Albanians abroad

[artan]

Manaj is definitely better than Cika or Balaj but that doesn’t mean he’s a good footballer nor that Barcelona actually has any intention for him besides being a main stay for their second team.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

We'll see who gets the last laugh when he scores a hat trick against Real Madrid and the Bernabeu gives him a standing ovation.

And then he wrestles a bull and declares Catalan independence.

And that was just the beginning for Manaj who went on to become the the first Prime Minister after the combining of Albania and Kosovo . All because of a fateful injury to Dembele in January 2020 .

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Manaj is definitely better than Cika or Balaj but that doesn’t mean he’s a good footballer nor that Barcelona actually has any intention for him besides being a main stay for their second team.

I have no hope for Manaj to be a great striker, but I just want an Albanian to play for Barca, even for a few minutes. We need to start normalizing our nationality playing for top clubs. A lot of Albanians simply don't have the self belief they can play at these stages. But if someone that walks and talks like them has done it before, it gives you confidence. Manaj played for Inter which is the biggest club so far for us. Barca would be a legendary feat even if he's just capped.

People think a top player is just about skill. It's not. That's half the story. You need CONFIDENCE, which let's face it, Albanians have lacked, since we've had no success as a nationality up until 2016. It's no coincidence that as soon as we got a couple of players playing in Serie A, now that league is filled with Albos (Rrahmani who played in Superliga too). We used to be happy that Ujkani or Basha would get some minutes, but now an Albo playing in Serie A is normalized. Kumbulla and Strakosha are not some anomalies. This has been building up for a long time. Manaj might not be a GOAT for us, but his skill was enough to pioneer Albos in big clubs.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Manaj is definitely better than Cika or Balaj but that doesn’t mean he’s a good footballer nor that Barcelona actually has any intention for him besides being a main stay for their second team.

I have no hope for Manaj to be a great striker, but I just want an Albanian to play for Barca, even for a few minutes. We need to start normalizing our nationality playing for top clubs. A lot of Albanians simply don't have the self belief they can play at these stages. But if someone that walks and talks like them has done it before, it gives you confidence. Manaj played for Inter which is the biggest club so far for us. Barca would be a legendary feat even if he's just capped.

People think a top player is just about skill. It's not. That's half the story. You need CONFIDENCE, which let's face it, Albanians have lacked, since we've had no success as a nationality up until 2016. It's no coincidence that as soon as we got a couple of players playing in Serie A, now that league is filled with Albos (Rrahmani who played in Superliga too). We used to be happy that Ujkani or Basha would get some minutes, but now an Albo playing in Serie A is normalized. Kumbulla and Strakosha are not some anomalies. This has been building up for a long time. Manaj might not be a GOAT for us, but his skill was enough to pioneer Albos in big clubs.

Could be that guys like Kumbulla grew up there too , they’re not Held back by the poverty back home etc . New generations have chances to become good players when back home they’d be supporting their families .

[Princ]

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[Aurora Bulkualis]

The reason we don’t see many albanian attackers/midfielders on big clubs has to do with a mixture of a few things, starting with a lack of IQ. Skill is also obviously a part of the equation, but what really separates the average players from the cream of the crop is what’s between the ears. A mixture of solid size, good IQ, decent skill and superior fitness will always be needed to play on the bigger clubs.

We have guys who are tall but brain dead like balaj and ndoj, guys who are more skilled/a bit smarter but not as fit like cika and sadiku respectively, and those who are fit but low IQ/low skill like manaj and roshi(back in the day).

Most albanians we see on bigger clubs are all defenders or goalies for a reason...They couldn’t cut it as attackers/midfielders due to low IQ/lack of skill. This is also a reason why I admire migjen basha so much, he had it all. He had good size, good iq, good skill, and good fitness too while he was still in his prime. His loss is felt to this day.

Man, are you telling me Maradona had a higher IQ than Maldini or Beckenbauer? Defending takes more IQ than being a striker. A striker is about being unpredictable. Defending is all about reading the game.

If you look at years back, we actually had mostly strikers like Tare/Bogu who played in Serie A, and 0 defenders.

[Princ]

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[CanaYouDoIt]

Man what you talking about , enough of that nonsense about IQ . If anything it’s harder to be a defender than a attacker since defenders are the ones with less physical and technical skills and have to rely more on their reading of the game .

[ZenMaster]

Strakosha had a poor reaction but Lazio is so fucking strong they can easily "cover him".

[Princ]

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