The kid imo will go onto be a better player than Mane. The only reasons he didn’t make it this season were two managers with negative mindsets trying not to lose ahead of trying to win games and two managers not willing to risk a creative so called ‘luxury’ player…instead picking the likes of Hwang and Munetsi ahead of him because they run a lot. That worked well!
The only way he was gonna improve was by getting minutes and criminally he didn’t get them. No other player in our squad sees that far corner in the Europa League game let alone has the quality to find it from the edge of the box with the outside of their foot. None!
Question is…who got you more excited when in possession of the ball? Who created more chances? Who had vision and technical ability on the ball? Who always looked to pass forwards and drive with the ball?….Lopez or Hwang/Munetsi?….
In his own words he may have not been ready for the physicality and pace of the Prem but then Cunha, RAN, Semedo and even some Premier League legends all struggled in their first seasons! The difference?…They had managers who backed their talent and stuck by them…they didn’t give up on them after a measly 200 minutes of football!!!
I’m not saying he should have necessarily started every game but the fact that he was always overlooked as a sub when we needed a creative spark in a game with even Chirewa on one occasion getting on ahead of him, was just criminal!!
Bring him back, toughen and bulk him up in preseason and let him rip the Champ a new one or send him out on loan again because we can’t be bothered to nurture his talents?…unfortunately I think we all know the answer to that one.