Albanian Football Forum

artan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:58 am How hard is it to have a few scouts to recruit? Di Biasi called up something like 47 news players in his first 4 years...

It's really hard when you have to pay them with money you can pocket for yourself

Princ wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:17 pm Abrashi, Gjasula, and Xhaka are yesterday’s men.. their time being productive with the NT is done. Let’s compare transfermarkt values of the midfielders in question:

Xhaka: $2.2m (Done with NT)
Bare: $1.98m
Abrashi: $1.76m (over 30)
Gjasula: $798k (over 30)
Selahi: $798k

Celina: $4.4m
Berisha: $4.4m
Rexhbecaj: $4.4m
Voca: $3.52m
Toma: $2.53m
Domgjoni: $1.98m

Notice how Kosovo’s midfielders with the exception of 27 year old Valon Berisha are all solid up and coming prospects, while Albania’s list consists of washed up has beens and scrubs/unproven players. Kosovo has set themselves up nicely for the future, but the same cannot be said for Albania.

These transfermarkt values are not an accurate indication of someone's talent, especially when the difference of (1-2 million) is not that significant and they are pretty much a roller coaster, never stable.

Perfect example being Ndoj.. His value is around 3 million but he's probably worse than Ramadani who's valued below 500k...

All I hear about Kosovo is "up and coming prospects" but established players are the only thing that matter. Right now Kosovo has a few with V.Berisha and Rrahmani but let's not get crazy. There are no super talents coming up like the Shaqiris and Januzajs.

We went from hyping super talents to very average prospects.. that's how you know the diaspora is drying up.

Dallku wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:05 pm
These transfermarkt values are not an accurate indication of someone's talent, especially when the difference of (1-2 million) is not that significant and they are pretty much a roller coaster, never stable.

Perfect example being Ndoj.. His value is around 3 million but he's probably worse than Ramadani who's valued below 500k...

All I hear about Kosovo is "up and coming prospects" but established players are the only thing that matter. Right now Kosovo has a few with V.Berisha and Rrahmani but let's not get crazy. There are no super talents coming up like the Shaqiris and Januzajs.

We went from hyping super talents to very average prospects.. that's how you know the diaspora is drying up.

While you see it as a 1-2 million dollar difference, I see it as more than double, triple, or quadruple the price depending on which two players you are comparing.

Also, they don’t need to be superstars like Januzaj or Shaqiri to be productive for the Kosovo NT. A new generation of Basha’s, Kukeli’s, Abrashi’s and Xhaka’s is more than enough to create a solid midfield that will keep you competitive. You might call it “average” but that level of midfielders led us to our greatest success and they are deserving of respect and admiration as well. Albania does not have any of these “average” Western European prospects waiting in the wings..

Taking into consideration the level of Kosovo’s attack, combined with their group of solid defenders and you have a well rounded team that’s set up to make some noise in the coming years.

Dallku wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:05 pm

Princ wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:17 pm Abrashi, Gjasula, and Xhaka are yesterday’s men.. their time being productive with the NT is done. Let’s compare transfermarkt values of the midfielders in question:

Xhaka: $2.2m (Done with NT)
Bare: $1.98m
Abrashi: $1.76m (over 30)
Gjasula: $798k (over 30)
Selahi: $798k

Celina: $4.4m
Berisha: $4.4m
Rexhbecaj: $4.4m
Voca: $3.52m
Toma: $2.53m
Domgjoni: $1.98m

Notice how Kosovo’s midfielders with the exception of 27 year old Valon Berisha are all solid up and coming prospects, while Albania’s list consists of washed up has beens and scrubs/unproven players. Kosovo has set themselves up nicely for the future, but the same cannot be said for Albania.

These transfermarkt values are not an accurate indication of someone's talent, especially when the difference of (1-2 million) is not that significant and they are pretty much a roller coaster, never stable.

Perfect example being Ndoj.. His value is around 3 million but he's probably worse than Ramadani who's valued below 500k...

All I hear about Kosovo is "up and coming prospects" but established players are the only thing that matter. Right now Kosovo has a few with V.Berisha and Rrahmani but let's not get crazy. There are no super talents coming up like the Shaqiris and Januzajs.

We went from hyping super talents to very average prospects.. that's how you know the diaspora is drying up.

Let’s be real Ndoj is a much better player than Ramadani. He’s proven he’s atleast a good a Serie B player and this season was a wash with him because of injuries. I think he’ll end up a Serie A journeymen who constantly plays on relegation bound Serie A teams. Nothing special but not Ramadani esque lol.

Thing is we really don’t know about the diaspora pool drying up. There’s many decent prospects currently but no Shaqiri or Xhaka currently. But that doesn’t mean in 2 years the next hyped kid doesn’t pop up or doesn’t mean some random player like Bunjaku for Basel becomes a good player.

But like Princ said there are abrashi, xhaka, Kukeli type of talent and there seems to be plenty of them in Switzerland. That alone should make them competitive. They won’t make you qualify but if you have a few top talent it should be enough.

Princ wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:42 pm

Dallku wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:05 pm
These transfermarkt values are not an accurate indication of someone's talent, especially when the difference of (1-2 million) is not that significant and they are pretty much a roller coaster, never stable.

Perfect example being Ndoj.. His value is around 3 million but he's probably worse than Ramadani who's valued below 500k...

All I hear about Kosovo is "up and coming prospects" but established players are the only thing that matter. Right now Kosovo has a few with V.Berisha and Rrahmani but let's not get crazy. There are no super talents coming up like the Shaqiris and Januzajs.

We went from hyping super talents to very average prospects.. that's how you know the diaspora is drying up.

While you see it as a 1-2 million dollar difference, I see it as more than double, triple, or quadruple the price depending on which two players you are comparing.

Also, they don’t need to be superstars like Januzaj or Shaqiri to be productive for the Kosovo NT. A new generation of Basha’s, Kukeli’s, Abrashi’s and Xhaka’s is more than enough to create a solid midfield that will keep you competitive. You might call it “average” but that level of midfielders led us to our greatest success and they are deserving of respect and admiration as well. Albania does not have any of these “average” Western European prospects waiting in the wings..

Taking into consideration the level of Kosovo’s attack, combined with their group of solid defenders and you have a well rounded team that’s set up to make some noise in the coming years.

Albania only has Italy as a spring board for talent and the leftover Kosovar players who aren’t good enough for the 5 nations they’re eligible for like Bujar Lika. Maybe the England pool will come through? Broja, Bajrami, and Dobra seem okay.

I also think if let’s say a guy like Toma was born in Albania and transferred to Switzerland a few years ago our journalists would be hyping him up as the next Lala. But since he’s a diaspora we’re just supposed to act like he’s not good enough lol.

Kosovo reminds me of Montenegro when they first got accepted into FIFA (even though Montenegro had superior talent with Vucinic, Jovetic, Savic, etc.) The similarities are 1) Beginner's enthusiasm 2) Diaspora products.

What happened to Montenegro? Their good players got older, their diaspora dried up, the enthusiasm was gone after a few campaigns, and their lack of resources(population, poor league) caught up to them. This is what's going to happen with Kosovo.

Dallku wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 7:55 pm Kosovo reminds me of Montenegro when they first got accepted into FIFA (even though Montenegro had superior talent with Vucinic, Jovetic, Savic, etc.) The similarities are 1) Beginner's enthusiasm 2) Diaspora products.

What happened to Montenegro? Their good players got older, their diaspora dried up, the enthusiasm was gone after a few campaigns, and their lack of resources(population, poor league) caught up to them. This is what's going to happen with Kosovo.

Which Diaspora players did Montenegro have? That team was pretty much Vucinic, Jovetic, Basa (the fake albanian), and a few others. They just had a good generation. They still produce some decent players but they just don't have the depth. They'll have a team of Savic, Jovetic (flop), Marusic and then surrounded with guys playing in Kazakhstan.

This is kinda similar to Kosovo as without the diaspora the team would Rashica, Muriqi, Rrahmani, Zhegrova with the rest being superliga players. Difference is Kosovo has supply of diaspora players that won't dry since the Kosovar diaspora in Europe is large. They will always have the likes of Kukeli, Abrashi, Voca, etc, to fill out their roster. Montenegro doesn't.

Rashica will be out for the North Macedonia game but looks like Muriqi will be back. Losing Muriqi would be huge but atleast they have alternates for Rashica. Voca also ready to go not a big addition but it's better than Shala in the midfield.

Still gonna be a tough match for them.

Rrahmani also very likely to miss out. Still no reason for Kosova to lose this!

https://youtu.be/687DOkCY0Wo

Looks like Rrahmani, Kryeziu, Voca, Halimi, and Rashica all probably out. I doubt Muriqi will play as he's not fit.

Nightmare scenario for Kosovo. The only positive is that the pressure won't be as big now for them.