Xavi is aware of what is at stake next season. The Blaugrana coach knows, better than anyone, what Barça is and what it represents. And he assumes that the coach who sits on the bench at the Camp Nou is always conditioned by the results. Now more than ever. After a campaign without titles, he has to win again. Yes or yes. Especially after Madrid’s surprising Liga-Champions double. But to build a champion team he needs a total transformation of the squad. Laporta has promised him that there will be a revolution in the locker room: “Don’t worry, we’ll sign.” Xavi is perfectly aware of Barça’s economic situation and its problems with the salary limit, but he trusts the word of his president.
The technician has been planning the 2022-23 academic year for days, meeting with the discarded soccer players, with the doubtful ones and, also, with the captains, for whom a new role is destined. However, all this work will be useless if, in the end, the essential incorporations are not produced. Xavi needs them to bring him 4/5 undisputed starters of immediate performance.
There are the names of Azpilicueta, Koundé (an almost impossible dream), Ruben Neves, Lewandowski and Raphinha. All of them players who would have a place in Barça’s starting eleven from the first day. It is also essential for him a middle class that generates competition: Marcos Alonso, Christensen, Kessié… Any of these eight players improves what currently exists. And therein lies the key. You don’t have to sign for signing. You have to sign judiciously.
To sign and, above all, to sign well, you need money and ‘fair play’. Something that Barça, at the moment, does not have. At today’s board meeting, however, a solution to this shortfall can be found. In principle, some of the levers that will give the club oxygen to be able to face this revolution must be activated. There are very good footballers willing to come to the Camp Nou.
The Barça brand continues to be attractive to players. And the project proposed by Xavi (who has been involved and has spoken personally with all of them) is exciting. The clearest proof is the implication that Lewandowski is showing in order to make his arrival at the Blaugrana team a reality. The opportunity to considerably improve the template exists. You have to take advantage of it. Xavi will then be in charge of building a Barça champion.