World-class, surely not. But potential to be world-class, maybe? It's so hard to say, isn't it?
We've been talking a lot about Olise, lately. Fast, tricky, clever winger. 21. Got himself 11 assists in a team that only managed 40 goals last year. Throw him in with Kev and Haaland beside him, and maybe you would see a world-class player emerge. Or maybe he'd absolutely sink at the top level, just like Zaha did when he briefly left Palace for United.
And then look at players like Kev and Salah. Both were just tossed aside at Chelsea, and had to move to totally different leagues for their full talent to emerge. I think, so often, you can have players with incredible potential who could be world-class, but it all depends on having the luck of the draw in terms of transfers, teammates, managers, and so on, for them to really show what they're capable of.
That's why I find it a bit daft when people go on saying "Oh we're buying some guy from West Ham? What? He didn't even score many goals last season!" It's important to take the context into account and look at the individual talent and potential. In the case of Paqueta, yes he didn't show much of his offensive abilities last year, but he was absolutely tremendous at Lyon and obviously Pep and co can see how that talent could thrive in a set-up like ours.
Let's look at the bottom-half teams from last season:
Palace - I think Olise, Eze, and Guehi have all got big potential.
Chelsea - No point talking about them...
Wolves - Nunes looks very good. I think Neves had potential to play at the top, but that's over now.
Hammers - Rice is the obvious one. Paqueta can do a lot better than he did. Aguerd is a good CB.
Bournemouth - Not a lot to choose from, although I think Tavernier is a very good player.
Forest - Brennan Johnson and Williams both young with potential, but neither exactly amazing.
Everton - Tarkowski and McNeil could both play at a higher level, I think.
Leicester - Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes.
Leeds - Fuck Leeds but Gnonto looks a class above.
Saints - JWP.
I don't know if any of those players could ever develop into "world-class" talents, but I think they've all shone, to some degree, while playing alongside weaker players and often under negative or stale managers. It's just a question of giving them a chance.
