What special qualities does Alcantara bring? And more importantly: At what cost?
Not to say he is without talent; he is, after all, Spain's Under-21 captain. But what on his resume stands out to challenge the majority of the current Bayern lineup?
In 2011, he extend his Barcelona contract until 2015, but failed to meet the requirements of his 90 million euro buyout clause (organized by his agent, Pere Guardiola, the brother of Pep, and his father, Mazinho, formerly a Brazil international); instead the amount dropped to 18 million euros. A bargain, one might be led to think, noting his perfect hat trick June 18 against Italy in the European Under-21 Championship final.
OK. So he plays football. Well. Better than most. But why is he so needed in a team full of superstars? You can argue about who has the better midfield till the end of time, but currently Bayern Munich and Barcelona would make the top three on anyone's list. And noting the demolition of Barcelona by Bayern in last season's Champions League, Bayern will end up No. 1 for almost all.
Every single midfield position at Bayern has at least two reliable backups. More than reliable. If Alcantara is looking for more playing time, what hope does he have in Munich's squad?
Assuming everyone, as of now, is staying. The midfield breaks down like this:
Defensive midfielders: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez, Luiz Gustavo, Toni Kroos, Emre Can, David Alaba.
Right wing: Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller, Xherdan Shaqiri.
Left wing: Franck Ribery, Shaqiri, David Alaba.
Central attacking midfielder: Mario Goetze, Mueller, Kroos, Ribery, Claudio Pizarro, Schweinsteiger.
An absolute murder of midfielders, right? And this isn't even including the youngsters who may be promoted.
I've left out Shaqiri as a CAM strictly because he's too small to play the position in German football, as evidenced by his run at it last season. And there's a point to be made about height, as well. Alcantara would be taller than only Philipp Lahm, Shaqiri and Rafinha in the Bayern squad.
And in Bundesliga football, size does matter. Some have intimated that Bayern's success last season was more due to brawn than footballing brains. While flashes of brilliance come hard and fast, this is the nature of the way it's done in Deutschland. Beautiful passes come as they may, but one still must muscle his opponent off the ball when the opportunity arises. A slight 5-foot-7 Spaniard might not be up to the task.
Perhaps this is Guardiola just wanting to put his stamp on the team, but to what effect? Moving Javi Martinez back to a spot at centre back that he hated playing at Athletic Bilbao? Forgoing Luiz Gustavo (who would likely be odd man out)? Toni Kroos? Jerome Boateng?
Pep, at this point, with a Thiago signing, could very well lose the dressing room, with Bayern Munich looking nothing like the treble-winning team it was a couple of months ago.
In 2011, Thiago said, "I'd be lying if I said my dream is to succeed at Barcelona. My dream is to succeed in football." Perhaps he should agree to terms with Manchester United. They need him much more than Bayern Munich.
While Alcantara may be a boon in the end, to me he's superfluous to Bayern's needs. They've already got a murder of midfielders.
2016 кај сениорите ? 
