Barcelona showing chinks in their potent but knackered armour

It’s not been the best of summers for the diminutive Argentinian

With Barcelona so dominating, he really wasn’t needed. Later in the year, there seemed to be some straight forward opportunities for Barca to use him, but they often opted to play Cesc Fabregas or David Villa. It appears going for 100 points in the league was a top team priority and it really was a shame we didn’t see more of this young star down the stretch.

Many have commented that he may be overrated and the next Bojan, a player that did not meet expectations. I’ve also heard these same comments about Tello, but Bojan is Bojan. Players need to be given a chance to stand on their own two feet and that appears to be what Deulofeu’s management believes also.

It appears to me that he forced his loan move to Everton. Is this move a bad move? In some ways yes and in others no, but it’s most certainly a gamble. It’s doubtful that he will fall in love with Everton and fight to stay if he flourishes, but I also worry that his growth could be stunted by the style of play.

He will certainly not be playing Barca style football, but in the same sense that might help him too. It’s a never ending debate, but I think they would have preferred the player stay in the B side if they had their way.

The club’s crown jewel Leo Messi has also come under major fire this summer. The media is always looking for juicy stories on big stars, but Messi stays out of the negative headlines. That’s why it was such a surprise to see charges brought against Messi and his father for tax evasion. It seemed clear from the start that Messi himself was likely not responsible for any financial wrong doing, but it was strange how he could have people on his staff that could allow this to happen. Whether it was intentional or not, it was a small knock on Messi’s pristine image.

Many would have thought the bad press would stop there, but it continued with the abrupt cancellation of his fund-raiser match in LA. Messi blamed it on the organizers, but it was a wonder to many how Messi would work with people that could screw an event like this up.

Again, it wasn’t his fault directly, but he had his name tagged to the event. Therefore, the media chose to take pot-shots at him for the folly. It then got worse in Chicago when Messi walked directly off the pitch after giving about 70 minutes. The amount of time played was fine, but walking right off the pitch seemed a bit arrogant.

What difference would 20 minutes of being on the sidelines or signing autographs make? What was worse was that Messi blew off a VIP engagement post-match that was also part of the fund-raising event. Yikes, not a good way to spend your summer vacation for Messi and reflected poorly on the club.

While Messi was battling his issues, Spain’s national team was competing in the Confederations Cup. The second place finish was not bad, but the way in which it happened got the Spain haters pointing out flaws like crazy. Spain has an advantage internationally because they have so many Barcelona players on the team, which allows the side to function more fluidly than most international teams.