Mpost
In football, you cannot blink. Because if you do, there is a very good chance of you missing out on an outrageous goal, an exquisite pass, or even a lung-busting run. For a good 90-odd minutes, the spectator needs to put his life on hold and shift his worries to the back of his mind to truly enjoy the game. For the teams, the managers, and the players, the clock moves forever, without a break. For them the stakes are much higher. Miss a beat and it may prove too costly a mistake. And Football Club Barcelona, arguably the best football club in a decade or so, has seemingly lost the plot or at least the woods for the trees.
You certainly cannot write a team off which won a historic second treble just a couple of years ago. A team that has the sensational trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr being fed by modern midfield maestro Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets and with Gerard Pique bossing the defence. But that is about it. If one of these cogs were to go missing from Barcelona's wheel, the team collapses.
The youngsters and substitutes are simply not good enough, at least not for the time being. Sample this: Out of the 25 players in the first team only nine players are 25 years old or younger. This includes the likes of Denis Suarez, Rafinha, Paco Alcacer, Digne and Andre Gomes, all of whom have been unable to put in the performances worthy of Barcelona's first team.
Their inability to step up, when the first choice players can't, has already lost FC Barcelona the Champions League trophy and, if Real Madrid don't commit hara-kiri, will most probably lose them the La Liga too.
In the 33 games he has played (mostly as a substitute), Denis Suarez has produced a meagre three goals and three assists. Similarly, Rafinha Alacantra – whose season was ravaged by niggling injuries – managed to play 28 matches, during which he scored seven goals, while laying the final pass for other two goals.
The ex-Valencia man Paco Alcacer, who was an expensive buy for the Blaugranas, and was supposed to be a fill in Luis Suarez's spot in his absence, has made just five La Liga starts for Barcelona this season. Although Alcacer struggled when he first arrived, things have improved in recent months. Still, the young striker's tally of seven goals and three assists in 24 matches, while partnering at least one member of MSN, is not enough to win him fans in his new home. However, the most underachieving of the lot has to be the Portuguese defensive midfielder Andre Gomes, Barcelona's most expensive buy in last summer transfer window. This, despite the fact that he has been fielded the most number of times by manager Luis Enrique as compared to other new signings.
The Euro 2016 winner arrived in an expensive deal from Valencia that cost €35 million plus add-ons, but has been lost virtually all season long. As a result, he has been jeered by Barca supporters regularly. In the humongous number of 42 matches he has played this season, all he has to show for are three goals and one assist. Two of these goals came in a match against now-relegated Osasuna.
This is not to say that all these players – the new signings and the young blood – are bad. They indeed are good players as many of them showed at their previous clubs. But what they are still not worthy of are a place in the first team of football club like FC Barcelona and the price tag they came with.
In fact, Barcelona have already spent 175 million euros to bring in new players, in the last two years. And for all that extravagance, all they have is a good player in young French defender Samuel Umtiti.
The rest have failed, miserably. Mind you, the new signings have not been made only on financial costs. In fact, FC Barcelona has allowed their future prospects to either be sold or to be sent on loan to make up the money for these expensive buys. Consider the case of Spanish forward Munir, or for that matter Sandro, both of whom have now scored against their former clubs this season. Croatian Alen Halilovic was allowed to leave for Germany, while legendary right-back Dani Alves was mistreated to the extent that he decided to leave the club that he loves for Juventus. This, when Barcelona had practically no natural right-back. Possible back-up Martin Montoya was sold while Brazilian Douglas was not good enough to make the cut. The crisis was such that Luis Enrique had to convert a midfielder to a right-back for that role. Thankfully, Sergi Roberto did manage to perform, if not dominate, in his new role.
FC Barcelona fights at a very top level, in the most elite competition European competition – the UEFA Champions League – and usually starts the tournament as there or there-abouts. In such a cut-throat competition, it cannot afford to make wrong signings and neither can it be allowed the luxury of letting go home-grown prodigies only to later pander to them when they become world-class (cases in point: Cesc Fabregas, Hector Bellerin, Gerard Deulofeu among others).
Another, and more, radical reason being that its closest competitor Real Madrid has been making one good signing after the other. Players like Lucas Vazquez, Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez, Marco Asensio and Isco Alarcon can easily walk in to any first team squad of the top European clubs.
If rumours are to be believed, more good signings like Manchester United's David De Gea and Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will soon be on their way to
Santiago Bernabeu. FC Barcelona, like Bayern Munich, is a great team, albeit an ageing one too and if they don't bring in fresher players with great potential they are well-set to surrender their glorious present to future predicament.
Barcelona's over-reliance on their Argentinean talisman Lionel Messi and the first team squad has made it difficult for these players to maintain fitness. No wonder this season has been injury-filled for Barcelona players. The board will need to take some tough decisions.
Weeding out obsolete players (such as Jeremy Mathieu, Jordi Masip) and instead use their wage money on smarter investments is the need of the hour. They also need to place their faith on La Masia and give more opportunities to players like Carles Alena and Sergi Samper. In the nearer future, exciting prospects like Xavi Simons can be brought in to the first team much faster in order to ensure they develop to their full potential.
Football is a game of seconds. A second of sheer determination and unbridled courage build the moments of glory. But a second's lapse in concentration can have a domino effect and lead to a team's downfall without it even realizing it. FC Barcelona's unprecedented success over the years has made the club complacent and the water needs to be changed before it becomes the cesspool of ignorance and an imperfect shadow of its glorious past. The time has come for Barcelona to do exactly that.