After a brutal week of football, which laid bare the issues that have plagued Barca’s defence, Flick has told sporting director Deco and the board that they must sign two defenders in January to stand any chance of winning both La Liga and Champions Leagu
It was a much-needed wake-up call for Culers who saw the team concede six goals in back-to-back losses to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. Although Barça can score more than anyone in Europe with their attack, they cannot win 60 games in two competitions with a team held together with duct tape.
They cannot fix this with band-aids
Even in Saturday’s 6-1 rout of Deportivo Alaves you could see how desperate the situation was. Barcelona were left with only four fit defenders after Jules Kounde, Eric García, Andreas Christensen and rising star Xavi Espart were all in the medical room.
Flick was forced to make midfielder Frenkie de Jong play in central defence along with his youngest defender Pau Cubarsí (19 years old). He also made Brian Farinas take the place of a full-back. De Jong played admirably for 81 minutes but when Gerard Martin came on, Barca instantly lost their structure and conceded.
Using players converted from midfielders, academy debutants and a host of players who are not in good form such as Gerard Martin, or even Alejandro Balde who is being actively shopped to AS Roma by Jorge Mendes may be enough to overcome teams at the bottom of La Liga but against Europe’s best they are dead.
Admitting their mistake this summer
Importantly, this shows that Flick knows the transfer policy they undertook last summer was a disaster. They lost Ronald Araujo on loan, sold Alvaro Cortes and refused to let in any star additions because they believed Christensen would be fit. The whole staff and board took a gamble that they could rotate the squad.
However Flick is not making any excuses anymore. He is demanding two defenders to be brought in to the squad:
World class centre back to play with Cubarsi: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan) is reportedly willing to move if Flick guarantees him a spot. This presents Barça with a huge opportunity to bring in a world class left-footed centre back to strengthen their high line.
Full-back rotation: With Espart out until late December, Kounde having an ankle sprain and Balde’s future uncertain, Barca need another flexible defender to play in the wide areas.
Joan Laporta and Deco have been handed a massive task. Flick has given them 100 wins and an attacking force to be reckoned with despite three summers of barely rotating their defence. If they do not support Flick with two real defenders when the market opens on January 1st, they cannot blame anyone else if they come up empty handed in May.
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