Barcelona: Does the departure of Setien and Abidal mean that Messi stays?

Oladipupo Mojeed Leading Stories, Sports 23/08/2020

Quique Setien and Eric Abidal have been relieved of their duties at Barcelona and Ronald Koeman has taken over the coaching job at the Catalan club.

Koeman is no doubt an astute manager. But is this the change that Barcelona actually needs?

He will be joined in the backroom by Henrik Larsson. The former Barcelona striker also signed a two-year deal with the club. Both are La Liga and Champions League winners during their playing career for Barcelona. Former FC Twente and Hoffenheim head coach Alfred Schreuder has also joined Koeman’s backroom team.

The trio of Schreuder, Koeman and Larsson will be looking to bring success back to Barca

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Koeman has wanted the job for many year and won’t let this opportunity slip. He left his role as Netherlands boss to succeed Setien.

Interestingly, Koeman and Larsson played together at Feyenoord between 1995 and 1997. They had both gone on to have managerial spells for several clubs after their retirement.

Now Barcelona has two former players, who have won trophies at the club highest level. It is expected that the duo will bring massive change to Barcelona.

Barcelona and the summer transfer window?

The coronavirus has had an impact on all spheres of life. The football business is not therefore excluded. Barca has debt amounting to over 700m Euros and will be looking to ship out some players in order to get new ones in.

One such player that has not lived up to expectation at Camp Nou is Philippe Coutinho. The Catalan giants coughed out 142 million pounds for him.

The Brazilian decided to show his club what they were missing in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. He helped Bayern Munich decimate his parent club 8-2 by scoring a brace. Coutinho could finally win the Champions League trophy which eluded him at Liverpool.

But will Koeman want to give the playmaker and Ousmane Dembele, who recently returned to action another chance to rejig the attack?

Koeman won Champions League with Barcelona

Now that a structural change has been made as requested by Gerard Pique, what about the playing personnel?

Barcelona midfield comprises of Sergio Busquet, Ivan Rakitic, and Arturo Vidal, who are already over 30. One must wonder the reason behind the sale of 24-year-old Arthur Melo in a swap deal for 30+ Miralem Pjanic,.

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In modern football, clubs invest in young talent but Barcelona seems to be going the other way.

On the forward line, Barca might have to do away with Luis Suarez, Martin Braithwaite who are also in their 30s.

All Koeman needs to do is to instill belief in the likes of Pjanic and young central midfielder, Riqui Puig.

Koeman needs reinforcement

The dutchman has said that it might be impossible to bring in six new players into the team. He will be looking at what can be done in the current market.

If the likes of Rakitic, Vidal, Pique, and Busquet find their way out of the club, the Dutchman might likely bring in fellow Dutchman Donny van de Beek, defender Eric Garcia from Manchester City and long term target, Lautaro Martinez.

If he can at least bring in three new players, a Barcelona midfield with Frenkie de Jong, van de Beek, and Puig could be a good one fielding Martinez, who is a prolific goal scorer.

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Having Garcia, who started his career at the club’s academy will be good business as well. Provided Samuel Umtiti proves his Lyon form that made Barca buy him, their defensive problem could be addressed with Clement Lenglet already staking his claim.

One won’t be surprised if the likes of Junior Firpo, Daniel Araujo, and Jean-Claude Todibo up their games. This will create competition in the defence.

In the striking department, Francisco Trincão could be the answer to their goalscoring problem if they fail to get Martinez from Inter. This will reduce the stress of Lionel Messi.

Although Koeman has promised to talk to the talisman, he will need assurance of quality signing in the squad. If that is done, it is believed that Messi could put pen to paper for a new deal. Otherwise, we may be looking at the end of his career at the club.