Never did anything for Barca and essentially retired at 22. Love to be proven wrong about Fermin, just not seeing the magic.
Well, times change, to be fair. Also young Mr Puig never got a look internationally, as Fermin has gotten today. (Both with Spain's U23 AND full senior sides.) That aside, just off the top of my head, I can think of 4 reasons today why Fermin > Olmo. Plus, another 60 million r€a$ons why Fermin > Olmo in a few days from now. Plus, another, what? 90 million r€a$ons over the next 6 years. Plus another, what? 40 million r€a$ons in avoided panic sales. Plus the opportunity to acquire a younger, more athletic, cheaper, and healthier LW that will be missed out on, while weakening a La Liga enemy if Fermin gets passed over. Plus, the possible opportunity to finally replace some schmuck named "Sergio Busquets," if you pass up Fermin for a China doll from Leipzig. I mean, Fermin may or may not "have it," but those are quite a few "r€a$ons" to find out.
Personally, I don't consider a U23 call up as a positive. It just signifies that a player's club doesn't intend on making the player a regular any time soon.
Lol @ Puig comparison. Fair enough about your Fermin reservations. I don't think anyone is expecting him to be a world-beater from the onset, but he has shown his talent and potential in patches last season and now again in the Olympics - even if against his contemporaries. What stands out to me the most are his wicked shots. That shooting technique doesn't have anything to do with who he's playing against as he has shown vs RM and Courtois. As with everything else, time will tell.
"lol" as in good point, or "lol" as in what are you smoking? There was widespread positive posts about Puig in this forum a few years back, especially at this time of the year (preseason and early season). But our midfield was alot more difficult to break into back then compared to last season when the approach was (through nobody's fault) anyone who can still walk gets to play.
How about a callup to the European Championship side? Puig never sniffed a callup, but Fermin did. I understand being suspect on a younger player vs a so-called "proven" one, but Puig honestly couldn't carry Fermin's jock. Puig did not have Fermin's level, or else Puig would have been given callups to both the Spanish Olympic and Spanish senior sides. The comparison between the two isn't very apt, IMO.
I hear goalposts being moved. I never equated Fermin to Puig, and am certainly not hyping Puig. Just the opposite. I am just, in a sarcastic way, saying that the Fermin hype has really gone up during this off-season/preseason time of the year. This is also pretty much the only time of year I ever heard anything positive about Puig - playing against C and D teams in meaningless games. Also, pretty safe to say Fermin doesn't get that Euro 2024 call up if squads were still limited to 23 players. I think Spain started about 22-23 different players in the Euros, and he wasn't one of them.
Eh, I never rated Puig, which is why I found bringing him up as a bit weird. And to your point, any accolades sent his way were in preseason play. By contrast, I dont think we know what Fermin is/is not, just yet. But, his body of work includes not only the Olympics, and not only being selected for the Euros, but also his body of work last season. So, a much wider body of work, and in doing so, Fermin has shown himself to at least be better than Puig; I can agree that we don't know if he's a starter type at a Barça level. I would have preferred that the club explore what he is/is not, over buying a redundant piece. But, alas, here we are.
Gamper Trophy today at 2pm EST vs Monaco. Using the same thread as the pre-season US tour for match comments.
-------PauVictor------Lewy------Raphinha-------- ---------------Torre----Bernal----Casado----------- -----Balde------Iñigo---Christensen----Kounde--- ------------------------TerStegen------------------------
I can't even get it other than some link. So yeah, I wasn't able to watch it either. Looking at the highlights ... Pau Victor with two big misses. Inexcusable mistake on the turnover to Monaco's first goal. Not even sure what the hell was going on in their 3rd goal. It wasn't the starting lineup, but still ... quite embarrassing.
Yeah, AFAIK TV3 Catalunya was the only way to watch the match. The defending on all 3 goals was beyond woeful. I don't care about preseason results but to be this bad 5 days before the season starts is a bit worrisome.
It's kind of just the same as last season. What more can you expect. You have the same squad that Xavi got fired for saying wasn't good enough. Now you have a new manager saying the opposite of what Xavi said but the same things keep happening. Your filling your squad up with youth players who arent good enough. They only play because there is no money to sign anyone else. The great Messi still collecting a deferred wage crippling you even further. If you believe the smoke from Laporta and the Cule media, then you are going to be in for a rude awakening. For 3 years now you have been slapped by every big team you have come up against. Knocked out the Champions League 3 times. Knocked out of Europa League twice. You have now added a couple kids who arent good enough and are expecting to be competitive.
I hope he's ok, and that the responsible parties are brought to justice. https://talksport.com/football/2009783/three-arrested-stabbing-barcelona-lamine-yamal-father/