I know he's had some hammer on here from people, myself included. However, he's a player that has played regularly in the UEFA Europa League and scored goals in the competition. Are we writing him off too early? The times I saw him play down the left he wasn't sparkling but he was no worse than anybody else on the park. I preferred him to Luke Thomas. I know that's not saying much but maybe he didn't get the freedom to express himself under Struber in a relegation scrap. He seemed rushed and stuck in the system but always looked like there was a player there to me.
I would be happy to see if he's learned from his experience in Europe this season and plays better under Ismael, but I'm not sure where he'd fit in here at present.
I think Val would give all players he hasn’t either seen or not seen much of, a chance. This chance may only be in training or friendlies/ U23s, but he has given others a chance based on their performances other than playing in the 1st team.
With the haste with which he scuttled back to Europe after Struber left I would be very surprised if he ever comes back to Barnsley
Not sure which games you watched were you preferred him to Thomas. Never looked like a footballer to me never looked like he cared. Just strubers mate kept playing **** and getting picked. If he comes back and proves us well good on him but in not holding out much hope.
I don’t think we knew his best position, not quite a central midfielder, not a winger, but not a full back either. I think he would excel playing the Styles role. Could be useful if Styles leaves this summer.
With Luke Thomas and Malik Wilks, although mostly disappointing, you occasionally saw enough to understand why we bought them. This was never the case with Ritzmaier - he was at best anonymous, but usually a liability. I think the thing that has made the biggest difference under Ismael is that he stopped picking the weakest players.
Ismael would no doubt take a look at him, just like he did with Sibbick and Adeboyejo. But he'll need to show a lot more than he has previously, where he didn't show much pace, strength, ability in the air or ability to win the ball back. All things which are needed in this system.
We would need to teach him who plays for us and it’s those players he needs to pass to. Actually passing to our players seemed more a fluke
The cup game against Chelsea earlier on in the season we was doing okay untill he slipped a through ball to a Chelsea striker for the opener, heads went down and we got hammered 5 nil then.