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Lionel Messi urges Barcelona to sign Serie A’s best defender

By Ranoveer Neogi

Inter Milan's Slovakian defender Milan Skriniar (R) fights for the ball with Napoli's French defender Kalidou Koulibaly during the Italian Serie A football match Napoli vs Inter Milan on October 21 , 2017 at San Paolo stadium in Naples. / AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Inter Milan's Slovakian defender Milan Skriniar (R) fights for the ball with Napoli's French defender Kalidou Koulibaly during the Italian Serie A football match Napoli vs Inter Milan on October 21 , 2017 at San Paolo stadium in Naples. / AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Lionel Messi urges the Barcelona board to sign Serie A’s best defender from Inter Milan next season to improve the club’s defense.

With the mass outbreak of the COVID-19, there have been suspensions of most major leagues and tournaments around the world including Barcelona. The Catalan club directors and captain Lionel Messi have ample time to reflect on what has gone wrong for the club so far in the season and what actions must be taken to rectify the errors.

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Apart from the lack of squad depth due to the injury crisis in the squad, Barca has struggled in defense and has had a tough time in distributing the ball from the back.

The Blaugrana have had a poor defensive stat this season when compared to their last championship league season on 2018-19. The club has already conceded 31 league goals in 27 matches which is a poor stat as they ended last season as champions of Spain with 36 goals conceded in 38 games.

The defensive line has also been extremely inconsistent this season as Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba and Samuel Umtiti picked up injuries during the season and Nelson Semedo and Junior Firpo have not made most of the opportunities that were given to them.

Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti have also had a poor season in terms of their quality, Umtiti had a poor game against Real Madrid after Mariano breezed past the French defender to seal the win at the Santiago Bernabeu with a near-post shot.

As much as the Cule fans point fingers at the French centre-back pair for all the defensive errors, the fans fail to understand that the issue is with the number of injuries in the midfield that adds more pressure on the defenders.

Barca has also struggled in front of goal as the team has been heavily reliant on Lionel Messi, however, as long as the defensive line is not strong there will be a poor connection between the transition from defense to attack.

The top ten defenders of the world with the highest transfer market values do not include a single-player from Barcelona, hence Don Balon claims that Barca must invest in a young player with well-developed ball control skills to strengthen the backline.

Leo Messi’s choice is Inter Milan’s best defender Milan Skriniar who is also wanted by Real Madrid. The defender is valued at 70 million euros but Antonio Conte will not let him go for anything less than 100 million euros.

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The only issue for the Blaugrana is that they want two players from the same team which could be a difficult task to pull off.

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