Barcelona Transfer News: Camp Nou Giants Will Rue Missing out on Mehdi Benatia

Barcelona made some high-profile signings over the summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez to bolster their attacking unit.

However, they failed to deal comprehensively with their most significant problem from last season's trophyless campaign, namely their defensive weaknesses, which were unfavourably assessed by The Huffington Post's Samuel Luckhurst:

With the summer retirement of Carles Puyol, it became imperative that Barcelona added significant strength to their defence, yet they eventually brought in the somewhat underwhelming duo of Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu.

As Ben Hayward of Goal.com points out, spending a combined €35 million (£28 million) on these two good (but certainly not great) defenders was a strange move from Barca:

Indeed, one such world-class defender is Mehdi Benatia, who recently made a reported €26 million switch to Bayern Munich from Roma, per Nadia Carminati of Sky Sports.

Widely regarded as on of the best defenders in the whole of Europe last season, per Serie A expert James Horncastle, Benatia would have been an ideal buy for Barca:

The player himself recently told told Kicker (h/t Goal.com) that Barcelona did indeed come in for him, raising a question as to why they did not fight harder to claim his signature:

"

Manchester City and Chelsea wanted me, while there were also approaches from Real Madrid and Barcelona. I discussed my future with Roma sporting director Walter Sabatini. He told me that the club wanted to hold on to me, but that they needed the money from a sale. That annoyed me, because I initially wanted to stay put. But let it be clear, I was happy to join Bayern Munich. I like Munich—even if it's a bit cold here.

"

It is clear that Barca missed a trick when Benatia became available for sale, and they will rue missing out on the Moroccan international as the Camp Nou giants still have a weak back line. 

Of the two players they brought in to bolster the defence, Vermaelen was out of favour last season—starting just seven Premier League games of Arsenal—while Mathieu's age prevents him from being a long-term solution, per beIN Sports' Tancredi Palmeri:

On the other hand, Benatia was part of the second meanest defence in Serie A last season and, at 27, is requisitely experienced at the highest level but is only just reaching the peak of his powers.

As GianlucaDiMarzio.com columnist David Amoyal argues, Benatia was potentially a more important target for Barca over the summer—considering the relative weaknesses in their squad—than Suarez and thus should have been pursued with greater verve:

Despite the fine additions in attack and midfield, Barca have not strengthened adequately at the back and will regret missing out on Benatia, who was very affordable considering what was spent on Mathieu and Vermaelen.

The Moroccan is a top quality player—hence his move to Bayern—who can dominate the centre of defence as well as begin attacks with a good range of passing and technical skill. He also chips in with the odd goal.

No matter the attacking prowess of Barcelona, they need a solid defence, and Benatia would have gone a long way to fixing that area in a way their alternative recruits are unlikely to achieve.