Introduction
“FC Barcelona is in Spain, but the ‘S’ is silent”. Probably, the deepest roast a Barcelona fan has heard till date, especially considering the current circumstances. What happened against Bayern Munich is not just disappointing. Even shameful seems to be an understatement for last night’s performance. Many people have started calling FC Barcelona as the next ” AC Milan”. But if drastic changes don’t occur now, it might be even worse. FC Barcelona might just become the next Deportivo de La Coruña.
The Galician team was a Spanish heavyweight in 1990s. Now they ply their trade in Segunda B. And that’s the magnitude of regression which FC Barcelona might go through. After suffering their worst defeat since 1951, the Catalan club has to go into some serious introspection now. As a matter of fact, there might be a lot of things that aren’t there in the public domain for people to understand how exactly went wrong last night. But here are a few obvious suggestions that might help the club observe progress from here on.
1) The call for re-elections ASAP
A 3-0 disappointing loss at Rome. A 4-0 embarrassment at Anfield. And now, an 8-2 humiliation at Lisbon. During all this, there have been arrivals and departures of all sorts. But the one thing that’s been constant at the club? Josep Maria Bartomeu, the 40th President of FC Barcelona.
After all the obnoxious mismanagement that has occurred under the leadership of Bartomeu, maybe its time for FC Barcelona to have it’s 41st President assuming the office. Future presidential candidates Victor Font and Laporta have already asked the elections to be held as early as possible. The club is in serious need of a revamp right now, and the call for preponed re-elections should be in higher demand amongst the socis right now.
2) Operation deadwood removal
After the match, Pique said in an interview that the club is in some serious need of some fresh dynamism, and if that has to come at the cost of his departure, then be it. And he wasn’t being humble there. He was being brutally honest.
The club has been carrying a lot of deadwood over the past few years. While they were at the top of their game once, it’s probably time to sell them now. Years have rolled on, the game has become more dynamic, and some of them have lost a significant amount of mobility. After yesterday’s performance, there are some players who definitely have to leave. The likes of Vidal, Pique, Alba, Umtiti, Suarez, Rakitic and Busquets need to leave FC Barcelona now for sure. The legendary status of some cannot be used as an excuse for what has been happening for three consecutive years now. With an already ageing Griezmann and Pjanic already in the squad for next season, there is a certain limit to the amount of ageing players you can have in an elite club. And we are not even talking about their wages and Barcelona’s infalted wage bill.
While the same argument can be made for an injury prone Dembele and an ageing Messi, it is worth noting that Dembele is much younger and recent developments in his recovery have been encouraging. As for Messi, while he isn’t as mobile as before, he still continues to perform at a very high level.
Furthermore, every team can afford to have at most one immobile player. As of now, only Messi deserves to occupy that spot.
3) Invest in young prospects
After the sale of all deadwood, it is finally time to handover the keys of the future to the youngsters. The likes of Puig, Fati and Araujo have all looked impressive whenever they have been given the chance. Furthermore, young talents like Pedri, Trincao, Collado, Konrad and Monchu all look to be exciting prospects for the first team. In terms of spending money, Barcelona have to be really smart in the market now.
They need to realize that it would be better to buy a much cheaper and exciting Dayot Upamecano than someone like Neymar. Even Lautaro Martinez seems like a pretty expensive option for them at the moment. Right now, FC Barcelona probably need to rejuvenate every part of their squad barring the goalkeeper spot.
Conclusion
While FC Barcelona have indeed hit rock bottom, considering their stature, hope still persists in the beautiful city of Barcelona. Although Barcelona fans have had a harrowing end to the current campaign, there is still plenty to rejoice. The fact that they still have plenty of young talents at the club who are ready to take on that responsibility could be a massive boost to the hopes of many cules out there.
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