Keita was no doubt one of the most underrated players at Barcelona during his first season with the club. One of my first posts on Pep’s blog was about Keita’s role and importance for Pep and the team. It will sound strange for those who followed my posts and comments in the past two years that I even consider offloading this player. But it’s nice to be unpredictable!
Taking the current squad in consideration, there is no way we can survive without Seydou. But there are lot of rumors that we will buy Özil for something between 10 and 15 million. And we already know-regardless of all the media conservative speeches the club and pep are making so far- we WILL buy a holding midfielder. In that case, the smartest thing to do is selling the 31 years old player this season. We will have Xavi, Iniesta, Ozil, beside the contribution of Thiago and Jonathan. We will also need to use Messi there for some games to give more opportunities for the likes of Pedro, Jeffren, and Bojan to play alongside Ibra and Villa. If we signed a player of Mascherano’s quality then Busquets can do the Keita thing when needed. He is more than capable to do so.In fact, I mentioned few weeks ago that if we can buy Moussa Sissoko then I won’t mind selling Keita. Taking all that in consideration, we may struggle more to find playing time for all of them with Keita more than the team will struggle without Keita.
If we don’t buy a holding midfielder, forget it. Even if we buy both Özil and Cesc, none of them can do the Keita thing. Busquets can. The main boundary that will make us hesitate to sell him is that he is coming from a great season. Yet, that’s exactly why this is the best time to sell. Teams like Juventus and Milan will be more than willing to pay the cash demanded. One more season with less playing time, a one-year-older Keita will lose lot of its market value without contributing enough to make it worth.
In football, sport perspective must take the priority. But if a solid sport approach can fulfill the needs with a better business strategy, that’s perfection.
