Cyle Larin

[Bigandy]

23 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I think Larin can't jump leagues again, but maybe moving up to a more stable team in La Liga would work for everyone. Valladolid would get the payday, Larin would stick in a league he's doing well in, and a better club would get a player who's now familiar with the league and doing well.

RV only has him on loan? I guess if there is an option to buy then they could buy him and flip him. I just don't think anyone would buy him for more than whatever RV would pay so it seems like a huge hastle to flip him without much/if any profit

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

RV only has him on loan? I guess if there is an option to buy then they could buy him and flip him. I just don't think anyone would buy him for more than whatever RV would pay so it seems like a huge hastle to flip him without much/if any profit

I don't know.

They way he's scoring in one of the top 2 leagues in the World?

He has increased his value greatly. 

Wouldn't surprise me if RV sells him for a profit.

[Bigandy]

12 minutes ago, narduch said:

I don't know.

They way he's scoring in one of the top 2 leagues in the World?

He has increased his value greatly. 

Wouldn't surprise me if RV sells him for a profit.

I just did some research. You are right. The purchase option is only 1.5mil. So hes for sure increased his value since then. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

About that backheel assist. That was to Fresneda, the guy is 18 years old! And he's a starting right back making that run into the box. So it's a miss, but the kid is great and no one is going to say anything. Arsenal, Dortmund and now Manchester United are interested in him, he'll go for 20 million.

Masip on the first goal: keeper error, but he's very good, if you've been watching he is usually very reliable. 

Transfers. The only specific comment that reflected interest I have heard in La Liga so far was from Javier Aguirre the Mallorca coach, he praised him and even went to greet him after the game though he'd given up that penalty. Would Mallorca be an option? For me they are slightly better but don't put you into the group vying for a European spot, the mid table. 

There are a number of clubs in the middle or upper part of La Liga table who could pay a transfer fee to Valladolid, assuming they can exercise the option, and pay a higher salary to the player. Villareal looks to be losing strikers, and Gerard Moreno is always injured. Girona in the City group has an ageing Stuani they need to support. They have money but that is a small city and stadium and maybe not that prestigious. Real Sociedad brought in Sorloth the Norwegian on loan from Leipzig, after selling Isak to Newcastle, Sorloth has ten but returns to Leipzig in June. 

You have to look at clubs that have ageing or inefficient strikers, and the ones that are stronger than Valladolid. But objectively, even Barça brought in Braithwaite then Aubemayang as striker coverage, then Memphis Depay--depending on the need and the strategy you could end up on a much stronger team, but you may only come off the bench.

[Bigandy]

5 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

About that backheel assist. That was to Fresneda, the guy is 18 years old! And he's a starting right back making that run into the box. So it's a miss, but the kid is great and no one is going to say anything. Arsenal, Dortmund and now Manchester United are interested in him, he'll go for 20 million.

Masip on the first goal: keeper error, but he's very good, if you've been watching he is usually very reliable. 

Transfers. The only specific comment that reflected interest I have heard in La Liga so far was from Javier Aguirre the Mallorca coach, he praised him and even went to greet him after the game though he'd given up that penalty. Would Mallorca be an option? For me they are slightly better but don't put you into the group vying for a European spot, the mid table. 

There are a number of clubs in the middle or upper part of La Liga table who could pay a transfer fee to Valladolid, assuming they can exercise the option, and pay a higher salary to the player. Villareal looks to be losing strikers, and Gerard Moreno is always injured. Girona in the City group has an ageing Stuani they need to support. They have money but that is a small city and stadium and maybe not that prestigious. Real Sociedad brought in Sorloth the Norwegian on loan from Leipzig, after selling Isak to Newcastle, Sorloth has ten but returns to Leipzig in June. 

You have to look at clubs that have ageing or inefficient strikers, and the ones that are stronger than Valladolid. But objectively, even Barça brought in Braithwaite then Aubemayang as striker coverage, then Memphis Depay--depending on the need and the strategy you could end up on a much stronger team, but you may only come off the bench.

Do you have any insights on teams that would 1. in need of a striker and 2. would complement larins play style. 

Tbh larins needs are less clear to me than a guy like david. We know david does well with a 2 striker formation etc. Larin feels like he needs service into the box, but hes not useless during build up play like other styles of strikers.  

[InglewoodJack]

5 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

About that backheel assist. That was to Fresneda, the guy is 18 years old! And he's a starting right back making that run into the box. So it's a miss, but the kid is great and no one is going to say anything. Arsenal, Dortmund and now Manchester United are interested in him, he'll go for 20 million.

Masip on the first goal: keeper error, but he's very good, if you've been watching he is usually very reliable. 

Transfers. The only specific comment that reflected interest I have heard in La Liga so far was from Javier Aguirre the Mallorca coach, he praised him and even went to greet him after the game though he'd given up that penalty. Would Mallorca be an option? For me they are slightly better but don't put you into the group vying for a European spot, the mid table. 

There are a number of clubs in the middle or upper part of La Liga table who could pay a transfer fee to Valladolid, assuming they can exercise the option, and pay a higher salary to the player. Villareal looks to be losing strikers, and Gerard Moreno is always injured. Girona in the City group has an ageing Stuani they need to support. They have money but that is a small city and stadium and maybe not that prestigious. Real Sociedad brought in Sorloth the Norwegian on loan from Leipzig, after selling Isak to Newcastle, Sorloth has ten but returns to Leipzig in June. 

You have to look at clubs that have ageing or inefficient strikers, and the ones that are stronger than Valladolid. But objectively, even Barça brought in Braithwaite then Aubemayang as striker coverage, then Memphis Depay--depending on the need and the strategy you could end up on a much stronger team, but you may only come off the bench.

I was being sarcastic with talking about transfers, but I hope Larin gets into a situation where he’s guaranteed to play in La Liga all season, whether that’s with RV or elsewhere. I actually looked through the table, and Mallorca was the team that stuck out. Likely to finish middle of the table and remain competitive, good players to give him service, plus, probably the best living situation of any team in the top 5 leagues, though that may just be my personal bias speaking. European soccer would be nice, but at his age, given his trajectory, it’s icing on the cake for me; just getting a full season in a league like Spain is enough for me.

 

If he goes somewhere next year, finishes 10th in the league and scores 10G, I’d consider that a resounding success.

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I was being sarcastic with talking about transfers, but I hope Larin gets into a situation where he’s guaranteed to play in La Liga all season, whether that’s with RV or elsewhere. I actually looked through the table, and Mallorca was the team that stuck out. Likely to finish middle of the table and remain competitive, good players to give him service, plus, probably the best living situation of any team in the top 5 leagues, though that may just be my personal bias speaking. European soccer would be nice, but at his age, given his trajectory, it’s icing on the cake for me; just getting a full season in a league like Spain is enough for me.

 

If he goes somewhere next year, finishes 10th in the league and scores 10G, I’d consider that a resounding success.

Agreed. But the team has to stay up. I think RV has to stay up this season for his option to be valid for them, so that is the highest priority. If not, maybe Bruges decides they want to keep him, or sell him where he does not want to go. I would imagine he'd be happy to be in Spain for a few years.

As I said, for me Mallorca is too similar to RV, and they have Muriqui who they are happy with. 

As for what you say about living situation: Mallorca, you are probably right. If you are in Cadiz too, I'd say, for sun, beach and nice houses.

[MauditYvon]

next goal will be his 100th at club level

[jordan]

4 minutes ago, MauditYvon said:

next goal will be his 100th at club level

If you count that summer at Sigma he’s already there.

[MauditYvon]

Just now, jordan said:

If you count that summer at Sigma he’s already there.

I don’t, not pros.

[Watchmen]

38 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Agreed. But the team has to stay up. I think RV has to stay up this season for his option to be valid for them, so that is the highest priority. If not, maybe Bruges decides they want to keep him, or sell him where he does not want to go. I would imagine he'd be happy to be in Spain for a few years.

As I said, for me Mallorca is too similar to RV, and they have Muriqui who they are happy with. 

As for what you say about living situation: Mallorca, you are probably right. If you are in Cadiz too, I'd say, for sun, beach and nice houses.

Some good insight above.

Regarding Bruges, I think they might realize that it would be better to sell him now. It didn't work the first time, and while this time might be different they're unlikely to get better value for him than this summer. It would be too much of a gamble to bring him back, at a time when there's likely some suitors. 

[PegCityCam]

That placement😘

Edited April 28, 2023 by PegCityCam

[PegCityCam]

This Valencia fan's tweet made me laugh:

"A fantastic striker and a real bastard" lol

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

This Valencia fan's tweet made me laugh:

"A fantastic striker and a real bastard" lol

Cabronazo can also be "pain in the butt" or "uncomfortable". Guarro means dirty, not in the sense of illegal but of getting into the mix and pushing the limits.

Mentions Bordalás the coach, geez I hope he doesn't end up with Bordalás anywhere. But Valencia would be a great option.

[grigorio]

Watching these highlights and seeing Cyle turn things around legitimately brings a smile to my face. I honestly thought his career was racing towards the gutter after that Brugge move. Really proud of the kid. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by grigorio

[cronaldo7]

29 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Watching these highlights and seeing Cyle turn things around legitimately brings a smile to my face. I honestly thought his career was facing towards the gutter after that Brugge move. Really proud of the kid. 

He’s bounced back when he was below par for Canada all those years ago, for that one season at Besiktas and he had to go on loan at Zulte Waregem. Now bouncing back again after “underwhelming” at Brugge (felt like he never got much of a shot).

Im not sure if it’s a lack of confidence thing but one thing we know is to never count Cyle out. 

[InglewoodJack]

33 minutes ago, grigorio said:

Watching these highlights and seeing Cyle turn things around legitimately brings a smile to my face. I honestly thought his career was facing towards the gutter after that Brugge move. Really proud of the kid. 

I don't know what it is about Larin specifically that has me so invested in his career development and so excited about how much he's turned things around, even above the fact that he's one of our best players. Maybe it's because he exemplifies Canadian players so perfectly- he's up and down, but whenever he's given the opportunity, he steps up and seizes it, he probably doesn't have the level of respect that he would get with a different passport, he's had to grind from league to league to make it happen, and now this guy who supposedly only scores concacaf goals against these amateur micro-nations is practically keeping his team afloat in one of the toughest leagues in the world almost single-handedly, I dunno. Seeing how happy he looked after his first Valladolid goal was one of the best moments in soccer for me in the last long while.

Moreso than Davies and David who are just freak generational athletes, Larin exemplifies best who we are- nonlinear growth path, discounted by so many time and time again, but if you let him cook, he'll make you pay for it. If this season never happened and he just continued on the road he was going down at Brugge and during his final days at Besiktas, he'd be the type of player you'd talk hypotheticals about for a decade- could he have played tier 1 soccer? Could he have scored? Imagine prime Larin in League X? Is he better than [insert american here]? Now we know he's who we thought he was.

[PiedPilko]

Anyone else find it almost unbelievable what a different player he seems? I've always defended Larin, but I was almost positive he was 'limited' - not a true target man despite his profile and just pretty static outside the final third.

At Valladolid, he's making plays I've literally never seen him make. That back heel pass, that immediate pounce off Diakhaby's mistake, spraying passes across the pitch with a CB on his back - it's like he got a scout report of everything holding him back and just decided 'yeah, I'm gonna be good now.' Man looks possessed.

 

[InglewoodJack]

21 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

Anyone else find it almost unbelievable what a different player he seems? I've always defended Larin, but I was almost positive he was 'limited' - not a true target man despite his profile and just pretty static outside the final third.

At Valladolid, he's making plays I've literally never seen him make. That back heel pass, that immediate pounce off Diakhaby's mistake, spraying passes across the pitch with a CB on his back - it's like he got a scout report of everything holding him back and just decided 'yeah, I'm gonna be good now.' Man looks possessed.

 

Even his defence is pretty solid. Never paid much attention to it, but he’s had some good plays whenever I’ve watched RV. 

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

Even his defence is pretty solid. Never paid much attention to it, but he’s had some good plays whenever I’ve watched RV. 

To be honest, the Nats may have helped him a bit in that respect because Herdman tend to have our guys pressing.   

[Bigandy]

4 hours ago, PiedPilko said:

Anyone else find it almost unbelievable what a different player he seems? I've always defended Larin, but I was almost positive he was 'limited' - not a true target man despite his profile and just pretty static outside the final third.

At Valladolid, he's making plays I've literally never seen him make. That back heel pass, that immediate pounce off Diakhaby's mistake, spraying passes across the pitch with a CB on his back - it's like he got a scout report of everything holding him back and just decided 'yeah, I'm gonna be good now.' Man looks possessed.

 

ME!  I remember having a debate about larin vs ugbo. The debate was ugbo is somewhat proven in a top 5 league and larin cant get minutes for brugge. It's not to say larin couldnt be a top 5 player but he was on a downwards trajectory and yet to prove himself. 
I didnt have high hopes he could kick it up a level with his somewhat limited (or so we thought) playing style. 

He has now fully proven himself! 

[dyslexic nam]

Not to be the voice of negativity, but it does seem like Larin can start strong and then taper off a bit once the initial surge of enthusiasm recedes.  I may be misremembering but I think he did that when at Besiktas and clearly his time at Brugges was a steady decline.  Insofar as it was true, I have been keeping an eye out for the same thing at RV. And while he could never maintain the blistering start he had to his start there, I was wondering if it was happening again when he went a few games without a goal contribution.  That is why it has been really good to see him still having a big impact on the last couple of games.  It seems like he may have finally found a consistently motivating factor.  

[Unnamed Trialist]

Re the above: he was well coached under Pacheta, like with all his defensive movements, covering free kicks. Position on the field. Hasn't changed much with the new coach, who's made good adjustments by leaving certain veterans on the bench, like Oscar Plano or Roque Mesa. He's tightened up the team defensively, despite these late goals against. There are clear instructions to look for Larin. Which I suspect come directly from the club president. They don't sub him off for Sergio León as much, they objectively analyse his fitness and prefer him for 90 minutes.

We should play Larin up high and David behind him to maximize their mutual strengths.

[Norrin Radd]

9 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

To be honest, the Nats may have helped him a bit in that respect because Herdman tend to have our guys pressing.   

I think his defensive prowess greatly improved when he was asked to play out wide for Besiktas, during their championship season. Initially he wasn’t all that interested or effective in fulfilling his defensive duties but there was a point when he finally got it. He started working very hard at trying to put pressure on the ball carrier or block the passing lanes and by the end of that season he had become much more effective in a defensive role.

I feel it's made him more dangerous when he plays up top as well. He's always looking to latch on to an imperfect pass or miscue. So far, at least two of his goals for Valladolid have been the result of plays where he won the possession inside the opposition half.

[Obinna]

7 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Not to be the voice of negativity, but it does seem like Larin can start strong and then taper off a bit once the initial surge of enthusiasm recedes.  I may be misremembering but I think he did that when at Besiktas and clearly his time at Brugges was a steady decline.  Insofar as it was true, I have been keeping an eye out for the same thing at RV. And while he could never maintain the blistering start he had to his start there, I was wondering if it was happening again when he went a few games without a goal contribution.  That is why it has been really good to see him still having a big impact on the last couple of games.  It seems like he may have finally found a consistently motivating factor.  

This has cossed my mind before. Seems like once Larin gets going he can't be stopped. Then, something comes and cuts his momentum. We never saw that with Orlando, but at Besiktas the momentum killer was literally the end of the season.

His first game with Besiktas, or maybe his second, he had that four goal game, but didn't score in the others. He only played 4 league games in his first half season, because the reality was that Besiktas sort of took a flyer on him. It's not as if he was there marquee signing. He forced his way out of Orlando and Besiktas got him on the cheap. Anyway, the next season, which was his first full season, he was still second fiddle. A single four-goal game anomoly wasn't going to make him an automatic starter. So, not being a starter at Besiktas was the momentum killer. He never was able to catch fire and had to go out on loan and almost reinvent himself somewhat. Had a nice return of 9 goals and 7 assists for Zlute in all comps, then came back and caught fire because he was given the minutes. It almost didn't happen because if you guys recall Besiktas had one too many internationals (I think because they brought Abubakar back) and it was between him and Tyler Boyd who was going to get axed. In the end it was Boyd which kind of derailed his career. That easily could have been Larin, but as it was Larin was chosen to stay, struck up a partnership with Abubakar, and the rest was history. A monster 19 goal season and a domestic double. 

Following that, he had a good, but not great, 7 goals in the Super Lig, but Besiktas as a whole struggled to balance Champions League and domestic duty. I think they lost Abubakar to the middle east somewhere along the line and things just didn't seem to click. I guess that's a momentum killer, when your team loses a key piece or two and the squad is streched thin playing in the Champions League. 

Now after failing at Brugge he is back. I think as long as he stays at RV the good vibes will continue, provided the squad largely stays the same and they don't lose some key pieces. I know @Unnamed Trialist was talking about a young fullback being courted, not sure if such a thing would radically change things, but if they lose 3 or 4 pieces like that maybe it's a different story. I suspect however that playing with an underdog La Liga team is perfect, because they won't likely get to Europe and have those kind of demands stretching them thin like at Besiktas. That's my optimistic take on it. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Obinna