Welcome Thiago! Such an exciting signing really, what a player he is. I followed him quite closely when he played for Barca, but after he went to Bayern its been more in the CL and international games. It was easy to see in his younger days that he would probably become a wonderful playmaker and midfielder. I thought for Barca, he was the natural successor to Xavi and Iniesta. Always felt he was a bit of a hybrid between the two. He has taken some of the best skills from them both and turned it into one superb player. In addition he has really developed his defensive side during his time at Bayern, he defends very cleverly in my eyes, not reckless in any way. In my opinion Barcas downfall started when they failed to keep him (he only needed a few more matches that season for the automatic increase of the buyout clause and contract extension).
I am really excited to see him perform for us in the PL, if he can dominate in the same manner here he will take us to a new level. He thrives in pressure situations really, he can find the gaps in so many different ways. At the same time, you cant stand off him as he will just pick out the clever passes through lines, over the last line, drible past someone to disrupt any defensive organization or just keep things ticking and set the pace of the game and sooner or later the opponent will either be exhausted or give him just the right option. He does thrive when players around him makes a lot of movement like any other playmaker of course, but with Bobby, Salah and Mane that should be in place.
At some point this season some dimwit in the media will start spouting nonsense about lack of assist or goals from him, because thats what some only see as a success (forgetting the play leading to it). But his contribution in those fields are dependant on where he plays, but more importantly his role is to help dominate and win games, break down defensive structures and make the players around him better and he excells at that.
Ever since the first links to him appeared it was still just a hope, but thats now reality. What a signing and what a deal. Credit to the club and owners for making this happen. Hopefully he will bring us a lot of success during his time here.