Donny Van de Beek

TBF you don't always seen players in his position get into teams of the year, how often did Carrick for us?

I don't watch Bayern so can't say how consistent he's been but he is a joy to watch at times and Barca fans were pretty livid when he left them.

Poor mans (prime) Fabregas.

on a personal level he has been at the dominant side in the bundesliga for 7 seasons, and only once made team of the year.

for spain, at the age of 29, he has 37 caps. koke, a year younger, has 44. in the last world cup he was fully fit, but played only one match, the 2-2 draw with morocco. koke was again preferred for the knockout match vs russia.

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I think some context is needed here. So many good players haven't made domestic or international teams of the year many times during their careers. Some of those awards aren't worth paying much attention to tbh.

Also given the quality of midfielder Spain have possessed over the years, that's not really surprising, plus injuries haven't helped Thiago at International level.

I still don't think any of that takes anything away from how good a footballer he actually is though.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 3 minutes ago
TBF you don't always seen players in his position get into teams of the year, how often did Carrick for us?

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someone has to play in midfield in the team of the year! and as much as we rated carrick, i don't remember too many people claiming he was the best midfielder in the world, which is a claim i've seen made for thiago quite a bit recently. as i said, last year bayern were dumped out of europe by the liverpool midfield of milner, henderson, and wijnaldum, and i don't remember too many people singing thiago's praises after that.

i will openly admit i haven't seen much of the bundesliga over the last decade - though my point above about the CL is that i'm guessing that applies to a lot of us, and that the raving over thiago is mainly because of this season's CL.

My point being, more offensive goal scoring midfielders usually get picked into team of the seasons (which are often very unbalanced) over deep lying ones who don't get the headlines but are very important.

Bayern had quite a few issues with Kovac and weren't anywhere near their best. Since Flick came in they've been transformed and Thiago looked great in the knockout rounds, seems to have built a good partnership with Goretzka too.

as i said, last year bayern were dumped out of europe by the liverpool midfield of milner, henderson, and wijnaldum, and i don't remember too many people singing thiago's praises after that.

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Yes Bayern who weren't anywhere near as good a team as they were this season were knocked out by eventual winners Liverpool. I can't remember much about the tie myself but maybe he had a bad game or a bad couple of games which believe it or not happens to the best of players, maybe he did alright but in a tie Bayern lost, that was overshadowed. Hardly fair to judge him in one CL knockout tie alone though.

My point being, more offensive goal scoring midfielders usually get picked into team of the seasons (which are often very unbalanced) over deep lying ones who don't get the headlines but are very important.

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That's exactly why they shouldn't be used when judging the quality of a player.

I can't imagine Garth Crooks even knows who Thiago is.

comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 26 seconds ago
My point being, more offensive goal scoring midfielders usually get picked into team of the seasons (which are often very unbalanced) over deep lying ones who don't get the headlines but are very important.

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That's exactly why they shouldn't be used when judging the quality of a player.

I can't imagine Garth Crooks even knows who Thiago is.
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tbf if garth does big him up then i'm fully on board.

The day anyone agrees with anything that man says is the day to start seeking professional help.

All official now
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/manchester-united-officially-announces-donny-van-de-beek-signing