Given Barca’s perilous financial position, the club are always going to be susceptible to bids for their players, and that’s a status quo that doesn’t look like changing anytime soon.
Whatever the whys and wherefores we are where we are and, to that end, it’s incumbent upon Joan Laporta, his board and Hansi Flick to make the best of the situation.
With strong rumours that Fermin Lopez was on his way out of the club at the 11th hour, it’s a blessing that any potential interest came too late.
That’s not
to say the tigerish youngster won’t be sold at some future stage, though most culers would surely agree that he deserves at least another season to prove he has what it takes to forge a long career at the club.
Those players not so fortunate this summer – Hector Fort, Pablo Torre and Inaki Pena et al – could all be considered fringe players at best, and whilst Barca have loaned two of those along with Ansu Fati and Ander Astralaga, it’s difficult to see how any will get to make in roads at the Catalan giants in future.
Torre was sold permanently to Mallorca, Alex Valle to Como and Pau Victor to Braga. Even if their sales didn’t generate much money, the associated cost saving in wages will be helpful at least.
By far the most unexpected departure was that of Inigo Martinez, a player that had more than proved his worth to this team despite a slow-ish start to life in Blaugrana.
Just how much he will be missed will arguably be seen over the next few weeks, but certainly the defence haven’t yet convinced in his absence.
Marcus Rashford’s loan signing has been an interesting one.
The Manchester United ace clearly had no future at Old Trafford and was, apparently, insistent that a move to Barcelona was his most desired.
To date, there have only been brief flashes of what he might be able to produce, albeit he’ll need to do a lot more if he wants to earn himself a permanent contract at the end of the season.
Roony Bardghji is absolutely a player for the future, and even if things don’t work out as everyone might hope, for so little an outlay in financial terms, the deal was a no-brainer.
Joan Garcia’s capture from local rivals Espanyol was not only necessary, but paramount if Barca want to be challenging for the big honours again this season.
He’s already shown himself to be an excellent shot stopper and distributor, and his game against Rayo Vallecano at the weekend was one of the best goalkeeping performances from a Barca custodian of recent times.
An absolute steal at €25m.
When all is said and done, and taking all possibilities into account, the club managed to strengthen in one of its key positions whilst offloading those players who weren’t realistically going to make a dent in the starting XI in 2025/26.
It’s accepted that signings are still not of the ‘galactico’ variety, but when placed in context of where the club find themselves at this precise moment, they should be happy enough with their business this summer.
