Last week, Barcelona confirmed the signature of Valencia's 30 year-old left-back Jérémy Mathieu for the whopping fee of €20m. Now the Frenchman admits he smokes cigarettes when he wants to. What on earth have the Blaugrana got themselves in for?
D. Ray Morton, 2nd August 2014.
You could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another British tourist checking out Camp Nou on their summer break. Alas, he is Barcelona's latest signing: Jérémy Mathieu
Whatever it is about Barcelona, they just do not seem to buy decent defenders. One has to think a good few years back to find one, Daniel Alves perhaps? But he was practically a right-wing back slotted into the right-back position. Éric Abidal would be the next guess and Barça's latest signing has been dubbed as his natural heir in some circles. Whose circles they are does not seem to matter to the majority of Blaugrana fans because the general consensus is that they have just spent €20m on a crock past his sell-by date. Let me introduce you to Jérémy Mathieu.
Whatever it is about Barcelona, they just do not seem to buy decent defenders. One has to think a good few years back to find one, Daniel Alves perhaps? But he was practically a right-wing back slotted into the right-back position. Éric Abidal would be the next guess and Barça's latest signing has been dubbed as his natural heir in some circles. Whose circles they are does not seem to matter to the majority of Blaugrana fans because the general consensus is that they have just spent €20m on a crock past his sell-by date. Let me introduce you to Jérémy Mathieu.
"I do not smoke much but I do smoke when I want" said the Frenchman who has spent the last five seasons at Valencia. Not the time to be getting existential when the knives are already out without having kicked a single football. Barcelona's "fitness freak" manager and triathlon competitor, Luis Enrique cannot be too impressed with these kinds of statements which raises the question of who actually sanctioned this deal. A massive price-tag for a player entering the final phase of his career. Not exactly a world beater either. He has been France's third or fourth-choice left-back for years now.
The entire deal is sketchy. Mathieu has been signed as a centre-back to give competition to Javier Mascherano and Gerard Piqué with the Alex Song midfielder-to-defender conversion project having been abandoned. Jordi Alba should not have to worry about losing his place at left-back. It needs to be pointed out that Mathieu is not a natural centre-back, however, and has actually only filled in in that role in the last season due to his height. Éric Abidal actually preferred to play in the centre but was so comfortable on the left that he made the position his own.
The World Cup should have proven to Barcelona that they really needed to sign a real centre-back, either an old-fashioned stopper or ball-playing defender who could complement their attacks. Mascherano, in the World Cup, proved that he is a superior defensive midfielder to Sergio Busquets and should play that role again at club level. That is where signing a centre-back would come in but Barça may have blown it by opting for Mathieu. Does anyone remember Dmytro Chygrynskiy? They wasted €25m on him in 2009, barely played him and promptly offloaded him due to his frightening lack of pace. Well, Mathieu does not exactly gobble up the yards either and could stand out like a real sore thumb.
It would be a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong but, right now, this looks like a sure-fire candidate for being one of the worst signings of the summer. The Luis Suárez deal already had a peculiar taste to it considering it meant ditching Alexis Sánchez and having to pay a fortune but this latest signing could be the equivalent of throwing fresh banknotes into the paper shredder.
The World Cup should have proven to Barcelona that they really needed to sign a real centre-back, either an old-fashioned stopper or ball-playing defender who could complement their attacks. Mascherano, in the World Cup, proved that he is a superior defensive midfielder to Sergio Busquets and should play that role again at club level. That is where signing a centre-back would come in but Barça may have blown it by opting for Mathieu. Does anyone remember Dmytro Chygrynskiy? They wasted €25m on him in 2009, barely played him and promptly offloaded him due to his frightening lack of pace. Well, Mathieu does not exactly gobble up the yards either and could stand out like a real sore thumb.
It would be a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong but, right now, this looks like a sure-fire candidate for being one of the worst signings of the summer. The Luis Suárez deal already had a peculiar taste to it considering it meant ditching Alexis Sánchez and having to pay a fortune but this latest signing could be the equivalent of throwing fresh banknotes into the paper shredder.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Let us know what you think