Enzo Barrenechea - on loan at Benfica

[Demitri_C]

Is there any scope we can recall him in janaury? We really need more options in DM

Not sure why we loaned him out when we really could have used him

We have Onana and Kamara as DMs, he wouldn't have been able to develop here. It's just unfortunate both are injured but 2 for every position is what most teams aim for.

I think we should have kept him till janauary just to see how kamara would be after such a lengthy injury

Dont think onanas been playing the DM role very much for us

So when Onana plays alongside Tielemans, you don't think he's the DM?

Its not about thinking if he plays it, its more is he doing it well and has the fitness to do it for 90 minutes. Early signs say no

Enzo would be in the team right now and had lots of minutes. Dont think it was a smart decision to loan him straight away. I said at the start of season i was disappointed he was being loaned out as we were jot sure how long kamara would need to get up to speed.

I would have waited till January then considered a loan

[Clampy]

Onana has most definatley played defensive midfield since he's been here but he hasn't been able to stay fit, that's the problem. I really don't think having Enzo sitting on our bench would have helped him or us. He's getting game time which will do him good. He may come back in January, who knows but I hardly think it's worth constantly bringing him up.

[Demitri_C]

Onana has most definatley played defensive midfield since he's been here but he hasn't been able to stay fit, that's the problem. I really don't think having Enzo sitting on our bench would have helped him or us. He's getting game time which will do him good. He may come back in January, who knows but I hardly think it's worth constantly bringing him up.

I think ive mentioned 2 or 3 times only. Its a key point we dont have a proper DM apart from kamara. Enzo is another DM hence why its being bought up. He would have got a lot of game time considering  all the injuries we have had

As for onana agree with you about his fitness issues. Its abit frustrating as its very stop start

[edgysatsuma89]

We can't foresee injuries, that's the point. We don't have Mystic fucking Meg on the staff. Although I'd have her working on figuring out how to stop conceding goals from our corners.

[pauliewalnuts]

We can't foresee injuries, that's the point. We don't have Mystic fucking Meg on the staff. Although I'd have her working on figuring out how to stop conceding goals from our corners.

I was thinking, maybe we should concentrate on not getting corners in the first place. Rick Wakeman-features can surely use his big set piece brain to avoid getting awarded them?

[eamonn]

Valencia are struggling near the bottom so I wonder if Enzo has been given his chance due to poor form of more senior midfielders. They beat Betis 4-2 at the weekend, I caught the goals on a TV in a bar in Madrid. Didn't see our fella but there was a lot of emotion in the celebrations, it might have been one of their first games at the Mestalla since the devastating floods.

[edgysatsuma89]

We can't foresee injuries, that's the point. We don't have Mystic fucking Meg on the staff. Although I'd have her working on figuring out how to stop conceding goals from our corners.

I was thinking, maybe we should concentrate on not getting corners in the first place. Rick Wakeman-features can surely use his big set piece brain to avoid getting awarded them?

He can invent the ultimate short corner, straight out of play. I think I'd prefer that at the moment, and he can sit content that he has contributed.

[dcdavecollett]

Bertie Auld did that deliberately for the Blues once.

[edgysatsuma89]

Bertie Auld did that deliberately for the Blues once.

I have no idea who that is but he sounds like a visionary!

[Mister E]

Valencia are struggling near the bottom so I wonder if Enzo has been given his chance due to poor form of more senior midfielders. They beat Betis 4-2 at the weekend, I caught the goals on a TV in a bar in Madrid. Didn't see our fella but there was a lot of emotion in the celebrations, it might have been one of their first games at the Mestalla since the devastating floods.

... and, Barrenechea spent all of last season on loan to an Italian side that struggled throughout, and came away with credit. Maybe the Valencia situation doesn't phase him much.
Definitely sounds like we need him!

[dave shelley]

Bertie Auld did that deliberately for the Blues once.

I have no idea who that is but he sounds like a visionary!

Played for Blues early sixties, transferred to Celtic where he won the European Cup.  Not all that bad a player as I recall.

[coreyfeldman]

Is there any scope we can recall him in janaury? We really need more options in DM

Not sure why we loaned him out when we really could have used him

We have Onana and Kamara as DMs, he wouldn't have been able to develop here. It's just unfortunate both are injured but 2 for every position is what most teams aim for.

I think we should have kept him till janauary just to see how kamara would be after such a lengthy injury

Dont think onanas been playing the DM role very much for us

So when Onana plays alongside Tielemans, you don't think he's the DM?

Its not about thinking if he plays it, its more is he doing it well and has the fitness to do it for 90 minutes. Early signs say no

Enzo would be in the team right now and had lots of minutes. Dont think it was a smart decision to loan him straight away. I said at the start of season i was disappointed he was being loaned out as we were jot sure how long kamara would need to get up to speed.

I would have waited till January then considered a loan

Without the injuries he barely would have played though which would shit for his development. We also have no idea if he's ready to play in this league anyway, it's a massive assumption to think he'd be making a difference right now given he's never played a competitive match for us.

The idea of just keeping players around is short sighted

[paul_e]

I think we (fans in general) have a tendency to lean towards a couple of "common knowledge" style viewpoints that aren't necessarily correct.

First is how we think about loans. This might be better on the Barry thread but it also works for here and specifically Corey's reply. This manifests in 2 ways, firstly that the point of a loan to a lower level is to prove they're too good for it and secondly that a loan where they play every week is better for player development than them being a squad player elsewhere (including at their home club). For some players this is correct but it's not the right approach for everyone and we need to consider the wisdom of things like "XX is doing well in league 1 so he needs to go to the championship next" and "YY has done well for the reserves so now he needs a loan" and "ZZ is struggling for games/performances/goals so a loan to get his confidence back will help".

Second is the 'levels' thing that comes up so often as "AA is a bottom half standard player" or that playing well and regularly for a team that's struggling is somehow less (or more) valuable than doing similar for a top of the table side.

Personally I'd have kept Barrenechea around in the summer, not necessarily to play regularly or to be cover if Kamara hadn't come back but more because I think the demands Emery has for his central midfielders are very high and we can already see all of the options we have (along with Luiz last year) struggling to do everything he wants from them. I think a year of being around that would have him in a better place to step up next season and be a valuable member of the squad.

[Dave]

Good post Paul

[Demitri_C]

Seconded great post paul