Top of La Liga and top of their Champions League group, on paper things appear to be going well for Barcelona and coach Ernesto Valverde so far this season.
The Catalan giants have won seven of their 12 league games to sit top of the pile domestically, while they’re on the verge of qualifying for the knockout stage in Europe.
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However, there is an obvious flaw in the current squad and that is their defence, having conceded 18 goals in those 12 league outings, giving them the worst defensive record of the top seven sides in the standings.
If they needed a reminder of their weakness in that department, they were handed a brutal one in a 4-3 defeat to Real Betis at the Nou Camp prior to the international break.
With Samuel Umtiti only just coming back from a lengthy injury layoff, Gerard Pique not always hitting top form so far this season as well as summer signing Clement Lenglet struggling to fully convince, it has been a difficult start to the campaign for the backline.
Coupled with Thomas Vermaelen’s susceptibility to injury, it has left them dangerously light in depth in that department, and according to AS, they could be set to dip into the transfer market again in January to fix the problem.
It’s added that there is also concern over Umtiti’s full recovery from his knee injury, as Barcelona can’t afford to push him too hard and risk seeing him suffer a setback.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to give Valverde another option in that area in January, as Barcelona will certainly need the additional quality and experience in the second half of the campaign as they come up against top-class opposition hoping to expose their vulnerabilities at the back.
