FC Barcelona has registered three new players ahead of its opening La Liga match against Valencia at … [+]
FC Barcelona has registered three new players ahead of its opening La Liga match against Valencia at the Mestalla on Saturday, as part of a development which has been pointed out by numerous outlets including Gerard Romero’s Jijantes FC.
Barca registered a separate trio of first team stars on Monday as it fell to a 3-0 defeat against AS Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy match.
They were namely Ansu Fati, Clement Lenglet and Eric Garcia, who were interesting choices to say the least.
While Fati is currently out injured, the club is looking to possibly sell or loan him out as seen last term, when he went to Brighton for a year once it became clear that the winger had no place in then-head coach Xavi Hernandez’s first team plans.
Similar logic applies to Lenglet, who was booed when he was presented before the Gamper and has since been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid by Footmercato.
As one of the highest-earning members of the squad, Barca needs to get the Frenchman’s salary off its books – or at least a big chunk of it – to navigate Financial Fair Play limits.
Returning from his own temporary stint at Girona, and helping Barca’s Catalan neighbour reach the Champions League for the first time in history, Olympic gold medalist Garcia could have more of a part to play in a new era headed by Xavi’s successor Hansi Flick.
Still it was curious that Garcia was chosen ahead of Inigo Martinez, who started in the Gamper and is also tipped to be in the first XI at the Mestalla against Valencia.
As pointed out by Jijantes, however, that is now a non-issue as Martinez has been registered as well.
Because of this, he will likely line up in central defense with Andreas Christensen, as Pau Cubarsi needs time to recover from Paris 2024 and Ronald Araujo is out injured.
Two more players have been given the all clear. They are Marc Casado, who should form a double pivot with Marc Bernal in a 4-2-3-1 on Saturday, and Pablo Torre who was another impressive young squad member during the recent preseason tour of the United States.
