Barcelona seem like a club which has just narrowly touched the ambitions it set for itself at the turn of the century and now seem to be heading towards a steep decline with nothing falling in place for the Catalan giants. The cracks in the Barcelona organisation seemed to appear right when Luis Enrique stepped down as head coach a couple of years ago.
Following the remarkable treble-winning season in 2014/15, Barcelona’s overall performances have plummeted massively. The Catalan side has choked big time in Europe’s elite club competition, the UEFA Champions League, with disappointing results against Liverpool, AS Roma and Bayern Munich. All of these results came during a similar time frame when their arch-rivals, Real Madrid, have won three Champions League trophy on the bounce.
From a club which was known for its state of the art academy in La Masia, Barcelona have been reduced to a team which spends massively and extravagantly each summer on acquiring superstars. To add salt to the wound, none of these big-money signings have paid off. The best of examples for the same are Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho as the trident have cost Barcelona upwards of €350 million.
There is a famous saying in English which reads “You may not have covered your set tracks but it’s never too late to start.” Barcelona are no exception to this and there is light at the end of the tunnel for the Cules. Here are two situations Barcelona need to address right away –
The Lionel Messi Situation
After the entire transfer saga that took place last summer, Barcelona are far away from providing a long term solution to the problem. The fix last summer looked rather temporary and it has been evident from Lionel Messi’s performances this season. Personally, it feels like the Argentine seems disheartened and disinterested each time he takes to the field in the Blaugrana stripe.
Lionel Messi officially runs out of contract at the end of the season and interested teams can start negotiating deals with the Argentine striker now in the winter transfer window. As things stand, with Barcelona struggling majorly in the Primera Divison as well as the bleak hopes of progressing to the next round of the UEFA Champions League having drawn Paris Saint Germain, it looks like an uphill task to keep him at the Camp Nou for more seasons to come.
The Off-Field Set-Up
Much of the credit for Barcelona’s downfall could be attributed to the former President of the club, Josep Maria Bartomeu. The latter had been often accused of making amusing and hilarious decisions for a club of Barcelona’s stature. The appointment of Ernesto Valverde followed by Quique Setién were just disastrous moves for the Spanish outfit. Bartomeu parted ways with Barcelona in the closing months of the year but left the club with more agony and frustration with the appointment of Ronald Koeman as manager.
The Dutchman might be a decorated footballer and a sound-minded manager, but he is certainly not up for the task at Camp Nou. With Presidential Elections scheduled for this month, Barcelona could be a completely different side in comparison to itself when it began the season. A managerial change is expected by the end of this month with Barcelona slacking majorly in the La Liga title race.
