FC Barcelona continue their ongoing quest of creating a squad that is able to challenge for not only domestic but European success as well. With the possible arrival of Deco as the new Director of Football at the club, his own dreams of what the team should look like going forward have been brought to light.
As per RELEVO, the Portuguese-Brazilian former Barcelona player has an eye on a particular set of players whose arrivals he sees as imminent and then there are those he sees as dispensable.
Arrivals:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang:
Deco primarily sees Aubameyang’s arrival as a short-term solution. A one-year acquisition that ought to deliver and guarantee in terms of goal involvement and be a threat as a starter and as a super sub.
Vitor Roque:
On the other hand, Vitor Roque is seen more as a signing for the future. The 18-year-old continues to impress the major clubs in Europe, and thus Deco believes it best to wrap up his signing as early as possible so that direct competition, particularly from the more financially capable sides from the Premier League, for his signature, can be avoided.
Ruben Neves:
While the operation for the Neves-Fati swap deal continues to gain traction, Deco is convinced that regardless of how this transfer pans out, there will be a definite arrival of a defensive midfielder given that Busquets is leaving in the summer. Moreover, Ansu Fati remains unconvinced and still wishes to stay at Barca.
Right-back:
The usage of Jules Kounde at right-back does not convince Deco. The potential Director of Football sees this as both a waste of Kounde’s best abilities as well as a missed opportunity to deploy a specialist there. The possible deployment of Mexican player Julian Araujo is a possibility that he wishes to explore.
Lionel Messi:
Considered the “icing on the cake”, the signing of Lionel Messi is one that Deco considers to be a more symbolically needed one rather than a sporting one. If Barcelona fail to acquire Messi, they are already aware that they do not possess the means to acquire any other “superstar” signing, so the arrival of the Argentine becomes even more important in that sense.
Departures:
Raphinha:
Despite the rather strong alternative Raphinha has been in the absence of Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona believe he could be used to bring in some much-needed and substantial funds.
Deco understands this and agrees with the idea, as he believes others that could bring in similar funds would not be willing to leave but Raphinha just might, given that he would value the playing time he would be guaranteed elsewhere.
Loanees:
The returning loanees such as Samuel Umtiti, Nico Gonzalez, Clement Lenglet, Sergino Dest, and Alex Collado are all players that Deco and Barcelona believe must be used to generate additional funds given that they are surplus to needs.
On the other hand, returning loanee Ez Abde is a more peculiar case given that FC Barcelona are still attempting to figure out whether to keep him as a primary player in the first team, send him out on another loan, or simply permanently transfer him to generate revenue.