5 Talking Points from Barcelona's January transfer window | La Liga 2019-2020 

The 2019-20 January transfer window has come and gone and unlike previous winter windows, there were not too many marquee signings, with most clubs preferring to keep faith in their current squads to see out the campaign.

The 2020 winter window was dominated by speculation linking multiple players with transfers to other clubs and while some like Bruno Fernandez and Christian Eriksen completed their touted moves to Manchester United and Inter Milan respectively, others like Edinson Cavani and Olivier Giroud stayed put at their current clubs.

↔️ TRANSFER WINDOW | A summary of our transactions https://t.co/3vHTq8fPMG

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 1, 2020

Barcelona are one of the clubs who started the new year on a low, with erstwhile manager Ernesto Valverde relieved off his coaching duties and while there might might be a host of world class talent on display at the Nou Camp, some fans of the club would have been expecting more in the recently-concluded transfer wondow.

Here, we shall be highlighting five talking points from the Blaugrana's winter transfer window.

---

#5 Antoine Griezmann would have to step up to the plate

Griezmann would lead the forward line

Luis Suarez's high returns in front of goal over the last six years meant that Barcelona profited immensely from his services but the fact that he has been the only recognized out-and-out center-forward at the club was a recipe for danger.

This much was made evident when the Uruguayan international was sidelined for a minimum of four months with what appears to be a meniscus problem in his right knee.

It means that Suarez would sit out a significant portion of the crunch part of Barcelona's campaign and barring any miraculous return, he would play no major part in their quest to retain the league title or win a first Champions League in five years.

This is a less than ideal situation for the Catalans and is one they sought to rectify by bidding for the likes of Rodrigo Moreno and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but nothing came out of those bids and Barcelona would continue the season without a recognized center-forward.

This puts summer signing Antoine Griezmann into the spotlight and the French international has stated his willingness to lead the line but if he would be able to effectively replace Suarez remains to be seen.

Griezmann has blown hot and cold since his summer switch from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

#4 La Masia no longer the go-to for first team talent

Perez has been loaned out to AS Roma

The latter part of the noughties and start of the last decade were dominated by Barcelona and the core of the team was built around academy players who had risen through the ranks to become mainstays in the first team.

Players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Victor Valdez, and the majestic Lionel Messi played no small role in Barcelona's success and La Masia's crowning glory came when they became the first academy to produce all three Ballon d'Or finalists in 2010.

This unprecedented success placed immense pressure on the youngsters coming through and the Barcelona academy was suddenly thrust into the limelight as a development hub that could do no wrong in the grooming of players.

However, that has proved to not be the case and the bottomline is that La Masia were blessed to have so many generational talents blossom in and around the same time and this is evident in the fact that Sergi Roberto is the only player from the academy to have gained a foothold in the first team in the last decade.

The cut-throat nature of the current era means that the pressure for instant success is immense, while the standards set by Messi and company have been near impossible for their proteges to follow.

Barcelona sanctioned four departures in the January transfer window and tellingly, three of those are players who have come through the ranks at La Masia, with Carles Perez, Moussa Wague, and Carles Alena joining AS Roma, OGC Nice, and Real Betis on loan respectively, while another youngster in Jean-Claire Todibo was also loaned out to Schalke 04.

Much has been made about Barcelona placing emphasis on the blooding of players from La Masia to the first-team but on evidence of their latest window, this is no longer a priority.

# 3 Quique Setien could be the fall guy for the board's shortcoming

Quique Setien could pay the price for Barcelona's transfer shortcomings

Quique Setien's appointment as Barcelona manager was a peculiar one to say the least and apart from the fact that he is a self-professed disciple of the 'Cruyff way of playing', not much else in his CV suggests that he is up to the task for one of the biggest jobs in the footballing world.

In many ways, the 61-year-old is just happy to be in the job, with the transition from 'walking cows in his village' to coaching the best player in history making him the perfect fall guy if Barcelona's season descends into chaos.

The fact that the former Real Betis manager does not have a significant managerial pedigree means that he is not in a position to make demands from the Barcelona board and this much has been evident from his press conferences so far,

Barcelona reportedly bid the sum of £85m for Richarlison which was rejected by Everton, while they also saw their efforts for Aubameyang and Rodrigo turned down.

This coupled with the departure of Carles Perez means that the Catalans would finish the campaign short of options upfront and in the event of a likely capitulation, the blame can easily be shifted to the newly appointed manager.

#2 Past fails in the January window might have contributed to Barcelona caution

January signings have struggled at Barcelona

The European footballing season generally kicks off in the latter part of the summer and by autumn, it is already clear which teams would come good and those that would fall short of their objectives.

In light of this, the winter window is generally seen as an opportunity for underperforming clubs to strengthen, as well as unwanted players to be discarded and this desperation usually leads to hasty decisions, with selling clubs taking advantage of the situation by stating inflated valuations.

While some clubs like Marseille and Liverpool have struck gold with the signature of Dmitri Payet and Luis Suarez in the January transfer window, others have fallen way off the mark.

Barcelona are one of the clubs who find themselves in the latter category, with virtually all their recent January acquisitions failing to make a mark at the club.

Club-record Philippe Coutinho might be the most high-profile January bust, but the former Liverpool man is joined by players like Yerry Mina, Jeison Murillo, and Kevin-Prince Boateng who arrived in January and left without any legacy.

It might have been with their recent failings in the winter transfer window in mind that the Barcelona board decided to resist the temptation of making any signing and relying on the current crop to deliver till the end of the season.

#1 Dependence on Lionel Messi set to continue till the summer

Barcelona is dependent on Lionel Messi

With over 600 goals for Barcelona, Lionel Messi is unarguably the greatest player in the club's history and in many ways the best player to ever play the game.

His extraterrestrial abilities have seen him bail his side out on numerous occasions but it is pertinent to note that the mercurial Argentine is very much human with remarkably low shortcomings on the field.

It would not be far-fetched to suggest that Barcelona have been over-dependent on their skipper in recent years and this much is evident in their recent failures on the continent as well as their struggles earlier in the current campaign.

With Luis Suarez injured and Antoine Griezmann yet to hit the heights expected, the January transfer window offered Barcelona the opportunity to strengthen their forward line but a failure to do so means that the club would have an overreliance on Lionel Messi for the rest of the campaign and as past seasons have proved, this could be a recipe for disaster.

---