Barcelona might be facing extreme financial misfortune however, that is apparently not going to stop them from investing in new talents. The Catalans managed to sign talented Spanish forward, Ferran Torres, from Manchester City this week. They are also planning on signing a new centre-back and a new right-back next season but for that to happen, they will need some more fundings, plus they need to let go of some of their top stars. The main problem with the Catalans is not their debt but the fact that they have a payroll that exceeds La Liga’s salary cap. They are well aware of this fact however, reports suggest that Xavi Hernandez is against selling two underperforming stars.
In this time of turmoil, no one can be classified as untouchable. Everyone needs to fight for their place and the people who are not performing according to expectations should be shown the door. Players such as Samuel Umtiti, Philippe Coutinho, Luke de Jong and Clement Lenglet are just a few of Barca’s underperforming superstars. They have a high wage however, their impact on the team is negligible. Frenkie de Jong and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are also two big names who have not been performing well and they were on the transfer list till a few days ago.
Xavi wants to keep both Frenkie de Jong and Ter Stegen
Both of these players are superstars in the footballing world and although they are not performing well now, they still have a lot of value and could have made the Catalans a lot of money. Now, Xavi has decided that the players are in fact too valuable to let go of and he wants to work on their confidence in order to get the best out of them. The German shot-stopper is one of the best in the world and he just needs to get out of the slump in order to start performing consistently again.
De Jong on the other hand never really got the same consistency and form that he had back at Ajax, however, last season he was one of the most important players for the club and he has a lot of potential if utilized properly. Loss after loss and not performing to the levels expected of you can hamper any player’s confidence and this is the case for both of these players. Xavi needs to inspire them to bring out their best form again and although this might be a big task, keeping these two superstars can help the club in the long run, as these are two established players who have built chemistry with their teammates and have the will to fight for the club.
Should Xavi Hernandez treat De Jong and Ter Stegen as untouchables?