The Barcelona Summer Wish List, the Pre-Post Post

By: Isaiah | May 9th, 2007

I looked at Barcelona’s roster and I’ve come up with a short list of those I expect to leave this summer: Motta, Ezquerro, Saviola.

I list these because they seem to already be on their way out. Ezquerro rarely plays and Motta was sent home for a while. Saviola, of course, has had a well-publicized lack of an offer from Barcelona and so he’ll go somewhere else and I don’t really blame him. Apparently he’s just not part of Barcelona’s plans for the future, despite his obvious talents. I, for one, am quite disappointed about that because he’s proven several times that he’s able to make a difference in games. But perhaps the desire for first-team football would draw him away anyway. After all, he won the UEFA Cup with Sevilla last year and he’ll no doubt want to repeat those performances somewhere other than Barcelona where he’s forced to watch from the bench as others accomplish everything in his place.

There is, of course, high potential for others leaving, but I hope we hold onto most of the main starters. Sure, several of the players had tough years both on the field and in the locker room, but there hasn’t been anything too destructive that we can see from the outside looking in. Rumors of Eto’o and Rijkaard splitting are what they are and they’re probably not too wrong as both men are proud and Eto’o at least believes he’s Barcelona’s savior, regardless of what he may have told the press. We welcomed him back with open arms as fans, I think, and perhaps he’ll repay that with sticking around and helping win more championships. Cover for him is a pretty high priority since Guddie seems to have failed at adapting to the system. Perhaps he’ll be better next year and certainly he has the talent, but they need results and he hasn’t delivered them with enough consistency to be considered the number two option up front.

The idea of losing 3 strikers in a single off-season is somewhat horrific, but so long as we keept Eto’o and he stays healthy, we’ll be fine. As Linda pointed out in a comment, the biggest need the team has right now is in the midfield. I tend to agree, but I’m not sure how to approach this question. The triangle of Iniesta, Xavi, and Deco is extremely solid, but if Deco leaves (he loves London, after all) then certainly another midfielder is necessary. A healthy and in-form Marquez would certainly aid the defensive “woes” that Barcelona have been facing recently (third fewest goals allowed in La Liga) and no doubt that stronger backline would increase the number of chances, goals, and ultimately the number of wins for the team. That said, there is a hole in the defensive midfield spot, especially assuming Motta is gone; it would be great to fill it with a player who would step over Edmilson into the starting role. A quick list of viable options would probably be headed by Essien, but there are enough strong defensive midfielders out there that it’s not necessary to spend the kind of money it would probably take to get Essien. I admit I don’t know his contract status, so perhaps it’s merely a question of signing him, in which case we should be all over that. (And you wikipedia-savvy interweb readers out there could point out that he’s listed as a “box-to-box midfielder” but regardless of what wikipedia says, I think of him as a ball winner rather than a playmaker. Very Emerson-esque in a lot ways, except better. Who Ate All the Pies mentions Daniele De Rossi in their post about ManU’s needs, but I’m not quite as keen on him as Ollie seems to be. Still, not a bad thought and if it weren’t for that elbow to the face he gave Brian McBride in the World Cup, I’d probably be more into him. Stupid personal biases.

Just a quick thought that doesn’t really apply to this conversation at all: Would you want a Joey Barton in your midfield? I wouldn’t and at some 10 million dollars (5.5m GBP, whatever the horrendous exchange rate is) doesn’t that seem a prohibitively expensive timebomb? Not even like it’s a cheap one.

Back to Barca: Does the defense need additions? Marquez has been terrible this year relatively speaking, but Thuram has stepped up his game quite considerably and Puyol is, well, Puyol. I assume he can remain the force he’s always been for the next 3 decades, so we’ll just focus on the wings for right now. If Thuram goes, that changes the things, but for now, wings. I said that already, pay attention. Like everyone else on earth, it seems, I’m in love with Daniel Alves and while reiterating that seems like overkill, there’s no reason not to drop his name into any discussion about defenders. Otherwise I think Zambrotta is solid on the right, but Gio and Sylvinho aren’t shining as brightly as they used to, especially Sylvinho, and cover on that side should be pretty high on the list. Alves has proven versatile enough to switch to left and Zambrotta too can cover that side, but the latter is certainly more anchored to the right. I have to consider this position a little bit more to get a good list together.

The children are starting to grow, but will they make any sort of impact next year? I’m talking specifically about Giovanni Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, the development of the latter has been monumental, but it’s highly doubtful that he’ll be ready for any sort of regular first team appearances next year. Dos santos is an interesting case to me as he’s been touted as the greatest player in Mexico for several years, but has failed to achieve any success beyond the youth teams. That’s understandable since he’s only 17 and could definitely develop like Messi did (though I don’t think Dos Santos is as talented), but so far he hasn’t really proven anything. [A quick note: While I was living in Mexico, his name was repeatedly bandied about as the future of Mexican soccer, especially when he joined up with Barcelona and ended up playing in a couple of the exhibition games the club played in Mexico last summer. A few friends and I discussed his potential and despite the fact that it was far too early to tell if he was really going to be the phenom the media was making him out to be, everyone seemed convinced that he was the latest, greatest footballing diety. So, while we shouldn't expect too much out of Gio #2, here's a little bit of why they were saying such things. It's just one game, but it shows his superb vision and strength. He's very Ronaldinho-esque, to be honest. If that's too long for you, here's a random goal he scored for Barcelona.]

Certainly this is not complete, merely the beginnings of a much longer and more in-depth end-of-season post. For now, it will have to do since there’s a little matter of the Copa del Rey to talk about next.