PSG's Marquinhos Is the Best New Centre-Back Option for Barcelona

A summer of excitement and anticipation lies over the Camp Nou as Barcelona fans wait to see where the club opt to spend and strengthen in the transfer market, having won the domestic double again in 2015-16 but aiming even higher next term.

One of the key areas in which the club appear to be targeting a new face or two is centre-back, with Marc Bartra having already departed for Borussia Dortmund and Thomas Vermaelen's future far from sorted. Even Javier Mascherano is still being linked with a possible move away, despite having told Ole (h/t Marca) he would not force a transfer.

The rumours continue to speculate exactly who Barcelona will look at as their new central-defensive option, with the general trend being that they're considering young, technically gifted defenders with experience in a top European league.

From the names most frequently linked it is Brazilian Marquinhos, currently at Paris Saint-Germain, who represents the best fit for the club.

Though he may be an expensive acquisition, the importance and longevity he could provide make him a more than worthwhile pursuit for the Catalan club compared to some other options.

Big money, little money

Exactly how much transfer money Barca have available this summer is a subject of much discussion, and one that could yet change depending on the improvement of sponsorship agreements and other revenue streams.

What is clear, though, is that one of the priorities is arranging new contracts for those already in place—Sergio Busquets' is done, Lionel Messi's remains on the agenda, per Sport's Albert Masnou—and there is certainly a finite limit to resources, even for a superteam such as Barcelona.

With some of those outlays on salaries being among the biggest in world football, new additions to the squad have to provide full value, whether the expenditure be enormous or relatively cheap. 

There will never be an outright absence of cash, but wasting money is out of the question, particularly as Barca have failed to get top money for their sales in recent seasons.

Marca's Xavi Hernandez suggested that badly designed contracts were partly at fault, with Barca allowing the likes of Bartra, Thiago Alcantara and Dani Alves to leave for far less than their actual worth, thanks to clauses inserted at the time of signing.

Rumoured

The fight to be Barcelona's new defender is a ferocious one, at least in terms of column inches.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Marquinhos has been linked for over a year now, with Marca's Jaime Rincon's assessment of the leading candidates rating the PSG man at around €40 million.

John Stones would add around another 50 per cent to that total fee, with Everton holding out for big money in the face of pressure to sell from Chelsea a year ago, and despite a less-than-impressive season in the Premier League, he will still be a huge purchase for one team or another.

Rincon's piece also named Jose Gimenez of Atletico Madrid—almost certainly a pipe dream—along with longtime target Aymeric Laporte, who seems closer to a move to Manchester City than Barcelona, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The most recent two names on the shortlist are Samuel Umtiti of Lyon and Mauricio Lemos of Las Palmas. The latter was the subject of a Camp Nou bid last week, according to Marca, but Las Palmas want more, having signed him initially on loan in January and watched his impressive performances in the second half of the season.

Umtiti is rated in the €30-40 million bracket also, with Reuters (h/t Marca) suggesting Lyon were irked with Barcelona's approach to the player instead of the club and are now willing to play hardball.

FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images

Stones and Umtiti are on UEFA Euro 2016 duty this summer for England and France, respectively, while Marquinhos and Gimenez are at the Copa America. Whichever way Barca look, it appears circumstances will mean the rumours will be dragged out for a few more weeks yet.

Marquinhos

Matching playing style, assessing a reasonable fee, gambling on the player's ceiling and judging what he has achieved thus far, Marquinhos is the clear standout for the Catalan side.

Aggressive with his defensive work yet utterly composed on the ball, the Brazilian is not entirely removed from current Barca star Gerard Pique in regard to his strengths and weaknesses, though he plays in a rather different way.

His positional work has generally shown to be of a competent level, he is strong in the air despite a reasonably short stature and has plenty of experience on the big stage for a 22-year-old.

While of course his best position is centrally, it's perhaps worth noting that he has featured frequently at right-back for PSG. With Barcelona having lost Dani Alves this summer, it would at least be a comfort to know there was an additional option to cover that role heading into the 2016-17 season, even if the intention isn't to play Marquinhos there with any regularity.

The one annoyance, as far as admirers of Marquinhos goes, is his relative lack of game time in his best position at PSG.

FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images

Three seasons at the club have seen him play backup to David Luiz and Thiago Silva, though he still racked up 3,000 minutes all told in 15-16.

In Ligue 1, though, he made only 20 starts, 21 the previous season and 17 in 2013-14. Those 5,400 minutes of league action in three years—and not the most competitive league either, given PSG's dominance—equates to 60 games, around half the number that he could have featured in as first choice.

Limited improvement

The risk is there with Marquinhos, as it is with every signing. Can he maintain consistency when asked to play more often, justify his fee and realise his potential?

His attitude, on-pitch demeanour and in-game resilience, just as much as his quality, seem to indicate the answer is a firm yes.

There would be a learning curve, no doubt, and mistakes might be made, but it's not as though Barcelona would be helpless to ease him through—Pique is one of the world's best, Mascherano is still there to play plenty of minutes and the amount of time in which the team dominates possession means Marquinhos' natural talents could help the side offensively, too.

Barcelona have one of the planet's best teams, which means there's limited scope to get better.

Very few players in world football can infiltrate the XI and make it stronger. This summer, to be a better side overall could largely be about making the bench deeper and more reliable rather than usurping anyone in the current XI.

Marquinhos is someone who could do both, though, in the short and mid-term, and while the initial outlay on him would be huge, he has the capacity to more than repay it over time and end a long, long search for the perfect partner for Pique.

Follow @karlmatchett