Saúl Ñíguez

He signed a 9 year contract with Atletico and I don’t think he’s on much. If he leaves, it will be for footballing reasons, not money. Luckily, we can offer both.

If he's not on much as you say, then surely money would potentially be a reason to leave?
 
Maybe he has something on his mind?
Possibly — and his impending move evidently distracted him throughout as he was arguably the worst player on the pitch for the match (and it was one of the more pedestrian showings from Spain in quite some time, with a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster starting eleven).

I’ve watched a lot of him, for obvious reasons, and that is probably one of the worst performances he has had in a Spain or Atleti shirt, so I’ll assume his mind was elsewhere.
 
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Possibly — and his impending move evidently distracted him throughout as he was arguably the worst player on the pitch for the match.

I’ve watched a lot of him, for obvious, reasons, and that is probably one of the worst performances he has had in a Spain or Atleti shirt.
Really? Worst player on the pitch?
Could he be another bullet we need to send across the road?
Or do we want this bullet in Pep's Revolver?
 
Really? Worst player on the pitch?
Could he be another bullet we need to send across the road?
Or do we want this bullet in Pep's Revolver?
He’s usually much more assured than what was on show against Malta. Perhaps he was feeding of the nervous energy from the many other players that were getting one of their first few starts. His performance was largely based on his own mistakes (rather than misunderstandings with other players), and he was put in to several goal scoring positions only to fluff the chances, but it could have been a combination of the subdued team performance and being distracted.

I do think he is not quite up to the consistency of Dinho and David (though, even the latter has had issues with that recently), but he is still only 24 so isn’t quite yet in his prime.

Saul at his best would fit in to our side like a glove, but I am just not quite sure when Prime Saul will consistently appear.
 
He’s usually much more assured than what was on show against Malta. Perhaps he was feeding of the nervous energy from the many other players that were getting one of their first few starts. His performance was largely based on his own mistakes (rather than misunderstandings with other players), and he was put in to several goal scoring positions only to fluff the chances, but it could have been a combination of the subdued team performance and being distracted.

I do think he is not quite up to the consistency of Dinho and David (though, even the latter has had issues with that recently), but he is still only 24 so isn’t quite yet in his prime.

Saul at his best would fit in to our side like a glove, but I am just not quite sure when Prime Saul will consistently appear.
Strong athletic lad who has done it in big games.
Can score an important goal too.
I think Txiki likes him.
I can see this one happening.
 
From the mandatory YouTube highlights I saw he seemed very slow. Javier Garcia level of slowness.

But in any case I trust Pep now.
 
Strong athletic lad who has done it in big games.
Can score an important goal too.
I think Txiki likes him.
I can see this one happening.

From the mandatory YouTube highlights I saw he seemed very slow. Javier Garcia level of slowness.

But in any case I trust Pep now.
He’s not the fastest player, to be sure, but he usually makes up for it with good positioning, anticipation, vision, strength, and an engine to power through matches.

The fact that he has fallen out with Simeone is interesting, though. Saul has the reputation of being very strong minded, which has caused clashes with coaches at every level as he has progressed. I think there is an argument that only players with these sorts of strong wills (bordering on arrogance) make it to the top, but it still might not be something that Pep is looking for, as he does tend toward the extremely competitive but relatively humble demeanour.

I suppose we’ll see soon enough.
 

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