“Our opponents had more fear when Messi was here”, these were the words of Ronald Koeman after the draw against Athletic Bilbao and everyone in Spain is talking about Post-Messi Era and I have already written one blog who can take Messi’s position or can lead the team. But today we will do something different we will talk about Why it is hard to rebuild Barca without Messi. And how much time Barca will take to recover from this loss? So, let’s shoot.
After Messi’s departure, things have become complicated for Barca as they are missing one of the most important players. Everyone knows about Messi’s qualities and his vision and his goal-scoring ability. And when things get complicated on the field Messi was the one who rescues Barca. But after the departure of Messi, everyone is expecting more from Griezmann and Coutinho, and other attacking players. In the first match against Sociedad, things worked for them but against Bilbao, there was no real excitement in the attack, and there were no killer passes and the attack was too predictable and Griezmann disappearance in the whole match is concerning for Culers. And as I quote Koeman’s words earlier, even I agree with him. As with Messi opponents are more feared and even at the age of 34 he still dribbles past everyone, he scores, he assists. Simply, he does everything for Barca. And Barca doesn’t have that player right now who can take the responsibility and can bang goals for them, and injuries of Ansu, Coutinho, Aguero, and Dembele don’t help them either. And Barca’s financial situation is so delicate that they are not even able to register Aguero till now to LaLiga. It will be fair to say that Barca is in a total mess and there have been reports in Spain that after leaving Barca, there is an 80% decrease in the sale of merchandise of Barca’s.
And Barca doesn’t have money to sign a world-class attacking option or even a defender, which I feel is very important for this team’s success. And everyone is looking for Messi successor and who will take that iconic Number 10, I think this number will put a lot of pressure on the player who will take it because what Messi has done for Barca is impeccable. And next summer Haaland will be available and people even go as far as to say that don’t give number 10 to anyone and let Haaland come in and take this responsibility for Barca or they might pursuit any new superstar for the team. But seeing the clubs’ financial position I don’t see this happening because if you consider Haaland’s Release clause which will be around €75-80 M, and then his dad commission fees and then Mino Raiola (agent) commission the transfer will go up to €150 M and seeing Barca financial position, I am not just buying this argument that Barca can sign him or any world-class players because over the years we have seen good players just cost over $100M and if Barca doesn’t find solutions to offload some big wage earners next season and get fail to collect money or to raise money, I just can’t see this type of signing happening in near future but Curlers are optimistic and even so am I. But Barca should look in La Masia for the solutions because Barca has done their best when they trust their home-grown talents and I am pretty sure Laporta is the right man who trusts the roots of FC Barcelona.
And it will be intriguing to see what tricks Laporta has in his sleeves and how fast Barca can return to the glory. But as much I know it is a process, Barca fans need to be patient and they have to trust their players and coach and have to support their club in this hard time.
Thank You
Sportsoff 