Georginio Wijnaldum was one of Jurgen Klopp’s new signings at Liverpool after just one year of his arrival. The Dutchman signed for the Reds during the 2016/17 season and has been a crucial part of the starting eleven for the club ever since. The player has won the UEFA Champions League with Klopp alongside their maiden Premier League win last season after 30 years of drought.
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The Liverpool midfielder is very good considering how Klopp used him. However, there is a side to Wijnaldum which was only capitalized by Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman during his time with the Netherlands national football team. So the Dutch manager may have a few plans for the veteran midfielder. According to reputed journalist Fabrizio Romano, Wijnaldum has already left Liverpool and will be joining the La Liga giants at the Nou Camp in the coming days.
This is a fantastic signing for Barcelona given they have been financially struggling for the past two seasons. While Barca have multiple midfielders in the squad, Gini’s arrival does bring a lot of experiences to the side. They have also landed Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero according to Fabrizio, with Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia are also on the way.
Hence, we will look at five things that Georginio Wijnaldum will bring to the table at Barcelona:
#5 Work Rate
The Dutchman is extremely famous for his work rate on the pitch. He’s used to covering an average of 10 km on the pitch on a regular basis game after game. The Liverpool man covers a lot of ground and puts in a lot of energy chasing down players in order to discard them off possession.
Barcelona have very good midfielders when it comes to passing and creativity however in the case of work rate and pressing they do not have midfielders that can execute that perfectly. Only Frenkie de Jong and 18-year-old Pedri can argue about their work rate but Barca need more legs in the middle of the park.
Hence, in this department, Wijnaldum will come in very handy and the Barca midfield can finally have someone who is willing to chase players down all throughout the game.
#4 Box-to-box abilities
The former Newcastle United midfielder is one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world. During his five-year tenure at Liverpool, he’s shown his box-to-box abilities very well. Be it a UEFA Champions League tie or a regular day at the office in the premier league, Georginio Wijnaldum is always moving with the ball.
When it comes to defending he’s there to cover the ground and when it comes to attacking he’s always there as an extra option in the attack. The player has the ability to be at one end of the pitch during one time and quickly move upwards if needed.
Barcelona lack midfielders that can put in defensive shifts with Sergio Busquets getting old and Gini could be the perfect addition in that manner.
#3 Getting into the box
Wijnaldum has the ability to move well inside the box while the rest of the team is attacking. The midfielder has a talent at finding spaces within the box and position himself to score goals. While Jurgen Klopp has not made use of this ability much at Liverpool, Koeman at Barca is very well aware of this and it will be no surprise to see Wijnaldum have his hands full with attacking duties at the Nou Camp.
While the player has scored many crucial goals for Liverpool, his numbers for the club are not exactly through the roof. However, this ability was visible during his time at Newcastle and Netherlands under Ronald Koeman. When he’s playing higher up the pitch free of defensive duties, he completely changes as a player.
He gets into brilliant goal-scoring positions and he’s got top-notch finishing as well. He played an attacking role during Liverpool’s comeback at Anfield against Barcelona in the 18/19 season and he ended up scoring a brace. His ability to get into the box will be highly useful over at Barcelona.
#2 Quantity
Gini Wijnaldum will bring a lot of service to Barcelona. He can play throughout the entire season and has not known to be injury-prone. This allows the midfielder to be used all throughout the season, be it a league game or a Cup tie or a UEFA champions league tie.
Wijnaldum has the ability to survive whole seasons without succumbing to major injuries and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him gain a starting eleven spot straight away at Barca. With De Jong and Pedri the obvious choices for the other two spots, we are likely to see Busquets being benched and used as a critical substitute in the next season.
#1 Mentality
Ever since the departure of Neymar Jr, Barcelona have lacked mentality in Europe. The former Newcastle United midfielder is the perfect example of a positive mentality. The kind of mentality that is needed to win cup ties on a European level when things get tough.
Jurgen Klopp trains his players in such a way that they are able to handle any sort of situation on the pitch. Barcelona have all the quality in the world, from defense to attack they have had all the quality in the world over the years, and yet they have failed to win the UEFA Champions League. The team seems to lack mentality, they seem to not step up when it is needed the most. The Dutchman brings exactly that into the team. While it is a very underrated quality, it is very important nonetheless.
Are you excited to see Wijnaldum in a Barca shirt?