hideniton said:
Haven't seen him play in a while. Last time i did he looked pretty similar to kroos albeit a little more dynamic but without the goalthreat.
Anyone on here who's seen him play recently and could give a little update to his strengths and weaknesses?
Strengths: typical Barcelona player - calm, great eye for a pass, adept at quick, one touch passing, very skillful player.
Weaknesses: a touch one paced, easily outstrengthed, goes missing when its not going Barcas way .
As for why he is available, the main reason is that both he and Barcelona feel he needs to play every week. Added to that, Barcelona will be looking to raise funds this summer to offset the signing of Neymar, and finally, Sergi Roberto and Deulofeu are being promoted to the first team this summer which will make Thiago & Sanchez surplus to requirements.
The €25m asking price I would wager is aimed specifically at ensuring a top club comes in for him. They could easily loan him to Schalke or Ajax but will want to see what he can do competing in the biggest games. Any deal would have the usual buyback clause.
Thiago has been shuffled around positions as Barcelona are prone to doing and he's found himself in the Xavi role more often than not, mostly because Fabregas is better in the Iniesta role. In my personal opinion he would be best utilised at City behind the striker, as opposed to in the two behind, but that then raises the question of how to guarentee a game the majority of weeks.
