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Ballou Tabla


shermanator

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2 hours ago, gator said:

Hindsight is a great thing and when a team like Barca come calling I guess you can't pass that up, he maybe would have been better getting playing time and developing in MLS, just a thought!

totally.

Also, wasn't the Barca fee for him like 2 million? At that price they're basically just taking a flyer on him aren't they?

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4 hours ago, lazlo_80 said:

totally.

Also, wasn't the Barca fee for him like 2 million? At that price they're basically just taking a flyer on him aren't they?

I don't know if the figure was ever released, but I thought it was somewhere between 0.5 - 1.5 M. 

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1 hour ago, Obinna said:

I don't know if the figure was ever released, but I thought it was somewhere between 0.5 - 1.5 M. 

Word was one million euros. 

Message to @gator and @lazlo_80

He got playing time at Barcelona, almost every week. Including in 2nd division. 

He is not getting playing time at Albacete. If they want to ask for a loan and not play him that is their prerogative. It is also his responsibility to practice hard and make not playing him a hard decision. 

Not being in the GC line-up means he could appear again this Thursday, we'll see what they do. At this point just making the bench will be positive.

 

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46 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Word was one million euros. 

Message to @gator and @lazlo_80

He got playing time at Barcelona, almost every week. Including in 2nd division. 

He is not getting playing time at Albacete. If they want to ask for a loan and not play him that is their prerogative. It is also his responsibility to practice hard and make not playing him a hard decision. 

Not being in the GC line-up means he could appear again this Thursday, we'll see what they do. At this point just making the bench will be positive.

 

Agreed. If he was to make the bench Thursday, that would be progress. I know you didn't catch the match, but is there any word on how he played?

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On 6/10/2019 at 4:50 AM, Obinna said:

Agreed. If he was to make the bench Thursday, that would be progress. I know you didn't catch the match, but is there any word on how he played?

No, but the call-up itself was criticised by the press. They figured that the coach, Ramis, just thought they had no chance to nab third place, would be likely in the playoff this Thursday as 4th place vs. 5th place Mallorca, and was essentially resting starters. In a way, they threw it. They did injure a starting defender and the captain, Arroyo, so maybe he was not too far off. 

I don't expect Ballou to be called up for Mallorca though could be surprised. 

Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, Chad_Impact said:

Any news on his situation right now? Is part of summer training  for Barca A/B ?

They said he was back from the loan deal. I look daily at the Barcelona B training pics, on twitter, and I think there is one, in the dressing room where I see him at one end (he has sort a receeding hairline already). If you check https://twitter.com/fcbarcelonab?lang=en they have daily pics and he may appear eventually. 

They just signed Hiroki Abe who will go on their Japan tour, with probably 5-6 more of the B players, but I am not sure what Ballou's set up is. My suspicion is that he will play these pre-season friendlies with the B team and they'll use that to find a loan for him, as they want to bring up even younger youth players. I am sort of thinking that unless he absolutely tears things up, he will be gone at the end of this season. 

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20 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I am sort of thinking that unless he absolutely tears things up, he will be gone at the end of this season. 

Yeah you would have to think so. 

I wonder if regrets leaving Montreal so soon. Another season or two could of seen him develop more and maybe find a transfer where the club was more invested in him. 

Edited by Chad_Impact
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2 hours ago, Chad_Impact said:

Yeah you would have to think so. 

I wonder if regrets leaving Montreal so soon. Another season or two could of seen him develop more and maybe find a transfer where the club was more invested in him. 

I doubt he would regret going to Barcelona given the first team players he was able to get to train with

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Oh cool, I made an honest mistake: they are playing Santa Coloma of Andorra, which have a Europa League 2nd round tie starting next week vs. Astana, the team from Kazakhstand. Explains why they are a more competitive rival.

 

EDIT: ended 0-1, that is probably one of the better Andorra club sides to come along in a while. 

Also, though it sounds encouraging that Ballou played, there were 8 Barcelona B players with the first team today. Now since that many or similar may go on the Japan tour, he will continue to get preseason matches, but that does not mean he is in the first or second eleven for sure by any means. 

Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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So we've got 9 Barça B players going to the Japan tour with the first team (Ballou went with them last year), and then there are half a dozen with the Spain u-19 in the Euros, and scoring to boot (Abel Ruiz, Miranda). 

He has a lot of work to do, needs to tear things up and go for broke; if not he will have some tough decisions to make, which is brutally hard at his age, must admit. His best bet is a loan out to a 2A team and the earlier the better, so he can get some pre-season with the new team and be part of the mix from day one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

He's gone on the preseason stage on the Costa Brava with Barcelona B, along with 23 others. 6 reserve players are with the first team for the US friendlies vs Naples. So he's in a mix of 30 and it seems he is not set for a loan, just yet. He did not dress or play for the B in a Catalonia Cup match last Saturday.

Ballou is in the pic in the upper right.

 

PS...they are in an amazing resort in Navata, in the hills below the Pyrenees, Torremirona.
Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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