Recent content by Taribo's Gap

How much should Alvarez have cost? Enzo, his teammate at River, went to Benfica for a similar fee. For every Alvarez, there are a few Kayky's that get forgotten. The real competitive advantage is that City have the resources to make those punts without it affecting them much whereas other teams...

A couple of questions for any Arsenal fans: 1. According to WhoScored, Arsenal were joint top with City last year in open play goals with 62 whereas this year they are currently joint 5th (47), but they have scored more goals this year in a variety of different ways. Is this down to something...

Has there ever been a list of this sort for which the consensus reception has been even remotely positive?

Not even nominated. So much for that... https://www.premierleague.com/news/3997090

A half season is not enough to separate him from Wirtz IMO, especially when you are making a point about the pressure of the big stage and it's not the business end of the season.

But at Real Madrid you also have players like Vini, Rodrygo, Modric, Kroos to come through in "big pressure" moments when you're off it. You can't act like Jude is carrying the weight of the whole team on his shoulders. I don't think he is clearly better than Wirtz at the moment.

I don't think he is clearly better than Wirtz right now and didn't think that when they were in the same Bundesliga.

Yeah...that's the point. He is not being compared to "potential" players, he is being compared to players and spoken of as if he has already arrived and that entails a different set of standards.

Ditto Fabregas.

People keep bringing up his age as if what is being debated is his potential as a prospect. If he were only being compared to Wirtz, Gavi, Pedri, Musiala, Camavinga and Simons then that would be fine, but he is not. It's simply a statement as to why the bpitw shouts might be a bit underwhelming...

Zidane showed up in big matches in big competitions, so most of those career downsides are forgotten. If Jude can manage the same, the same will likely happen for him, as happened in both of his Barca performances this year. In the first Classico, Gavi had him pocketed until the tail end of the...

The run vs. Napoli was pretty special. That run of games where he showed preternatural instinct in the box to score winning goals was special. He has tools for sure, I just don't think this second half of the season has been particularly great.

Is Mainoo being touted as the best player in the world by some? Completely different standards upon which performances and reactions thereto are gauged. Belli has fallen off the second half of the season.

United is just not a preferred destination for such players. This is an in-built advantage that clubs like Real and Barcelona have, although Xavi is doing is level best to try to ruin that for Barca.

If his name wasn't Bellingham, no one would even mention that performance. Good young player with many tools in his locker and room for growth, but no need to contort to make his performances more than they are.