“You can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen,” is a phrase FC Barcelona did not take into mind when analyzing the right wing. With over 250 million euros invested in the position, right-wing has become a strength for Barcelona. However, this came at the cost of having three players battling it out for one starting spot. The trio of Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha and Ferran Torres all have skill but find themselves in an overcrowded position trying to share game time.
While this competition is healthy, it does not help Barcelona given that the club’s financial situation is still difficult. So, out of the three players on the right wing, what are their strengths and who should stay at Barcelona?
Ousmane Dembele
Dembele under Xavi has finally begun to reach the potential Barcelona saw in him at Borussia Dortmund. To be frank, it has been a refreshing breath of fresh air to see Dembele gliding down the right wing with his dribbling and pace being used to full effect.
However, he is a much different style of right winger than Raphinha and Torres.
The former is a winger who hugs the right-sided touchline to provide width for the team. Unlike the other two wingers, he holds the width and doesn’t need someone else to. In addition, out of the three, he is the best dribbler and the fastest player. There are two traits Dembele bases his game on, being a freak-level athlete while having insane foot coordination. A 1v1 duel against Dembele normally ends in Dembele gliding past his opponent.
While he is an incredible isolation threat, there are more than a few flaws in Dembele’s game. First, is his reliability to stay on the field. Dembele is a rather injury-prone player, often missing a lot of games. It is almost unavoidable during the season, more of a matter of when and not if. The other issue is his current profile.
As previously mentioned, Dembele is currently a winger, yet, if he is to surpass his current level he needs to be more than an individual threat.
The best wingers are 1v1 threats while also being creative enough passers to set up chances for their teammates. Dembele excels at the former but struggles at the latter with his football mind not being fully tuned to create for others. He must continue to try and develop the attributes of a wide playmaker alongside his current skill set as a winger to become the best player he can be.
Despite the injury worries and the concern about his creativity, Dembele is the best out of all three wingers while also having the most potential. For a club going through so much instability on the economic side, it is critical to keep our best players at the club and keeping Dembele will do exactly that.
Raphinha
Coming off of his first season, Raphinha managed to net 10 goals and register 12 assists in all competitions. Even so, I still think this undersells his potential value.
Raphinha’s profile is different from Dembele’s. The latter holds the width for the team himself whereas the former cuts inside from the right wing and needs someone to keep the width for him.
Raphinha unlike Dembele is a very creative winger through his passing and excellent crossing ability. In addition, the Brazilian also has some excellent ball striking technique and can be an overperformer in his expected goals stat.
In some ways, he tends to be the anti-Dembele with his strengths being a creative wide playmaker whilst also needing someone to retain width for him when he cuts in on his favoured left foot.
Another important thing to note is Raphinha’s work rate. Xavi’s system requires a lot of runners for his press and Raphinha is a more than willing runner.
Finally, it is also important to mention that Raphinha wasn’t always able to play to his strengths and still managed to produce. Since Raphinha liked to invert, it often unbalanced the attack since no one was providing the needed width on the right. Yet, despite this structural issue for the team he managed to produce some important stats for Barcelona.
The biggest problem is that Xavi’s 3-2-2-3 box isn’t suited to the wide playmaker role Raphinha likes to play. To get the best out of Raphinha you would need to rework the system and also purchase a fullback that overlaps into the space Raphinha creates.
It’s similar to the dynamic Lionel Messi and Dani Alves had when Messi would cut inside and Alves would attack the space opened up by Messi. Xavi’s system is not that nor do we have a right back with the profile of Alves which brings me to my second point.
If we are to get the best out of Raphinha, we would also need to buy an offensive fullback to play on the right wing. While Barcelona have been linked to a right back of that profile (Ivan Fresnada) given our difficult financial situation, it does not seem likely we will have the funds to do so.
To conclude, Raphinha is also not a proficient enough 1v1 dribbler to beat his man. The domino effect as a result now becomes the team relying on someone else to either beat their man and create an advantage or find someone else to progress the ball.
Overall, Raphinha is an interesting case. Looking at both sides, you can see there is an insanely creative player who can produce even though the team around him is not completely suited to his strengths.
However, those questions about system fit loom over him and Xavi. I think despite the concerns Raphinha is a potential starting-level right winger for Barcelona. Unless a team comes in with a gigantic offer, I think Raphinha is a player worth keeping.
Ferran Torres
After a hot start at Barcelona, Torres cooled off and was one of the players who never found consistent form last season.
A big part of this was Xavi playing Torres on the left side instead of the right. In the few games on the right wing, Torres played well using his nifty dribbling and superb off-ball movement.
Torres likes to invert as a right winger, similar to Raphinha but is a much better dribbler. However, his biggest trait is his spatial awareness. His ability to interpret space and create chances for himself is the best out of the wingers.
It is what partially made him so lethal as a striker for Manchester City, his off-ball movement pops when viewing him. On the wing it is very similar, he has very good attacking movement instincts while also being able to take on his man 1v1.
In some aspects, he carries a portion of Demeble’s 1v1 ability and Raphinha’s inverting tendency, albeit in much more conservative fashions.
While Torres has a mix of abilities of the two other wingers he doesn’t exactly excel at beating his man consistently, nor is he very creative.
This likely means that his potential is far lower than Dembele and Raphinha. In addition, similar to the Brazilian, if we are to get the best out of Torres we will need to invest in the right back area for an overlapping type of full-back.
Finally, he also suffers from some confidence issues when he’s not scoring, which can cause some problems on the pitch, he actually saw a psychologist last year in the hope of solving his mental blocks.
There is no doubt that Torres is a good player, however, given the congestion on the right wing, good might not be enough.
Yet, coming off a poor season, it is nearly impossible for Barcelona to recoup the full 55 million euros paid to Manchester City. This puts Barcelona in a no-win situation.
Ultimately, it might be better to keep Torres for depth as his versatility may help the team. Admittedly, Torres had his best run of form as a striker for City so it might be worth letting him get some game time there.
Torres staying could be useful for the eventuality of a Dembele injury, allowing him to find some game time in his favoured position as well.
Overall, all three players bring different profiles alongside different strengths that Xavi can use for Barcelona’s upcoming season.
There’s no doubt that the wingers all have potential alongside their individual strengths. Above all, the most important thing for all three will be finding game time since they are good players trying to compete for one spot.