2023-12-27 08:30:01
BarcelonaDespite qualifying for the round of 16 of the Champions League, the first part of the Barça season has been discussed a lot with the maxim that this year’s squad is better than last year’s. Despite the signings of contrasting footballers such as João Cancelo and Ilkay Gündoğan and the addition of talents such as João Félix, the team has struggled to be regular in offensive play and maintain the defensive consistency of just a few months ago. In addition, there have been injuries in all lines and it has become clear, in a framework of economic hardship, that the payroll under the orders of Xavi Hernández is the smallest of the last 30 years in the entity For all that, the sports department has accelerated the short-term arrival of the young Vitor Roque, who will add flair to the attack, and is also studying options to strengthen the line most punished by medical absences, the midfield. We analyze it all below.
A tribute to Laporta of the first term
It is no speculation to say that Barça are looking for a midfielder in this winter market. The highest instance of the club, the president Joan Laporta, recognized this bluntly in a pre-Christmas interview with Efe in which he also reaffirmed his commitment to Xavi despite the erratic trajectory of the team. “The idea is to have a midfielder who in some way compensates for the loss of Gavi. It would be a transfer until the end of the season, as we did many years ago with Edgar Davids, for example,” argued the manager.
Indeed, 20 years after the famous “Let them learn!”, Laporta wants to do it again. That was the cry that accompanied the arrival of the pitbull with glasses Dutch, a player who fit like a glove in the team then led by Frank Rijkaard and who made a great comeback in the League. He wasn’t much of a stylist, but his spirit to match opponents and steal balls served for other footballers to express themselves more freely. One of the big beneficiaries of his temporary adventure – a transfer from Juventus for mid-campaign – was Xavi himself. Now, the coincidence does not end there, because Deco, who would arrive the following summer (2004) from Porto, took his place in the lineup. Two decades later, both the man from Terrasse and the Lusitano-Brazilian, coach and sports director of Culer, are part of the council of wise men to try to repeat history.
Low price options
On paper, Barça’s plan makes perfect sense. Since the midfield is short due to injuries (Gavi, Pedri…), performances far below the expected (Oriol Romeu), specific losses (Kessie) and projects that need time (Fermín), the sports plan is already exploring the market in search of a goal that Xavi would have prioritized months ago, before Laporta moved heaven and earth to strengthen the attack with a personal weakness, João Félix. The coach would also have preferred to dedicate the salary margin granted by Gavi’s long absence to address this need, but Deco brought forward the arrival of Vitor Roque.
Therefore, since the pocket will not give much (if at all), the range of possibilities is necessarily reduced. “In the January market and with very little money, you can’t go looking for the specific profile you need, but you have to adapt to the options that come up,” recognized sources in the dressing room told ARA. Meanwhile, in the offices they define the objective with a very footballing expression: “We need a midfielder who scratches”. In other words, make it intense. As for the position, the preferred idea is that he is a football player who can adapt to both the pivot and the interior. A bit what was expected of Kessie, a player who arrived in the summer of 2022 at zero cost at the request of Xavi and who met this profile.
In the last few days, several names have come to the fore that would fit the need. They all have little prominence in their respective teams and therefore would have less problems to go out on loan. Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Renato Sanches (Roma) and Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City) stand out. Other candidates such as Gio Lo Celso (Tottenham) or Thiago Alcántara (Liverpool) have more creative attributes and are less gifted at recovering balls, which is one of the outstanding subjects of the current Barça.
The sports area proposes and the economic area disposes
Since Barça will crunch the salary margin linked to the dismissal of Gavi with the operation of Vitor Roque, the new Davids will necessarily depend on other maneuvers to generate fair play financial The most effective way to do this depends on the entity’s financial departments and has to do with the 40 million pending sale of Barça Studios that Libero Football Finances will not pay. If they go into the box before January 31, the salary cap will be unlocked and Laporta and his board will be free to endorse. On the other hand, if there are no new investors to plug the hole, signing in the winter market will only be possible if it generates fair play with departures or renewals to space out payments like that of Ter Stegen. If the solution is the latter, De Jong has a lot to say.
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