Four Players Barcelona should look to buy next summer
It may not be entirely wrong to say that FC Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in Europe, is going through a period of transition. While the Catalan Giants were always considered a top team, the 2008-09 season turned them to a Football Powerhouse. An inexperienced and young Manager took over the reins from Frank Rijkaard in July 2018 and the rest, as they say, is history. Josep Guardiola, or Pep as he is popularly known, was not a front-runner to manage Barcelona. Jose Mourinho (Believe it or not) was one among the favorites to take over from Rijkaard only for the Barcelona board to change their mind at the very last minute and appoint Pep as Rijkaard’s successor.
Upon being appointed, Pep Guardiola sent shockwaves through the Camp Now faithful when he announced that Deco, Gianluca Zambrotta, Giovani dos Santos, and the fan favorite Ronaldinho would be off-loaded. Pep signed Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, and Seydou Keita, and promoted Pedro and Sergio Busquets from the B team to replace the outgoing players. It didn’t take much time for the Camp Nou faithful to jump on the Pep bandwagon as Pep’s team combined talent and skill with near flawless execution, marching their way to glory. A new era had begun and tiki-taka was the talk of the town.
Now, six years after Pep left Barcelona, most of the members of Pep’s all-conquering team have either moved on or retired and the ones who remain are well into their thirties. Yes, Barca still has one of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi and the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Marc Andre ter Stegen are still world class players, but few concerns remain.
La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy, do not produce as many world class players as it used to, forcing the club to buy their way out of trouble. Talking of buying players, many players whom Barcelona bought in recent years are still struggling to adapt to life at Camp Nou. It is evident that FC Barcelona needs to reinvent themselves and build for the future and also to prepare for the inevitable – The day Messi leaves Barcelona.
Here is a look at the players FC Barcelona should look to buy next summer, to ensure they remain in contention for years to come: