Andoni Zubizarreta has said that Douglas “will help us to complete our set of full backs … He is a great defender. He moves into attack well, he’s skilled both with his right and left foot, and good at playing with the team … He moves up the field well and is good at picking out the right pass. He isn’t tall, but he jumps well and is good at defending high balls … He’ll increase the competition is this position and will give us more tactical options to play with”.
He also revealed that “this was the right time to sign him because of the possibilities we’ll have for signing players in the future. We looked at the option of loaning him out after we bought him but after checking with Luis Enrique we decided that the best place for him to adapt would be right here”.
Zubizarreta wished to reiterate that the Brazilian’s arrival doesn’t mean there are any doubts concerning current right backs Montoya and Alves. “We want to create a situation of competition on a day to day basis from which the coach will pick his team for every game” he explained. There is no such thing as a first eleven and substitutes if there is competition for places among a squad”.
