Creating Luis Enrique's 2016 Summer Blueprint for Barcelona
Barcelona ended the season reigning supreme in Spain once more, with Luis Enrique and his side winning both major domestic trophies, La Liga and the Copa del Rey, for the second year in succession.
They didn't manage to retain the UEFA Champions League, of course, and they'll be aiming for success in the upcoming campaign both at home and abroad as the manager bids to see his team regarded among the greatest of all time, including the prime Barcelona side of Pep Guardiola from just half a decade back.
To that end, Luis Enrique has plenty of work to get through over the summer to ensure his side are built for sustained success and what will inevitably be a much tougher campaign in 2016-17 than 2015-16 turned out to be, with the close-fought title race of the final month belying the fact Barca had dominated and been well clear for most of the season beforehand.
Build from the Back
Barcelona's most renowned set of players might be the front three, but any great team over a longer period than a season is constructed from the foundations of a top defence. Barca scored more than any other club in La Liga last season, a whopping 112 goals, but they also conceded the second-fewest amount, just 29 in their 38 games.
The core of their deepest quintet could take on a greatly different look between the final game of 2015-16 and the first of 2016-17, however, and Luis Enrique and his board need to get the sections right.
In defence, a shake-up is already underway.
Dani Alves has departed for Juventus, while Borussia Dortmund are closing in on centre-back Marc Bartra after activating his release clause, as confirmed by the Catalan club. Javier Mascherano is not certain to leave, but the rumours are certainly there, even after sporting director Robert Fernandez revealed, per Sport, he had spoken to Mascherano and had "no doubts" he would stay.
Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba will remain, no question, but both need better competition for their places. Pique, even if Mascherano stays at the Camp Nou, could well find himself with a new defensive partner for next season.
Sport reported Barca denied rumours Samuel Umtiti of Olympique Lyonnais is their primary target, but there's little doubt two defenders could arrive at the club this summer.
The position of goalkeeper is also unclear, with rumours surrounding a possible exit for Marc-Andre ter Stegen being commonplace over the past few months. He will be at UEFA Euro 2016 this summer while rival Claudio Bravo is stateside for the Copa America Centenario with Chile. Both have been excellent for Barca across the last two years, but there is a growing feeling each wants to be the undisputed No. 1, not rotate one for league and the other for cups.
Adequate Backup
Luis Enrique also needs further depth across the middle and final thirds of the pitch. While the six starters are unlikely to change next season𠀔—Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Andres Iniesta in midifeld, and Neymar, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi up front—both segments of the team have lacked in rotation options.
Injuries and unavailability meant Sergi Roberto became a fix-it man across all positions last term, but in theory, having him, Arda Turan and Rafinha fit together should give Barcelona plenty of strength in the middle. The problem has been actually having all of them fit together, while Turan did not overly impress after February, struggling to hold down a spot in the team.
Denis Suarez is on his way back to Barcelona and can fill in either as a central attacking midfielder or across the wide areas of the front line, but it's probable they still need to add one more strong candidate for an important amount of minutes for next season.
Luis Enrique cannot rely on his main starters all being fit, all season, for all three competitions. They will compete in two competitions fewer than last season, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, but the huge expectation on the team to relentlessly be successful in every game and every trophy they compete for means the boss simply has to come up with a secondary plan of attack to account for injuries or fatigue.
Mentality and Resilience
Luis Enrique's job encompasses far more than merely picking 11 names each week.
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid finished the campaign strongly and full of self belief, and the Catalan side would be absurdly foolish to imagine both teams won't be better next season. Atletico's squad changes are already underway, and Real will no doubt look to spend big after their Champions League success.
Barcelona need to be prepared to have the capital sides come at them next season like never before; finishing first and second in Europe means the Madrid sides will be all guns blazing trying to take down Barca's national dominance next season, and there's every reason to think one of them might be successful.
The Blaugrana cannot afford to be as fragile to a sudden unexpected poor result as they were in 2015-16; to go four in a row without a victory is unacceptable for a team of Barcelona's repute and ability, and it nearly cost them the league title.
Part of being a great side is bouncing back from adversity, and part of being a great head coach is enabling the team to do exactly that.
There's no doubt Lucho has shown himself to be a fine man manager, keeping the tactical balance of the team in check along with forging frighteningly good morale (particularly within that talented front line). But were the four-game run to come midseason next time, they could easily find themselves out of Europe or the Copa early on or playing catch-up from a long way back in La Liga.
Mistakes and defeat can and will happen. They are inevitable. But having the resilience in the squad to adjust to a setback and immediately embark on another winning run, without two defeats turning to three, is a must-have trait Barcelona need to rediscover.
Fast Start
One final part of Luis Enrique's summer plan has to be figuring out how to enable his team to begin on the front foot in the probable absence of peak fitness and without his first-choice XI.
Neymar is guaranteed to not be with the club, with his summer participation for Brazil restricted to Olympics duty rather than the Copa America. With the football event of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics running until August 19, and Neymar likely requiring a break afterward, it's probable he'll miss two or three matches at the start of the league season.
Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC reported earlier in the year that Lionel Messi, however, is not likely to participate for Argentina.
Even so, Copa America and Euro 2016 duty means a long summer for most players in the squad, as well as making it tricky to integrate potential new recruits in pre-season. Barca have to hit the ground running, as they do every year, if they are to make it three Primera Division titles in succession and stave off the growing threat from Madrid's twin challenge.
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