Barcelona: financing your transfers

You wake up with 40 Million euros beside your bed. What will you do? “Donate them all for charity” Doh! This is not miss universe contest . What will you really do? It doesn’t matter. Because you are not allowed to spend them on your pleasure, but to strengthen Barcelona’s squad. Who will you buy?

Based on what Sandro said (or the last thing I read, he probably said the opposite already) We had 50 M for transfers. We spent 10 on Adriano, and we still have as little as 40 M. 

But first, an overview for the current squad and how far the positions are secured as starters and depth. I positioned players the best way fits the depth of the squad, but of course this is only an initial view. I also kept the players whose squad status still under question outside. 

Rating depth by position (A=Best, E= Worst)

Goalkeepers: Valdes Pinto and youth B

Left back: Abidal, Maxwell. Grade=A

Center back: Puyol, Pique, Milito Grade=D

Right back: Alves, Adriano. Grade= B

Holding midfielder: Busquest. Grade= E or may be: Z?

Center Midfielders: Xavi, Iniesta, Keita. Grade= C

Offense (not easy to classify by positions): Ibra, Bojan, Villa, Pedro, Messi and Jeffren. Grade=B

As a general term we have 17 outfield players including players like Jeffren who is yet to prove his consistency and form. That’s a very small squad. 

-Goalkeepers inspire enough calmness for next season. 

-Left back position is the most covered department in the squad. Abidal as a starter. Maxwell as a backup. Adriano the new signing is a new card in hand. We have the youth options and even Puyol can serve there if needed. 

-Center backs: Three proven defenders are not enough for a team battling for zillion titles. If one of them gets injured for couple of months, the department will walk on a thin line with catastrophic threat. Puyol’s age and Milito’s previous injury makes this possibility more concerning. It’s true that some of the best youth prospects are defenders, but it is still too early to get excited about starting Fontas and Pique against Manchester united for example. They need one year or two of gradual inclusion. Something Puyol and Milito can provide. Signing a proven defender will not stand in any young player path but will help them to gradually take Milito’s and Puyol’s place. Two years from now the best we can hope for is having two quality youth proving themselves in the first team added to Pique and the demanded new defender. With Barcelona B competing in the second division, it’s better to keep the youth there top play on weekly bases rather than bringing them to the first team bench. Its recommended to sign one reliable defender even if Fontas earned his promotion to the first team. Four established defenders and a youth for two positions is not bad. Fontas will be more than happy to play the cup games and as a sub in the liga while the four defenders serve the club in the LIga and Champions league. Next summer we tune things accordingly. 

Marquez for 6 million is not a mouthwatering deal. Although he wasn’t at his best last season, he would’ve been useful for one more season. But I don’t see him staying. He wants more playing time which is understandable for his age. Something Barcelona can’t guarantee. Henrique and Caceres are closed cases. Or that’s how it seems so far.

Abidal is another crisis option. Especially with a wealthy backup at the left back. But instead of using Abidal as a backup center back and his backup on the left, just get a center back. 

Noting that Puyol started to lose more of his pace (which was not is strong point even when he was younger). A plan B is needed. So far there isn’t any. The need of CB is less important than the need for a holding midfielder just because at the CB we will suffer “IF”. The holding midfielder is a department that needs support without any “if”.

-Right back: I would have preferred getting a right back who can also play as a Center back as a backup for Alves and a solution for the Center back delaminate. May be lack of options in one hand and Adriano’s versatility in the other hand made his deal a more tempting option. Generally speaking, Adriano is a good backup. Not only because he can play as a right back (though admittedly he didn’t serve there that often), but also because his versatility will save him from Alves eagerness to play each and every game. We can’t expect Alves to accept a bench role for many games. Adraino can give him some rest when it’s a must. When Alves is not available, another offense driven fullback like Adriano can help keeping the system without urgent modifications (which wasn’t the case with Puyol playing there). But it will not be a surprise if Maxwell ended up being Alves backup with Adriano serving on the left instead. Keeping in mind that Bartra is probably the most promising youth we have, and he can play as a fullback. No concerns there. 

-Holding midfielder: We need to sign a player there. No question about it. Busquets is a great option. But the only one. What makes this position more fragile is that we don’t have enough depth in the Center back department to consider Pique as a holding midfielder option, and we don’t have enough midfielders to count Keita as an option as well. If we will only sign one more player, that’s where to strengthen.

-Center Midfield: One more signing there may not hurt. But If we buy a holding midfielder, I don’t think we really need to spend on any more players in the midfield. The tricky point is the playing time. If you sign a player you need to make sure he plays enough. Iniesta, Keita and Xavi rotating on two positions is not a good idea. But with a new holding midfielder, Busquets can have playing time rotating with the three as well. Thiago and Jonathan will get their playing share. If needed, Barcelona can use an offense of Villa-Ibra-Pedro and use Messi as an attacking midfielder. Even Pedro can serve there. It may need lot of daring to say it, but why not giving Hleb another round to prove his quality. How much can we get for him? Not enough to bring another midfielder anyway (that’s if needed). If Pep can have a talk with him and if he is willing to whine less and put more effort to earn playing time, then we must go for it. The guy has more quality than he is rated. Some good games next season and he either settle in the squad or we sell him for a better price than his current value. There is a risk, but it’s reasonable. 

-Offense is complete. I’ve heard that Ibra is leaving. I don’t buy it. He doesn’t buy it. So regardless of Sandro’s wishes, the guy is staying. Beside the names mentioned above in the offense line, we may even use Adriano on the flank when needed. Maxwell and Iniesta are additional options as well. And I am still waiting the late bloomer Rochina. Have good hopes on this one. But I can finish with a crazy idea: Loan (Don’t buy) Loan Robinho for one season with an option to buy. Both Man city and the player may not reject this chance. No risk beside his salary for a season. Regardless of how far we rate him as a player, he certainly can deliver enough to earn that salary.

How to spend the 40 million? Sell Marquez and Caseres (if Pep will not use him anyway) and Hleb if he insist on Hlebbing. That will increase the budget to somewhere a bit over 60 Million. Buy Étienne Capoue or Javier Martínez (Athletic Bilbao) and Bruno Alves (Porto). If we saved some change, we can go for Anthony Annan (Rosenborg BK.).

That will be more or less my dream team for next season. The possibility of having that squad is the same as the possibility of waking up with 40 M on your bed.

  

Posted by Ramzi on 05:36. Filed under Barcelona, Football, Ramzi, transfers . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0