Laporta and the board deserve credit for Barca’s great transfer window

Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images

Trying circumstances

Now that the shenanigans of the January transfer window are over, it’s time to sit back and take stock of the business that the club have been able to conduct.

Let’s be honest, given the circumstances that Barca still find themselves in, it was a great window.

Certainly one to give culers optimism that there are better days ahead.

Perhaps the only ‘blot on the copybook’ so to speak was not being able to offload Ousmane Dembele, however, the club should look to swallow its pride, re-integrate the player back into the squad, and hope he can reignite his Dortmund partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the remainder of the campaign.

10 - Ten of @Auba's 31 goals in the 2016/17 @Bundesliga_EN campaign came via @Dembouz assists. In other words, 10 of the French winger's 12 assists that season were setting up Gabonese striker goals.

Partnership. pic.twitter.com/pPGLFBBvTA

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 1, 2022

Auba is an interesting deal on the face of it. He’s had a relatively barren period goals wise for a while at Arsenal, but his instincts remain sharp.

If rumours that he’s taken a huge pay cut are to be believed, then hats off to a player that’s often been accused of just taking the money. Even at 32, he’s got a point to prove again, and that’s likely to work in Barca’s favour.

As I mentioned in my last column, I’m not wholly convinced by the Adama signing, but if he proves me wrong, I’ll be absolutely delighted. I will be giving him my full support in any event.

There is no downside whatsoever to the Dani Alves capture. Even if he only plays a handful of games, his experience in the dressing room and around the place is invaluable.

Given how well he’s started off, it’s likely that he’ll be playing a lot more than a few games too.

Ferran Torres remains a rough diamond but nothing that Xavi can’t polish. Young, hungry, with great movement and an eye for goal, he’s a player for the present but also for the future.

Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Mateu Alemany in particular deserves a huge pat on the back for some creativity in managing to get Ferran in through the door.

A pay cut for Samuel Umtiti to effectively wipe the slate clean, and a deal which took Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa is really the icing on the cake as far as I am concerned.

It’s now all systems go for the last few months of the campaign and a top four finish.

If that happens, come the summer I would expect to see a lot more movement, and that would include Barca positioning themselves at the front of the queue for Erling Haaland.

The way in which this window has gone will allow the club to compete again at the highest levels of the transfer market as long as fourth place or higher is achieved.

Source: barcablaugranes.com