Alright then. With football coming to a standstill and with no live football to cover, which automatically rules out matchday squads, press conferences and injury updates, journalists across Europe have been indulging themselves in transfer stories. I’ve been reading some of these and quite honestly, some of them are absolutely unbelievable. So, I decided to write about a few teams I follow. Today’s team in focus is FC Barcelona.
Well, there’s a general feeling among agents and reporters that the post-pandemic market isn’t going to be exactly the same. Teams won’t be spending as freely and insane transfer purchases will be a thing of the past. The team whose plans are perhaps going to take the biggest hit, is Football Club Barcelona. I don’t know for sure whether Queque Setien is going to remain in charge but if he does, this team will need re-building. With Ousmanne Dembele’s injury record and Leo no longer being able to provide them the legs and stamina across an entire campaign, changes seemed inevitable till before football reached an unprecedented halt. Neymar’s insane fee probably won’t be splashed out. Most definitely not this summer. So where shall we begin and who should we look out for? For starters, a striker NEEDS to come. Suarez still has it but has become increasingly inconsistent in recent times. Barca won’t need to look beyond Lautaro Martinez (who comes not only with a great reputation but an in-built Cruyff blueprint, it seems). Expect that transfer to go through no matter what. Do they move for Werner? Not unless a move to Merseyside’s Red takes a dramatic U-turn for Leipzig’s number nine. Few Spanish outlets have been linking Sadio Mane with a move away from Anfield and there’s an avenue the Catalans could exploit if the Neymar deal collapses. Their left-wing issue has never really resolved since their Brazilian gem left for France. Griezmann on the left is nothing short of a disaster and Fati needs to be eased in. In midfield, it’s more a question of who goes rather than who comes. Their ‘natural heir to Iniesta’, Arthur Melo, looks set to go with his Croatian partner Ivan and they’ll be looking to offload Coutinho, too in a bid to raise funds. Should Barcelona move for Donny Van De Beek and try to lure him away from the Spanish capital (where he looks set to move to)? It would make sense partnering him with Frenkie but they’d face stiff resistance from The Merengues. A CB looks like an immediate requirement for The Cules, much like a striker and they’d do well to move for De Ligt especially after a rough start to life in Italy but Milan Skriniar and Upamecano would make as much sense. Fullbacks are on the shopping list but obviously, way down. And to be fair, Firpo deserves more chances to prove himself.
With La Masia dropping well below their established standards in recent times and Bartomeu’s kneejerk, hit-and-miss transfer strategy, a tough task awaits Setien/Xavi to start planning for life after Leo.
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