[Albion] Brighton's Roberto De Zerbi drawing attention of Europe's top clubs

[WATFORD zero]

The antithesis of Boehly's Chelsea, Manure 2013 to 2023.

Brighton, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon examples of getting most transfers spot on. ManC could be added but they do attract with vast salaries.


Spending - you'll find that the big CL clubs will still have great spending power.

Sorry, I misread it as Brighton not having a cerebral recruitment strategy

 

[Commander]

I'm not sure that I'll be too upset if RDZ leaves, it has always felt that we are another stepping stone for him and that he is just passing through.

I was absolutely gutted when Potter left, it won't be the same when RDZ leaves and I think we are a much more attractive option for coaches now as well (providing they like working with unlimited 18/19 year old attacking forwards).

I’m resigned to it happening, but I think him leaving will be a much bigger blow than Potter. Under Potter I felt we could compete for the top 10 every season, which felt great. But under RDZ it really feels like we could actually win something, and if it doesn’t happen when he is here then it will feel like a real missed opportunity.

 

[Weststander]

Sorry, I misread it as Brighton not having a cerebral recruitment strategy

I did realise I left myself open to that challenge, but couldn't be arsed to make the comment unchallengeable

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Liverpool, Liverpool.

I just googled the place, to get a picture of it, to post, and the first result is a story about someone getting shot in face!

Gangland murder and the pub that never reopened its doors

Local people want to see The Belgrave come back to life

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

I used to live on the corner of st michaels rd and Aigburth rd, went in that pub quite a few times, preferred the Albert though.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Are you considering making a bid for the job yourself then?

He can't - we need the constant flow of information with regards to our latest Zambian Under 9 signing.

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

He can't - we need the constant flow of information with regards to our latest Zambian Under 9 signing.

True, but Trump managed to do the job so it can't take up that much time in the day. AZ could probably fit in a quick trade war with China over half time in the under 9s game for instance.

 

[FCB]

Guardiola wouldn’t have a hope in hell at Barcelona, they are absolutely hamstrung by their finances, and instead of accepting their fate and bringing through from their academy until they’re on an even keel, they’re trying to buy their way out of their financial constraints. Their club president seems high on his own supply, entirely lacking in humility or awareness of the club’s situation.

Totally agree that Laporta is way over his head losing touch with reality and still living in 2009. Might finish his mandate doing the club more longterm harm than previous board.

As for your first point bringing players through academy is exactly what we've been doing for years. We have 16 year old Lamine Yamal starting regularly, Pau Cubarsi (CB) started his first game on the eve of his 17th birthday and has been regular since then as well. Hector Fort (17) started games at RB and LB when we've had injuries there. And Marc Guiu (18) made several appearances off the bench, he actually scored a game winning goal in his debut just 30 seconds after coming on against Bilbao.

And then ofc players like Gavi, Balde, Pedri (well, tbf he's not a La Masia product but has played full season at 16 in Segunda for Las Palmas on loan after we bought him and then become immediate starter under Koeman playing like 70 games between Barca and Spain in a season before he turned 18) are fully established first teamers and have played lot of games as teenagers. And it all started with Ansu when we had injury problems at the time we still had Messi and Suarez.

Don't think there is a club in top 5 leagues that has given more minutes to their (homegrown) U21 players over the last 3-4 years than Barca. But if anything we've overplayed most of them and are paying the price now. They clearly had talent and were mentally ready but not physically prepared to play as many games as they did at their age. Now Fati, Pedri and Balde all have injury problems and Gavi is out longterm as well (too soon to label him injury prone after first injury though, we'll see how he'll recover).

And next you'll probably hear about kids like Marc Bernal, Guille Fernandez and some others making their break throughs to the first team in next year or two. All this young talent already in the first team and more coming through youth ranks and out on loans (Ansu, if he won't be sold and someone like Alex Valle who is reportedly also developing great playing for Levante in Segunda) is a reason why I think Barca could still be attractive to managers despite obvious financial constraints.

Although I believe financial situation or at least La Liga FFP limitations that we have most problems with should also improve by 2025. Just getting back to Camp Nou in November this year (despite having temporarily reduced capacity to around 65k) should help as the club is losing tens of millions now playing at Montjuic. Ofc having a competitive team would help too. People don't want to watch their team dropping points and regularly conceding 2-3 goals at home against bottom table opponents.

We'll first need to survive this summer though, hopefully not making more poor decisions that will have negative longterm impact like the levers in 2022 that didn't really worked out as planned. Yes, we won La Liga last year which brought some optimism back but overall wasn't really worth it.

More reports that besides selling Raphinha (which is almost a foregone conclusion), one of the CBs (Kounde, Christensen) and hopefully Lewandowski (if good offer from SA, doubt he'll go there though and if we'll hire Flick he'll probably want to keep him anyway) club will also consider selling one of De Jong or Araujo. Which would be a mistake if no clear plan how to re-invest some of that money (won't be able to spend all as we're still not under the La Liga 1:1 rule) to 1.) find a replacement and 2.) improve other positions, mostly DM and LW.

 

[Weststander]

I do find it weird that a young, up and coming coach is constantly blamed for us picking up a fairly tidy but not spectacular player on a free, and then it not working out, when you consider how many millions have been spent on academy players that have disappeared into the sun (Taylor Richards anyone?)

Of course he's not perfect. But for a club of our size it's hard to imagine anyone ticking more boxes.

Clutching at straws, the main thing they can hang him for.

 

[chickens]

Totally agree that Laporta is way over his head losing touch with reality and still living in 2009. Might finish his mandate doing the club more longterm harm than previous board.

As for your first point bringing players through academy is exactly what we've been doing for years. We have 16 year old Lamine Yamal starting regularly, Pau Cubarsi (CB) started his first game on the eve of his 17th birthday and has been regular since then as well. Hector Fort (17) started games at RB and LB when we've had injuries there. And Marc Guiu (18) made several appearances off the bench, he actually scored a game winning goal in his debut just 30 seconds after coming on against Bilbao.

And then ofc players like Gavi, Balde, Pedri (well, tbf he's not a La Masia product but has played full season at 16 in Segunda for Las Palmas on loan after we bought him and then become immediate starter under Koeman playing like 70 games between Barca and Spain in a season before he turned 18) are fully established first teamers and have played lot of games as teenagers. And it all started with Ansu when we had injury problems at the time we still had Messi and Suarez.

Don't think there is a club in top 5 leagues that has given more minutes to their (homegrown) U21 players over the last 3-4 years than Barca. But if anything we've overplayed most of them and are paying the price now. They clearly had talent and were mentally ready but not physically prepared to play as many games as they did at their age. Now Fati, Pedri and Balde all have injury problems and Gavi is out longterm as well (too soon to label him injury prone after first injury though, we'll see how he'll recover).

And next you'll probably hear about kids like Marc Bernal, Guille Fernandez and some others making their break throughs to the first team in next year or two. All this young talent already in the first team and more coming through youth ranks and out on loans (Ansu, if he won't be sold and someone like Alex Valle who is reportedly also developing great playing for Levante in Segunda) is a reason why I think Barca could still be attractive to managers despite obvious financial constraints.

Although I believe financial situation or at least La Liga FFP limitations that we have most problems with should also improve by 2025. Just getting back to Camp Nou in November this year (despite having temporarily reduced capacity to around 65k) should help as the club is losing tens of millions now playing at Montjuic. Ofc having a competitive team would help too. People don't want to watch their team dropping points and regularly conceding 2-3 goals at home against bottom table opponents.

We'll first need to survive this summer though, hopefully not making more poor decisions that will have negative longterm impact like the levers in 2022 that didn't really worked out as planned. Yes, we won La Liga last year which brought some optimism back but overall wasn't really worth it.

More reports that besides selling Raphinha (which is almost a foregone conclusion), one of the CBs (Kounde, Christensen) and hopefully Lewandowski (if good offer from SA, doubt he'll go there though and if we'll hire Flick he'll probably want to keep him anyway) club will also consider selling one of De Jong or Araujo. Which would be a mistake if no clear plan how to re-invest some of that money (won't be able to spend all as we're still not under the La Liga 1:1 rule) to 1.) find a replacement and 2.) improve other positions, mostly DM and LW.

Thank you for your knowledgeable and honest response. You’re absolutely right that Barcelona have brought through from the academy, my concern is really with the players they’re trying to supplement their youth with.

From here it looks as if Barcelona are still trying to buy the top young starlets available, regardless of cost. I understand not wanting to damage “the brand”, but to an extent that ship has already sailed, the club has mortgaged its future, which is never a great look.

My concern is that if the club doesn’t stop digging this hole, and with on-field success far from certain, it’s possible that something genuinely catastrophic could happen via the boardroom. My fear would be extensions of the existing levers, for a smaller financial return, trapping Barcelona in an ever tightening circle of debt reliance, though I believe La Liga has outlawed these levers? Is that correct?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I used to live on the corner of st michaels rd and Aigburth rd, went in that pub quite a few times, preferred the Albert though.

By Kwiksave!?

We also much preferred the Albert and Lark Lane in general - but the Bel was closest, and we were LAZY.

Incidentally, this prompted me to look up what is open on LL nowadays, and its quite the spot. Must pay a visit sometime.

Pubs Archives - Lark Lane Guide

www.larklaneguide.com

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

By Kwiksave!?

We also much preferred the Albert and Lark Lane in general - but the Bel was closest, and we were LAZY.

Incidentally, this prompted me to look up what is open on LL nowadays, and its quite the spot. Must pay a visit sometime.

Pubs Archives - Lark Lane Guide

www.larklaneguide.com

Yep along from kwiks above a Chinese chippy, it was around 92/93. We go back to Liverpool occasionally, went to lark lane a couple of years ago - it is actually much the same, had lunch in Keith’s.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Yep along from kwiks above a Chinese chippy, it was around 92/93. We go back to Liverpool occasionally, went to lark lane a couple of years ago - it is actually much the same, had lunch in Keith’s.

We only ever went to Keith's or Marrantos if either my parents or her parents were visiting (and paying, obviously!).

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I absolutely love RDZ, and he's perfect for us. But I think it's waaaaay too soon for him to be going to a club with the expectations of a Barcelona or United. He's great at Brighton as it's a match in terms of him bringing in young players, playing attacking footall and not having the pressure of having to win something.

If RDZ goes, I honestly believe there will be no winners - apart from maybe his bank balance. I don't think he'll be successful at one of the huge clubs.

 

[Weststander]

I absolutely love RDZ, and he's perfect for us. But I think it's waaaaay too soon for him to be going to a club with the expectations of a Barcelona or United. He's great at Brighton as it's a match in terms of him bringing in young players, playing attacking footall and not having the pressure of having to win something.

If RDZ goes, I honestly believe there will be no winners - apart from maybe his bank balance. I don't think he'll be successful at one of the huge clubs.

Newcastle as the next stepping stone, should they sack Beheady?

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

I absolutely love RDZ, and he's perfect for us. But I think it's waaaaay too soon for him to be going to a club with the expectations of a Barcelona or United. He's great at Brighton as it's a match in terms of him bringing in young players, playing attacking footall and not having the pressure of having to win something.

If RDZ goes, I honestly believe there will be no winners - apart from maybe his bank balance. I don't think he'll be successful at one of the huge clubs.

This is a nice opinion, but do you mind not derailing this conversation about Liverpool Street life please?

 

[AZ Gull]

.... I think he’ll flourish at a club with a big budget and a cerebral recruitment strategy.

No shit sherlock!

 

[Hometownglory]

More to the point, if he did go, who do we get in? Unfortunately, any new manager will have the charisma of a toilet brush compared to RDZ. I mean, when we lose, you see him hurting, when we score, he joins in with the elation. I personally would be gutted if he went at the end of the season. Give the guy a massive payrise and a couple of players this summer.

Maybe we need a banner - seems to work for Palace.

 

[Weststander]

No shit sherlock!

Not according to others here Einstein . He'll flop at a bigger club due to the pressures.

 

[Surrey Phil]

Money talks, but we are a great fit for RDZ & he appreciates the set up with TB & PB. I think he will still be here next season!

 

[BluesRockDJ]

I see Chelsea (who else ?) are putting feelers out for our recruitment guru Jewell ?