Ahead of the transfer market officially re-opening
on July 1, we ask readers who Luis Enrique's top
purchase should be for the 2015-16 campaign
One question which will become prominent in the
mind of many football fans over the coming weeks
will be how on earth are Barcelona going to match
2014-15?
Luis Enrique's first season as Camp Nou boss
looked fairly normal by the time the winter break
rolled around, but a storming 2015 delivered
Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey glory
to match 2009's historic treble under Pep
Guardiola.
To make matters trickier for the Catalans, their
Fifa-imposed transfer ban in 2015 means any
players they sign cannot play for them until next
year, though Aleix Vidal's signing from Sevilla
demonstrates this might not be a deterrent.
However, is a player of the calibre of Paul Pogba
really going to be willing to sit on the Barca bench
for six months after a deal that some are
suggesting could be worth up to €100 million? The
Juventus midfielder has been linked with every
major club around but it's alleged the European
champions are his ideal destination.
A cheaper and potentially less complicated deal
would be to move for wantaway Borussia
Dortmund central midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to fill
the void left by departed veteran Xavi, while the
amount they would have to pay Paris Saint-
Germain for Marco Verratti is likely somewhere in
between.
The outcome of Barcelona's presidential election
campaign, which concludes on July 18, is likely to
shape a lot of who the club ultimately spend
money on. Perhaps Turkish talent Hakan
Calhanoglu will trade Bayer Leverkusen for life
under Luis Enrique?
Mats Hummels' come-and-get-me plea earlier this
year has largely been forgotten, but perhaps 2015
will be the year that the Borussia Dortmund
centre-back joins Barca after years of speculation.
No comments:
Post a Comment