Barcelona: Defensive woes need to be addressed sooner than later

Neymar: star signing

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.

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.