La Liga writer Dermot Corrigan joined The Football Show to discuss Barcelona’s mounting problems on and off the pitch.
“There’s normally one of the two big clubs in crisis and at the moment it’s definitely Barca,” Corrigan said.
“The money has just been out of control and they’ve been trying to catch up,” Corrigan said as he outlined Barca’s stark financial situation. “Now that COVID has hit and revenues have dried up to such an extent, it’s no longer possible to catch up,” he continued.
Corrigan explained that since Andoni Zubizarreta was fired as sporting director in January 2015, the Catalan club has lacked a clear strategy in recruitment. “There are so many different power groups at the Camp Nou and there’s always a bit of feuding going on,” he said.
In the period since Zubizaretta’s dismissal, Barca have spent more than €800 million on new players, without even one of them “establishing themselves as a senior team leader."
“Barca used to be able to sign the best players in the world. People like Henry, Fabregas, Mascherano and David Villa were actively putting up a fight to get to Barcelona,” Corrigan said.
Barcelona crisis?
As the stalwarts, people like Xavi, Iniesta, Dani Alves moved on, the people who came in to replace have just not been up to standard according to Corrigan.
“It’s been a lot of younger players with promise or players they think will do a job for them and fill in. Coutinho, Griezmann, Dembele are all good players but for whatever reason it just hasn’t worked”
Corrigan also talked about Barca's season on the pitch and how even after Ernesto Valverde's sacking in January, "things just haven't worked."
Barca fell two points behind Real Madrid on the weekend after a lackluster draw away to Celta Vigo.
"Setien came in and talked a big game about how he was going to teach the players new things but that hasn’t gone so well."
"But due to the age profile of the squad he’s had to go back and do what Valverde was doing before and play more pragmatically."
"Now they’re neither playing good football or getting good results," Corrigan added.
It is possible that Setien could get be sacked before the end of the season if results don't improve according to Corrigan.
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