Barcelona wrapped up their first La Liga title since 2019 on Sunday with a victory at local rivals Espanyol, but the team’s unconvincing campaign has left more questions than answers for coach Xavi and president Joan Laporta in the coming months.
The main reason for Barca’s title triumph is a phenomenal defensive effort – they have won 11 games with a 1-0 scoreline and, with just 13 goals against, they are set to smash La Liga’s record of 18 goals conceded in a season. This was achieved through a major reshuffle in the backline, with impressive youngster Alex Balde displacing Jordi Alba at left-back, summer signing Jules Kounde proving his quality at right-back and another new arrival, Andreas Christensen, enjoying an excellent first season in Spain to help protect superb goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. However, Kounde was originally signed as a central defender and the consensus is that his longer-term future should lie in that position alongside Uruguayan powerhouse Ronald Araujo. This means that recruiting a right-back remains a priority, as it has been ever since Dani Alves first left the club in 2016.
The departure of club captain Sergio Busquets at the end of the season also presents a dilemma of how to replace him. Manchester City’s out of contract captain Ilkay Gundogan has been widely tipped to join on a free transfer this summer, and his arrival alongside the excellent existing trio of Frenkie De Jong, Pedri and Gavi, and the additional options of Sergi Roberto and Franck Kessie, would leave the midfield well stocked. The bigger question, though, is not ‘who?’, but ‘how?’ Barca’s traditional midfield approach, heavily based on strict positional play, has looked out of place amid the more dynamic demands of modern football, and even the passing purist Xavi has compromised his beliefs this season by fielding four midfielders in a box shape to provide greater strength in the centre of the pitch.
The question of whether Lionel Messi should be brought back to Barcelona at the end of his mixed stint at Paris St-Germain also hangs over everything else that will happen this summer. The abrupt manner of his departure two years ago was unsatisfactory from everybody’s perspective, so should the club’s greatest-ever player be allowed to make a triumphant return and finish his career at his true footballing home? It seems an easy one, but it isn’t. Firstly from a pure sporting point of view, where does 36-year-old Messi fit into Xavi’s demands for a high-tempo pressing game? This issue is heightened as he would be lining up alongside another veteran forward who has shown worrying signs of slowing down in recent months, Robert Lewandowski. The financial aspect is even trickier – as things stand Barca will need to sell players, not sign them, to meet La Liga’s strict Financial Fair Play rules, and even if Messi accepts a substantial pay cut he would still expect to be the club’s highest earner. To finance that, three players in particular look expendable: Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Raphinha.
The club’s plans for the upcoming market have been thrown into further uncertainty by the sudden resignation of director of football Mateu Alemany. The highly rated Alemany is believed to hold differences of opinion with Laporta over transfer strategy, including his reported opposition to the recruitment of Messi, and looks set to take a similar role at Aston Villa. For now, then, it’s unclear who will be responsible for making and breaking deals during the summer window.
Barca are also on the move – the Nou Camp will be closed for at least a year for extensive redevelopment, with home games instead played at the city’s Olympic Stadium. It’s an evocative and attractive old stadium romantically perched high on a hill overlooking the city centre but – with running track included – seems unlikely to be an intimidating venue for opposition teams.
So while Barca are celebrating their title win with an unsettling sense of ‘what next?’, they face a summer of twists and turns as they attempt to solve their dilemmas and secure their future success.