Arthur Melo

That new kit is so beautiful

Nobody's come to the stadium for his reveal presentation

The stadium was closed for the public

Is he waving at the empty stands then?

idk, maybe there was a couple people there like his family or whatever, he probably waved because they told him to so that the pictures looked good

Dont know if this is common for the smaller signings, but must feel a bit unpleasant and not confidence boosting for the player to be welcomed like that?

BarcaLearning wrote:Dont know if this is common for the smaller signings, but must feel a bit unpleasant and not confidence boosting for the player to be welcomed like that?

Welcomed like what?

Myesyats wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Dont know if this is common for the smaller signings, but must feel a bit unpleasant and not confidence boosting for the player to be welcomed like that?

Welcomed like what?

With an empty stadium

So where is he going to play?
We play 4-4-2. Assuming the current roster, 2 positions are reserved for Busquets and Rakitic. Rakitic has proved that he can play RM. So if Arthur is in, that means Busquets, Arthur in the middle, Coutinhi out wide and Rakitic central. Coiuld work but would still have some of the same problems in the big CL games.

The elephant in the room was and continues to be Messi. He limits us tactically and it is not surprising that we have failed in the CL repeatedly.

In that sense, I can understand going for dynamic players like Kante, Pogba etc. There have been links but they are not attainable.

I don't know this guy at all, only heard that his style apparently resembles Xavi.

I really doubt our scouts found a midfield gem in Brazil. Who was the last great Brazilian CM anyway? Genuinenly can't remember. Must be someone from the 70s or 80s. Falcao?

I give him 95 % chance to be another Gomes without having seen a game of him, purely based on him being a Brazilian CM and Barca's scouting incompetence.

BarcaLearning wrote:

Myesyats wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Dont know if this is common for the smaller signings, but must feel a bit unpleasant and not confidence boosting for the player to be welcomed like that?

Welcomed like what?

With an empty stadium

The stadium was closed due to 'security reasons' so I'm sure he understands and doesn't mind at all... lol

alexjanosik wrote:So where is he going to play?
We play 4-4-2. Assuming the current roster, 2 positions are reserved for Busquets and Rakitic. Rakitic has proved that he can play RM. So if Arthur is in, that means Busquets, Arthur in the middle, Coutinhi out wide and Rakitic central. Coiuld work but would still have some of the same problems in the big CL games.

The elephant in the room was and continues to be Messi. He limits us tactically and it is not surprising that we have failed in the CL repeatedly.

In that sense, I can understand going for dynamic players like Kante, Pogba etc. There have been links but they are not attainable.

I don't think the expectation is that he will become an automatic starter. There is no way to accommodate both him and Dembele so at least one would be for rotation.

Myesyats wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:

Myesyats wrote:
Welcomed like what?

With an empty stadium

The stadium was closed due to 'security reasons' so I'm sure he understands and doesn't mind at all... lol

Ohhh, thats strange It could be just an excuse though and we will never know...

With the signings we have made, at least they are making some sense, if not perfect, a CB and a midfielder after Dembele and Coutinho to balance out our squad... will just have to see hopefully in the friendlies ahead how good they look.

promising debut

Rafinha: "I don't usually like to make comparisons, but Arthur has a touch of Xavi about him. It's the way he touches the ball, the way he passes it. He's a great, great signing for Barcelona." [via espn]

Piqué: "Arthur is spectacular."

Didnt focus a lot on watching him, but from what I saw he really is quite similar in that hes able to keep the ball very well, switch plays, stable player that suits our style. Hopefully he can keep improve and fulfil that role.

This is sweet :

Arthur Melo vs PSV (H) 18/9/18

He's not bad. With someone good as his coach like Guardiola he can become a very decent player.

Love his Xavi-squeeze turn on the ball.

zenmaster wrote:Love his Xavi-squeeze turn on the ball.

And the way he looks around for passing options before receiving the ball, I can really see Xavi in him...

He orchestrated the 4th goal:

https://twitter.com/mrsterstegen1/status/1042152774161653761

Great CL debut

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1047624969033797632

Only 22 and plays like a veteran.... Needs to start more games. Coutinho can play shifted a little more to the left, it doesn't make much difference for him I believe, he's great everywhere on the left wing.

He looks a good little player but time will tell if he can cut it here. Is clearly technically gifted but needs to improve his passing a lot. Too often plays the easy and obvious pass. Doesnt even have to be the final pass. Has to improve his passing between the lines.

He is out for 4 weeks
The foolish Copa obsession may cost us yet again.

Gotta say Ive been really happy with him in the recent games, hes really come into the team and become a starter, and does play a lot like Xavi. Hes just so good at keeping possession, the tempo, passes, and looks like he will continue to get better. If he can continue and become anything close to Xavi we will be in good hands

Hope we do ok without him atm... vs Bilbao we've already looked quite a bit worst without him, although there were other factors as well...