I sat on my couch, anxiously waiting. Barcelona were about to play their 1st match of the preseason against Celtic. Perhaps it was rather fruitless encounter, but I was still feverish nonetheless. Barcelona were back!
I knew most of Barça’s star players weren’t playing; they were still on vacation. But I was still excited to see the new addition of Denis Suárez, the Barça B youngsters, and Messi. Always Messi. Amidst all the palpable excitement, there was one man I didn’t care to see: Jérémy Mathieu.
The Frenchman is one of the most polarizing players in the squad. Some fans hate him, and the others kinda hate him. I myself side with the latter. Not because I don’t like the guy. He’s just so frustrating to watch. Mathieu is the type of person who stands out at Barcelona. He just doesn’t belong. It’s like Kobe Bryant at the past few All Star games. Or Mason Plumlee ending up on the 2014 world cup basketball team. Undeserving candidates that take a spot from someone more worthy. That’s the situation Jérémy Mathieu is in.
Each season, Mathieu has steadily been getting worse and worse. He’s gotten slower and reckless. We never viewed him as a footballing genius out there, but his decisions this season have been more appalling than usual. Most of his passes seem to be intercepted quite easily. Look no further than the aforementioned Celtic game. In the game’s early minutes, Mathieu blatantly gifted the ball to Celtic’s Patrick Roberts right in front of goal. Luckily, the ball didn’t find the net. Not exactly starting off on the right foot.
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Mathieu’s fortunes haven’t mitigated yet, much to the dismay of fans. His outings vs Leicester City and Liverpool didn’t restore confidence for the supporters. The mundane preseason for Mathieu came to a halt with a hamstring injury in the 1st leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Doctors said he would be out roughly 3 weeks. This was just an unsurprising event in a tedious dilemma.
Here’s the dilemma. Mathieu is so far from the typical quality of a Barcelona defender. He’s quite poor on the ball and never seems confidant when in possession. Compare that to his counterpart Samuel Umtiti, and there’s a sizeable difference. The latter has shown he isn’t timid on the ball and won’t hesitate to build from the back. Whenever Mathieu plays, it just seems like the ball is passed from side to side. There aren’t any passes that penetrate through the heart of the opposition. Umtiti also shows his dribbling skills by running down the middle of the pitch, in an attempt to collapse the defense. Yeah, Mathieu doesn’t do that.
So you might be asking yourself, why was he signed in the first place?
In the summer of 2014, Barcelona lost club icon Carles Puyol to retirement. Barça was in a dire need of defensive help after this. Hence, why Jérémy Mathieu was brought in. He’s a experienced defender and provides a veteran presence. However, he only had so much left to offer. If he can’t offer adequate defending, he’s a plague to your team.
Mathieu’s best season so far was unquestionably 2014/2015. The defender repaid the trust Luis Enrique showed him with some impressive performances. Particularly against Real Madrid and Celta Vigo.
But after an admirable first season, it’s been all down hill since. No longer gifted with the pace he once had, Mathieu has been more susceptible to poor positioning. He’s often caught out of position and has to chase his man. In terms of just defending, there are certainly worse candidates. He’s still relatively skilled at tackling, and is always willing to throw his body out in front of a challenge. But with diminished physical traits, he’s had to adapt to playing a more mental game. And that’s the catalyst for disaster.
To play for Barcelona, a defender needs to be calm in possession and adept at building play from the back. Unfortunately, Mathieu has neither of those two traits. So a declining player with minimal ball skills. Not the ideal Barça player.
Yet, Jérémy Mathieu still finds himself as a Barcelona player. Why? Well, cause too many Barcelona defenders have left. Marc Bartra’s release clause was met by Borussia Dortmund, so Barcelona had no choice but to let him go. Thomas Vermaelen joined Roma on a season long loan because he could never stay healthy at Barcelona, so it’s understandable why he was let go. Whether or not he should have stayed and Mathieu sold, is another debate for another day.
Don’t even get me started about Mathieu and the LB position? Seriously, why was he played there in the Spanish Super Cup? We bought Lucas Digne for a reason!! Jeez, he’s shown bad enough performances as a CB. We don’t need anymore blown games at the hands of him.
Back to the focus at hand, Barcelona couldn’t afford to let Mathieu leave. With Bartra and Vermaelen gone, Barcelona only have 4 CB’s in the squad. For the sake of depth, Mathieu needed to stay on. I’m not so sure they have the funds to go and splash out for another signing.
While Mathieu was able to stay on the squad this summer, he probably won’t be so lucky in 2017. Either he gets the axe, or gets demoted to 5th choice CB. Bring in a younger, more exciting defender. Someone who fits the prototypical Barcelona defender. Marlon Santos, perhaps? He would cost Barcelona very little money.
Now, if Marlon came in and Mathieu left, Barcelona would still only have four CB’s. Ideally, you would like 5 in case of severe injuries. Personally, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if that player is Mathieu. He’ll still be able to contribute something. As long as he’s the 5th choice! But I wouldn’t be up in arms if he was gone as well.
I’ll always remember that first season Mathieu gave us. He proved himself worthy of being the 3rd choice CB. I always felt confident when he came on. Now, the confidence is faded and never coming back. The honest truth about Jérémy Mathieu. He isn’t what he used to be. Not even close.