In a world of economic levers being put in place to re-establish some sort of economic stability, Barcelona are heading into another season with a lot of uncertainty about their squad. A definite plus is the pull that they have on players regardless of what they achieved, players still want to play for the team despite the economic trouble that Barcelona has going on at the moment.
Last season was great domestically for Barcelona, fending off the challenge of Real Madrid to win the La Liga title, but in Europe, they failed to progress to the knockout stage of the Champions League and fell over in the first hurdle in the Europa League as they were beaten by Manchester United. We will be analysing the impact that they had in the transfer window and how their season will pan out. Make sure to visit our LV BET Sports Blog for more season preview for Premier League clubs, such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Join the discussion on Twitter for a more up-to-date look at the world of football.
XAVI CONTINUUM
For a club that has sold its soul just to retain solvency, Barcelona has done well to attract Ilkay Gundogan to build what is looking like a formidable midfield. The only expense incurred was Oriol Romeu, who came in from Girona on a considerably low fee of €3.40M, which won’t pose any problems to their economic situation.
The harmony on the pitch is evident with great footballing acumen in all personnel employed. A great run in the Champions League is essential for Xavi to continue their recovery. One of the biggest threats is Real Madrid, who have recruited the generational talent of Jude Bellingham.
A problem that might hinder the progress of Barcelona is the imminent departure of Ousmane Dembele, as PSG are looking for alternatives should Kylian Mbappe move to another club. The fee of €40M fee seems to be activated by PSG, which is a small portion of the fee paid by Barcelona to Dortmund for the player back in 2017.
PRE-SEASON
Barcelona concluded their planned fixtures in the United States with a 1-0 win over AC Milan, sealed by a curled effort by Ansu Fati. For the goalscorer, it was a great moment as he struggled to get any game time last season due to injuries. Fati has been earmarked for a possible transfer by the club this summer. Ferran Torres is another who has impressed in similar circumstances on this U.S. tour, scoring twice.
In essence, Barcelona as a whole and the manager Xavi can pen this tour as a disaster. After carefully planning everything down to the last minute, after the fiasco that they had last pre-season due to logistical problems, as soon as they landed in the great land. Sickness struck their squad, and the first game had to be cancelled, and training sessions had to be missed.
Promising signs showed by Oriol Romeu, who impressed during the tour, but Ilkay Gundogan suffered an injury that saw him depart from the match against Madrid; Gavi did not play a single minute either, due to back pain. After the game against Madrid, PSG informed Barcelona of their intention to activate the clause and take Ousmane Dembele off their wage-bill. Whilst that is something that Barcelona have been working on, even with the transfer of the French winger, they are still a long way away to conform with the La Liga wage demands.
Xavi did his best to give minutes to Serginho Dest and Clement Lenglet, who aren’t in Xavi’s plans going forward. Offers for these players aren’t coming in, and Barcelona once again finds themselves in a predicament.
LA LIGA PREDICTION
As we have concluded, the team is good enough to compete for La Liga and give a hard time to Real Madrid, but the issue here is that winning La Liga does not generate the same amount of money as going to the latter stages of the Champions League, something that Real Madrid has done regularly in the past years.
We are pricing Barcelona at 2.40, to win their second La Liga title in a row. The challenge for the Spanish title is always contested between two squads, with the off-chance that Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone getting their act together and troubling the hierarchy of La Liga.
Make sure to visit the LV BET Sports Blog for more information about the upcoming seasons, we are going into detail on the Premier League, Champions League and all the major tournaments coming your way.