Barça’s disappointing culmination on what seemed to be a promising season is coming to a bitter end. The hopes of capturing the league crown remain miraculous at best since it is no longer in their hands. With the FIFA transfer ban on hiatus now, the club can make new signings. If the club’s proclamation that new players will be bought is true, then it’s time they clean house; from top to bottom.
This season has been a roller coaster for Barça fans with lots of highs and lows. It was also nostalgic to the 2003-2004 and the 2006-2007 seasons to which I alluded to earlier in the season. 2003-2004 saw two new managers, Frank Rijkaard and Carlos Queiroz, take charge at Barça and Madrid, while 2006-2007 was a nightmare of a season for the Blaugrana where they saw their lead atop of the standings disappear down the stretch and finish runners-up.
I gave Tata Martino the benefit of the doubt earlier in the season but that sailed away following his questionable decisions that saw this team squander their five point lead atop of the standings and kiss good bye to any chance of silverware the past few weeks. Clearly, this hiring has back fired and is yet another black eye for Sandro Rosell who made the decision to hire Tata in the first place. To be fair to Tata, he did request new players which were never provided, much like what Carlos Queiroz endured back in 2003-2004. They both squandered big leads atop of the standings down the stretch, lost in the Copa del Rey Final and exited the Champions League prematurely. Now, Tata falls on the sword that was set in place by this board. In order to go forward, we still need someone new to manage these players and someone who has ties to the club.
Speaking of players, I have been always of the opinion that this team needed to be gutted for a long time. This team could easily see over ten players leave in the summer. Puyol already indicated his career as a Barça player was over and Valdés had his bags packed since last season before he suffered his injury. Injured players such as Jonathan Dos Santos, Afellay, and Cuenca are also surplus to requirements. It’s also time for the club to look into cashing in on Tello, Alex Song, Mascherano and Alexis. Tello hardly plays and if Deulofeu returns from his loan spell at Everton; then he should be getting those minutes instead. As for Alex Song, it was doomed from the start and if Napoli want him, and Mascherano, then cash in on them. Mascherano has played his heart out for the club but is not a defender and will hardly feature as Busquets’s substitute. There’s already talk of Alexis joining Juventus and after three years, it’s time to cut our losses and realize he has the energy of Eto’o but is not a factor against defensive minded teams. There are some fans who are also considering selling Cesc and I can’t blame them after he managed to pull off his disappearing act in the second half of a season for three straight years now. As for Dani Alves, he no longer is the player he once was and his mouth seems to be turning off the fans more than his endless crosses to no one and that could be his final season as a Barça player.
Thus, that’s eleven players who might not be a part of this team next season. However, before we discuss which players come in to reshape this team, we need to discuss the resignation of this board first. Current Barça president Bartomeu and his board need to resign after sitting on their thumbs and not reinforcing this squad when it was obvious last season. Zubizarreta has done an abysmal job when it comes to signing players and by all means should not be entrusted in future transfers. No, if a revolution is needed, then it needs to start from the top with the board stepping down and allowing someone competent to come in and hire a new manager and have a competent sporting director who knows how to scout and sign players to strengthen this team again. Unless that happens, this team will not progress and just continue to frustrate the Blaugrana faithful and squander the talents of Iniesta and Messi.
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