Well, after another record-breaking season for Barcelona, and another league title and Champions League trophy to add to their overflowing trophy cabinet, Barcelona are back in the transfer market once more, Poised to buy players to try and improve their already near perfect starting 11.
They reportedly have a very respectable 45 million to spend, and President Sandro Rosell claims that this budget could be surpassed if needed to acquire their top targets, who currently seem to be Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez, and Giuseppe Rossi.
But what confuses me is... Do they really need to bring any players in? And should they bring in the likes of Rossi and Sanchez, how would they fit into the team?
In my honest opinion I can't see Giuseppe Rossi being picked ahead of David Villa and Sanchez would have to be playing unbelievably well to displace the likes of Messi and Pedro. Any one of the players linked with Barca would be expecting regular first team football but with the recent success of the current first 11, I can't see anyone who's just been signed just walking into the team.
There is almost no doubt that Barcelona will stick with the 4-3-3 that has served them so well since Guardiola arrived, and there is even less doubt that Messi will remain the center forward following another mind-blowing season from the forward. Pedro, as a player Guardiola coached from the reserve team to the first team, is also seen as a Guardiola favorite and likely untouchable. I feel there could be a re-occurrence of the mistake Guardiola made when he first came to the club.
The 2008-09 season saw Samuel Eto'o score a massive 36 goals and chip in with 6 assists. Arguably his best season to date and alongside Messi and Thierry Henry lead the Catalan Giants to the treble. But apparently the manager wasn't happy and this resulted in the swap deal between Barcalona and Inter as Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic going in opposite directions. I couldn't understand why the change had been made as Eto'o had done so well the season before.
I guess it showed as Ibrahimovic flopped at the champions while Eto'o formed a deadly strike partnership with Diego Milito and helped lead Inter to domestic and European success. If it was not for the brilliance of Messi and the newly found Pedro, the signing of the Swedish striker could have cost Barcalona the league. David Villa came in the next season and has done well but it does prompt the question... Will they try and replace him too?
In my view they should't. The team is one of the best in footballing history and the likes of Puyol and Xavi are getting a bit older I still believe they have enough class and quality to guide the team to yet another league success. I strongly feel that the front 3 of Messi, Pedro and Villa should remain the same as well. Yes Rossi and Sanchez are good player but all it will do is upset the balance of the squad and possibly cause the same problems that the purchase of Zlatan Ibrahimovic did.
Fabregas should be the only player they should look to bring in as he is the long term replacement for Xavi and it should be a straight swap. The squad has enough strength in depth and the Barca academy is always bringing out the best youngsters in the world so the future will always look bright for Barcalona. What I am trying to say is, The team is broken, there is nothing wrong. So don't try and fix something that does not need to be fixed.
Matt Cooper
No comments:
Post a Comment