Our players out on loan

[danperkins]

Next thing you know, both himself and Aspas will be at Melwood's front door...........ready to impart their wisdom regarding career direction and corner kicks.

[Tee]

Have to be honest and say I actually like Luis Alberto. Seemed to be quite an elegant player and I expected him to have been a regular by now.

[dww]

Have to be honest and say I actually like Luis Alberto. Seemed to be quite an elegant player and I expected him to have been a regular by now.

That seemed to be the Malaga managers thoughts when he spoke about him. Great technically but does bugger all in games. This season has shown with Mason at Spurs and Coquelin at Arsenal that sometimes players do develop later but .....

[dww]

Coates seems to be getting better notices now:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/may/18/football-ten-talking-points-weekend-action

[Shaggy]

Have to be honest and say I actually like Luis Alberto. Seemed to be quite an elegant player and I expected him to have been a regular by now.

Agreed but no manager seems to agree. As dww says he might be a late developer but I think he's got something.

Overall though you have to say at £7m from Barca reserves it was a classic case of us trying to be too clever by half.

[Exiled_red]

Agreed but no manager seems to agree. As dww says he might be a late developer but I think he's got something.

Overall though you have to say at £7m from Barca reserves it was a classic case of us trying to be too clever by half.

I think that applies to a number of signings over recent years

[dww]

Agreed but no manager seems to agree. As dww says he might be a late developer but I think he's got something.

Overall though you have to say at £7m from Barca reserves it was a classic case of us trying to be too clever by half.

The fee seems a little high but I actually think it was a signing that made logical sense (once we let Suso go at least). He seems capable of being similar to Coutinho in style and that type of player is rare. If we want to make that type of player central to how we play then we needed a backup, he had played a few games in La Liga with Seville and even now looks technically sound.

The question appears to be a more strategic one - the fact that buying gambles has been so central to our purchasing seems odd. A big test will be to see if we get any utility from the likes of Ilori and Alberto at least in transfer dealing in future.

Otherwise it looks like the much lower cost Rafa/McParland/Borrell model of youth purchasing was a LOT more efficient. I would think about getting McParland back actually if we remove Rodgers.

[vlahka]

I think Alberto is one of those who only looks decent if theres plenty of good players around to carry him. I was never that impressed with him and couldnt figure out what exactly he was supposed to be good at. I'd prefer we didnt keep him around for another 3-4 years hoping he'll develop. I dont see it myself. Sell him now and use the money for better things. Regarding Coutinho, you could see his quality from before he even joined us. That was a rare master stroke in luck. God knows why they wanted to sell him.

[Keyser Soze]

The fee seems a little high but I actually think it was a signing that made logical sense (once we let Suso go at least). He seems capable of being similar to Coutinho in style and that type of player is rare. If we want to make that type of player central to how we play then we needed a backup, he had played a few games in La Liga with Seville and even now looks technically sound.

The question appears to be a more strategic one - the fact that buying gambles has been so central to our purchasing seems odd. A big test will be to see if we get any utility from the likes of Ilori and Alberto at least in transfer dealing in future.

Otherwise it looks like the much lower cost Rafa/McParland/Borrell model of youth purchasing was a LOT more efficient. I would think about getting McParland back actually if we remove Rodgers.

McParland has left Brentford now, must have done something right being involved in their promotion push.

Interestingly Brentford are now taking a moneyball strategy with player recruitment (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32781368) bet McParland can't stand the sight of it

[Bender]

Luis Alberto only made 20 appearances including cup games for Malaga on loan

[Exiled_red]

Alberto was a strange one and IMO it is impossible for the fans to judge him as we saw so little of him while he was here. The issue seems to be that the manager doesn't/didn't rate him, (which seems to be a theme at the moment). Like so many others at the moment I don't know think we really know what he has to offer, or what the reason for loaning him out was. I suspect we are looking to move him on so I doubt we will see him play for us again.

[frank the tank]

Id bring him back and play him in the europa and capOne games...... you.never know he could still be good under BRs system.......whatever that is

[Exiled_red]

Id bring him back and play him in the europa and capOne games...... you.never know he could still be good under BRs system.......whatever that is

We should have done that this season though, or we should have loaned him to a PL club to get experience in this league. The fact we did neither IMO suggests we are looking to move him on.

[Cormack74]

Id bring him back and play him in the europa and capOne games...... you.never know he could still be good under BRs system.......whatever that is

With the right opponents, I reckon he'd star in the EL.

[dww]

McParland has left Brentford now, must have done something right being involved in their promotion push.

Interestingly Brentford are now taking a moneyball strategy with player recruitment (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32781368) bet McParland can't stand the sight of it

It's odd given that the best value we have had for years came from the McParland youth.

I can't decide which desire is stronger, that of my inner geek which wants the Brentford extremism to succeed or my romantic side which hopes they crash and burn to preserve the illusion of alchemy in sport (and the fact they seem so keen to ditch good people).