More than a club – this is what the motto of Barcelona has always stood for. Of late, though, the La Liga club has been involved in various tugs of war between their management and their personnel. It all started with the huge ‘Lionel Messi leaving’ saga, and now the headlines are all about the mistreatment of Luis Suarez.
We are talking about a club which is known for its philosophies; a club which saw it’s rise with the Johan Cruyff era; their peak of success with the Pep Guardiola sextuple. Now, another Dutch genius in the form of Ronald Koeman is all set to pull the strings for the Catalan club.
With no trophies in 2019-20, the management issues should actually be the least of problems at the club.
Are Barcelona Entering a Slump?
The Shift of Power From Catalonia to the Capital
For the better part of the last two decades, Barcelona have been known for building their team around the La Masia Graduates. On the contrary, their biggest rivals, Real Madrid, have tried to pursue success by building a team of superstars from every corner of the world – The Galacticos.
But now, times are changing.
In the past two years, Madrid have heavily invested in youth talents and have been fast-tracking them to either the senior team or loaning them out to first division clubs. Meanwhile, Barcelona have just managed to keep hold of their ageing legends irrespective of their age. Not to mention, the Blaugranes also recently swapped 24-year-old Arthur for a 30-year-old Miralem Pjanic.
La Masia’s famed recent graduates, Carles Alena and Riqui Puig, are all set to see out their futures away from Barcelona, whereas Los Blancos are beginning to accommodate Martin Odegaard in the first team. Zinedine Zidane even handed out debuts to two youth players, Marvin Park and Sergio Arribas, in their 0-0 opening day draw at Real Sociedad.
How This Chaos is Moving From Top to Bottom
This unusual change of philosophies has a clear indication. Zinedine Zidane has the complete backing of Florentino Perez. The Frenchman has earned it with his Champions League triumphs and recent La Liga title last season. This is what Barcelona are lacking.
With Ronald Koeman appointed as the new head coach, there is a mountain of pressure on the Dutch manager. A pressure of performance and a pressure of delivering trophies at a club where the fans are not used to going two seasons without a trophy.
There is not a shred of a doubt that Koeman is not in a position where he will be given a couple of years for the rebuild. And unfortunately, this is resulting in the new manager sticking to experienced personnel who have been there, done that and won trophies at Camp Nou.
But is this the way for the future? Certainly not.
Delay of Gratification Needed at Barcelona
With the club’s presidential elections around the corner, there is a need for unpleasant but bold decisions at Barcelona.
The club has a difficult choice to make. To find short-term solutions and win a couple of trophies, which will result in a replication of 2019-20 in another three to four years to come, or to delay the hunger for titles and focus on building a squad for the future.
In this era of ‘footballing business’, though, that’s a tough choice. Even though the second choice seems the correct one, the first choice is what keeps the club ‘relevant’ in Spain and Europe.
Nevertheless, from the outside, one thing seems clear: Barcelona look to be heading for a long-term slump, for sure.
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