Barcelona: Defensive woes need to be addressed sooner than later

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.