Barcelona, a divergence from tried and trusted club traditions
Barcelona’s 2017-18 season started with a whimper, and many would argue that it ended in one as well.
Ernesto Valverde’s first few competitive games in charge saw his side roll over to arguably the strongest Madrid squad in a decade. The Barca board had questions to answer, many of which they simply chose to ignore, and their team’s biggest rival’s immense success laid their own shortcomings for the world to see.
Fast forward 8 months later, and Barcelona have cruised to the league title with only one loss (a loss that will forever haunt this side), and a Copa del Rey. A season that started off with uncertainty ended with unimaginable success.
But Barcelona fans who are used to seeing their side compete on three different fronts on a regular basis, saw their side give up the initiative in the Champions League to a dogged and determined Roma team, and worse still, saw their most hated rivals lift it for the third time in a row.
The season has just about ended, but already Barcelona have to deal with a new set of problems, arguably bigger in scale than the Neymar one they faced last summer.
Iniesta’s departure has left a giant crater-like hole for Barcelona to fill up, and the board need to act swiftly to ensure that happens. If the haphazard public relations disaster after that Neymar transfer is any indicator as to what the future has in store, Barcelona fans have very few reasons to be optimistic.
Yes they have signed Phillipe Coutinho who has started to shine already, finishing the season with a flurry of stunning goals and assists. Yes they have signed Ousmane Dembele, who despite his slip ups this season has shown glimpses of his talent.
There’s loads of talk about his future, but it seems clear that he’s going to hang around for at least another season. Should he perform, and there’s no reason besides injury that he wouldn’t, the future will look a lot brighter.
With Antoine Griezmann touted as a long term Luis Suarez replacement all set to come in, there does seem a glimmer of hope. However it is the method to this galactico type madness that has Barcelona fans concerned.
These deals only serve the purpose of burying a disgusting underbelly that the board continues to hide under sponsorship money and big talk.
This squad has been the weakest Barcelona side since before Frank Rijkaard took over, and one or two big name signings isn't going to be enough to paper over the cracks anymore.
Former President Joan Laporta destroyed the current board in an extremely candid interview highlighting just what is wrong with the club today.
Any fan of Barcelona can see the pride felt under Laporta being ripped apart by the money making ventures of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Laporta’s immediate successor Sandro Rossell is currently in jail for a number of financial crimes, one of which was alleged to be irregularity in the Neymar deal, and now Bartomeu has taken over to continue generating revenue, tying in with Japense e-commerce giants Rakuten and spitting on the history of the club.
Every bit of honour and pride at having a shirt sponsor like Unicef is being destroyed everyday by Bartomeu.
What of La Masia? The club and its fans have often been criticized for it’s haughtily expressed “Mes que un club”, having been one of the few clubs without a shirt sponsor prior to Unicef. Additionally boasting an academy that was one of the best in the world represented a clear philosophy and an idea.
Promote from within, invest in your own blood and success will arrive. But this season saw the first time in a decade that not even 1 out of 11 players that took to the field in a competitive match was an academy graduate.
Sergi Roberto is the last player from La Masia to really create an impact and he made his debut 8 years ago now. The Alcantara brothers have been shipped out, much to the dismay of Barcelona fans including myself.
Denis Suarez has seen so much mileage around Europe despite being just 24 and Sergi Samper’s injury problems have stagnated his growth recently.
The irony here is that the youth teams Barca possess currently don’t lack any talent, epitomized perfectly by the Juvenil A team sweeping to another Uefa Youth League title.
It is the board's misuse of the players and the disconnect between the on the ground work and behind the curtain deals that have caused the club’s vision fracture
In Abel Ruiz, Carles Alena, Marc Cardona, Marc Cucurella and Oriol Busquets, Barcelona have a talented prospect in every position. Additionally, Riqui Puig, Alejandro Marques, Carles Peres and Alex Collado all had stunning seasons in the Uefa Youth League this year. Each one of these players deserve a shot at rebuilding the squad over the next few seasons.
But with Sergio Gomez moving to Borussia Dortmund and Jordi Mboula moving to AS Monaco, it is becoming clear that these players wouldn’t be opposed to moves abroad and thus it wouldn’t be a surprise if more young talent get poached away.
The fact that Riqui Puig recently came out to say that he sees his future at Barcelona is a huge coup for the club because the vultures had already begun circling.
Valverde in the mean time has also announced that Alena and potentially Oriol Busquets will be a part of the first team set up, but with the way the last few summers have gone, you will have to forgive Barca fans for having little faith.
So what happened that really changed the philosophy of the club to such a large degree?
Barcelona’s peak success occurred under Pep Guardiola as manager and Joan Laporta as club president. There was perfect symmetry in vision between the two, and that led to Barcelona functioning ruthlessly and efficiently. Appeasing fans, board members and players, while being true to the club’s history and identity.
The managers that followed Guardiola did bring silverware to club, but had Sandro Rossell and Josep Maria Bartomeu to deal with. Apart from Tito Villanova, none of the managers really tried to maintain the club’s identity.
Bartomeu had hidden in the shadows immediately after taking over as President, but his restructuring of the board and dictatorial style of leadership has led to much loved Barcelona technical staff members such as Carles Puyol, Raul Sanllehi, and Albert Soler leave the club.
The Neymar transfer saw the Barcelona players side with their former teammate rather than the club, as a legal war began to take shape.
Young talent have started to realize that their time is limited in the modern game and are seeking assurances abroad, assurances that Barcelona’s board no longer seems intent on giving them.
Instead Bartomeu is hell bent on bringing a galactico type setup to the club that will boost its brand overseas, this has caused friction between players and backroom staff and was one of the reasons behind the calamitous last minute pulling out of the Jean Michael Seri deal last summer as Seri wasn’t seen as a big enough name.
Meanwhile Bartomeu was the reason Dani Alves left the club, and it is his horrendous decision making that could also see Samuel Umtiti leave despite him saying he doesn’t want to.
Even if Clement Lenglet is signed as a replacement for Umtiti, it is the rash decision making that has fans concerned. Trust and patience; two major keys to Barcelona’s success in the past, are being thrown out the door in favour of small-scale, ego-gratifying victories.
The over-dependence on Messi has been a clear problem that has not been answered, and rather than promote from within, the board has gone after signings like Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer who have been spectacular failures.
Iniesta’s departure is symbolic in more ways than one, because along with Sergio Busquets and Leo Messi, Iniesta was the last real personification of what Barcelona is supposed to be. Now with the last two in their 30s and no successors in sight, Iniesta’s departure could lead to a total extinction of the traditions of the club..
The fans deserve more than this, and the players deserve trust from the very top. That has always been the Barcelona way and Valverde needs to wrestle control away from the board and cement his own vision in order for that to happen.
To be fair to Ernesto Valverde, he has managed to swerve the boards curve balls and gone about his business silently. This season posed many challenges, and he overcame most of them, delivering a much better than expected end to the season.
He deserves time to truly implement his vision, but his practical approach needs to be balanced out by the traditions of the club.
Real Madrid have now won 3 Champions League titles in a row, and in each of those years Barcelona was knocked out in the quarter finals. Barcelona have won the league and cup, but the standard for a club of their size is the Champions League.
This needs to be rectified and it is all Valverde will be judged on next season. Failure to improve in the Champions League will see a fan mutiny larger than imagined possible.
This season has still been a success for Barcelona, but unless there is a renaissance of the club's traditional values, the future seems very bleak.