While Jurgen Klopp has made headlines for coaching departures at the end of the season, another of the world’s biggest clubs is losing its manager in May. That would be Barcelona, as Xavi announced he would leave his post at the end of this season. The difference between the two is that you are leaving a club that is set to become one of the best in the world over the next few years. The other is Barcelona.
It seemed all too perfect when Xavi showed up to save Barca from their hell with Ronald Koeman just over two years ago. One of the pistons of the engine that propelled Barcelona to never-before-seen heights, alongside Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets in midfield, sliding into the manager’s seat to put Barca back on the path to success. a crazy footballing force. And he won the La Liga title last season, his first full season as manager. Except . . . no one seems to care? La Liga has never been at its lowest, and when it comes to Barcelona, they don’t see the world in the cold, matter-of-fact way that their blood rivals Madrid do, where results are all that matters. Barcelona won, but they didn’t win the way Barcelona sees themselves winning.
It was a tight defensive unit and a team of assembled players that Barcelona could get to come and take what little money they could free up with all their leverage. This was not a team built for the long term, but a team that came together to erase the embarrassment of losing Lionel Messi due to poverty and three seasons that collected only one Copa Del Rey, as well as some pretty hilarious exits in the Champions League group stage. .
That desperate attempt to cling to the highest ledge has come home this season, as Barca sit fourth in the league, 11 points behind Girona and 10 behind Madrid. Their attack is muted, thanks to its concentration mainly around Robert Lewandowski, who aged too quickly. Once again, the club scraped together all the money it could find from sofa cushions, trouser pockets in the laundry basket and pawnbrokers to bring in Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Felix. Cancelo and Gundogan are excellent players and have done pretty much what has been asked of them, but are not at an age where Barca can consider building around them long term. Felix has been about as mercurial as he was at Atletico Madrid, when the hope of being freed from their defensive shackles would pave the way for an entirely new player. Gavi and Pedri, the prized products of La Masia, collapsed under the weight of so many matches after only learning how to shave. Alejandro Balde suffered the same fate as he will now likely be out for the remainder of the season.
There are the foundations of Barca’s next great team somewhere in there for the next manager, assuming the club is willing to be patient and let her flourish. What he showed is far from the case. If the manager they choose was allowed to bring Pedri, Gavi, Balde, Araujo, Felix and Lamine Yamal slowly, to accept a few subpar finishes than usual, the club could very well dominate the European state again.
But the club can’t afford to be literally kicked out of the Champions League either. It is still hanging by a financial thread. All other clubs know the precarious situation Barça finds themselves in and will therefore only offer 50 cents on the dollar to the players they want to move. Which means they stay to get the salaries they prefer, Barca doesn’t get the money they need and they end up selling an extra 10-20% of the office furniture or whatever. ‘they can.
The next manager will inherit a bloated team, formed against the grain for different interests, which has become inert. This is exactly what Xavi inherited just two seasons ago. He took a piece and that was enough for him. The next guy is unlikely to last too long, because who wants to stay in the middle of a figurative typhoon for an extended stay?
Stop the presses, there was a baseball exchange
We had a real baseball trade last night, as the Twins sent Jorge Polanco to Seattle for Anthony Desclafani, Justin Topa and some eighth graders in the Mariners pipeline. The M’s are also sending money to cover the contracts of both pitchers.
Desclafani and Topa will bolster the Twins’ pen and the former may occasionally step into the rotation to support what is a fairly young Twins team.
The M’s get a bat in the infield that they desperately need once Ty France chickens out and Eugenio Suarez is moved. Polanco doesn’t solve the Mariners’ problem of having guys who like to strike out, but he also walks a lot and will help their on-base percentage. After the microphones of Polanco, Mitch Haniger, Mitch Garver (are you allowed two MItches?) and Luke Raley, suddenly the daily programming of the M is on the side of the former. Julio Rodriguez will be their only regular starter among the under-27s. There are a lot of ups and downs on this roster, but they don’t need a huge boom with their five-man rotation, as long as everyone stays healthy.
The Twins can save money, strengthen their pen, but they still need insurance on the field every time Byron Buxton takes another break.
But hey, at least someone did something.
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