In 2021, for La Liga giants Barca, it can be described as: there is no decline, only more decline! In the first half of the year, La Liga finally finished only third, and the Champions League was beaten as sixteen langs, which was the worst in more than a decade. In the second half of the year, La Liga ranked at a new low in nearly two decades in the same period, and the Champions League group stage began with two consecutive defeats. Koeman was out of class, legendary midfielder Xavi took over, La Liga did not improve much, and the Champions League group was out.
Messi's departure from Barca, just like Real Madrid without Ronaldo in the 2018-19 season and Juve without Ronaldo this season, the overall offensive firepower of the team has been almost reduced by half.
New signing Depay is not the world's top striker, Aguero retired due to injury, sent Griezmann back to Atletico on loan, luke De Jong from Sevilla, Luke De Jong is not as good as Griezmann, Dembele, Coutinho, Blythwaite These people are constantly injured, even if they are not injured, they are embarrassing... Harvey faces a more serious problem of "weakness" than during the Koeman era.
Before the winter window opened, Barca had already finalized a transfer deal to bring in Spanish striker Ferran Torres from Manchester City. According to Marca, Barca will pay 55 million euros + 10 million euros for additional clauses to introduce Ferran Torres, and the basic transfer fee of 55 million euros will be paid in 4 installments. Barca are short of money, but there is no pressure to bring in Ferran Torres in this way.
The 21-year-old Ferran Torres is tall, can play wingers and centre-forwards, fast, dribbling well, 6-0 victory over Germany in the UEFA Nations League, and Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick. Ferran Torres played for Manchester City for one and a half seasons, scoring 16 goals and assisting four times in 43 appearances, which is not the number of top strikers.
It is certainly unrealistic to expect Ferran Torres to achieve the goal efficiency of Neymar or Suarez in the future. If it can reach the level of Sanchez that year, the transfer fee of 50 or 60 million euros is not in vain, and it can also solve Barca's urgent needs, first survive the remaining half of the season and retain the Champions League qualification.
In next summer's window, Barca will have a bigger move in the transfer market, a heavy signing similar to the introduction of Neymar in 2013 and the signing of Suarez in 2014.
According to The Marca newspaper, Barca is determined to win against Haaland! Laporta has mentioned Haaland several times in his meetings with team members, and he has not hidden his fears about Mbappe joining Real Madrid. A few days ago, Laporta and Haaland's agent, Rayola, met to bring in Haaland for Barca to play against Real Madrid, and was terrified of the possibility that both Mbappe and Jarad would join Real Madrid.
Signing Mbappe and Haaland at the same time, thinking about it is crazy, how much does it cost? How terrifying will it be for a team to have a "new generation of double pride" in football at the same time? But for Real Madrid, it is nothing. In the summer of 2009, they signed C Ronaldo and Kaka at the same time. In the past two years, Real Madrid has not made any net investment in the transfer market. Coupled with Mbappe, who will introduce free agents next year, there is no need to pay a transfer fee.
You can't underestimate Barca. With debts of more than a billion euros, he is still the world's top giant In the summer of 2003, Ronaldinho was ready to sign a contract with Manchester United, and was called to Barca by a phone call from Roselle. In 2013, Real Madrid thought it was a nail in the coffin to bring in Brazilian supernova Neymar, but was suddenly successfully cut off by Barca. There is no way to know how Barca brought in Haaland, but if Laporta decides to make a move, it will definitely have a way to win nine out of ten.