It is understandable that FC Barcelona have some major concerns for next season. Despite the talent that they have, Barça want to make a sustainable system within the club. To do that, Barcelona needs a good balance of hungry youth and seasoned professionals.
Unfortunately for them, there is currently a surplus of one of the two in certain areas of the team. To ensure that, Barcelona need to have a balanced team that has the experience to see games through but also the youthful hunger to put pressure on the opponents.
At the moment, however, Barcelona are a team burdened with too much youth with it comes to a certain position. As has been highlighted by Diario AS, Barcelona currently have little to no dependable experience present in terms of the fullbacks that are their own at the club.
Apart from Joao Cancelo, whose return is not even a guarantee at the moment and the negotiations with Manchester City are yet to be finalized, Barcelona only have youngsters at their disposal to use as their fullbacks for next season.
Interestingly, the oldest fullback that Barcelona would hypothetically have available would be aged just 22. On the other hand, their youngest fullback option would be just 17 years old. In terms of the names themselves, Barcelona have exactly four fullbacks currently as guarantees for next season.
The oldest name, aged 22 as mentioned previously, is that of Julian Araujo. Having spent the last season at UD Las Palmas and having managed to impress, Araujo will likely get a chance with the first team during pre-season and Hansi Flick will be the man who gets to assess him and his future.
Then comes Alejandro Balde, who would occupy the left flank rather than the right one like Julian Araujo would. Aged just 20, Balde will be seen as the primary candidate to play as the starter under Flick, with the German coach even reportedly hoping to make him his recreation of a new Alphonso Davies.
Next in line is Alex Valle, who also returns from a loan move to Levante. A natural left-back, he is the only candidate who would directly be a competitor to Alejandro Balde. Aged just 20, the player is reportedly going to be tested during pre-season and will have his chance to impress Barcelona.
Lastly, Hector Fort is another right-back who Barcelona already know all too well. In this recent campaign, Fort managed to impress Xavi Hernandez and the club with his performances in any position that he was forced to play.
His versatility and consistency ended up rewarding him with a contract renewal, one that shows the faith that Barcelona have in the 17-year-old fullback.
