First they tried to bring back Lionel Messi, then they briefly brought back Dani Alves. Rafa Márquez returned to manage the B team, Xavi Hernández came home this time as coach and Deco came again, the former midfielder turned sporting director. They tried to include Carles Puyol. And now president Joan Laporta, who is also returning, re-elected 17 years after he first ran for office and ten years after he left, wants Edgar Davids to return to FC Barcelona.
Anyway, an Edgar Davids. And yes, that’s exactly what the president put it. At 50, it may be a little late to install the real Davids in the center of midfield, but 24 hours ago, on the eve of their last competitive match before Christmas, they flew to Dallas for a friendly for €5 million (£ Laporta is Dutch player Barcelona’s desired transfer The reference was instantly clear to everyone, even almost 20 years later, his name emblematic of a winter transfer that worked, a catalyst for change.
When Davids joined in January 2004, Barcelona were in seventh place, 15 points behind Real Madrid. In Laporta’s first season as president, things were getting worse, there was no way out of the crisis. Davids’ first match ended in a 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao, while the next nine ended in victory. His arrival freed up Xavi and Ronaldinho and eventually Barcelona overhauled Madrid by beating them 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu. Winning the league wasn’t enough – Valencia took the title – but it was a resurrection, the beginning of their era. The virtuous cycle that Laporta talked about had begun.
Laporta believes that this period has become a burden on him, but also a lesson, a certain nostalgia experienced during his second term as president. It now heads into the winter seven points behind Girona and Real Madrid, with Xavi recounting parts of their final. A team whose performance in 2023 is “unacceptable”, “without soul”, they are looking for something similar: the Davids Effect.
At the beginning of December, Barcelona decided whether they were in the title race by defeating Atlético in the match that would decide both seasons. They also reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in three years and came first in the group. But defeats against Girona and Antwerp and a draw against Valencia brought back fatalism and cracks re-emerged. “It’s like a funeral,” Xavi said. “I get messages like my mom or dad died and I’m like, ‘Wow, what happened?’ “I think.”
Koç said that all of this was unrealistic and exaggerated; After all, this team is defending champions. He complained that the Barcelona media should not “give up at the first opportunity” and noted that none of the journalists in the room congratulated him on the progress he had made in Europe, as if that were their duty. He emphasized that Barcelona’s goals have been achieved so far. But Xavi knows that the difference in the league is significant, that qualifying in Europe is a minimum budget and that the pessimism is not just about the press. He is aware that criticism and tension reach not only from the outside in, but also from the inside to the outside.
The claim that this was a team “under construction” was worrying, and the confusion over the squad heading to Antwerp also did not speak to internal cohesion or stability. Xavi left out Robert Lewandowski, Ronald Araújo and İlkay Gündoğan, but the list was republished with all three included. He later responded to reports that the new squad was the product of the chairman’s prerogatives by claiming that it was the club’s “consensus” decision, with the sporting director solely placing the responsibility on himself.
For all he said their main problem was extravagance, there were few truly impressive performances; if the results are better than the performances. After the match against Almería, which Barcelona won 3-2, putting a late winner behind a team that had not won all season, all these doubts, all the disappointments, finally came to the surface. Xavi attacked his players and it doesn’t look like it will end well. At half-time he told them they had to run like animals or they had no chance; He reminded them that this was not the 2010 side.
Something needs to be done. 1 against 11, there is no big problem in the team, not about the name, but attention inevitably turns to transfers. If Xavi really wants to see something “unreal”, he just needs to see the characters on the covers every morning.
But Davids is different. This is a real initial desire made public. With doubts about Oriol Romeu, who joined from Girona in the summer, and Gavi’s cruciate ligament tear, there is a need for an athletic, durable, defensive midfielder who does not need time to adapt; A player who becomes even more involved in the group.
There is another element that is immediately apparent as the defining characteristic of “Davids”: the Dutchman came on loan, secured a solution and was gone again six months later, his job done: a €2 million salary (€2 million of his total salary). 8 million euros) and that’s it: no ties, no hidden charges, no mortgaging their future, which is risky enough. The crisis that led to Messi’s departure and return is not as worrying as it was a few years ago, but it is certainly not resolved.
So there was an “if” when Laporta said “the idea is to have a midfielder who will somehow compensate for Gavi’s absence”. “If we can ensure ‘fair play,'” the president added. “We would stay on loan until the end of the season, just like we did with Davids years ago.” Even then Xavi said: “It’s very difficult. “We are working with Deco and the president, but we need to see if this is possible on the salary issue.”
Barcelona’s salary limit, the first team budget determined according to the league’s financial fair play rules, is 270 million euros, while Real Madrid’s is 727 million euros. That would be difficult enough, but the amount they spend on their teams – while they are less than €676 million and have lost some of their highest-earning players such as Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Antoine Griezmann and Gérard Pique – is now just under €676 million. Because they are over their €492m limit, league rules only allow them to spend a third of what they can show they have saved. They need to show that for every euro spent, three euros were brought in.
This is where the celebrities are chainstays Or the levers came into play and this is one of the reasons why they are holding on so tightly to the Super League. By their own admission, creative accounting has been key. Last year, instead of weakening the team, Barcelona made an inflated profit of 98 million euros from the sale of 727 million euros of non-sporting assets. However, this was an urgent measure that allowed them to rebuild a competitive squad and even sign Lewandowski, but it cannot be repeated in every window. Meanwhile, 35-year-old Lewandowski has not been the same man in front of goal this season.
Last summer Barcelona spent €3.4 million on transfers, all of it on Romeu. Iñigo Martínez signed on a free transfer, with his salary subsequently changing to match the caps, just as Gündoğan did, which seemed like a smart deal for a club that could still attract a deal. João Félix and João Cancelo arrived on loan at the bottom end of the market, and their arrival was personally signed by the board members. Barcelona wants to keep both, but this will require creative solutions. This is another topic for another day, another problem has been pushed down the road.
Barcelona’s total debt is 1.2 billion euros. This year they budget for a revenue of 859 million euros and predict a profit of 11 million euros. To do this, they need to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Meanwhile moving to Montjuic (only 17,000 people here) while Camp Nou is being rebuilt socios 34,568 fans attended the meeting with Atlético, who chose the option of keeping their season tickets, costing them 78 million euros per season, according to vice president Eduardo Romeu. In this context, becoming stronger is not easy in terms of compliance with the financial fair play rules. A priorior just being able to afford it.
Barcelona signed Brazilian teenager Vitor Roque for €30 million plus €26 million in variables; The first €30 million was spread over the seven years of his contract. He was scheduled to join the team next summer but his arrival was postponed until January; However, Xavi was quick to say that they cannot put pressure on him now. Even getting him is a battle: Barcelona need to free up a financial fair play margin of around €13 million to sign him up. They had planned to do this with a 40 million euro payment from investment fund Libero, which bought a 29.5% stake in Barça Studios. However, this payment has not yet been made, forcing them to look for other investors.
“The squad is not as deep as we would like and unfortunately we lost Gavi,” Deco said. “We had already signed a contract with Vitor and decided that he should come now. But we rely on fair play and this is difficult to resolve. I don’t like to create false expectations.”
Laporta said Barcelona was “working on a number of operations; “If they can be verified, we will have a chance.” Because Gavi’s injury lasted more than five months, league rules allow Barcelona to spend 80% of his salary, but only until the end of the season. Whoever comes, if anyone comes, will have six months to turn Barcelona around. Just like Edgar Davids did.