Éric Abidal defends decision not to sign forwards in the transfer window

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Barcelona are in a state of panic now

Barcelona’s technical secretary, Éric Abidal, has defended the club’s decision not to sign a forward in the winter transfer window. That course of action has come under bigger scrutiny after the injury relapse Ousmane Dembélé suffered.

“We count with players from the youth system like Álex Collado and Riqui Puig, who have risen with the first team and are also in the list for the UEFA Champions League,” Abidal said.

“I trust in the team. The executives, we have done a spectacular job thinking of the short, medium, and long term. Right now, in the moment of making a short term decision, there are some caveats when it comes to negotiating, but I take responsibility in total for the decision.

“If I listen to everyone’s opinion, on the one hand they say that you have to bring in a forward, on another they say that you have to bring people from the youth system. We do not want to block any player from the academy, and surely, they are players with less experience but you learn from what you do in the past.

“My opinion was to either bring someone good, or don’t bring anyone. In the market there weren’t many options, and once I saw that some couldn’t leave their clubs, I decided not to bring anyone.”

Barcelona have been linked with signing a replacement for Dembélé outside of the transfer window. Such a signing could only be from a La Liga club and could only play in domestic competition.

Source: barcablaugranes.com