If Xavi thinks success at Barcelona has been difficult this season, wait until you see what challenge awaits him in the next campaign.
The Barcelona coach won’t want to think about it too much as he zips around the city in an open-top bus on Monday afternoon – and he’s enjoying a moment to savor his first league as a coach after winning some eight as a player.
But with its president Joan Laporta talking again about the return of Lionel Messi, the club are preparing to move to a largely disused stadium which has needed 20 million euros. [£17.4m] just upgrading to make him game-ready, and the enormous pressure to play better, win with more goals and deliver in Europe, it won’t be long before his attention turns to the monumental tasks ahead.
The 2023-24 season could be Barca’s toughest yet, with or without Messi.
The PSG striker appeared to join Alejandro Balde’s Instagram Live on Sunday night as the Barcelona defender recorded the celebrations from the team’s dressing room.
Barcelona celebrate their La Liga title after Sunday’s 4-2 win over Espanyol
But planning for next season could prove a tricky challenge for Barcelona coach Xavi
Barcelona are obsessed with bringing Lionel Messi ‘home’ when he leaves PSG
Joan Laporta was doing his round of post-title interviews on Monday morning and he claimed he had made peace with Messi removing at least one of the obstacles to his return.
“I spoke to him to sort things out,” he told Catalan television. “The conversation was affectionate, I congratulated him on the World Cup. With great respect for Saudi Arabia who are doing well with their league, Barca are Barca – this is their home.
Saudi Arabia offers Messi 400 million euros [£348m]but Laporta pointed out that Barcelona offer him 400 million followers worldwide.
“We want Leo,” he added. “But the club will not push our limits to bring him in as we are still working on our austerity plan.”
The mixed messages don’t help Xavi who might just be the loser, but the soap opera is rolling.
If Messi doesn’t come, he will have to face the feeling of disappointment that will hang over the club like a dark cloud until next season. And if he arrives, Xavi has to make it work on the pitch, bearing in mind that he stopped working in the last two seasons before Messi left.
In the classic 4-3-3 that Barcelona have so often favored, Messi no longer really fits. He can’t stretch teams as a wide forward, he’s long since ceased to function as a false nine and he certainly has the box-to-box energy of one of the full-back midfielders.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta wants Messi to accept higher quality football over money
The alternative plays for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, which has submitted an outrageous bid
Xavi’s plan is to use the ‘magic square’ midfield he has favored this season with Pedri and Gavi in the top two corners and Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets in the bottom two corners could be the solution.
A future quartet would have Messi in place of Gavi who could step back alongside Frenkie de Jong who will replace Sergio Busquets.
It doesn’t look like a bad midfield behind Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele, but there will be concerns that against the more physical teams Barcelona are likely to encounter in Europe, he will simply be outmatched.
There are also more pressing needs at the club. Gavi and brilliant 19-year-old left-back Alejandro Balde need to register their contracts and the club need to sign a new right-back and replacement for Busquets – and they need to go all out after losing director of football Mateu Alemany to Aston Villa.
The club’s economic vice-president, Eduard Romeu, said last week: “We are no longer in intensive care, but we are still in hospital, referring to the continuing problems with the team’s maximum spending restrictions. of La Liga.”
Frenkie de Jong (right) is part of Xavi’s ‘magic square’ in Barcelona midfield
Sergio Busquets (left) signed with another title ahead of his planned move to Al-Hilal
Barcelona must cut their wage bill by 200 million euros [£174m]in order to be allowed to trade on a 1:1 basis in the transfer market.
If they don’t, La Liga will apply the 40% rule on the club which means they will have to earn €100m. [£87m] spend 40 million euros [£34.8m]. Referring to the first scenario, Romeu said: “I want to clarify that for a player to enter, a player of the same value must exit.”
Responsibility will be passed to Xavi regarding the start and it’s another weight on his shoulders. But besides being unfair, it’s not true either – the players themselves will decide who leaves.
Raphinha has already reacted angrily to suggestions that he gave the club the green light to offload him at the end of the season.
And he’s not the only one who doesn’t want to go. Last season, Frenkie de Jong was reportedly sold to Manchester United but he refused to move.
Messi and Xavi celebrate their Champions League win when Barca beat Juventus in 2015
Now Ansu Fati, another who has been offered to the Premier League, has also told the club he wants to stay put.
With no one leaving, it’s hard to see how Barcelona will reduce their wage bill by the necessary €200m and so the new director of football – most likely Deco – will have to work in the market with one arm firmly tied behind his back.
And if all that isn’t enough, Barcelona’s move to the city’s former Olympic Stadium with its 49,000 capacity will cut matchday revenue by €94m. [£81.75m] throughout the season and seriously reduce the home advantage.
In a bid to attract tourists to the temporary arena, and thus raise ticket prices, only around 22,000 subscribers will get a chance to see the team at home next season.
The potential for a cold arena where a racetrack separates fans from players doesn’t bode well. Especially if it’s half full of tourists and half full of Barca fans who expect more football than has been provided this season when 11 of Barcelona’s wins have been 1-0 scores.
Barcelona will play their home games at the city’s Olympic Stadium next season
It comes as the Nou Camp is being revamped, with limited season ticket sales
Xavi could win the league again, against all odds, and against an inevitably revitalized Real Madrid.
But if he does, the moan will be, “Well, you did it last season, and Europe?” And if he doesn’t win the league, the criticism will be even worse.
He will be aware of all of this – but for today it will be just in the back of his mind.
Barcelona didn’t look like winning the league at the start of the season, nor after the first Clasico where they were comfortably beaten by Real Madrid. He turned the tide and deserves the city of Barcelona to salute him today.
