Without financial resources – all the money in the levers had already been burned in the summer of 2022 on players like Lewandowski, Rapinha and Koundé – Barcelona invested only 3.4 million in reinforcements in the 2023 transfer market. A few more months Later, in January, Vitor Roque joined in exchange for another 40. Kimmich and Bernardo Silva did not arrive, nor did Juan Foyth. They were the three players who, from Xavi Hernández’s staff, had been marked as a priority. It was not a question of names, but also of positions, especially pivot and right back. To replace Sergio Busquets, who did not want to renew his contract and took refuge in Inter Miami with Leo Messi, the economic option (3.4 million) of Oriol Romeu was chosen instead of Kimmich. The former Girona midfielder has played 33 games, but only 1,371 minutes. A regular starter at the beginning of the campaign, his role on the team has practically fallen into ostracism.
Something similar happened with Bernardo Silva as with Kimmich. Although the Portuguese was open to negotiating his contract, Barça could not even begin to talk to Manchester City. Gündogan then appeared, a zero-cost signing that Jordi Cruyff, then the technical secretary of the Barça entity, had worked on in silence. Gündogan is precisely the best signing that Barcelona made last summer. Unless, that’s what his numbers reflect: he is the player who has played the most minutes on Xavi Hernández’s team: 3,731. The German’s rapid prominence has become a kind of boomerang, important in the game, too demanding of his teammates in front of the microphones. If not, ask Araujo, identified by Gündogan as one of those responsible for the elimination in the Champions League against PSG. “Being one less so soon kills you in the game,” the German protested the Uruguayan’s expulsion against PSG. “Gündogan has been here for two days and he thinks he has the right to go around pointing at his teammates,” complained one of the young people in the Barça squad.
There is no Barça footballer, in any case, who has been more in the spotlight than João Cancelo. In a key week for Barcelona, in which their future in the Champions League was at stake and, as a consequence, their last hope of qualifying for the Club World Cup (50 million financial reward), in addition to seeking to scare Real Madrid in the League, The Portuguese side was left on the canvas. First ignored by Dembélé, then by Lucas Vázquez.
The defender, sharp when he goes on the attack, is left without resources when he has to retreat. Even Ronald de Boer, in his broadcast on Dutch television, pointed out against the side in the last classic: “Now I know why Pep Guardiola didn’t want Cancelo. This guy plays his own game of soccer. “He thinks the only thing that matters is what you do with the ball…”
Cancelo’s problem at City, however, was more in the locker room than on the field. “He never learned to manage Pep’s leadership,” they describe the Portuguese’s situation in the English team. Then, with no place in Manchester, Jorge Mendes found him a luxury alternative: Barcelona. It was not exactly the priority of the coaching staff. Xavi’s idea was to incorporate a defensive side, basically because he already had Alejandro Balde in the left sector, who was repositioned as a winger in the 3-4-3 that Barcelona draws when attacking. And, for that reason, the Barça coach’s bet was on Foyth, a central defender converted into a full-back. A situation similar to that of Koundé, although with the Argentine the reproaches were avoided. “It doesn’t bother me to play as a winger, but everyone knows that I’m a center back,” the Frenchman complained. An attitude that Araujo joined in: “I don’t like playing as a winger.”
But for Foyth they had to open their wallets and Barcelona found no better option than to call Mendes. There was a toll, of course: João Félix. What was expected happened: neither of them changed. That is to say, the forward, discontinuous in the game and without defensive commitment when the team loses the ball, agreed with Diego Simeone, while the full-back did the same with Guardiola. The consequences were first paid by Koundé – he had to play as a winger again – and then by Xavi. And it seemed that the coach had found his place in Cancelo.
Bucket’s injury
When Balde was injured, Cancelo found his place as a left back. At least, that’s what it seemed like. The Portuguese was so happy that he had asked those around him to do everything possible so that he could continue his career in Barcelona. “I love the city, the club and the team. I would like to stay here three or four years,” he said. But PSG and Dembélé appeared. “People say everything,” Cancelo denounced in an interview with ESPN, before the classic; “There are comments on Instagram wishing death to my daughter, who has not yet been born. “They don’t think about the person behind the footballer they see on television.” Five days later it was the turn of Lucas Vázquez and Madrid. Always with the same signal: I cancel.
At Barcelona they assure that Xavi’s decision – now he does not rule out continuing – will not alter their planning. They know, in any case, that the coach wants reinforcements. With the exception of Gündogan (33 years old), last summer’s ones did not work. The sports management works with the idea that Joan Laporta will balance the numbers on the balance sheet and thus they will be able to return to the one-for-one rule (one euro of salary bill can enter for each one that leaves), while they decide whether or not to renew the contracts. transfers of Félix and Cancelo, in addition to defining the future of Oriol Romeu, Iñigo Martínez and Vitor Roque.
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