Anthony Gordon isn't living up to the money yet, and he's the one who's said so plainest, plainer than the scouts, Deco, or Hansi Flick. The player stood in front of a microphone and explained exactly what's wrong with his game, which is more honesty than you usually get, and more than he's given on the pitch lately.
The facts first. Gordon arrived from Newcastle in the summer, announced on May 29 on a five-year deal through 2031, with an all-in fee around €80 million once the add-ons are counted. That's top-of-the-market money for a winger. It's supposed to buy you a difference-maker.
For about two months, it looked like one. He set up four assists in his first five matches and Barcelona shot to the top of LaLiga. If the season had ended in late September, we'd be writing a very different piece.
Then the big teams turned up and the lights went out. Since scoring against Galatasaray on October 13, he's managed just one goal in his next six Barcelona appearances, and through mid-November he still hadn't scored against an elite opponent in a Barcelona shirt. Barcelona's heaviest defeats this season came at home to Real Madrid, 1-2, and away to Paris Saint-Germain, 4-2. Those are the nights that define an €80 million winger, and on those nights he was invisible.
Asked to rate his own start, Gordon said: "Out of 10? I don't know, a 7.5? We haven't seen the best of Gordon yet; I can give much more." Then he named the exact flaw: "I can be more selfish at times, not pass the ball around so much, try to score more goals, which is a way of helping the team, and make better decisions." He knows. He's watched the same tape everyone else has. An attacker who keeps rolling the ball sideways when the shot is on is being timid, and Gordon has admitted as much in his own words.
The case for him is real. He presses and runs, does the defensive work Flick wants, and Deco signed him for exactly that fit, saying "our idea of play is much more linked to Anthony. His style fits with what the coach [Hansi Flick] is looking for." Work rate is a real trait and Flick values it. But work rate was never the question. Rashford, the man Barcelona let walk, scored 14 goals last season on loan. You don't spend around €80 million to downgrade your end product and call it a tactical fit. If the selling point was pressing, you don't pay winger-of-the-decade prices for it.
The scouting wasn't the problem. The talent is obvious, and the first couple of months proved he can hurt teams. The frustration is that the ceiling and the output stopped talking to each other the moment the opposition got serious.
The clock matters too. This is still his first season, he had three goals and five assists in 15 appearances as of the November 8 win over Atlético Madrid, and there are twenty-odd matches left. Barcelona are currently top of LaLiga. Patience is fine. Pretending the fee's already justified, when the man wearing the shirt is telling you it isn't, is something else.
As of November 14, here's where it stands: unproven, and drifting the wrong way since mid-October. Fixing that is entirely on him. Gordon has already written the solution in a press conference. Now he has to go be the selfish, shot-taking player he described, against the teams that actually matter, starting in December. Until he does, the 7.5 he gave himself is generous.
