Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

[Hoof the ball]

The people crying to “upgrade” Rashford for Kvaratskhelia are exactly the type who I’m sure would cope really well with a 6+ months (21-games-and-counting) goal drought for club and country. Just one assist in that time too.

His drop-off at the latter end of the season can be explained by the context of the league table at the end of round. 27, which was when he last scored for Napoli (March 13th).
Napoli were top of Serie A with Lazio 19 points behind in 2nd place and Inter in 3rd place by behind by 21 points. It's highly likely that such a huge difference at this point of the season contributed towards both Kvara and Osimhen showing diminishing returns in the league relative to the standards they were showing prior to week 27.

This doesn't just extend to Kvara, by the way. Osimhen scored a goal per game on average, and then that Torino game (the last one Kvara scored in) which left Napoli 19 points clear, suddenly Osimhen's scoring rate dropped to a goal every two games. Osimhen in Serie A from that point on until the end of the season played ten games and scored five, and record zero assists. Granted, he only had five assists all season anyway, but there's plenty enough data and contextual reasoning to see why both Kvara and Osimhen simultaneously had a domestic drop of productivity rates.

 

[Lay]

He’s struggling at the moment. Injury didn’t help but he’s off the pace currently and was shut down well by the Genoa right back who was faster and stronger than him.

He has world class potential but as soon as teams figured him out he’s been a little lost. He will need to figure out another way of playing when he is double teamed as that is happening quite often.

That said he did have some bright flashes and Napoli in general were woeful with only Osimhen showing any desire until the subs came on. Not sure why Garcia took Kvaratshkelia off with two minutes to go for fecking Zerbin either when chasing the win.

 

[Son]

Two footed
elite dribbler
double figures in both G+A last season.

This guy would be a great signing. I imagine Napoli would demand a fortune unless we give them Antony and Sancho as a swap deal

If he could perform similar on the right “big if” I’d drive those two players to Naples myself We have Amad and Pellistri as backup.

It’s madness we bought two young world beaters for 90m each and instantly turned them into replaceable squad players.

 

[Sara125]

Doesn’t matter we will turn him to shit

 

[goatmeister]

No way! Serie A is the league I watch the most. Leao is almost unstoppable when he wants to be, but he's way more inconsistent than Kvara. The only thing Leao has over him is speed. Kvara has better ball control (better dribbling in tight spaces), better shot technique, better passing, better vision, better decision making skill, better on and off ball movement. Also he can press and has great mentality, always striving to improve. Leao has the talent but doesn't have the right attitude, he's a spoiled lazy brat with low football IQ and space awareness.

I love Kvara as much as the next man, lovely footballer.
But Leao has become unstoppable as you have alluded.
His mindset has changed since Zlatan warned him that he's wasting talent he's blessed with.
Portugal coach regards him as better talent than Cristiano which I agree.
I don't think he'll go on to achieve what the latter did, but Leao's ceiling is very very high.

 

[autte]

You're just showing your bias.

Kvaratskhelia goes 15 games without scoring or assisting and not particularly standing out and Leao is the more inconsistent one? You're talking about Leao as if this is two or three years ago. He is much more refined and consistent now. He has grown a lot in these years and shown massive progress. Already started the season brilliantly too.

You should watch Kvara for more than a year before claiming he's at Leao's level. He is much more hard working and presses more, I'll give you that.

Leao is the better dribbler, quicker and stronger. All of these together in PL will give you a much bigger advantage than Kvara would have, and would translate to PL more easily.

I'm neither a Napoli nor a Milan fan, I'm talking from a neutral point of view. I've seen lots of Milan fans saying the same thing. Kvara scored 6 and assisted 6 in the 11 games after the league resumed and had a natural dip in form when the league was already in the bag.

Let's see the ratings from January (source: Gazzetta dello Sport)

Kvara

Spoiler

Inter 5
Samp 5.5
Juve 7.5 (1 goal, 2 assists)
Salernitana NP
Roma 6.5 (1 assist)
Spezia 7.5 (1 goal, 1 assist)
Cremonese 7 (1 goal)
Sassuolo 7.5 (1 goal)
Empoli 7
Lazio 5.5
Atalanta 8 (1 goal)
Torino 7.5 (1 goal, 1 assist)
Milan 5
Lecce 6
Verona 6 subbed in
Juve 6
Salernitana 5.5
Udinese 6
Fiorentina 7 (1 assist) subbed in
Monza 5.5 subbed in
Inter 7
Bologna 6
Samp 6.5

AVG = 6.41

Leao

Spoiler

Salernitana 7 (1 goal)
Roma 6 (1 assist)
Lecce 6 (1 goal)
Lazio 4
Sassuolo 5.5 subbed in
Inter 5.5 subbed in
Torino 5
Monza 6.5
Atalanta 5.5 (1 assist)
Fiorentina NP
Salernitana 4.5
Udinese 5
Napoli 8 (2 goals)
Empoli 6 subbed in
Bologna 6.5 subbed in
Lecce 8
Roma 6.5
Cremonese 5.5 subbed in
Lazio subbed off after 11 minutes
Spezia NP
Samp 7.5 (1 goal, 2 assists)
Juventus 5.5
Verona 7.5 (2 goals)

AVG = 6.08

Even counting the worst stretch of his season, he still performed better than Leao.
Stats like goals and assists don't tell the whole story, see Leao against Atalanta (5.5 rating with 1 assist) and Kvara against Inter and Empoli (7 rating without goal or assist).

I love Kvara as much as the next man, lovely footballer.
But Leao has become unstoppable as you have alluded.
His mindset has changed since Zlatan warned him that he's wasting talent he's blessed with.
Portugal coach regards him as better talent than Cristiano which I agree.
I don't think he'll go on to achieve what the latter did, but Leao's ceiling is very very high.

Yes he's talented and has improved, and had a great start to the season, but mentality wise he's still a kid. Chiesa, who's not nearly as talented AND coming of an ACL injury, has the discipline, the maturity and the hunger you need to succeed.
This was just 6 months ago (source: Gazzetta dello Sport, using a translator):

Leao, where are you?
By now, the jarring note is always him: what's up with Rafael Leao? Pioli has reiterated that he is not depressed, but the Portuguese is no longer smiling. Today he completed a couple of dribbles, kicked twice at the goal, and gassed intermittently. Translated: this is not how it goes. And he hasn't scored in 11 games. His last goal was on Jan. 14 against Lecce. A few solos of his own, a quarter of the Champions League won with a fine effort at San Siro, and then nothing more. The shadow of contract renewal has been hovering over him for several months. Maldini and Massara were aiming to close the deal after the World Cup, but that has not been the case. Leao seems to be back to what he was two seasons ago, the indolent boy whom Pioli and Ibra had to groom repeatedly. He doesn't even smile anymore. And perhaps that is the real problem.

 

[zaafi]

I'm neither a Napoli nor a Milan fan, I'm talking from a neutral point of view. I've seen lots of Milan fans saying the same thing. Kvara scored 6 and assisted 6 in the 11 games after the league resumed and had a natural dip in form when the league was already in the bag.

Let's see the ratings from January (source: Gazzetta dello Sport)

Even counting the worst stretch of his season, he still performed better than Leao.
Stats like goals and assists don't tell the whole story, see Leao against Atalanta (5.5 rating with 1 assist) and Kvara against Inter and Empoli (7 rating without goal or assist).

He had a natural dip in form which he has continued this season, even for his national team.

Italian newspaper rating of players? Yeah, I don't really think that's worth anything. Leao has 8 MotM against Kvaratskhelia's 5. They're equal in terms of chance creating, and Rafael Leao has had two seasons where he has outperformed Kvara in terms of goals and assists. Kvaratskhelia is a better presser and got much better work rate. Like I said, I think Rafael Leao is the more talented player, but his work rate is what lets him down. He is inconsistent, but not as bad as he was, and so is Kvaratskhelia. At least Rafael Leao has shown his abilities over longer than just a single season, and also shown clear progression.

 

[OleGunnar20]

Doesn’t matter we will turn him to shit

It's hard to look at any player as a sure fire thing at our dumpster fire at the moment for sure.

 

[Rozay]

No way! Serie A is the league I watch the most. Leao is almost unstoppable when he wants to be, but he's way more inconsistent than Kvara. The only thing Leao has over him is speed. Kvara has better ball control (better dribbling in tight spaces), better shot technique, better passing, better vision, better decision making skill, better on and off ball movement. Also he can press and has great mentality, always striving to improve. Leao has the talent but doesn't have the right attitude, he's a spoiled lazy brat with low football IQ and space awareness.

This sounds extremely familiar.

 

[autte]

He had a natural dip in form which he has continued this season, even for his national team.

Italian newspaper rating of players? Yeah, I don't really think that's worth anything. Leao has 8 MotM against Kvaratskhelia's 5. They're equal in terms of chance creating, and Rafael Leao has had two seasons where he has outperformed Kvara in terms of goals and assists. Kvaratskhelia is a better presser and got much better work rate. Like I said, I think Rafael Leao is the more talented player, but his work rate is what lets him down. He is inconsistent, but not as bad as he was, and so is Kvaratskhelia. At least Rafael Leao has shown his abilities over longer than just a single season, and also shown clear progression.

I don't agree with that, but I respect your opinion.

Leao is the better dribbler, quicker and stronger. All of these together in PL will give you a much bigger advantage than Kvara would have, and would translate to PL more easily.

Kulusevski had no problem adjusting to the PL. I think both would do very well.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Watched a fair bit of Napoli last season and a bit of Milan. Kvaratskhelia looked to be a far superior player, albeit not a great sample size to judge Leao.

 

[marktan]

Leao in the PL would be a bit like Zaha, only more athletic and more skilful. I'd love to see it but he for no reason signed a long contract at Milan this year.

Kvara is a player similar to say Mitoma or Mikhitaryan. Can make magic happen with the ball bit not as athletic as Leao.

For me the choice would be easy - Leao. But there'd be no point to it as we have Rashford and there's a million LWs around currently.

 

[goatmeister]

Leao has demonstrated he needs elder-figure closeby to keep him firing.
With all that has been going on so far, ETH doesn't seem to be the man to do that.
For that critical reason, Kvara is the better option, United will get significantly more tune out of him.
He works hard, performs well under pressure and doesn't throw his toys out of pram when things doesn't go his way.

I'm in the camp that regards Leao is the superior player, but that is just my opinion.
Maybe Leao will get more permanent epiphany like Ousmane Dembele recently.
Something definitely lit a fuse in his ass and he's been flying straight for the good part of last 3 years.
He's back in France now, being in home soil can be significant to certain players.

 

[RedRonaldo]

He had a natural dip in form which he has continued this season, even for his national team.

Italian newspaper rating of players? Yeah, I don't really think that's worth anything. Leao has 8 MotM against Kvaratskhelia's 5. They're equal in terms of chance creating, and Rafael Leao has had two seasons where he has outperformed Kvara in terms of goals and assists. Kvaratskhelia is a better presser and got much better work rate. Like I said, I think Rafael Leao is the more talented player, but his work rate is what lets him down. He is inconsistent, but not as bad as he was, and so is Kvaratskhelia. At least Rafael Leao has shown his abilities over longer than just a single season, and also shown clear progression.

From June to Sept this year (past 3-4 months), he has played total 11 games for his country, scoring 5 goals 2 assists, winning 5 motm, with average rating of 7.7 and avg 4.3 dribble per game.

Don’t think it’s really bad at all.

 

[zaafi]

From June to Sept this year (past 3-4 months), he has played total 11 games for his country, scoring 5 goals 2 assists, winning 5 motm, with average rating of 7.7 and avg 4.3 dribble per game.

Don’t think it’s really bad at all.

Hmm? He has played 5 games for Georgia this year, scoring 0 goals and 0 assists. He's won 1 MotM against Cyprus.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Hmm? He has played 5 games for Georgia this year, scoring 0 goals and 0 assists. He's won 1 MotM against Cyprus.

My mistake. I have included his games from 2022 and mistaken those as 2023.

 

[The-Mezzala]

If he could perform similar on the right “big if” I’d drive those two players to Naples myself We have Amad and Pellistri as backup.

It’s madness we bought two young world beaters for 90m each and instantly turned them into replaceable squad players.

Sancho is the biggest disappointment for me.Buzzing when he signed. But just never got going in a united shirt

Antony felt like a panic buy after getting battered by Brentford and with Greenwood being suspended there was no left footed winger in the club at the time. Should of waited for Diaby now at Villa. But we now stuck with two expensive assets that cant play. Summery club is a shambles.

 

[Son]

Sancho is the biggest disappointment for me.Buzzing when he signed. But just never got going in a united shirt

Antony felt like a panic buy after getting battered by Brentford and with Greenwood being suspended there was no left footed winger in the club at the time. Should of waited for Diaby now at Villa. But we now stuck with two expensive assets that cant play. Summery club is a shambles.

Antony is just trash I agree. One trick pony. Sancho was one of my favourite players ever at Dortmund. I used to watch their games to see him play not Haaland.

He still has ridiculous footwork and technique but reminds me a little like players such as Quaresma and Saviola who had all the skills too but lacked the lifestyle to make it to the very top.

It’s just sad as I thought Sancho would become an absolute superstar more importantly for England than anything. Can’t see it now.

 

[golden_blunder]

Guys open a thread in the FF to discuss performance or who he reminds you off.
there is no transfer news