If Xavi thinks bringing success to Barcelona was difficult this season, wait until he sees the challenge that awaits him in the next campaign.
Barcelona’s coach won’t want to think about it too much as he travels around the city on an open top bus on Monday afternoon – and he enjoys a moment to savour winning his first league as a coach after winning eight as a player.
But with his president Joan Laporta again talking up the return of Lionel Messi, the club preparing to move to a largely disused stadium that has needed a €20million [£17.4m] upgrade just to make it match-ready, and the huge pressure to play better, win by more goals, and deliver in Europe, it won’t be long before his attention turns to the monumental tasks ahead.
The 2023-24 season could be Barça’s toughest yet, with or without Messi.
The PSG forward appeared to join Alejandro Balde’s Instagram Live on Sunday night as the Barcelona defender recorded the team’s dressing room celebrations.
Barcelona celebrate their LaLiga title success following Sunday’s 4-2 win over Espanyol
But planning for next season could prove a tricky challenge for Barcelona coach Xavi
Barcelona are obsessed with getting Lionel Messi back ‘home’ when he departs PSG
On Monday morning Joan Laporta was doing his round of post-title interviews and he claimed he had made peace with Messi removing at least one of the obstacles to him returning.
‘I’ve spoken to him to put things right,’ he told Catalan television. ‘The chat was affectionate, I congratulated him for the World Cup. With great respect to Saudi Arabia who are doing well with their league, Barça is Barça – this is his home.’
Saudi Arabia is offering Messi €400m [£348m], but Laporta pointed out that Barcelona offers him 400 million followers worldwide.
‘We want Leo,’ he added. ‘But the club wont go over our limits to bring him because we are still working through our austerity plan.’
The mixed messages don’t help Xavi who may well be the loser however the soap opera plays out.
If Messi doesn’t come he will have to deal with the feeling of disappointment that will hang over the club like a dark cloud into next season. And if he does arrive then Xavi must make it work on the pitch, bearing in mind it stopped working in the last couple of seasons before Messi left.
In the classic 4-3-3 that Barcelona have so often favoured Messi doesn’t really fit anymore. He can’t stretch teams as a wide forward, he has long since stopped operating as a false nine and he certainly does have the box-to-box energy of one of the lateral midfielders.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta wants Messi to accept better quality football over money
The alternative is playing for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, who have tabled an outrageous offer
Xavi’s plan is to use the ‘magic square’ midfield he has favoured at time this season with Pedri and Gavi at the top two corners and Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets at the bottom two corners may be the solution.
A future quartet would have Messi in place of Gavi who could drop back alongside Frenkie de Jong who will replace Sergio Busquets.
It doesn’t sound like a bad midfield behind Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele but there will be concerns that against the more physical sides Barcelona are likely to encounter in Europe it will just be overrun.
There are also more pressing needs at the club. Gavi and the brilliant 19-year-old left-back Alejandro Balde need their contracts registered and the club must sign a new right back and a replacement for Busquets – and they must do it all having lost director of football Mateu Alemany to Aston Villa.
The club’s Economic vice-president Eduard Romeu said last week: ‘We are not in intensive care anymore but we are still in hospital referring to the ongoing problems with LaLiga’s maximum squad spend restrictions.
Frenkie de Jong (right) has formed part of Xavi’s ‘magic square’ in Barcelona’s midfield
Sergio Busquets (left) signed off with another title before his anticipated move to Al-Hilal
Barcelona need to reduce the wage bill by €200m [£174m], in order to be allowed to trade on a 1:1 basis in the transfer market.
If they fail to do that then LaLiga will apply the 40 per cent rule on the club meaning they will have to make €100m [£87m] to spend €40m [£34.8m]. Referring to the first scenario Romeu said: ‘I want to make it clear that for any player to come in, a player of the same value needs to go out.’
The buck will been passed to Xavi regards who leaves and it’s another weight on his shoulders. But as well as being unfair it’s also just not true – the players themselves will decide who leaves.
Raphinha has already reacted angrily to suggestions that he has given the club the go-ahead to offload him at the end of the season.
And he is not alone in not wanting to go. Last season Frenkie de Jong would have been sold to Manchester United but he refused to move.
Messi and Xavi celebrate winning the Champions League when Barca beat Juventus in 2015
Now Ansu Fati, another who has been offered around the Premier League, has also told the club he wants to stay put.
With no one leaving it’s hard to see how Barcelona reduce their wage bill by the necessary €200m and so the new Director of Football – most likely to be Deco – will have to work the market with one arm firmly tied behind his back.
And if all this is not headache enough Barcelona’s move to the city’s old Olympic Stadium with its 49,000 capacity will reduce matchday income by €94m [£81.75m] across the season and serious reduce home advantage.
In a bid to get tourists in the temporary arena, and therefore hike ticket prices, only around 22,000 season ticket holders will have the chance to watch the team at home next season.
The potential for a cold arena where a running track separates the fans from the players does not bode well. Especially if its half filled with tourists and half filled with Barça fans expecting more football than has been provided this season where 11 of Barcelona’s victories have been 1-0 scorelines.
Barcelona will be playing their home games at the city’s Olympic Stadium next season
That comes while the Nou Camp is redeveloped, with season ticket sales restricted
Xavi could win the league again, against the odds, and against an inevitably revitalised Real Madrid.
But if he does the moan will be: ‘Well you did last season, what about Europe?’ And if doesn’t win the league then the criticism will be even worse.
He’ll be aware of all this – but for today it will be right at the back of his mind.
Barcelona did not look like winning the league at the start of the season, nor after the first Clasico where they were comfortably beaten by Real Madrid. He turned it around and deserves the city of Barcelona to salute him for that today.
SRC: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
