BarcelonaBarça’s last 2021/22 match was a friendly in Australia. Xavi Hernández and the bulk of the staff flew by charter to Sydney for more than 10 hours. The trip, counting the time difference, took almost a whole day. A considerable effort — for 90 minutes of football against a selection of stars from the oceanic country — which drew criticism from the squad. Among those most annoyed by the obligation to be part of the expedition was Jordi Alba, one of the two captains who took the plane (Piqué and Sergi Roberto were injured). Spontaneous and expressive, the Catalan winger complained about the friendly in front of his teammates, some of whom were youngsters from the subsidiary. “He asked why he had to make that trip and the answer was very simple: to pay for contracts like his,” they told ARA from the Culer dressing room.
Effectively, the bolo in the antipodes generated between three and four million euros which, among other things, serve to respect tokens such as Alba’s, which this year will represent around 30 kilos gross between salary and deferrals. The winger has a contract until 2024 after an upward revision by ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the last of all the ones he agreed when Barça had not yet collapsed as a result of covid. To Piqué and Busquets, captains and bearers of contracts even more expensive than theirs, the organization asked them – without success – for a discount to generate fair play financial in the last transfer market. On the other hand, with Alba there was not even an informal proposal for him to give up part of his emoluments, when he was willing to defer again if this would help register new signings, also those that could compromise his participation, like Marcos Alonso.
In fact, the 18-year-old Blaugrana was very clear that the sports management would bet on a player who would double his position after a season in which his eventual losses were covered by non-specific footballers such as Mingueza and Dest. Unlike Piqué, to whom Xavi communicated at the beginning of June that he would have a lot of competition and that he would play substantially less than in previous seasons, Alba had no news of anything other than starting the season retaining the label of indisputable, a role similar to what Busquets still has. He only envisioned an alternation with Alonso, a veteran with whom he had also fought for a place in the Spanish national team. He understood that the club brought him competition after a season without rotations or substitutions due to a lack of natural alternatives. Because the only one who could oxygenate him, the young Alejandro Balde, did not count for Xavi.
The scenery, however, changed radically on the day of Barça’s official debut against Rayo Vallecano, a match that the Blaugrana drew goalless and in which Alba gave a poor performance. The full-back was outclassed by Isi Palazón in his own area and awoke some whistles from the fans. The board, inflamed by inherited contracts, also internally expressed its unease at the sad role of Alba, who had played as a starter in the important games of the pre-season (Real Madrid and Juventus) and retained his place in the eleven in the first working day. Between the institutional noise and the poor performance, Xavi moved the tree in the visit to the Real Sociedad. Waiting for the fair play necessary to be able to confirm Alonso’s arrival, the Egaren played it with Balde, who responded to the unusual confidence by assisting Lewandowski in the first play of the match. Since then, the young man from Barcelona has not given up ownership in the League. Now it is Alba who oxygenates him, while Alonso remains for the most demanding scenarios like the one in Munich.
The Balde factor has ruined Alba’s plans, who has become accustomed to sitting next to Piqué on the Barça bench. Last Saturday the cameras captured him yawning and with a face of few friends while his teammates beat Elche at the Camp Nou. In the dressing room they see him upset with a situation that he did not foresee and that got even uglier when he detected that his chair was being moved on the last day of the market with a desperate offer for Inter Milan to take him away surrendered “In the same way that I’m going head on, I’d like them to go with me too,” said the full-back a few days later at a promotional event. He believes that the club has not treated him well and, at times, a victim of a strong temper, pays for his unease with the members of thestaff which define special physical guidelines for each footballer. “Totally, if I don’t play afterwards”, he has come to say between his teeth.
José Luis Gayà, Mateu Alemany’s favorite
Alba will take advantage of the international break these days to distance himself from Barça and focus on absolute Spain, where he retains his place despite being a regular substitute at the Camp Nou. A theroja he will try to claim his game under Luis Enrique, when in the past the opposite used to happen: he played everything for Blaugrana and the Asturian, with whom he had had differences, summoned other left-backs. In the national team, he will compete with José Luis Gayà, who continues to be Barça’s future due to Mateu Alemany’s insistence. The captain of Valencia is still not renewing and, even if he does, the director of football culer will continue to consider him to strengthen the defense next summer. As long as, of course, he manages to get rid of Jordi Alba’s contract before that.
