Gabriel Barbosa

[soflapaul]

Many of us have kept an eye on Gabigol during his time in Brazil. There's no question he has an eye for goal - and this intangible skill is an invaluable asset. But I find there are other considerations that must be taken into account:

The first is that the Brazilian Serie A defense is laughably poor. The second is that, for me, despite his record, he just doesn't pass the eye test. IMO, he has no discernibly special assets. Physically speaking, he's not very fast or strong. Technically speaking, he's average at best.

His positioning does seem pretty good, as he's regularly in place to score tons of tap-ins (a skill which isn't to be taken lightly). His best asset is a good left foot shot.

Thanks. I finally watched the clip and came away impressed. It wasn't only the tap ins that were impressive but the follow up goals. He certainly anticipates and move into space where the ball was going ahead of the defenders and his own teammates. His ability to shoot or pass with power from awkward positions was pretty impressive too.

However, your comment regarding the Serie A defense is sobering which drove home the fact that i was pretty excited about Vincent Janssen when he came on board. I'll leave it to the professionals on this one.

 

[soflapaul]

Sounds like a sizzling pirate. Sign him at once

There is at least one better pirate name but i think we are a little late to sign him. The Black Pearl himself. Eusebio

 

[GetSpurredOn]

Different type of forwards I guess. All depends on what Jose wants from his CF, and seeing his interview today, he talks about a target man, which I’m not sure this guy is. Most of his play seems to come from driving in off the right hand side, which is where Lamela and Moura tend to favour. I think we’d benefit from someone who tends to stay more centrally, because Kane is the only one that does really. Son seems at his best coming in off the left.

All that aside, as the Eriksen stories are ramping up, this has gone very quiet, makes me think it was just some opportunism based on extracting something from any deal for Eriksen. Feel like this probably isn’t happening either.