By Ewah Chika.

Barcelona is a club that only strives for nothing but the best and that is why the club consistently splashed an excess of £50 million on each occasion for the signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar Junior and the Luis Suarez. Based on these, it is shocking why the club has decided to again splash an excess of €35 million on the signing of Portuguese and Valencia attacking midfielder Andrea Gomes. The purpose of this article isn't to belittle the quality of the player but it seems the real motive of Barce was more on hijacking the player from arch rivals Real Madrid than adding quality to their (Barcelona) squad. This is coming after Marca (Popular Madrid news outlet), dedicated it's front page announcing the imminent arrival of the Portuguese to Real Madrid on Tuesday. Then suddenly two days later, Barcelona announced the player's signing late on Thursday.

Barcelona have signed the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and then Dennis Suarez all this summer. While the signings are commendable given the problems in both central defence and left-back position and also considering that Adriano has been released, it is surprising that the club has refused to sign a quality right-back given the loss of Dani Alves and inconsistent displays of both Vidal and utility player Sergi Roberto last season. Barcelona didn't really need another attacking midfielder as the likes of Rafinha and Arda Turan, are available. Therefore, Barcelona could have easily signed a quality right-back with that fund.

Gomes might be talented but he is still inconsistent considering he has only played two full seasons in La Liga for Valencia. Although a member of Jorge Jesus's Benfica treble winning team in 2014, Gomes has not really stepped up his game since moving to Spain. The Portuguese stats are not impressive given he scored only three goals in 30 La Liga games for Valencia last season as Valencia struggled with relegation all through last season after sacking two managers. Gomes created 26 chances , completed 81% of his passes coupled with his 54% shot accuracy last season, but this is nothing compared with what he will likely face in Barcelona, considering he is not an upgrade on the players currently playing in his favoured attacking position in Barcelona (Ivan Rakitic and Rafinha). Gomes plays better when positioned slightly behind the main striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation but can also play in the right forward position in a 4-3-3 formation which in Barcelona is unfortunately occupied by an indispensable Lionel Messi. Gomes can also be the natural heir to an ageing Iniesta but that will be a gradual process as Iniesta still has more than two years left in him, what this means is that the Portuguese will likely play second-fiddle and sit on the bench most times which is difficult and frustrating considering his (Gomes) age and talent.

To buttress further the inconsistency of the midfielder, it is important to note that the player did not start any other game for Portugal apart from the first game against Iceland of which his display was mixed. Although Portugal emerged champions in the tournament , Gomes saw the likes of Renato Sanches, Ricardo Quaresma and Joao Mario take his place in the starting line-up .

Gomes has a certain calmness in tight areas, good shooting ability, perfect footwork and can lay key passes but his greatest flaw far outweighs his strengths. These flaws include playing with little or no urgency which makes it difficult for him to be motivated. The player's crossing is also poor coupled with slow pace and tackling which might not mean much considering Barcelona possession football.

"I'm convinced that Andre Gomes would be a great signing for Barcelona. I don't know if he can play at the level of Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic, but in the future he will," were the words of former Portugal and Barcelona midfielder Deco who shares the same agent with Gomes in Jorge Mendes.

Gomes is young and will only get better but just like the signing of Arda Turan last winter, there are lots of unanswered questions surrounding his signing.

Source

http://mailtelegraph..co.ke/2016/07/is-new-barcelona-signing-andre-gomes.html?m=1

what did I do to you na? i sign player you dey rant say money too much go to England and see the way players are overrated there. imagine man u wan buy pogba 100m no b waste of money? abegi leave matter for Mathias.

long live FCB!!!

time will tell

If u notice there's a decline in talents in world football, top quality players are not readily available as it used to be, either they being tied to a contract with various clubs, scarce or exorbitant price tag outta reach for some clubs. E.g Pogba, Higuain, Morata, Bale etc.
Average players are over-prized due to this scenario, so clubs do not have any other option but to splash the Ca$h to get what ever is available ASAP before rival clubs start snoopin'around.
We can only hope that any average player signed by any can only improve upon &in line with the club playing philosophy to achieve sets target in a season or more.
But it will be a hugh mistake if Rakitic is sold to Juve. IMO though!

Op the fee is more than that. In pounds £41.7m or so and about €50m or so.



But if you ask me I will say one of those overpriced signings. But can be justified by the fee in the coming years to come. That is if he improves immensely.