Can Barcelona find room for Lewandowski alongside Messi and Neymar?

Barcelona have just completed a near £50m deal for Brazilian star forward Neymar. They have a certain Lionel Messi. They have David Villa. They have Cristian Tello, Pedro, Alexis Sanchez and Gerard Deulofeu. They even have Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta who can play as part of a front three. And yet, reports are coming out of Europe that Barcelona want to barge in on the Robert Lewandowski bidding. The question is, what do they plan to do with him? Can they fit him in to their plans? And how would his signing impact on those listed above?

This is classic opportunism in the transfer market from Barcelona and unlike their usual strategy of long courtship and paying big money if necessary. With Borussia Dortmund ruling out any move for Lewandowski to Bayern Munich, Europe’s big clubs have restarted their interest and negotiations. They realise that with just one year left on his contract, and Dortmund’s history of selling players for the right offer, they now have a chance at getting him. His true value would be up at £50m as he is every bit as good as Falcao, Cavani and Suarez who are all talked about in that price range. But, coming in to the last year of his deal, Dortmund may be looking at offers of £30m or even less. This reduced price, and Lewandowski’s status as the slayer of Real Madrid is apparently intriguing to Barcelona.

Barcelona play a 4-3-3 and have achieved great success with Lionel Messi as their central striker. However, if they were to sign Robert Lewandowski, the only solution would be to move Messi back out right. The issue here, is that Messi doesn’t want that, and what he wants, rightly, goes at Barcelona. Messi’s move to the middle has seen off Eto’o and Ibrahimovic and pretty soon David Villa. They have all been bumped wide in order to give the little Argentine genius the freedom to roam centrally. If they planned on signing Lewandowski and playing him out wide right, he will surely succumb to the same fate. They are already moving Neymar out to the left, so signing Lewandowski to play on the right makes no sense. It would need to include Messi moving out to the right.

This will in turn affect the midfield. With Messi, Neymar and Lewandowski up front, Iniesta and especially Fabregas will have to move back. Could Barcelona, already vulnerable defensively, really play a midfield three of Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas? Surely not. They would have to find space for Sergio Busquets to offer some defensive savvy. That would mean Fabregas not playing and that’s before even getting to Thiago Alcantara.

It also then means that Pedro, Tello, Alexis and Deulofeu would be reduced to substitute roles. It’s safe to assume David Villa is being allowed to leave, but what of Barcelona’s young home grown stars? All four would be good enough to start for most teams in world football, so does signing Lewandowski to block their path to the first team fit with Barcelona’s much heralded strategy of promoting from within La Masia? Not really, but it does fit with their policy of signing megastars. From Cruyff to Maradona to Stoichkov to Ronaldo to Ronaldinho, Barcelona have always found room to accommodate the best players in the world alongside their own products. Would signing Lewandowski skew that balance too far towards stars?

If Barcelona do sign Lewandowski, they will have not only the most exciting and potent attack in the world, but also give themselves an entirely new dimension to their play. Neymar and Lewandowski are exceptional on the counter attack, something Barcelona really struggle with. Lewandowski also has the technical ability to play as a central hold up striker which could theoretically give Lionel Messi even more license to cause havoc around the field. It doesn’t exactly help their defensive frailty but it would be a return to the days when Barcelona went around slaying everyone in their path. We might even see Lionel Messi reach new heights. In fact, it could be good for Argentina too as he will be more used to playing with players similar to the likes of Aguero and get used to meshing properly.

If Barcelona do sign Lewandowski, they will immediately have the best attack in the world. However, they will surely see Thiago Alcantara, and one of their other homegrown forwards leave. Is that a price they are willing to pay?