5 Reasons Why the Transfer Ban Can Still Work in Barcelona's Favour

The mood at Barcelona is almost certainly horribly downcast at present, but as Monty Python noted in Life of Brian, "always look on the bright side of life."

The ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold the transfer ban imposed on Barca by FIFA will have come as a bitter blow, particularly as the Catalans were positioning themselves to execute certain transfer deals.

Martin Odegaard is one who immediately springs to mind, and it had also long been suggested that Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus would be on the Barca payroll in 2015. B/R's Rory Marsden looked at that deal back in June.

However, both of those transfers—and others—will not happen this year and perhaps not at all, but there are still enough reasons for Barca to weather this particular storm and start afresh one year from now.

Let's take a look at what those reasons might be.

Promotion of Youth

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Barca will have to continue to mine their own gold.

The most obvious reason has to lie with the part of the club that invoked the transfer ban in the first place: La Masia.

For years, Barca held great stock in the fact they generally mined their own gold and didn't buy excessively from elsewhere. Their academy was held up as the exemplar and was a source of great pride for anyone connected with the club.

For too long now, however, first-team managers have been less reliant on the talent being unearthed at "the farmhouse."

Tito Vilanova was steadfast in his refusal to rely on youth. Tata Martino was better but still undeniably restrained. Luis Enrique hasn't been that forthcoming when the opportunity to play youth-teamers has arisen.

In any event, the transfer ban brings into sharp focus the skill sets and adaptability of the players at Barca B. 

The development of the likes of Alen Halilovic, Sergi Samper and Adama Traore may well have to be accelerated to accommodate for the lack of new signings.

That means there will be a more youthful Blaugrana in certain matches during 2015, which must be a cause for celebration.

Mid-Season War Chest

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Barcelona will have money to spend. Lots of it.

The bulk of any club's transfer spending is done in the summer window, and rarely do we see big-name moves midway through the season.

As long as the right calls are made behind the scenes so that deals are ready to be closed by next January, the Catalans can fill their boots with effectively three transfer windows' worth of cash.

A regeneration of the first team will likely be necessary, and Barca will have the money to be able to significantly invest.

It could give them the edge in every competition come the second half of next season.

An alternate way of looking at this scenario is that more money is available to upgrade and extend existing contracts in order to keep the vultures away from the crown jewels of the senior side.

Forces a Rethink of Tactics and Formation

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Maybe it's time to change from a rigid 4-3-3 formation.

Barcelona, for all intents and purposes, play 4-3-3, very rarely deviating from the template.

However, with more and more opponents working out how to play against it and without the option of refreshing the squad with younger exponents who are perfectly suited to it, it could force Luis Enrique to be brave and inventive.

It perhaps gives him a sense of freedom knowing exactly what he has to work with for a defined period of time.

And rather than being hamstrung by one way of playing, it allows for just going out there and trying new things. 

The one time that Barca did so this year, with a 3-4-3 against Paris Saint-Germain, the Catalans looked unstoppable.

In no way looking to undermine the style that Johan Cruyff introduced to the club, if they still want to consider themselves as the benchmark, then Barca need to move with the times.

And now is the perfect time to effect those changes.

They've nothing to lose but potentially everything to gain.

No Panic Buying in the Summer

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Douglas has to have been a panic buy. There's no other explanation for his acquisition.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone to disagree that Douglas' signing from Sao Paulo was one of the biggest panic buys of all time.

With time running out in last summer's transfer window, Luis Enrique clearly not considering Martin Montoya good enough for the right-back role and the likelihood of Dani Alves moving to England, per ESPN, Barca needed to act quickly.

In a decision which will surely come back to haunt sporting director Andoni Zubizaretta, Douglas was signed on a whim, and his solitary league appearance for Barcelona since his arrival speaks volumes.

The club now have a full year to adequately identify and, if necessary, court potential signings.

What we should find come next January is a steady stream of new recruits from the very beginning of the window and any business concluded quicker than usual.

There'll be no need to procrastinate over signings and certainly no more panic buying.

No Excuses: A Year to Get Their House in Order

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Barca have a full year to iron out any issues and start 2016 completely afresh.

Let's be clear, Barcelona's long-suffering supporters have just about had enough of the current board (and the one prior to it) riding roughshod over everything they hold dear.

Mistake after mistake after mistake, Messrs Rosell, Bartomeu and Zubizaretta make the Keystone Cops look competent.

Now they've run out of excuses, and there's no hiding place.

One full year to ensure the circus that surrounded the Neymar transfer doesn't happen again. One full year to ensure players who remain injured do not pass medicals against the wishes of club doctors and medical staff. One full year to restore some faith in the board and some pride in the club.

Three hundred and sixty-five days to get the house completely in order. 

Get to it, gentlemen.