The recently concluded season has seen many ups and downs for Barcelona as the Catalan club finished second to Real Madrid in the La Liga. They also faltered in the Champions League for the second season in a row as they crashed out of the European tournament at the hands of Juventus after failing to score a single goal across the two legs of the quarter-final.
The transfer policy of the Blaugrana has been the centre of criticism as they had not been able to influence the transfer market for a while. Except for Ivan Rakitic, Barcelona had not been able to seek proper contribution from any of the players as the likes of Aleix Vidal, Andre Gomes has been struggling in search of their form.
Ernesto Valverde has been handed the opportunity to take Barcelona once gain to the top of world football and for this, he needs to rectify a number of things at the Camp Nou to start off.
Need Of Reinforcement
The defence has been one of the weak links of the current Catalan side. Luis Enrique’s deployment of a three-man defence has been of no use. Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti has been very dominant in the Barcelona backline but the need of an another central defender is imminent.
Also, the newly appointed coach needs to take care of the right back situation. Sergi Roberto had to fill in this position and a proper full-back is one of the priorities. A central midfielder might be good for an emergency situation as there will be days when both Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic will be under pressure.
Use Of The Famous La Masia
Once upon a time, Barcelona’s academy used to be full of talented players with the likes of Hector Bellerin, Andres Iniesta and Xavi emerged out from the La Masia. But for the last few seasons quality player are not coming from the youth setup. Like any other club, the Catalans has been very dependent on buying player whereas their own academy is full of talent. There are a number of exciting prospects emerging from the academy and Valverde needs to make sure the young players get their much-deserved chances.
Give The Coach Complete Freedom
Valverde had the experience of playing for Barcelona and he knows the pros and cons of the club. The club’s philosophy is a bit different from the other clubs and the Spaniard is aware of that. He has to be given full freedom in terms of decision making and he might take few very drastic steps keeping in mind of the current situations.
