(🟢) Gabriel Jesus has thrown his support behind Lamine Yamal for the Ballon d’Or, insisting that the prestigious award should not be judged solely on goals and statistics.
🗣️ Gabriel Jesus: “The Ballon d’Or should be about more than just the number of goals you score. Football is about influence, creativity, personality and the impact you have on your team.”
“Lamine Yamal has shown all of that. The way he creates, takes responsibility and performs in big moments at such a young age is incredible. For me, he deserves to win it.”
[@fabrizio_romano]
🚨People criticised Edu for a lot of things, and some of those criticisms were fair. But one thing you could never accuse Edu of was ignoring Arteta’s targets.
When Arteta wanted a player, Edu went after that player and did everything possible to get the deal done. He worked within the limits the club gave him and tried to build the squad Arteta wanted.
Berta, on the other hand, has already shown a willingness to go beyond Arteta’s preferred targets. Gyökeres is the obvious example for me. He was signed, yet Arteta barely starts him, barely brings him on, and has left him on the bench repeatedly this season.
At some point, you have to ask: if the manager wanted this player so badly, why isn't he being trusted?
And this is why I honestly don't understand the argument that Berta is already better than Edu.
Edu had his shortcomings, especially when it came to squad depth, but let's also remember that the sporting director doesn't control the club's entire budget. The board has to provide the resources too.
So yes, Edu wasn't perfect. But looking back now, maybe we owe him a little more appreciation.
Because right now, I don't see anything Berta has done that makes me say, “Yeah, he's clearly better than Edu.”
Maybe the grass wasn't greener after all. 😭