After winning La Liga with Barcelona last season, it seems clear that Xavi Hernandez is on the right track to lead the Catalans out of their recent gloomy past.
Hamstrung to a large extent by the business dealings of a previous administration, president, Joan Laporta, appears to have also fought tooth and nail to help Barca get back to eating at European football’s top table.
There’s still a fair way to go before Barcelona can consider themselves elite once more, however, the signs are there that, with the right transfer business being done over the next few windows, those dreams could soon turn into reality.
Though Lionel Messi has turned his back on a reunion with the club, that may well benefit the club in the long run, certainly from a financial standpoint.
There’s an argument too that the team hasn’t been ‘Messi dependant’ for two seasons now, so why upset the equilibrium of the side because of some romantic notion.
With that deal consigned to the rubbish bin, it allows the club to move forward with other targets, one of who was rumoured to be Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ruben Neves.
‘I’ve had some fans asking me about Ruben Neves and Barcelona. Jorge Mendes was also asked about his client, but cryptically answered “keep calm,”’ Fabrizio Romano wrote for his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘Honestly, the situation is the same at the moment – Neves is waiting for Barca, but the financial situation remains in stand-by and so it’s just time to wait. Xavi has different priorities for now.’
Much of what Barca are able to do in the market is going to be dictated by sales of players, and it wouldn’t really be a surprise if this window happens to be another one of upheaval.