Scouting Barcelona's Rising Star Alen Halilovic
As will always be the case at a big club like Barcelona, much of the week-to-week focus is on the established names at the club, the key forward line and homegrown, world-class stars such as Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique.
The Catalan outfit, however, have also developed a wish to push through young talents bought in from elsewhere, given the dearth of local La Masia graduates in the past couple of years. One of those near the top of the list and with a chance of becoming a Barca starter in the future is Alen Halilovic.
A Croatian international, Halilovic will hope to impact enough during pre-season to suggest he has a role to play for the club this term. But if he doesn't, there's still plenty of reason to be optimistic about Barcelona counting on him in the future, either under Luis Enrique or his successor if Halilovic departs the Camp Nou for now.
Sporting loan
Halilovic joined Barcelona in 2014 and spent a season with the B team, but with the side being relegated the club sought a loan move for him in 2015-16 to enable Halilovic to play in the top flight. Sporting Gijon were the club to snare his signature and the then-19-year-old played a full part in their fight against relegation.
A total haul of 36 games in La Liga, close to 2,500 minutes, yielded three goals, five assists and some eye-catching performances from the Dubovnik-born attacking midfielder. But there were certainly ups and downs throughout the campaign, as might have been expected.
He was a regular starter under boss Abelardo, often either from the right or the No. 10 role in a 4-2-3-1. But he was one of the players taken out of the XI mid-season when Sporting suffered five defeats in a row and faced the prospect of a vital second half of the campaign. Even when not starting, though, Halilovic was always an option for the manager off the bench. After missing the season's opening fixture, the only game he didn't feature in at all was the win over Atletico Madrid—which he was suspended for.
Halilovic helped Sporting stay up, but his season ended in disappointment when he was cut from the Croatia squad and missed Euro 2016.
The youngster's agent claimed he was "devastated" by the decision, according to Goal.com, despite not having played a particularly big role in the qualification campaign. Ivan Rakitic said the decision to cut Halilovic was surprising, per Marca (h/t Daily Mail). But perhaps his assertion that the attacker had enjoyed "a phenomenal campaign" was a little over the top and potentially had more to do with his status as a Barcelona team-mate than a completely accurate assessment of Halilovic's time at Sporting.
Role and key traits
Halilovic's time with Sporting was mainly spent from the right side of attacking midfield. But during his short senior career he has elsewhere featured centrally or from the left, able to cut in when dribbling at the opposition defence and always looking to run into space, regardless of where he plays from.
However, his loan spell also saw a vastly improved off-the-ball manner, both in offensive and defensive respects: David Cartlidge noted for FourFourTwo that one of the reasons for Halilovic's loan move to Sporting was to encourage "more hard work and sacrifice" from the attacker, who had been pulled up for indiscipline at Barca B. That effort out of possession was notable throughout the season, with Halilovic happy to chase back, tackle in the attacking half or fill in as a midfielder rather than remaining further upfield as an attacker.
It's on the ball, of course, where his best characteristics are shown.
Halilovic has great acceleration when dribbling, suddenly turning to surge away from defenders and cover ground quickly—often with the vision and composure to pick a pass on the run at the end of the dribble.
The key question in terms of translating his attributes to the Barcelona team is: Can he do it more frequently, more consistently, from the very centre of the park? Or will he remain an attacking midfield option only?
2016-17 rumours
Barcelona's midfield three is set in stone: Sergio Busquets holds, Iniesta and Rakitic are the interiors, mixing midfield positional work with playmaking skills going forward. To that offensive pairing, Rafinha is back to full fitness, Arda Turan is starting his first full available season with the club and Denis Suarez has been added—while Sergi Roberto is also an option, if he doesn't play right-back.
It means a crowded centre of the park for the Catalan outfit this summer, and Halilovic has frequently been linked with another move away from the Camp Nou as a result.
Abelardo admitted before the end of the 2015-16 season that he wanted Halilovic back again for 2016-17, but he acknowledged to Mundo Deportivo (h/t IB Times) that the decision was down to Barcelona. Valencia, meanwhile, were said to be in contact with Barca over a permanent move according to Halilovic's agent, talking to Radio COPE (h/t ESPNFC), with the Camp Nou side retaining a buy-back clause to activate should the Croatian flourish at Mestalla.
To further muddy the waters, Marca has reported that Turan is now for sale, potentially opening up a place in the squad for another attacking midfielder.
Long-term prospects
Over the longer term, Halilovic represents a very possible option for Barcelona's first XI—but he's not at that level yet.
His consistency, rather than quality, is the issue at stake; too often for Sporting he would suffer games where he worked hard to be involved, but very little paid off for him. Frustration and annoyance were clear to see in his game, and while that aggression and desire to be involved is invaluable, so too is composure and an acceptance of keeping the game simple at the right times.
A loan move for 2016-17 campaign or a "permanent" move with a buy-back clause: Either way, it's imperative that Halilovic continues to amass considerable game time and also that Barcelona continue to have the option to bring him back. There's little doubting his talent, but unless Andre Gomes departs the scene, perhaps Valencia is not the arena for Halilovic to shine in as often as he needs to.
Barca's search for a new creative midfielder to dominate centrally goes on for now, but there's a very good chance Halilovic ends up being one of the solutions two years from now.
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