At the end of the last season it seemed clear that Barcelona would prioritize the central midfield as one of their key areas to strengthen, with many feeling that they have yet to cope with the departure of Sergio Busquets properly. The club was in the same line of thinking, but the manager Hansi Flick is not.
The German manager has relied on 17-year-old Marc Bernal since the start of the season and since his ACL injury has put his faith in Marc Casado. Flick stopped all movements to look for a new holding midfielder, as per SportFeeling that with Bernal they have a long answer to the position. For this season, Flick believes he has sufficient coverage with Casado, Frenkie de Jong, Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen in that position.
Barcelona has set as a priority objective to renew the contracts of Pedri González, Pablo Gavi and Ronald Araújo this season, which all expire in 2026. Barça is optimistic, especially with the two midfielders, and Araújo is more than willing to continue than a few months. to do.… pic.twitter.com/bsGeMpHsxZ
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 15, 2024
The Sports Director Deco studied the signing of Amadou Onana from Aston Villa before joining the Villans, and Mikel Merino from Arsenal, but they were without sufficient funds. The Portuguese is also keeping an eye on Carney Chukwuemeka and Romeo Lavia at Chelsea, who he had considered for potential loan moves, but it looks like they won't be making any moves in that position.
It is certainly a remarkable show of faith in Bernal, who has only played a handful of senior games, and so has Casado. The latter's sample size is much larger, but the club saw him as potentially expendable even at the start of the summer. With Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo returning to fitness, it will be interesting to see if he keeps his place in the coming weeks.
