Xavi’s Plan for Barça: Three Key Signings Needed as Club Returns from Las Vegas

Barça returns from Las Vegas with two victories in three games, one of them with its itch for quality like the Clásico; one less decisive player, Ousmane Dembélé; and a month to finish propping up a squad that is missing things. To the three signings made so far (Iñigo Martínez, Ilkay Gündogan and Oriol Romeu) another three must be added. In order of priority, Xavi wants an interior playmaker, a specific right-back (“Koundé, Araújo and Sergi Roberto can play there but they are not pure full-backs”) and a striker who, and this is the novelty, should not be a specific end. The possibility of incorporating a center forward is on the table at this time at the work table of Xavi, Mateu Alemany and Deco, who by the way will be officially presented in the coming days as Barça’s technical secretary; and that he has been working in the shadows in Barcelona these days but has not appeared in the United States.

Beyond his disappointment with Dembélé, Xavi appeared very serene in the press room at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. And he left a message that showed that Barça knew what had been going on in recent weeks. “We had planned this scenario,” he replied when asked to what extent Dembélé’s goodbye altered the planning of the first team. Then he added: “We have to strengthen ourselves.” But he did it in a conciliatory tone. “It’s not a message to anyone,” he said, surely so that no one interprets it as a fight with Deco now that the Brazilian is making his debut as technical secretary.

Barça, then, is going to launch into the market. Right now, however, he has to do the math to see how much money he has in terms of fairplay. And for that, in addition to the entry by Dembélé, he hopes to quickly solve the marches of Kessié, Lenglet and Dest, with the asterisk of Abde, to which Xavi did not close the door: “The market is open and we will see what happens”.

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Manchester City�s forward Erling Haaland (R) is congratulated by defender Joao Cancelo for his goal during the J-League World Challenge 2023 football match between English Premier League champion Manchester City and Yokohama F-Marinos at the National Stadium in Tokyo on July 23, 2023. (Photo by Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP)TOSHIFUMI KITAMURAAFP

The preferences are clear. Joao Cancelo is preferred for the right-back, although the first formal offer has been to Valladolid for Fresneda. In the midfield, the dream is Bernardo Silva, but surely the coach will have to settle for a lower profile if Manchester City closes the band to negotiate or, directly, Barça is not enough with what they have. And, finally, there is the attack, where there could be a change of script and forget about the right-back, which Barça has well covered, to focus on winning some goals. The name of Vitor Roque is on the table. He is already signed, he can play as nine, but also on the right; and Paranaense could be left out of the Libertadores in the round of 16 against Bolívar. LaLiga starts in two weeks but the market does not close until the end of August. Until then, Barça will only have to play three official matches (Getafe, Cádiz and Villarreal), so they will be able to push until the end. A month is a long time and the names that are now on the table (although there are already some discarded like Carrasco or Joao Félix) new ones will join. An exciting August for market lovers and stressful for the triumvirate that was born with Deco, Mateu Alemany and Xavi.

2023-08-02 09:12:43
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