FC Barcelona: How Joan Laporta and Barca are making all the right noises this transfer window

Three days. Three Barca signings.

31st May - Barca present Kun Aguero

June 1st - Eric Garcia returns to Barcelona

June 2nd - Emerson Royal is brought back from Real Betis

With the transfer window barely open, Laporta had already jumped right down to business. Barcelona were making a statement and giving hints of everything that was yet to come.

Aguero ✍️Garcia ✍️Emerson ✍️Koeman 🤝Depay❓Wijnaldum❓Messi❓What next for Barcelona? 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/rytMV8noB7

— Goal (@goal) June 3, 2021

Smart Choices

Many have ridiculed Barca for only snapping up free agents. But the fact is that when you find yourself facing a debt of one and a half billion dollars, there's pretty much nothing you can do about it.

Yet, Laporta has found a way to do his business economically AND effectively. The signings so far have been nothing short of brilliant.

Barca scored 117 goals last season and 38 of those came off Messi's boot, with Griezmann a distant second best with 20. Signing Aguero adds a proven source of goals in bulk, slightly reducing the goalscoring pressure on Leo. He fills the void left by Suarez's departure, at least in the short term.

The Aguero signing gives Barca a few years of breathing space in their pursuit of other young talents upfront. No one can question Aguero's quality in front of goal. His age might become a factor in the years to come, but for now he's still one of the best No.9's in the world, and few will disagree with that.

Bringing Garcia into the squad now means that Barca have some of the best young centrebacks in the world, with Mingueza and Araujo also enjoying breakthrough seasons at the club. Barca's aging defense was a major thorn in their flesh this year.

Eric most certainly adds strength to what has been one of the flimsiest defenses in Europe this past season. Alongside Araujo, he has the ability to form one of the most lethal centreback pairings in the years to come.

Pep Guardiola: “Barça have made two great signings with Kun and Eric Garcia. Eric is at the beginning of his career and will make a long career at Barça, he will help a lot Koeman. Kun will continue to score goals as he has always done…” [via @mariaguixa/@totcosta]

— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) June 9, 2021

Emerson is a well-rounded player, and signing him back for 9 million euros was a smart move in the sense that he is arguably the only complete full-back in the squad at the moment. David Alba and Sergino Dest are undoubtedly good on their day.

But Alba lacks defensive strength while Dest is yet to build up the composure he needs at both ends of the pitch. So adding Emerson to the team balances the choices Ronald Koeman will have going into the 2021-22 season.

It allows him the freedom to experiment with Dest on the left and give Alba some breaks to keep him fresh for the big games.

Emerson is one of the most complete full-backs out there