FC Barcelona 2023-24 Season Preview – Barcelona
That is Half 1 of a Season Preview.
The start of each season is an opportunity to reaffirm our hopes, to persuade ourselves that this 12 months is the 12 months, and that we’re not, in truth, fools for believing but once more. Lucy is not going to pull the soccer away on the final second this time.
For somebody who’s a member of and carefully follows a significant membership in Europe coming off a league-winning season, it in all probability sounds fairly, err, wealthy to followers of a lot smaller groups for me to be saying one thing alongside the strains of “I hope I can care about this season.” I acknowledge this, but in addition acknowledge that following Barça for the final, err, ever has been taxing. We’re not a membership that appears upon success and says, “Allow us to calmly construct up on this.” No, we should tear it down and it have to be achieved in such a style as to trigger most drama.
It’s because it ever was.
And so, allow us to speak about this membership, this workforce, these gamers, this season. It’s what we got here right here to do and it’s what we’re going to do.
First, the obituaries:
Our French prince of swish has gone, Samuel Umtiti and the membership ending his contract by mutual settlement (and a few sum of money) and Massive Sam going off to Lille the place I hope he has the time of his life and continues the journey again to common taking part in time that he was on at Lecce final season. He was by no means going to play for us once more so it’s good to get his wage off the books for this season and future seasons as his contract ran via a while in 2092 or one thing. His legacy is that he performed 133 matches for the membership, nearly all of them in 16/17 and 17/18 earlier than his knee harm and subsequent resolution to not have surgical procedure. In these 2 seasons with us, he was genuinely unimaginable and I miss him at his peak. Might you dance your happiness as soon as extra.
Alex Collado, he of the two appearances for the membership, has gone to Actual Betis on a free whereas the membership retains some quantity of future switch charges. At 24, he was merely by no means going to make it at Barça, particularly after struggling to get sufficient taking part in time on mortgage at Granada after which being injured for a slightly below a 3rd of the season on mortgage with Elche in 22/23. Unlucky since you by no means wish to see careers stutter and crumble, however a great transfer for him and for Barça.
After a tough mortgage 12 months in Valencia filled with accidents Nico Gonzalez moved to Porto for €8.5m. Give that he’s simply 21 and appears pretty gifted, you want to suppose he would command the next worth, however Nico’s accidents (together with a stretch the place he missed 12 matches for Valencia between January and March), his considerably stagnated improvement, and Barça’s lack of leverage, have mixed to push that quantity down. It’s truthful, particularly with a buy-back clause (€30m earlier than June 30, 2025) and a 40% “worth added” clause for a future switch. I admit that I had (very) excessive hopes for Nico in 21/22. He made 37 appearances for the membership in 21/22, however solely performed 1,110 minutes within the league (27 appearances, 41 minutes per on common, 12.33 90s). He really performed extra minutes in 26 appearances for Valencia final season, however couldn’t discover a sustained rhythm and didn’t seem like the kind of participant who might take over the pivot position or displace any of the opposite midfielders Barça had accessible. He’s younger, bodily, and versatile. The query is whether or not he can up his recreation and grow to be the participant numerous us thought he was primed to grow to be when he first confirmed up.
After only one season, Franck Kessie strikes to Saudi Arabian membership Al-Ahli for €12.5m. I’ve a number of, competing ideas about this transfer. First, we are going to all the time rejoice at Kessie’s goal against Real Madrid within the dwelling clasico, that just about assured us a league victory. Sure, it was a glorified tap-in, but it surely was one which we so desperately wanted on an emotional stage that I’ll have a good time it even when the true work was achieved by Lewandowski’s backheel and Balde selecting his head up and firing in a low cross. One other thought: Kessie got here on a free and shifting him for any sum of money is revenue for accounting functions, a factor the membership desperately wants and which saves us his wage too for reinvestment. A 3rd thought: bringing in a participant who isn’t essentially a great match to then dump them out a 12 months later sends a nasty message to anybody pondering they need to transfer to Barcelona and make a go of it. There isn’t a decision to this stress, a minimum of not but; Kessie wasn’t round lengthy sufficient and wasn’t impactful sufficient for me to type any sort of a fan bond with him, so I really feel considerably like a Enterprise Fan right here when my main thought is I want we’d have gotten a bigger payment. There’s a dialog available at a special time about what Xavi’s integration of Kessie might have been like, however for now, it’s good to have just a little change in our pocket as we face the league’s registration necessities. Kessie’s squad spot will be taken by Gundogan, who’s an undoubted improve (though a shorter time period one than Kessie might have been given the age disparity).
What improve are we going to persuade ourselves of for Ousmane Dembele? The particular phrases of the deal are just a little fuzzy, however after 6 season on the membership, Dembele’s buyout clause was activated and he has gone to PSG. Sounds acquainted sufficient that it reminds a sure part of fandom of Neymar’s departure, however that’s the place the similarities finish. Neymar left to seek out new heights, whereas Dembele has gone to discover a measure of peace and a brand new starting. The “loss” on the switch for the membership is gargantuan, however from an accounting perspective it’s in all probability a revenue (it is determined by how his payment was amortized, however normally it’s over the contract size). What issues extra to me is that the participant was dynamic, destabilizing opposing defenses and offering an array of choices to construct an assault round. However the flip facet of all that is clearly the accidents: 185 appearances throughout all competitions in 6 seasons represents about half of the accessible matches. Essentially the most matches performed in a season was 44 in 2020-21; the least was 9 the 12 months earlier than in 2019-20. Frenkie de Jong was signed in 2019, 2 years after Dembele, and has 183 appearances. This comparability is just not significantly random in that de Jong is 3 days older than Dembele: they’re each 26-year previous excessive profile signings whose trajectories could not match presentation day expectations. The narrative that we consistently hear is that Dembele is a mercurial winger whose hamstrings are made from Twizzlers and scotch tape, however when he was on the sphere Dembele offered pretty unimaginable attacking statistics: 97th percentile in assists, with 0.44 per 90 minutes performed, and 72nd percentile in non-penalty objectives (stats from FBREF). These 24 objectives and 34 assists are mainly what Ivan Rakitic had with Barça and he was lauded (till fickle followers discovered him smiling as a substitute of fuming after a loss). What I consider Dembele is, after all, immaterial now, however he was so enjoyable to look at that I used to be consistently rooting for him even has he but once more suffered an harm relapse, as he as soon as once more tried too arduous on the sphere, as he as soon as once more pressured a cross via the protection and it was intercepted and brought the opposite means for a harmful counter. But then of course. And you start to imagine once more. That’s what I take into consideration.
I’ve by no means identified what to think about Jordi Alba, not likely. He’s so irritating when he forgets his defensive duties, however, as the children say, scores solely bangers. He might disappear for lengthy stretches, mistime tackles, misplace passes, usually be an entire cyclone of whirling legs and arms with out finish product, after which produce chic cutbacks. He was within the dialog for greatest LB on the planet for a short while, but it surely additionally appeared on the identical time that he was the worst LB on the planet. Give him all of the accolades. Shoot him into the solar. I satisfied my daughter to call her stuffed squirrel doll after him. I yell his identify in anger and shake my fist at him. His reference to Lionel Messi was (and stays) telepathic and it received us I don’t know what number of matches. Messi’s departure naturally lowered Alba’s output, but it surely felt like greater than that: Jordi Alba’s legs are now not the legs he had when he first arrived and he can’t make up for any deficiencies like he used. Father Time stays undefeated. It was Alba’s time to go some years in the past, however Bartomeu prolonged him via his 35th birthday anyway. I too would have signed on the dotted line the place Jordi inked his identify on the contract, but it surely mustn’t have been supplied. One other contract termination value the membership a good chunk of change, but it surely was the appropriate name since one other 12 months of his wage was not going to do us any good. It was time.
Time, then, is the factor I take into consideration after I take into consideration Sergio Busquets. Seeing the again of this gangly man who change the sport by going unnoticed is an emotional stew I used to be not ready for. It was, like with Alba, time for him to maneuver on, his contract expiring and his legs dropping what little was left of their pace (by no means nice at the very best of instances). What was as soon as the nice octopus within the heart, grabbing something that got here close to, was now a defensive legal responsibility and a sieve in transition. There wasn’t sufficient safety accessible from the squad to cover his decline, even when that decline began so excessive that you might be forgiven for letting him experience it out on the membership of his life. A person who seemingly might manufacture time, was all of a sudden out of it. The place he might whirl and additional seconds of possession appeared as opponents flew by, have been caught flat-footed, have been misplaced within the wake, now he was the one straining to succeed in the ball, tugging on a shirt to catch up, exhorting teammates to cowl extra floor. When he first appeared, leaping up from the B workforce with Pep, I believed he can be a backup to Yaya Toure for a decade. There wasn’t room in our immense midfield for this man whose legs have been Bambi-thin. I’ve been mistaken earlier than, however maybe by no means fairly this mistaken, on this means. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good, it was that the gulf between “good” and “Sergio Busquets” was taller than Mt. Everest. He was an establishment in midfield for 15 years. 722 appearances. 19 main trophies and 13 minor trophies. He received a World Cup and the European Championships someplace in there. And, at one level, I advocated for giving him the boot. I don’t remorse this stance as a result of I don’t imagine that he mentioned mucho morro means again in 2011, throughout that notorious run of clasicos. I don’t know if I used to be proper or mistaken, however it’s in all probability vital to level out that regardless of the precise act was, it doesn’t seem to have been repeated. We will have a good time his achievements if we keep in mind that these will not be heroes, however people whose expertise and flaws are magnified. Time comes for us all, even when we expect we management it. Truthful thee properly, our midfield maestro whose biggest talent was being invisible when it mattered most.
And so: the season forward.
Our 2023/24 Schedule:
3-Sep-23 @Osasuna
17-Sep-23 Actual Betis
19-Sep-23 UCL Group Stage Match 1
24-Sep-23 Celta Vigo
27-Sep-23 @Mallorca
1-Oct-23 Sevilla
3-Oct-23 UCL Group Stage Match 1
8-Oct-23 @Granada
22-Oct-23 Athletic Bilbao
24-Oct-23 UCL Group Stage Match 3
29-Oct-23 Actual Madrid
5-Nov-23 @Actual Sociedad
7-Nov-23 UCL Group Stage Match 4
12-Nov-23 Alavés
26-Nov-23 @Rayo Vallecano
28-Nov-23 UCL Group Stage Match 5
3-Dec-23 Atlético Madrid
10-Dec-23 Girona
12-Dec-23 UCL Group Stage Match 6
17-Dec-23 @Valencia
20-Dec-23 Almería
3-Jan-24 @Las Palmas
13-Jan-24 Osasuna
21-Jan-24 @Actual Betis
28-Jan-24 Villarreal
4-Feb-24 @Alavés
11-Feb-24 Granada
18-Feb-24 @Celta Vigo
25-Feb-24 Getafe
3-Mar-24 @Athletic Bilbao
10-Mar-24 Mallorca
17-Mar-24 @Atlético Madrid
31-Mar-24 Las Palmas
14-Apr-24 @Cádiz
21-Apr-24 @Actual Madrid
28-Apr-24 Valencia
5-Might-24 @Girona
12-Might-24 Actual Sociedad
15-Might-24 @Almería
19-Might-24 Rayo Vallecano
26-Might-24 @Sevilla
From CL Matchday 3 to CL Matchday 4 goes to be a experience and a half, no matter who we’re going through in European competitors. There will likely be narratives galore, requires Xavi’s head, recriminations, somebody saying the ways are mistaken even when all 4 matches are 5-0 wins for Barça (“cupcake league!” “unfair draw!”). What issues to the membership is qualifying for the knockout levels of the Champions League and, secondarily, competing for the league title. The inverse is true for me, because it all the time has been, however I seem to more and more be within the minority. Splashy competitors wins are higher than sustained excellence, I assume.
A fast prediction earlier than the season formally kicks off: Barça will win the title once more, will make R16 of the CL, and the semifinal of the Copa del Rey. And we’d even win regardless of the supercopa factor is in Saudi Arabia, though if we don’t, I don’t care.
Up subsequent in Half 2: new signings, financials, and the trail ahead. And perhaps a couple of references to bygone eras nobody remembers.
