The clock is ticking on Barcelona's impossible deals - 7M sport

The clock is ticking on Barcelona's impossible deals

Even Dembele looking tight


Posted Saturday, August 19, 2017 by Marca.com

The clock is ticking on Barcelona's impossible deals

It may not be panic stations in the Barcelona boardroom just yet but the state of affairs on the pitch cannot have helped the nerves as the iconic Catalan club continues to fumble its way through the transfer window in an increasingly worrisome situation.

For many onlookers at the Blaugrana, the problems of Neymar's departure and the lack of a replacement didn't hit home until Karim Benzema's sealing goal in the Supercopa de Espana return game.

It served to rule out any three goal comeback after the disappointing first leg and left them staring at a gleeful Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, joyous at the prospect of dominating Spanish football and beyond for at least another year.

Many issues were made vividly clear on Wednesday night but none more so than the lack of dynamicity in attack. Neymar has been, in my opinion, the weakest MSN component over the years so it shows just how much of a drop-off Gerard Deulofeu, Denis Suarez and Jordi Alba constitute on the left flank.

All of those players are fine as back ups or in their natural position but few in the Camp Nou would argue for them to hold the main attacking spot on that wing.

Thus a new arrival or two is salient to Barcelona's season, and yet remains conspicuously absent because the board cannot help but target the very best players from the very best clubs.

However in modern football, the prospect of pulling on the Azulgrana shirt isn't enough when up-and-coming youngsters are plucked at forever earlier ages and thrown into longer, bulkier contracts than previously known.

It makes Hector Bellerin, a Champions League quality defender and nothing more at England's fifth best club, an impossible option without the severest of tantrums on the player's behalf.

In fact, few can be said to have pushed harder for a move to Barcelona than Marco Verratti and Philippe Coutinho, neither of which have ultimately been allowed to leave PSG or Liverpool, respectively.

Even Ousmane Dembele has been a struggle, such is Borussia Dortmund's wily operation in the market that deploys a price tag relative to that of Neymar.

And that's before we consider the bizarre snubbing of Inigo Martinez, a very competent centre-back available for the open goal fee of 32 million euros.

Looking Forward

Barcelona must rethink their strategy in the market. They must ask themselves why Verratti, Bellerin, Dembele and co are making a name for themselves at other top European clubs, not in Catalonia.

They had the chance to sign Dembele, they had Bellerin inside their own academy. Why aren't the currently making a well timed step up into the first-team?

Instead, a club that was very recently the best in the world are left to bring in Deulofeu on the cheap while taking a punt on Paulinho and signing Nelson Semedo a year too late.

Quite simply, Barcelona must be more proactive in the market, because the clock is ticking on this window and there's no guarantee that their knight in shining armour will emerge from the shadows to save the day.



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