Barcelona mailbag: Your questions answered before new La Liga season

Earlier this week, we asked you for the questions you wanted answered on Barcelona before their new La Liga campaign gets started.

Before Saturday’s trip to Valencia, our Barca correspondent Laia Cervello Herrero replies to a selection of them here. Sorry if your question wasn’t one of the ones featured — there were just too many. We’ll get you next time!

How on earth can Barca sign Dani Olmo given the financial state of the club? Barca’s board seem to be masters at smoke and mirrors. Are they making ANY headway into reducing the debts? — David J

It is a very good question on a complex topic — and even now, one day before Barca’s new season gets started, we don’t have all the answers on what the club’s financial situation means for the squad in terms of whether they can register all players with La Liga for 2024-25.

What we do know is La Liga president Javier Tebas has been publicly complimentary of how Barca’s president Joan Laporta has cut the wage bill from record highs under predecessor Josep Maria Bartomeu since 2021. But it’s also true that Laporta’s go-to strategy for helping fix the finances has relied heavily on his board’s now infamous ‘lever’ policy, which seems to repeatedly involve short-term fixes for bigger problems.

The most recent example of that — in a bizarre turn of events — saw Barca announce a strategic partnership with their catering providers to raise funds in an old ‘lever’ project related to “Web3, NFTs and the metaverse”. Barca have always said they are confident about meeting La Liga’s salary limit this summer and that this operation would be key to achieving that.

But we’re now into the almost traditional time of year when we will really see what all this financial uncertainty means in practice — and its effect on the team new boss Hansi Flick can field. New €60million (£51.2m; $65.5m) signing Dani Olmo still hasn’t been registered to play. So despite whatever progress might have been made, there is clearly a long way to go still.

What do you think or know about the reasoning behind the board’s decision to sign Olmo, for a large sum of money, in a position that didn’t necessarily warrant investment (we have Pedri, Ilkay Gundogan, Fermin Lopez there), and the decision to not buy a defensive midfielder? Thanks! — Mihai R

Barca’s squad is better with Olmo. He is very versatile and can play in various positions and that is something Barca valued a lot, given their economic position. Olmo had an excellent European Championship and there are a lot of injuries in midfield at Barca.

But the fee is high given the options they already have and the needs they have in other positions.

For the Sergio Busquets position, they didn’t find a player who fit the budget and the characteristics needed. They liked Mikel Merino but everything points to him leaving Real Sociedad for Arsenal.

Sueño cumplido ✨ pic.twitter.com/Dy5ed0qjhV

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) August 12, 2024

In addition, two players from La Masia appeared in that position that Hansi Flick sees with good eyes — Marc Casado and Marc Bernal — and the club has opted to try them before taking a gamble with any other player that did not 100 per cent convince them.

There’s another factor here. Laporta’s modus operandi every summer has been to create excitement and put the Barca brand on the European scene — and he believes making big signings is key to that.

When do you expect the club will return to the Camp Nou and get back to the matchday income they need? — Emil J

Barca have said the idea is to return at about two-thirds capacity (roughly 66,000) in December. However, they also say they cannot guarantee that because it is a very large project that might encounter delays beyond their control, and that they will see how it progresses over the coming weeks and months.

Works are continuing at a good pace, according to Barca, and they have entered a phase that is focused on three aspects: the metal structure of the upper level, the partitions inside the stadium and the seats in the first and second tiers. These have already begun to be laid out in order to proceed with their installation.

There’s so much buzz about the academy talents Hansi Flick took to the United States, but hands down: which of these talented players is the real deal for this season and why? — Max O

Casado, Bernal and Pau Victor. They came out of the pre-season tour the strongest and have the most potential for the first team (although with Bernal, 17, it will be more long term).

Casado and Bernal played as a double defensive pivot with Barcelona Atletic last season, and in this pre-season with Barca that worked very well, too. Casado is well liked by Flick. He will get more minutes in the short term. Bernal will need more time but has the most similar profile to Busquets. The hope is that, in the long term, he will be the one to occupy that position.

Forward Victor was player of the match against Manchester City and Real Madrid this summer — as well as against Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy (even though Barca lost 3-0 and he missed two good chances). He also played for Barca Atletic last term, arriving this summer in a €3million deal with Girona after finishing as the third-tier’s top scorer. But he isn’t registered. Another problem for Barca to solve…

What is the feeling around Laporta’s presidency from those closer to the club? From the outside, it’s seemed like a rollercoaster with some highs (the summer signings of Jules Kounde, Robert Lewandowski, and Raphinha come to mind), and some notable lows (the treatment of Xavi and this Vitor Roque situation). To my understanding, the next elections are in 2026. How likely is it that Laporta will win, and is Victor Font the most significant challenger? — Matt M

The feeling is exactly that: a rollercoaster. The club has done some things well under Laporta, but there is also the feeling of improvisation and of always patching things up at the last minute.

Adding to what you mention about Xavi is what happened with Sergi Roberto, who was told verbally that Barca wanted to renew him, but they never did. The way he left was — just like with Xavi — inappropriate for a player who has been with the club his whole life.

With the club’s finances, there’s money that should be arriving but isn’t, deadlines that are dragging on and cumbersome issues that, due to a lack of information and because they are complex, many people around the club don’t fully understand.

Looking at the registration situation helps sum it up. Here we are, at another season start with uncertainty hovering over the team until the very last moment.

The elections are starting to become a topic here and my feeling is that people are beginning to lose a faith in this board — and they could fall. But it is also true that I don’t see any candidate with enough strength yet to properly challenge them in the vote among club socios. Laporta has a lot of charisma and that charisma won him the last elections — over Victor Font’s planning.

Charisma and contacts have served to patch up a very delicate situation at Barca, which this board found themselves inheriting from previous directors, but I have the impression that people have grown tired of the bumps in the road and want to have a feeling that everything is more under control. And that is where Font — or somebody else — may have a chance.

If Barcelona have such a strong academy they are so proud of, tailor-made for the system the first team should be playing, why are they insistent on signing players? — Nathaniel F

They should favour the academy but, more because of outside pressures than anything else, they are already doing this. In the first team last year, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Gavi (before he got injured) — all trained at La Masia — were key.

Barca have to find a balance between experience and youth. Now there is a generation of talented young players coming through and you have to bet on them, but you also have to protect them from potential injuries and give them the time they need to develop. It would not be wise to burden them with responsibilities they shouldn’t have to take on too young.

Gavi and Lamine Yamal before Monday’s meeting with Monaco (Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Any club needs to sign players to stay competitive (although it is true that in cases like Vitor Roque it is less understandable) but I get the feeling that instead of choosing older players at a high price, Barca should find a middle class of players to fit between the younger ones coming through and the senior members. Something similar to what director Quique Carcel and head coach Michel do at Girona.

It doesn’t seem like anyone wants to, but which players are closest to leaving? — Joseph A

Some have left, but Barca’s big sale this season has not happened. There was an expectation before pre-season that Ronald Araujo might be sold, but then he was injured at the Copa America. The truth is that all the other players often linked to leaving — such as Raphinha, Frenkie de Jong or even Ilkay Gundogan recently — are under contract and, like you say, none of them want to leave.

The players who are closest to a departure are Clement Lenglet (although his high salary complicates things — as happened in the past with Samuel Umtiti) — and Roque, who still hasn’t even been given a shirt number. Ansu Fati is another candidate Barca would be happy to transfer, although the emotional component, his wages and his recent injuries mean it will not be an easy operation.

How much leeway will be granted to Flick should the team struggle in the first half of the season? In your opinion, does Flick have what it takes to withstand the Barcelona ‘entorno’ when the situation gets rough? — Mario P

I would like to think that after sacking Xavi they will be patient with a coach they seem to have waited for. They are aware that Barca are transition. Expectations are lower than in other seasons and the priority is to build a team that will be strong in the long term.

Even so, the team will be required to be competitive, especially against a galactic Real Madrid with Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe.

It will depend on results. If Barca under Flick are truly disastrous, who knows what will happen. But if not, most around the club will be patient in favour of building a more consolidated project.

As for the entorno, it will be best for him not to be too aware of this, so as not to put more pressure on himself. Flick is a very calm coach and he’s told the players to take the pressure off themselves because it’s just a job. That’s how he takes it. He believes that this job is good for him as long as he is having fun and learning, and that he would leave if that were to stop. He doesn’t feel as strongly about Barca as Xavi did, for example. At the moment, that works in his favour.

Xavi was very aware of the entorno and it came to affect him. Flick’s difference should suit him, and therefore the squad. The team needs calmness and to stay out of certain things, and with the German, they will get it.

Is there concern about centre-back? Can we expect some sort of move there before the end of the window? — Matt M

Centre-back is one of the positions of least concern. It is well covered and Inigo Martinez — the club’s best option — was finally registered with La Liga on Friday.

Eric Garcia has said he’s staying, Araujo will return at the end of the year when he recovers from injury, Cubarsi will be important, Andreas Christensen is also staying, Kounde is back to his best (although I see him playing more as a right-back), and they’ll be looking for a way out for Lenglet.

In addition, there is Sergi Dominguez. The 19-year-old Barca Atletic centre-back performed well during pre-season and was even able to hold off Vinicius Jr — albeit in the decaffeinated summer version of El Clasico.

(Top photo: Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)