(Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Barcelona's signings of Maxwell and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have filled up the left fullback and striker positions, respectively. However, at least one more player needs to be bought to give the squad enough depth to compete for six trophies.
Barcelona's signing of Ibrahimovic has been criticised by the media, and the club has been accused of overpaying to get their man. The fee paid has also decreased the budget available dramatically.
The questions that come to mind are—now what? Which position is remaining? Which player(s) to sign now, to make the treble winning team a sextuplet winning team?
To answer these, we must look at the positions Barca employs and the players and backups available for each.
Goalkeeper: Not a problem. Victor Valdes proved last season that he is reliable in the biggest of games. A few errors notwithstanding, VV was immense last season, and justified his new contract. Jose Pinto is an adequate replacement. Jorquera is disappointing however, and could be discarded in favour of youth keepers Oier Olazabal and/or Mino.
Right Full-Back: Daniel Alves. The fittest player in La Liga, he played exactly 4614 minutes last season. That was the most for any player in the squad.
Barca were lucky, however, that he was never injured. In the event of his absence, El Capitan Carles Puyol is a solid replacement, while back-from-loan Henrique can also play in that position if required. In other words, this position is covered.
Central Defense: Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique are rocks in central defense, ably supported by Rafa Marquez. Martin Caceres, however, has left on loan. Gabriel Milito has still not recovered from his long term injury, while Henrique has not exactly impressed in his first two preseason games.
Marc Muniesa and Andreu Fontas of Barca Atletic are good backups, however. Also, in dire straits, both Eric Abidal and Yaya Toure can cover for this position. Though this is a possible problem position, it seems unnecessary to spend on another backup.
A young signing is a strict no-no as this could stagnate the development of Muniesa and Fontas, who are both brilliant prospects.
In my opinion, Barcelona should gauge the performance of Henrique during the remaining pre-season games before considering signings for the central defense position.
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