This season, for all Barca fans, the team's performance has not lived up to their expectations. Although, objectively speaking, the overall strength of the team this season has declined significantly, in the case of more than half of the league schedule, they are only in the sixth place in the league table, and the gap between the points and real madrid at the top of the table has reached 17 points. If you look at the league results this season alone, these two teams seem to be no longer a grade team. In the Champions League, Barca's performance was also disappointing, they no longer look like they have the competitive standards of a top team.
Although in the past period of time, under the leadership of Xavi, Barca's performance has improved to a certain extent, they have not suffered defeats in 5 consecutive games, and their position in the standings has also been improved by a certain extent, but it should be pointed out that among these 5 opponents, except for Sevilla, the strength of other teams is relatively average. Therefore, the gold content of this schedule is slightly insufficient. Whether Barca really get out of the predicament depends on the performance of the next period of time. In the next few rounds, Barça will encounter more powerful teams such as Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Madrid, etc., which are not inferior to Barca, or even stronger than Barca. At that time, if Harvey and his players can still play very well, the team's chances of qualifying for the Champions League this season are very high.
The team's good performance in the past period is largely due to the performance of the forward line players, especially Luc De Jong. After coming to Barca, the Dutch high school striker has been in a rather sluggish state. In the forward line, his shooting ability and scoring efficiency are quite average, and he lacks the keen sense of smell required for a shooter in front of goal. Luc De Jong is also more average in terms of being the fulcrum of the front, and his physical confrontation ability and ability to cope with the pass are not obvious in the case of the opponent's close defense. Just as Barca had almost decided to abandon him, Luc De Jong was finally back in form. He scored in three consecutive games, scoring three goals, while Barca scored just five goals across the board. With Depay plagued by injuries, Luc De Jong almost single-handedly shouldered Barca's scoring responsibility. This is also a windfall for Harvey.
However, for Barca, the 31-year-old Luc De Jong will certainly not be a long-term choice for the team, and even if he can stay in the team, he can only become a role player, only suitable for playing at a specific time, and can not become the main scorer that the team relies on. To the surprise of the outside world, Depay, who performed well in the first half of the season, does not seem to be very popular with Harvey. Sources say Xavi is open to Depay's departure and that if a team can send a suitable offer, the Netherlands international can choose to leave the team. Perhaps in Harvey's view, Depay's technical characteristics determine that he needs a lot of ball rights, and the team must use him as the core player of the front. But if Barca develop tactics around Depay in the forward line, the team's ceiling will not be too high. At this point, Laporta and Harvey's views seem to coincide. In this case, Barca has always made Haaland a key target for reinforcements. This season, Haaland has scored 15 goals in 13 league games and delivered five assists for his teammates. It is reported that Barca are convinced that they can beat other competitors and eventually successfully sign Haaland.
In Barca's forward line, there is another player that has to be mentioned, that is, France international Dembele. With his contract set to expire at the end of the season, Barca have been trying to resolve his renewal issues, offering him several offers for renewal. However, Dembele's reaction disappointed Barca, who "opened his mouth" on the asking price for the renewal and wanted a long-term contract with a five-year term and a total revenue of 200 million euros. This is completely unbearable for Barca, which is already quite tight. With no hope of leaving Dembele, Barca finally made the decision to give up. According to transfer expert Romero, Barca have informed the €30 million attacker that the team has officially withdrawn his offer to renew his contract and expelled him from the first team. Barca have lowered the penalty clause in Dembele's contract, and if there is a team willing to pay liquidated damages, Dembele can leave in the winter transfer window. If the team hadn't taken Dembele away in the winter transfer window, he wouldn't have been given the chance to continue to play for the team until his contract expired. This means that the two sides have broken up.
In addition, the team's main midfielder Frank De Jong also received a lot of attention from the team. Frank De Jong's play has also slipped somewhat this season, and similar to Depay's situation, Frank De Jong has not received enough affirmation from Harvey. There is a certain possibility that he will leave the team. According to British media, chelsea and Bayern have extended an "olive branch" to Frank De Jong. Barca's psychological expectation for Frank De Jong's transfer fee is around 60 million euros. (The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)