For Xavi Hernandez and FC Barcelona to succeed next season, certain things must be guaranteed. La Blaugrana felt severely understaffed during this campaign, and the consequences have been felt. However, with Xavi guaranteed another season, Barcelona must comply with his requirements.
It is already clear that specific positions and roles within the team need more competent arrivals who can bring both quality and depth. However, beyond just the requirements already known to the club, Xavi has even explicitly mentioned his own priorities and the future players on whom he depends on.
As highlighted by SPORT, the Barcelona coach has just recently talked about some key topics in a pre-match press conference ahead of the clash against Real Sociedad. One topic that he was explicitly clear about was his satisfaction with the young starlets of Barcelona, and their respective progressions.
Speaking about the development of both Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, as well as the contract negotiation progress made towards both Hector Fort and Marc Guiu, Xavi had the following to say:
“Absolutely, Pau and Lamine have made a difference at this age. We hope to reach an agreement with Héctor, Marc Guiu. Homegrown players who are performing well. Fantastic news.”
However, he also talked about the need to secure some signings for next season. In particular, the Barcelona coach was quite specific about the priority that must be given to improving the depth of the team:
“It’s a maxim, one of the objectives is to double up positions, to have competitiveness. For me, it’s key.”
It remains to be seen just how much financial freedom Barça are allowed to work with in the summer, but it will likely be clear once La Liga returns with the much-awaited verdict. In the event that Barcelona can manage to return to the 1:1 rule, it would allow La Blaugrana to operate with much more clarity.
