Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Daniel Agger, Mats Hummels, Nevan Subotic.. The list goes on. These are all players, more specifically centre-backs that FC Barcelona has, or has been rumoured to have tried to get to Camp Nou. So far none of the deals have worked out. And now it seems that it won't work out in the future either. Barca will be left without a new centre-back once again.
In a recent press conference new boss Gerardo Martino told that Barca will not be buying a defender during this transfer window. In fact he said that Barca doesn't need a centre-back, because they already have so many.
Well, let's take a look shall we:
Carles Puyol: a great player, yes. But there's no way to deny that he is getting older and that means that his speed is not the same, his stamina is not the same plus he's so prone to injuries that Barca really needs a solid back up for him.
Gerard Pique: not much to say about him. Has all the talent to be one of the very best defenders in the world and sometimes he is, but sometimes he seems so distracted while playing that I have several times wondered if he even realizes he's on the field. I don't mean to be harsh, I really love Pique, in fact he's one of my very favourite players, but it's just frustrating to watch that he doesn't always live up to his full potential.
Marc Bartra: My favourite, favourite youngster. So talented, so adorable, so Barca. In 2-5 years, I'm sure, he'll be spectacular. But right now he's still a little inexperienced and especially in the big games he shouldn't be put under too much pressure. I worry that if Puyol gets injured it's very likely that Bartra will replace him and I just feel that that's too much responsibility. A player as young as him should be allowed to grow in peace and let play in the big games little by little. Without a new centre-back I fear that he'll be forced to take on a bigger role than he's ready for.
Javier Mascherano and Adriano: Both good players, but neither of them is a real centre-back. And we can't really expect from them the same we would from someone who's a proper defender.
So, obviously, this post shows that I don't completely agree with Martino's opinion on Barca not having a need for a new centre-back. I still do, however, see where he's coming from. With both pursuits of David Luiz and Daniel Agger ending up in failure I do get why he doesn't want to spend more time luring players he has no chance of getting. Barca is running out of candidates as well as time and forcing a deal with someone who's not even their first choice could be a disaster.
I just worry that we won't be any stronger next season than we were in the previous one. Bayern Munich is showing no chance of getting weaker, in fact the oppisite really. New coach, new signings.. It's hard to see what could go wrong.
And our biggest enemy Real Madrid will be back in business for sure. With the crazy Mou gone and with new signings such as Isco it would be hard to believe that we wouldn't have to work are butts off if we want to win La Liga again.
Real and Bayern of course aren't the only competitors. Pretty much every big team in Europe has spent the summer getting better and stronger for next season. Barca is really going to need that famous team spirit to compete with that!
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