FC Barcelona as a club has a storied past, and one that older fans of the club are familiar with. Many great players have come through the ranks of the Catalan club, but other greats have also emerged as foreign signings. Yet, as time has passed, the modern-day consequences that Barcelona has to live with are unlike anything from before.
The financial toll and consequences that have come following the presidential reign of Josep Maria Bartomeu have left the club scrambling for normality. To find that normality again, Barcelona must be ready to make some big decisions that could prove to be crucial for the club in the long run, but difficult to digest in the short run.
At least, that is what a former presidential candidate of the club seems to think. Jordi Majo, a candidate for the Barcelona presidency back in 2003, recently talked about the measures he would take to bring Barcelona back to the top, as revealed by SPORT.
For Majo, there is only one unquestionably untransferable player at FC Barcelona and that is Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old La Masia prodigy currently impressing with Spain at the European Championship:
“For the right prices, except for Lamine Yamal, I would sell them all because everyone has a replacement. Lamine is going to be the next Messi, with all due respect. He’s only 16 years old and we must proceed with caution.”
“Every now and then, a talent emerges, and for me, the latest is Lamine. Barcelona wouldn’t have made the mark it did without Messi. It’s crucial to retain talented players at any cost, those who can define an era.”
He further talked about the philosophy Barcelona should adopt moving forward, one that revolves around selling at high prices but buying at lowered ones: “Barça must sell high and buy low. It’s easy to say, but not difficult to execute. Barça should always be a seller if they buy well. Good offers should not be dismissed.”
Afterwards, he named some Barcelona players who he believes are still transferable if the right offers arrive, despite some of them being absolute fan favorites and seen as crucial for the team’s future:
“Gavi? If an offer of 90 or 100 million comes in, I would sell. We’ll find another Gavi, for sure. It might not sit well with many people, but that’s my impression… He (Raphinha) started poorly but finished the season quite strongly and in good form. He’s a player with a lot of class and desirable for other teams. I wouldn’t sell him for 40 million, but for 90, yes.”
Going one step further, the former Barcelona presidential candidate even stated that Pau Cubarsi should not be a guarantee to stay either if an offer close to €90 million arrives: “If they pay 90 million for Cubarsí, I would also sell him. Because we surely have another center-back in the academy. Barça is a factory of players.”
While this may hypothetically sound easy enough to do, the reality is quite different. Players do tend to hold more than just a financial value in the sporting world, and the future that Barcelona hopes to build involves their current starlets being at the heart of it.
