Is New Spain Star Nolito Good Enough for Barcelona 2nd Time Around?

You all know about Barcelona’s transfer ban by now, and Luis Enrique certainly does.

Any run of three La Liga matches in which Barca lose two and “only” score four goals is considered crisis-inducing in Catalonia, and so it has come to pass that Enrique and his depleted squad find themselves under significant pressure ahead of the weekend visit of Rayo Vallecano.

They’ll win that game, surely, but as Francesc Tomas points out in a blog for ESPN FC, the injury absences of several of Enrique’s stars are starting to take their toll. Meanwhile, Barcelona's move to take their bid to register the still ineligible Arda Turan to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, via the BBC, is not considered likely to be successful.

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Instead, Enrique will likely have to grin and bear it, hoping that the club’s youngsters start performing better and that both Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta heal as quickly as possible. January is just 11 weeks away, after all.

That is when Turan and fellow summer arrival Aleix Vidal can be registered, and they might not be the only new faces seen in Enrique’s team, although “new” surely doesn’t apply to Nolito.

A latecomer to La Masia at the age of 22, the wide man—who turned 29 on Thursday—was one of a seemingly endless chain of attacking players to fail to make the grade at Barca. Despite making over 100 appearances for the B team, he only played five times for the first team during the 2010/11 season—scoring in a Copa del Rey tie against the lowly AD Ceuta.

As is always the case with these players eventually—Isaac Cuenca, Jeffren Suarez and Cristian Tello to name but three—Nolito had to move on to play some meaningful football.

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Now, after spending four years with Benfica and Celta Vigo, including a loan spell at Granada, he is being seen by many as the perfect addition for Barca in January—a move that he would be happy to make, according to Jack Watts in the Daily Star.

And it is easy to see why Enrique wants him back, considering the injury troubles his squad have faced this season and the failure of Munir el Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez to significantly impress as replacements for the now departed Pedro.

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Nolito has five goals in seven appearances for Celta this season, including one in the remarkable 4-1 victory over Barcelona last month.

His talents haven’t gone unnoticed by Vicente del Bosque either, and he made his first appearances in Spain’s successful campaign to qualify for Euro 2016 in the past week—a 13-minute cameo in a 4-0 stroll against Luxembourg during which he set up a goal for Santi Cazorla, and a 75-minute appearance after playing from the start in the 1-0 win over Ukraine in Kiev.

Playing in these matches and earning a spot in Del Bosque’s squad for next summer’s finals are different matters, of course, and it's worth noting that Nolito was wearing the No. 19 shirt, which is usually the property of one Diego Costa. But the games are certain to act as a confidence booster and should see him enter Celta’s unlikely top-three battle with Villarreal at the weekend with a spring in his step.

Neither of those two sides are likely to hang around at the summit of La Liga for the majority of the season, but will Nolito?

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There will be those who feel that Spain’s newest star would be better off staying where he is as a regular for Celta, and that his previous experience at Barca should be reason enough for him to resist a move back to the Nou Camp.

But there would certainly be an element of pride he’d feel if he were to go full circle and end up back at the club at a time when they desperately need a player of his talents to ease the burden on Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

There should be little doubt that Nolito is good enough for Barca this time around, and little doubt that a move for him in January would make sense for manager, club and probably player.