Busquets, Piqué, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto, the most noted for the failures of recent years, face one of their most demanding seasons
Despite the winds of renewal at Barça, the four Barça captains have managed to stay one more year in the squad
Under the guidance of Xavi Hernández, Barça is trying to rebuild itself and become once again a more competitive team, hungry for titles and recovering the illusion of a slightly disenchanted and unmotivated Barcelona team due to the failures of recent years. Especially in the Champions League, where it has been clearly seen that the team had dropped a few steps because it was unable to compete with the other greats in Europe.
There are many responsible, and in all areas of the club, but when it comes to the field of play, the most pointed out, sometimes unfairly, have been that old guard, those sacred cows, who have not given up their weight on the team because they have not had relief from guarantees nor have the calls to succeed them made merits to separate them. We are talking about Busquets, Piqué, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto, the eternal captains of a successful Barça in the past who are now looking to meet again with the arrival of many new faces.
All of them, the four of them, will continue in the squad and face one of the most demanding and special seasons of their lives. They know they will be scrutinized if things go wrong because they have been under the pressure of feeling singled out for many years because of their seniority, their high payrolls and their up-and-down performance on the field.
Xavi has shared a dressing room with all of them and that is why he knows what he can demand of them. Because he knows them and speaks clearly with them. He had no qualms about telling Piqué to get his act together, to drop his other songs and focus on football. That if he didn’t, I wouldn’t have him because in the center of defense there will be competition with Araujo, Eric, Christensen and, if possible, Koundé or another central defender. And Piqué picked up the glove, as Joan Laporta told. “He is clear that he wants to have a good season and he let me know. The coach will assess what he has to do from a technical point of view, but on a personal level he has told me that he wants to perform at a good level. the role of incorporating the new signings as the captain that he is”.
Busquets, without a clear replacement in the squad, will once again be a reference player from his position as a midfielder this season, which seems to be the last in which he will dress as a Barça player. He has been insinuating it that way. “When the contract ends, perhaps the club and the coach love me, but I think the time will have come to leave it. If I go to another team, I would not be European. I could not face Barça. Perhaps I would choose to play on another continent. I have to go step by step. I’m 33 years old, I’ll finish the season and when the last one ends after the World Cup, I’ll decide. But I’m not going to be a problem,” he said last March.
With Jordi Alba something similar happens. Like Busquets, he does not have any player in the squad that can compete with him. The left back is yours rain, snow or shine. He is immovable and fireproof. His performance is good, more in attack than in defense but Barça understands that it is time to have someone who really puts pressure on him or who can take him away from the starting lineup. That is why the intention of bringing in Marcos Alonso, a defender with quality, international like Alba and with experience in a big one as well.
In the case of Sergi Roberto, nobody disputes that Xavi has saved him. His contract was ending and the sports management did not want to offer him a renewal after the player rejected the first proposal they made to him. At the insistence of the coach and Sergi Roberto’s desire to stay, in the end an agreement was reached for him to continue for one more season. If he doesn’t get injured and when he has to play he doesn’t do badly, who knows if he doesn’t earn another year.