Could he though? His peak co-incided with Ronaldo/Messi. And as a forward he didn't have anywhere close to the numbers those 2 were producing.
Florian Wirtz | Der Fußballgott
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Could he though? His peak co-incided with Ronaldo/Messi. And as a forward he didn't have anywhere close to the numbers those 2 were producing.
No chance in hell. Maybe if he had won the WC with Germany while hitting a purple patch in the tournament.
But that's the point. He never could get these numbers as he was so often injured. Every time he looked like getting fully into his rhythm it happened again.
Had he been able to sustain that for just a single season he might have gotten similar numbers. Personally I don't see him as a potential Balon d'Or winner anyways, but he could have gotten close in terms of numbers alone.
He also wasn't anywhere near as good, even if you ignore output. Great player with a lot of terrible luck, but not in the top echelon of players of his generation
Caicedo is an ok shout but he's not close to his price tag and a completely different type of player.
It just isn't going to happen. What's he going to get so much better at that he isn't doing already?
Nah, highly disagree with that.
In his peak seasons when he wasn't injured, he had a G+A/Games ratio of just over 0.65. Messi and Ronaldo were both over 1.
It just isn't realistic that without injuries he could have sustained over 1.
If you said to me now if Man Utd would pay £115 million for Caicedo, and we are guaranteed the baseline performance for the next X years is what his level at Chelsea has been for the past season, I'd take that in a heartbeat.
Outside Dortmund forums, this might the first ever time that it's been suggested he could've won the Ballon d'or with Messi and Ronaldo in the running.
Funny I was thinking earlier how he reminds me of Kagawa, more so how people post compilations of his great first touches and "almost" moments in lieu of actual goals/assists.
because it’s an absurd idea. He could have been fit for the entirety of his career and still would not have made it close. Great player, but in no way a generational talent.
If you mean Gotze, it was suggested that he could be a future Balon Dor winner by observers outside of Dortmund. Same for Isco. Their careers didn't pan out as some expected when they were teenagers.
World Soccer magazine had an article on both Isco and Gotze as future Balon Dor winners when they were 18-19 years old. That's when I first heard of them both.
It's football, it rarely pans out as expected. Look at Neymar, we all expected him to be a multiple Balon Dor winner when he was part of MSN at Barcelona. Didn't pan out that way.
He'll be lucky to make the Brasil team for the world cup next summer.
I wouldn't. I think this is falling into the trap of thinking one player can solve all of the problems in a team and how they are set up to play.
Caicedo looks decent for Chelsea...who aren't a great team. United are a worse team than them and swapping Caicedo between the clubs probably wouldn't even change that imo.
Obviously the price tag isn't the biggest deal if you still get a very good player out of it and can afford it, but I don't see what attributes Wirtz has that will ever make him a very good player in the PL. Its similar to with Sancho...where's the cutting edge/teeth to his game that you need in the PL going to come from?
I dunno, if Arsenal hadn’t signed Zubimendi, I would also take that deal. In fact, so would Arteta. When we tried to sign Caicedo for around that figure and were rebuffed, Arsenal briefed that it wasn’t an either/or with Rice - we wanted them both.
I absolutely love Reus but I wouldn't say that as well
If he were injury free, he would definitely be regarded in the same way Bale and Neymar are, i.e the best of the rest after Messi/Ronaldo. I still think he's as good if not better than Bale but few would agree with that.Onto Wirtz, the comparison with Kagawa might not be too off. His playstyle is very similar to Shinji in a way that it's a mix of passing/dribbling rather than pure playmaking (though I would stress Wirtz is better than Kagawa in those aspects individually). Different from Ozil, who was a pure playmaker with technical skill as well. I don't think Shinji was as bad as made out to be, in his first season his style was clashing with Rooney, plus a major injury during the season, but you could still see Sir Alex liked him and kept him in the team the whole season. Had Sir Alex stayed maybe Kagawa might have become a better player for us.
Reus is Robben/Ribery without consistency. And that is even being generous to him.
Consistency is honestly the one thing you couldn't criticise Reus for. Despite his constant injuries he would always come back and play at a high level. It wasn't until really late in his career, probably last couple of seasons, that his overall play went really down.
Yes, but that is still level of the two I mentioned, at best. I mean, two great players with no doubt, but obviously level below Neymar and probably Bale too.
It was about Reus.
Didn't know we had a (small) RDL in here!
So how about Florian Wirtz?
He was easily the 3rd best player in the world going into the world cup. He doesn't get injured, plays well in the WC - chances are he either wins POTT or at least places top 3 - he has pretty good chances at the BdO
Are we still talking about Reus?
He wasn’t even the best offensive player in the league, or close to it. Not even the best German one.
Didn't he win bundesliga player of the year? Admittedly i don't know how that works so maybe it's worthless
Anyways, yes. In 2014 Reus was easily the 3rd best player in the world before the injury. Dude almost eliminated Madrid from the CL single-handedly
Reus would have won the Ballon d’Or if all the players that were better than him didn’t exist. I don’t see how that’s controversial.
Meanwhile Wirtz is not good.
Meanwhile Wirtz is not good.
There's some revisionism going on here...
Reus was an excellent player but 3rd best player in the world in 2014?! Seriously?!
That's the season that Suarez went nuts. In terms of goals, I mean.
When you say "easily" that's quite debatable?
Yeah. First half of 2014, absolutely
He was great that season. Others were just as great. Müller was on the same level and one could argue that Özil wasn’t any bit worse. Robben and Ribéry both were better when fit. I think his performance against Real is skewing your perception a bit.
Ok yeah I forgot about Dracula
Floppian Worst, I'm enjoying his impact so far.
3rd best player after the 13/14 season? Wouldn't that be Suarez by general consensus?
Its ridiculous that so many take part in slagging off Pool's new signings such as Wirtz and previously Nunez. When our own team is such a mess.
I would have taken Nunez over Hojlund, Zirkzee etc who have done feck all. Cunha & Mbuemo havent exactly set Utd on fire yet either. (Hopefully they will come good though.
I would have taken Nunez over Hojlund, Zirkzee etc who have done feck all. Cunha & Mbuemo havent exactly set Utd on fire yet either. (Hopefully they will come good though.
Yes, you must never engage in any football related Schadenfreude, unless your team has just won the treble. It’s ridiculous!
Just Google "Reus and balon for contender" and there are plenty of different websites and articles back around 2013 which say he would be a finalist for balon dor if it wasn't for his injures.
5th highest g+a in the 13/14 season throughout Europe (all comps), behind Ronaldo, Ibra, Messi and Suarez, ahead of Bale and Lewa. Playing for a weaker Dortmund compared to the other guys ahead of him. 3rd best is debatable but top 5 was not ludicrous suggestion.
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Reus was decent player and that is.
Danny Murphy’s ‘moment of the week’ was Florian Wirtz.
Why does coverage of LFC insist on being so nauseating?
Why does coverage of LFC insist on being so nauseating?
I’ll take your word for it. No article can convince me that Reus was ever a top 5 footballer in the world anyway.