Surplus is not always a good thing. Just ask Xavi to see how he’s struggling. The consequence of the “unsustainable” buying policy has left this coach managing an “overloaded” team, and preparing training sessions with an unusually large squad (39 players instead of the usual 25) is proving to be extremely difficult.
According to the plan, on July 10th, Barca will have 27 players gathered for the pre-season phase. This list not only includes 10 players who wore the Barca jersey last season (Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo, Pedri, Alejandro Balde, Raphinha, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, Sergi Roberto, Inaki Pena, and Pablo Torre), but also new signing Inigo Martinez, who joined as a free transfer from Athletic Bilbao. Additionally, it includes 5 loaned players returning (Nico, Lenglet, Abde, Dest, Collado, and it should be noted that this group should have also included Umtiti, who was recently released from his contract); as well as 11 promoted youth team players (Angel Alarcon, Marc Casado, Unai Hernandez, Fermin Lopez, Estanis Pedrola, Chadi Riad, Lamine Yamal, Pau Prim, Marc Guiu, Mikayil Faye, and Diego Kochen).
In the first training session, some players who are likely to leave, such as Lenglet and Collado, and possibly Estanis Pedrola, are receiving several offers.
But it doesn’t stop there, as on July 18th, 12 national team players who are required to participate in the Nations League, as well as the EURO 2024 qualifiers in the recent FIFA Days, will join the squad, bringing the total number of Barca players to 39 if they don’t offload anyone. The most notable among them is new signing Gundogan, alongside 11 other stars such as Lewandowski, De Jong, Ter Stegen, Ousmane Dembele, Kounde, Gavi, Christensen, Kessie, Ansu Fati, and Arnau Tenas, who, despite not having their contracts renewed, are still called up for training.
Xavi’s “contribution” by bringing in 14 players
Xavi himself is also one of the reasons behind Barca’s “bulging” squad, as he has brought in 14 players since taking charge at Camp Nou in November 2021. The first recruitment phase was during the winter transfer window in January 2022 when Xavi brought in Ferran Torres, Adama Traore, Aubameyang, and Dani Alves on pre-agreements signed a few weeks prior. This was followed by the summer of 2022 with Lewandowski, Raphinha, Kounde, Pablo Torre, Kessie, Christensen, Bellerin, and Marcos Alonso, along with two contracts for Gundogan and Inigo Martinez in the summer transfer window of 2023.
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