In one of the most bizarre Croatian transfers in recent history, 25 year-old striker Petar Musa will be departing Portugal to play in the United States for FC Dallas, Goal.com reports. The move should be completed later in the week pending a successful Musa physical.
I just don’t get this move for Musa. Although he’s coming off the bench for Benfica, he’s playing for the best team in Portugal in the 7th best league in Europe. Musa has “super-sub” quality written all over him with five league goals in only 14 appearances. However, he is averaging one goal for every 103 minutes played, which is commendable. Musa has only played 60+ minutes for Benfica four times this campaign so he’s been doing a lot with absolutely nothing. I understand he’s young, hungry, and running out of patience on the bench…but why the MLS? There’s so many better options in the top-5 European leagues to build on his game, but it sounds like the MLS was able to splash the most cash.
Musa is a decent European striker when he gets service. If he’s scoring five goals in half a season in a very good Portuguese league, he should be scoring 15-20 in the MLS during a full campaign. And if he can’t score 15+ goals for Dallas in 2024, I’m afraid he will be considered a bust like Stipe Biuk. It’s a “draw-lose” situation for Musa in my opinion. If he scores 10-15 goals in Dallas, he will have done what he was brought on to do and no one will bat an eyelash. Anything short of that will be considered a disaster. The only way Musa comes out on top is if he goes on a tear in the MLS and puts up MVP-caliber numbers while remaining on Dalić’s radar. Anything short of that and we will forget about Musa before Euro 2024 even kicks off.
I thought he had promising future with Benfica. Any player that transfers to MLS should be in their mid to late 30s, immune to injuries, and can attract a fanbase due to their popularity. Nobody in North America will know who he is. He’s having an above average season with a total of 5 goals and 2 assists in 6 matches started. He had a decent season last year too. What’s the reason behind this? I can accept Rakitic or Brozovic making a transfer to a wealthy Saudi league due to them being past their prime, but this transfer is difficult to grasp. Musa has had a successful stint in the Portuguese league and now he’s going to the Mickey Mouse league for has beens? I understand the frustration about us losing faith in the youth but we still have an above average squad. Jurnaovic, Stanisic, Gvardiol, Sosa are all major tournament material now. In terms of our midfield, Modric will retire after this Euro, Kovacic and Vlasic are a good trio. Now when it comes to strikers, who do we have? Kramaric and Budimir. Budimir is our only hope at centre striker with Vlasic on the wing potentially. Musa, Brekalo, Pasalic (Marco), Petkovic, and Perisic for various reasons not be on the national team anymore. If we get second on the group, we would get Hungary or Switzerland out of group A as runner up. That is a winnable game. A quarter final I would be satisfied with. Toughest game in my mind will be Albania because a Spain loss will put the pressure on us and a draw against Spain is fine by me. It does appear the rebuild is disappearing with all these crummy transfers but we should still be positive for the summer. Lots to look forward to and four months left of club football to see what our squad will be. Also, goaltending is a major concern in my mind.
Lots of young guys going for the money I guess.
Biuk, Musa, Frigan are all guys that recently went to obviously bad situations, but did so because of the money (or I assume it was because of the money).
Musa is most disappointing because he actually received callups and was on the path to becoming a regular if he just continued to improve at club level.
He only played 180 minutes for us on the National Team, but still, he could have carved himself more minutes if he moved clubs and got himself a regular starting spot (and there seemed to be some interested teams).
This move to Dallas will likely end all future callups, and he will be entering his prime years in a couple of years from now too. It will mess up his development too.
He could have been a decent stop gap striker for us, much like Jelavic, Prso, and all these other late-blooming guys we used to have up top who did well for us.
Livakovic- on and off form at his club
Stanisic- no first team football when kousannou is back
Juranovic- i hope he can better under new coach
Sutalo- poor form
Sosa- 17yr old hato and martha are ahead of him now
Caleta car- no first team
Erlic- his form has waned slightly recently
Gvardiol- hope he has more chances playi g in CB as he is a cb for national team
Brozovic- playing in saudi league
Kovacic- rotating player in man city.
Modric- going to saudi soon
Orsic- cruciate ligament
Perisic- cruciate ligament
Brekalo- back to hnl considered a flop abroad
Pasalic- backup player in atalanta
Majer- still doing fine
Vlasic- better buck up..more consistency please
Musa- playing in msl
Beljo- when was the last time he started a game?
Simic- when was last time he scored a goal?
Kramaric and budimir – still ok
Dear mother how are you doing? Nothing spectacular to report to you. Hanging in there. Hoping for the best. Until next time. Volim, tvoje sin, KraljThomir
Great news!
Sounds like we still got Modric, Broz, Majer, Kovacic, and Kramaric in form for our midfield this Euro2024.
This is the most important area of the field for us, and it’s good to see that they are doing well according to your update.
Hopefully guys like Ivanusec, Perisic and Orsic can use the next few months to recover and add to our offense.
We also have Budimir as our in-form stop-gap striker up top which is great news.
Backline may be slightly out of form, but we do have Gvardiol as our CB there and Erlic is always solid. Worst case, that is our pairing if Sutalo is still out of form. Juranovic being out of form is overrated. He’s still good for us, so it’s just a matter of what we do at LB.
I know you like to focus on the negative, so you deliberately filled your list with players who are no longer on the squad and young players who are still developing (and have yet to be called up)…but that’s just how you roll.
But when it comes to the players that actually matter, then this is very good for us and so long as we have no injuries, we should be rolling into the Euros ready to top the group!
AZ, Thanks for the Luka last Dance update. A lot can happen in 6 months, for the good or bad. We will wait and see.
Can the people posting “Gvardiol is not a LB !” plz stop
Once again – here is his heat map at RB
https://www.livescore.com/en/news/transfer-talk-leipzig-star-gvardiol-can-cure-chelseas-defensive-blues-2022050713010947805/
He was 100% playing as a left-back (in a back-three)
That cannot be excuse about his performance at ManC
Moreover – Udogie was historically a LB – but at Spurs this year – the way they invert their full-backs – he is more like a left-back (in defence) / box-to-box midfielder (in attack) – he learned this w/in the first couple of games
So it’s silly to think Gvardiol shouldn’t have flexibility to inter-change b/w LB and CB
We need to be realistic (it is possible Gvardiol just “over-performed” at the World Cup – as he didn’t really replicate that form in qualifying – I recall some matches his passing was terrible – he also got turned vs. Turkey / Wales, etc – and couldn’t track back (not fast enough))
This is probably the same guy that talked smack when Modric had a rough start at Real Madrid. Gvardiol will be fine once he gets a full preseason with the team.
There is no such thing as overperforming. There is peak performing and underperforming. Gvardiol showed peak form, and he has plenty of career ahead of him to replicate that and even improve upon it.
U can definitely “over-perform”
At the World Cup – his thing was to be super aggressive (“guessing” where the play/ball is going) / step up / make “risky” tackles – this is not something folks were expecting (bc of lack scouting due to age ahead) – his play was actually “very risky” from a defensive standpoint (i.e. he mostly got it right at the WC – it looked really good – but if opposition was expecting it – they could draw him out – and play past him)
He was doing these “risky” tackles at times – to compensate for lack of speed – compared to Van Den Van as e.g. – VDV has the speed to catch-up to strikers etc and than push them off the ball
Gvardiol doesn’t have that speed – so he needed to “guess” where play was going / flail around w/ the “risky” tackles in the box
But after the WC people figured it out he will do this to compensate for his lack of speed
Hence why we got turned vs. Turkey / Wales as e.g. i.e. they use that against him (draw him out – than run / pass past him) – so he can’t be as “risky” now (as it’s become predictable) and he’s had to stop “guessing”
Put all together – u have a watered down player
@anonymous
Nemas pojma
lol
Go look at Fofana (from last place Burnley team – he couldn’t even make the Ivory Coast for Afcon (look at players who made it ahead of him e.g. Red Star Belgrade, lol) run right around him
Gvardiol thinks can I go out and tackle him (bc he is knows he doesn’t have speed) – but knew Fofana is expecting it (as everyone is on to him) – so kept backing up – and anyway Fofana ran right around Gvardiol – not even close – for the goal
Watch Spurs tomorrow – keep eye on Udogie and Van Den Van – and let us know if you objectively think Gvardiol is better
Also – keep in mind the fees – Udogie 15 Van Den Van 40+10 vs. Gvardiol 90 – and they are all the same age
So Gvardiol should be playing much better (especially with a stacked Man City team – that has 2x best players in the world in all positions) – if Gvardiol was playing at a lower team – say a Fulham, West Ham – he would really get exposed in the PL – right now he has cover around him everywhere)
What’s bizarre about it? That’s a lot of cash to splash for an unproven striker (at national level). Good move for him.
See Udogie’s run / goal today for Spurs
Ask urself whether Gvardiol can to do the same ?
Unfortunately we haven’t seen it yet (hopefully we will one day)
But Gvardiol has a lot of work still to do / needs to keep progressing (as there are other players same age in his position who are ahead of him)
For the last time he’s not a lb ffs
Sure (although look at heat map at RB – he was playing left-back in a back-three…)
Compare w/ Van Den Van – left-footed CB – already starting for Dutch – if u prefer
Fastest CB in the premier league (much faster than Gvardiol esp in a sprint) – excellent defending (also covering across for others out of position) and ball-movement / passing fwd
My point is we need to be realistic
Gvardiol is starting / the star for us – bc the other options we have are either old or complete crap
I saw Gvardiol get turned into a pylon by Fofana today. Dude’s gotta improve or he’s a loaner next season.
Dude’s gotta play at CB! It ain’t difficult to work out
He’s cashed out (good for him)
But he confirms what some of us already knew
He is nowhere near good enough to play on the national team
Remember those calling for him to start start start for us, lol
He’s 100% not going to the Euros (he probably already knew this – combination of performance and meshing w/ existing squad – Modric probably told him – just go for the $$$ fella as u not playing for us)
Agree with your comments, I have never been a big fan of Musa from his youth performances for our national teams to present. When given a chance to play with the seniors I got the impression that he did not fit in with the rest of the team and was often ignored on the pitch by not getting the ball. Cannot believe that the transfer sum was 13 million. They will never get that money back if he decides to return to Europe in the next couple of years. I don’t watch a lot of MLS as I used to, but it’s a tough comp with a lot of matches played on artificial pitches so it won’t be easy for him. The money must be good for him to go to MLS, so good luck to him.
It also brings into question / some concern v-a-v our scouting
How did we ever think starting Musa twice in October was the right thing to do ?
I mean Olic should be able to sus these guys out – by watching them play at their clubs (if they are playing) and interviewing/speaking to them – before ever inviting them to camp (although I guess they we’re okay w/ what they saw at camp to give him a go)
Almost cost us
Also agree – it did look they didn’t want to give him the ball / didn’t trust him – and 1000% they’ll never get anywhere close to the 13 m back
Buik, now Musa! Once we move out all the croats overseas, we can start replacing them with Brazilians, then we should be doing good! So great, can’t wait! Croatia is stealing the playbook from the Democrats here in America.
Build the Wall
And I’ll pay for it
Or is Mexico paying. Lolololl
I don’t care about the gong show of American politics so I wouldn’t mention the wall.
I post maybe once a month and you have to poach my name fake Crobro?You need a crash course on originality.
Im confused, are you a victim of a split personality or is there another CROBRO running around?
There is nobody better at the business of selling footballers than the Portuguese.Mamic would be proud of their dealings.
Fc Porto and benfica will always be financially healthy with the ROI they get from their players.
Biuk hasn’t done squat in the MLS let’s hope musa doesn’t follow suit?
Biuk was another PR scheme from Hajduk. He was supposed to be the second coming of Christ and then all of a sudden, he was overrated and gone to MLS, now 2nd div in Spain. We heard about Biuk as if he was some SPECIAL dribbler we haven’t seen in over a generation. what now?
I’m real curious how this Vuskovic kid will turn out. He went from being front page news to falling off the map. so he gets sold and then it over? the hype is done?
Dinamo has had their fair share of PR schemes. The next Boban, the next Prosinecki, etc. and few years later their journeymen.
And then Modric surpassed all of them.
so we should give hajduk credit for unloading untalented players for decent euros?
same with benfica. they sent musa to america for $13m. good business to me
maybe you thought biuk was something special. plus nobody was calling him generational player. same with vuskovic. he will never amount to anything.
there are players all over the planet that never perform up to expectations by people who do not know the game.
Nobody better at selling bullshit to people than a broke , bankrupt casino owner. I know it’s stunning but it’s tru
Musa gets phenomenal service at Benefica.
He won’t get it at FC Dallas. He rarely creates goals on his own.
Ivica Olić was not the most technical or gifted player, but was opportunistic and created his own goals.
MLS is better than HNL, but you can forget this guy being on the National Team radar again.
MLS better than HNL? Not a guaranteed win with that argument.
I feel bad for Musa. I know he wants to be our solution on the National team but lets be serious here for a second. If we had 1 functioning striker, he wouldn’t have ever been considered. Musa has always been a sub and at 25 years old I think he did what he had to…he went for the money and will try to secure his future. Nothing wrong with that.
Too much money.
I like him, but he’s a guy that needs good players around him to be successful.
Playing in the low-skilled MLS will require him to create chances by himself.
We’ll see how it goes, but this will cost him a place on the National Team for sure.
Definitely agree. But in Musa’s defense, I’d classify a lot of strikers that way; just clinical finishers who have a tough time making chances on their own.
I think the likelihood of him becoming an important player in a top 5 European league was probably pretty low, so at least it’ll be fun to see another Croatian play in North America
Disappointing move
how disappointing? Benifica sold their 4th choice forward for $13 million. good business for them, no?
He will make close to $2 million salary in USA
In terms of the Croatia national team, it’s disappointing. He’ll be competing at a lower level. I’m sure you knew that’s what I meant.
In terms of Musa himself, I don’t think it’s the worst move. The U.S. is a good place to live and he’ll make some good $