Much of the credit related to how far FC Barcelona have managed to reinforce their squad over the last two years, especially with the heavy weight of their economic tension and restrictions upon them, go to the club’s new higher Sporting management.
The likes of Mateu Alemany, Joan Laporta, Jordi Cruyff and now even Deco have contributed much to the cause of Barcelona and have helped return the club to becoming a dominating presence once more. Yet, business is far from over and the team has not yet fully recruited all the positions they had in mind to reinforce.
One such position, in particular, is that of right-back, where the lack of a dependable specialist is something that acts as a major inconvenience for Barcelona and Xavi Hernandez in particular.
According to the latest report by SPORT which highlights a Q&A session with the Barcelona manager, Xavi has already stated explicitly that the club would prefer to reinforce the right-back position but the primary hurdles that come in their way are the economic restrictions and limitations, stating:
“We’ll see how far we can go. We would like to reinforce ourselves there, but it depends on the market and the fair play regulations. It would be exciting for us to strengthen the team.”
And he went on to further highlight the aforementioned limitations due to their financial situation:
“This is more of a Mateu Alemany’s issue. There need to be departures in order to make incorporations. From there, balancing the numbers. He is doing a master’s in ‘Fair Play.’ We will see how far we can go.”
At the moment, the player being reported as Barcelona’s primary choice to arrive at right-back would be Real Valladolid’s 18-year-old Ivan Fresneda, whose current release clause of €20 million excites the Catalan club and it remains to be seen just how advanced Barcelona end up taking that particular operation.
