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The Scapegoat in Failure, The Forgotten Man in Success - Txiki Begiristain
Posted by
Editor at Sunday, 26 July 2009
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The man under fire, the guy with a bull’s-eye mark on the back of his head, let me present, Txiki Begiristain.
Some called him a flop, some called him blind but that does not change the fact that he played his part in our treble winning season.
5 players came in, some excelled, some struggled and some flopped, let’s review what these players did last season.
DANI ALVES:-
If you could grade his performances last season, then he definitely gets an A+. The marauding fullback, the best right back in the world. Just one question - who brought him here? That’s right, Txiki. But does he get some credit for signing the best player in his position? No, it's simply forgotten. We all remember when Madrid, Chelsea, Milan and Man U(teams with open cheque books , barring Milan ;D) wanted him, but he went and got a personal agreement with Dani so that he doesn’t choose anyone but barca. Some would say a bit overpriced due to Txiki's bad negotiation, but let me ask one last question - would any of the clubs mentioned above signed him for less than 35m+ euro? I don’t think so.
GERARD PIQUE:
Another master stroke. Sir Alex is still weeping over the loss of one the best defensive prospects in the world. When Ferdinand spent half of last season injured there was no one to replace a defender of his calibre. There was no Pique, because he flew back to Barcelona. Sure some would say we paid a lot for our own youth product, but after seeing Pique last season, does 6 million Euros seem expensive? No.
SEYDOU KEITA:
Here's a guy who struggled to make an impact in the first stages of the season due to lack of playing time but his confidence grew with time. He scored important goals and gave Xavi & Andres to roam free because they knew that someone's got their back. He might not be a Yaya but he's good enough to fill the void if Yaya is injured. He's another good signing for a good price, and credit goes to Txiki, again.
MARTIN CACERES:
A young defender who was once dubbed as the new Sergio Ramos had a catastrophic first season with Barcelona. He never really got going because of little playing time and some disastrous mistakes, but don't all young players do that? Rafa Marquez makes the same mistakes and he's a veteran, so should we sell him? Of course not because he's the best defender in Mexican history, and like him Caceres needs to learn. He's only 22. How many people had faith in Henry after his debut season, not many, but he learned, improved and he was 29, and besides, if you're a sporting director who gets excellent scouting reports about a young player wouldn’t you have signed him for 15 mil? Of course.
ALEX HLEB:
Now here's a player who has the word flop engraved on his forehead. After amazing seasons with Arsenal, everyone thought that he would hit the ground running at barca. But the truth was cruel for Alex as he was greeted to La Liga with a tackle that ruined his career with us. The only thing I can thank him for is his pass to Henry in El Clasico and that it wasn’t someone else who got that tackle. But would you rather buy a 15 million euro flop or buy a 30 million pound Berbatov, a 40 million pound Shevchenko or a 30 million euro Quaresma? The answer is obvious...
In short, there is no sporting director without mistakes. At least Txiki's mistakes were the least costly ones. So there you have it, a guy who didn’t spend the summer chasing a Ronaldo and wasting a Robinho. A guy who did not spend 150 mill on two players. The guy who brings what the coach wants. Txiki.
Posted by hamad_ali.