Albanian Football Forum

Dallku wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:54 pm Manaj lasted in Serie A as much as Uzuni did in La Liga (1 year). So that means that they weren't good enough for those leagues. We can't judge players because they got a temporally free trial.

Uzuni was in the top 15 leading scorers in La Liga for 2023-24..

Ahead of huge names like Rodrygo, Oyarzabal, Greenwood, and basically a who’s who of “top players”..

Uzuni is the leading goal scorer of all time for Granada and has scored against some of the “best clubs” in the world.

I have a hard time believing that he’s not good enough to play in La Liga!

Princ wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 7:14 pm

Uzuni was in the top 15 leading scorers in La Liga for 2023-24..

Ahead of huge names like Rodrygo, Oyarzabal, Greenwood, and basically a who’s who of “top players”..

Uzuni is the leading goal scorer of all time for Granada and has scored against some of the “best clubs” in the world.

I have a hard time believing that he’s not good enough to play in La Liga!

Irrelevant stats. So he got a lucky bounce and a pen here and there. His goals and game were never sustainable for long term. 20 La Liga teams didn't bother to pick him up for a reason. It's not like he was expensive. A few million for him is peanuts. For context Mallorca bought Muriqi for 8 million.

For Manaj's case it's even worse because he's literally an Italian product and Albanian players don't make up a foreign spot either way. And teams still stayed far away from him despite the "stats".

Dallku wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 7:29 pm

Princ wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 7:14 pm

Uzuni was in the top 15 leading scorers in La Liga for 2023-24..

Ahead of huge names like Rodrygo, Oyarzabal, Greenwood, and basically a who’s who of “top players”..

Uzuni is the leading goal scorer of all time for Granada and has scored against some of the “best clubs” in the world.

I have a hard time believing that he’s not good enough to play in La Liga!

Irrelevant stats. So he got a lucky bounce and a pen here and there. His goals and game were never sustainable for long term. 20 La Liga teams didn't bother to pick him up for a reason. It's not like he was expensive. A few million for him is peanuts. For context Mallorca bought Muriqi for 8 million.

For Manaj's case it's even worse because he's literally an Italian product and Albanian players don't make up a foreign spot either way. And teams still stayed far away from him despite the "stats".

To be fair I think Uzuni was looking for a paycheck, this is why he waited for a big offer from Austin, he is checking out from football after many high intensity years.

Princ wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:15 pm

RedFootballs wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:06 pm Vrioni has been injured for 4 months, he's not benched.

He has 3 goals in 400 minutes that he played.

Vrioni was so good New England bought him for €3.65mil and sold him 2 years later for €50k.

He wouldn’t start for Montreal and that’s the worst team in the league. He’s not better than Prince Owusu.

You are forgetting he is their DP. This is also why NE let him go for free because he is taking up a DP slot, and Montreal signed him as a DP.

I followed him somewhat at the start of the season and their fans are happy with him and think Owusu is trash. I mean, idk, but I think this is a bit of a stretch, not that it has much to do with the original topic anyway.

Princ wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:17 pm Manaj also had a hot stretch where he scored 3 goals in 5 games in Serie A..

So which one is it?

Is Manaj a great player or is Serie very poor?

Manaj was okay in Serie A but I think he is actually a decent player in the rare moments he is in shape. The problem is he is lazy as f*** and with a terrible attitude and he is not near good enough to pull that off.

Otherwise he would be playing in a top league and not in Dubai.

He is a player with some good qualities that are just swallowed by the fact his stamina is absolutely awful. This is why he can score many goals against amateur teams because the ball gets to him but against good teams he is far too off the pace physically to work into the game.

RedFootballs wrote: Wed Oct 08, 2025 12:27 am I followed him somewhat at the start of the season and their fans are happy with him and think Owusu is trash. I mean, idk, but I think this is a bit of a stretch, not that it has much to do with the original topic anyway.

Owusu is their best player..

Vrioni was subbing on for him or at the very most starting alongside him but there’s no way Owusu sits for Vrioni..

USA u20 3 - 0 Italy u20

USA u20 full of MLS players/prospects..

Manaj set to start …

That’s our win out the window

CanaYouDoIt wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:03 am Manaj set to start …

That’s our win out the window

Best performance from any of our strikers in a very long time was Manaj vs Ukraine away in the Nations League, I know it's wishful thinking, but hoping he can repeat that performance if he starts.

Redijupison wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 1:33 pm

CanaYouDoIt wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:03 am Manaj set to start …

That’s our win out the window

Best performance from any of our strikers in a very long time was Manaj vs Ukraine away in the Nations League, I know it's wishful thinking, but hoping he can repeat that performance if he starts.

He was fit at this point in time, but that is only for a month or two every few years, now he's in Dubai he is probably even more lazy and slow than before so I doubt we will see this again but I hope so.