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As Barcelona failed to reach the finals of the Champions League for the second straight year, it became rather apparent in European club football that the team from the terraces of Catalonia was displaced off its perch. Having been knocked out by a lesser favoured Chelsea team in 2012, Barcelona was looking to make amends in 2013. But unexpected by many, the Blaugrana faltered at the penultimate hurdle of Europe once again.
This summer, Barcelona coveted the headlines of the transfer window once again.
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Having scouted him for a long time, the club’s transfer of Neymar from his boyhood club, Santos, lured in enough limelight. The striker, without a doubt, is speculated to be the next face of South American football. He dances with his feet to the tune of Samba music, often ridiculing his opponents. When he steps forward for a free kick or any set piece for that matter, not many will want to bet against the outcome going in his favour. If world football needed a newer sensation to endorse, it now does.
Neymar isn’t only to be revered for his footballing ingenuity. His marketability is sky-rocketing, and so is his cult following. As we dwell more and more into the incredibility of this heralded sensation, it seems to make sense that Barcelona were right to splurge a gargantuan load of money on him.
But critics like me can raise several questions. Will Neymar fit in the Barcelona system? Of course, he will, considering his prowess is as good if not better than anyone in the game today. But is he who Barcelona really need at the moment? Quite dubiously – NO! And here is the simple reason as to why:
When Bayern Munich humiliated Barcelona in last season’s Champions League, the Catalan’s unscathed weaknesses were beginning to be exposed. Not only did Tito Vilanova’s side fail to dominate its German opponents in the middle of the pitch, but they were blemished within their own half itself.
What went horribly wrong against Bayern Munich? Barcelona posed no threat in swindling back the possession, where they were outplayed, out marked and outwitted in every set piece of the contest. It wasn’t because the team is affluently known to possess a hem of pace and speed instead of physical superiority, but more due to the lacklustre display of its defence.
For years, the club has been presumed with to fulfil its need in bringing an assertive centre back. By assertive, I mean a player who can command set pieces in attack and sketch up offensive plays without just fortressing the defence.
In 2011, Dmytro Chygrynskiy looked to be the man, but a string of injuries combined with his imminent offloading back to Shakhtar, meant he wasn’t quite near to cementing his place in the side. This past season, the club slotted in Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano as make shift centre backs. While the duo settled into their new-found positions, there was a lesson to be learned. That being when two players playing out of position to just quench a problem elsewhere, it certifies the impetus for Barcelona to mould or perhaps, buy a centre back of repute.
Another concern for Barcelona’s defence is the acrimonious need to replace Carlos Puyol. The centre back isn’t just the captain of the club but he has carried the defence on his back for nearly two decades. Once Puyol retires, Gerald Piqué will be tasked with commandeering the back four. But Barcelona need to transfer in a centre back with enough experience to smoothly avow the threshold from Puyol to his counterpart, Piqué.
The Catalans’ recent history in the transfer market evinces more towards their interest in strengthening the backbones of offence. While it is evident that the triumvirate of Iniesta, Messi, and Xavi foster a partnership beyond the kins of footballing mankind, Barcelona’s efforts to support them in defence has often backfired for the team.
2009 was the year that the club rewrote eulogies for itself by surmounting the sextuple. Winning with a team boasting the best player in the world and a close second aiding him from the heart of midfield, definitely helped. But what shouldn’t be forgotten was the effectiveness of the plethora of central defensive quality Barcelona could field from its depth.
Gerard Pique need a reliable partner
Back then, Rafael Marquez was dissimilar to his rusty self today and Gabriel Milito was an impeccable reader of the game. Carlos Puyol was as always the lion of the defence, and Gerald Piqué was hitting his prime form. Now, four years later, Messi is still the world’s best player but two of the back four playing back then, ply their trades elsewhere. This ultimately triggered the collapse for the club’s successes, thanks to a dearth of quality in a position, which a pundit rightfully describes as the primary kernel of football.
There is still a month remaining in the transfer window for Barcelona. If the club is to spend any more glitzy money in this transfer window, it should be on soldering its defence. Having just shelled out a cash box to snag Neymar, Barcelona may not be back in the transfer market unless they follow the basic financial equation – you sell in order buy.
But given its ability to unfathomably attract world class talent, the Catalans should reorient its priorities in building a core in defence – instead of making do with make shift centre backs. And having a surplus of strikers who can be assets of leverage in the transfer window, Tito Vilonova and the club management should redeem such value. Why? So that the club can poach in a centre back of top quality.
Last season, the club finished as league champions but remarkably failed to secure silverware elsewhere. The boardroom must have learned a lesson or two from that underwhelm – that Messi and his magma of talent cannot perennially carry the team single-handedly, neither can the team function efficiently without solidifying the heart of its defence.
For Barcelona and its loyal fans, the greater concern now is to dwindle on its jaded centre back position than bring in an influx of attacking options. At least the fans of the illustrious club would hope so if Barcelona is to circumvent its dominance over Europe all over again.
