Barcelona seeks 400 million to strengthen its middle class

Frenkie de Jong controls the ball against Javi Galán in Barcelona-Celta.Alejandro García (EFE)

Xavi was not surprised by the signing of Haaland by Manchester City.

He knew that the Norwegian had confirmed his arrival at Guardiola's team.

He knew it, even when he traveled in March to meet the Borussia Dortmund forward “he had to try to convince him.

He was close to doing it ”, they assure the Barcelona coaching staff.

But Xavi's romanticism collided with the City project.

"We have not been able to compete economically," lamented the Barça coach after the Manchester team made the agreement with Dortmund official.

The problem, as they understand in the sports area, is not that Haaland escaped them.

"It was something predictable," they explain.

Their fear is that they will not be able to close the operations that are already advanced due to lack of resources.

"And this team needs reinforcements," the same sources insist.

Barça's economic area has been working for months on what they call “levers”.

Levers are nothing more than economic muscle.

Barça is seeking a new pact with CVC for audiovisual rights.

It is also trying to close a minority sale of two business units: Barça Studies and Barça Licensing and Merchandising (BLM).

To which he will try to add advertising on the sleeve of the shirt and player transfers.

In total, Barça aspires to generate around 400 million.

An amount that would allow him to close the year in positive and, as a consequence, open the box for transfers.

“We are still waiting for the levers.

With Haaland the market has already begun to move.

And the domino effect begins.

We cannot be left out”, they underline from the offices of the Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper.

In the technical staff of Barça, for now, they are calm.

They trust their work.

“It is clear that the team has improved with Xavi.

His work is noted.

That is evidence”, they remark in the sports area.

However, when it seemed that Barça football had flourished again —“

(we have returned)”, Piqué celebrated after the win at the Bernabéu—, Xavi's team withered.

“Against Madrid it is special.

These players can be motivated for those games, but it is not a consistent group”, analyzes an employee of the Barça technical secretary.

After the victory in Chamartín, Barça has played 10 games: they have won six, drawn one and lost three, no defeat as painful as Eintracht's at the Camp Nou, which left them out of Europe.

Both the coaching staff and the sports management have a clear diagnosis: "It doesn't give us more".

However, there is one point where they disagree.

In the offices they look askance at the old guard.

"Football in Europe has evolved and has become more physical, you can't compete the same as before: either you have a lot of talent like Pedri or you are strong," they underline.

In the coaching staff, on the other hand, they await the evolution of the middle class;

players like De Jong or Ter Stegen have not yet taken the reins.

“There are many footballers who have lived very comfortably under Messi's umbrella.

Leo not only scored 50 goals per season;

he attracted pressure and generated the entire game ”, they analyze from the coaching staff.

Without the protection of Messi

Messi's armband was inherited by his good friend Busquets.

Sometimes questioned, the pivot's football grew since Xavi sat on the bench.

Busquets, however, is the only one of the veterans who was thinking about saying goodbye to Barça.

Piqué does not plan to move from Barça, nor does Alba.

Sergi Roberto is already finalizing his new contract.

The same leadership, the same core of captains and the same roles, now without the protection of Messi.

“When a player has been around for a long time, he gets a bit tired.

Perhaps Gerard is a bit out of the critics.

Jordi, Sergi and I don't give so many interviews and we don't have friends abroad," Busquets assured the

.

Xavi surrenders to his former teammates.

"They understand the game," he says in a statement that commits the signings of recent seasons.

The technician awaits the step forward of the middle class, always aware of the quarry.

"Pedri is the one who hits the team to play what we want," they say in the coaching staff, while the future of Ansu Fati is a coin in the air.

"We do not know how it will progress," they conclude.

They have no choice but to wait for the "economic levers" to strengthen the team, knowing that they are at the bottom of the market and cannot afford to fail again with the profile of the players to put an end to the young-veteran clamp .

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