Liga – Transfers – Smart choices, daring bets, balance to find: at Barça, a lively start to summer

Nine million euros. This is what FC Barcelona has spent on the transfer market for the moment. A sum paid to Real Betis to fully acquire the rights of right-back Emerson Royal, which the two clubs had bought jointly from Atlético Mineiro in 2019. Nine million and not one but … four arrivals since the beginning of the summer. Because Barça, constrained like many by financial difficulties, has given itself the mission of sniffing out the good moves.

Wijnaldum, between failure and a sign of maturity

Of course, Koeman would also have liked to afford Georginio Wijnaldum, very close to signing after his end of contract at Liverpool, but who ultimately preferred to join Paris Saint-Germain. The only failure of the Barcelona transfer window so far … which can also be seen as a sign of maturity: Barça did not overbid for a player who admitted that the salary offered by PSG was more important. For the moment, the overview is therefore more than correct, with a workforce that has improved in quality.

Still, if this transfer window is far from over, several reservations can be made as is. The first concerns the Lionel Messi file, who has still not signed his extension and who will be free on June 30. “It would be (his extension) a magnet for some deals that we are trying to do. It would help us in many ways for Messi to say yes to us as soon as possible,” admitted President Joan Laporta in an interview with La Vanguardia on Sunday. Without a doubt THE priority of the summer in Catalonia.

Good ideas … and risks

But before looking at the consequences of the choice of the club’s child, the analysis of the first recruits sheds light on Barça’s certain risk-taking. Emerson remains on two full seasons at Betis but does not yet have references at the very top level. No more, moreover, than Eric Garcia. At the height of his 33 years, Agüero only played about twenty matches last season – for six goals – and has missed 41 matches for physical problems over the last two seasons. Finally, Depay had failed on his first attempt at a very big club – Manchester United – and is never as fulfilled as when the game revolves around him. Which will not be the case in Barcelona.

The case of the two attackers is also part of a larger issue: the potential traffic jam in the offensive sector. As it stands, Leo Messi, Ousmane Dembélé, Ansu Fati (when he returns), Antoine Griezmann, Martin Braithwaite and Francisco Trincao will compete with the two offensive rookies of the summer. And if the rest of the transfer window can be used to rebalance everything, while an additional reinforcement in the defensive sector would not be superfluous, this is not really the trend drawn by the latest rumors, which are of interest to Lorenzo Insigne to a possible Adama Traoré – Trincao exchange.

Dembélé and Griezmann, two files to watch

In addition to Messi and Braithwaite, who is not really in the smell of holiness, two cases will therefore be closely watched in the coming weeks: Ousmane Dembélé, inclined to extend according to Sports world but whose recent injury could make Barça think, and Antoine Griezmann, that the daily Sport pushes towards the exit indicating that Koeman would prefer Depay to him in the same register. Laporta has in any case promised several more arrivals by the end of the transfer market, and Barça will certainly be talking a lot in the coming weeks. But between good moves, risky bets and projections for the future, the summer has already been very lively.