Barcelona ends preseason optimistic with team’s potential

Madrid, August 8 (BUS): Barcelona surprised many in the off-season with several high-profile deals, despite enduring a difficult financial situation.

The Associated Press said the club’s tactics to bolster its squad – mostly by giving up future income to add new players now – have drawn many doubts and criticism.

But even the most anxious Barcelona fans cannot hide their optimism about the team’s potential ahead of the season that begins next weekend.

The new signings showed a lot of hope in the pre-season that ended on Sunday with a 6-0 defeat of Mexican club Pumas in the Joan Camper Championship at the Camp Nou.

A crowd of over 83,000 people witnessed the team’s best signing, Robert Lewandowski, score his first goal for the Catalan club and connect well with young playmaker Pedri Gonzalez. They also saw new defender Jules Conde make his debut, new striker Rafinha and returning striker Ousmane Dembele playing well again.

Barcelona also beat Inter Miami, New York Red Bulls and Spanish rival Real Madrid during the pre-season, in addition to a 2-2 draw with Juventus.

Ahead of Sunday’s game, fans have already received some good news as president Joan Laporta said the club will meet La Liga’s fair play requirements to score all new signings in time for this season.

“We will be able to register all the players,” he said, dismissing fears that some players would be excluded from the squad so that the club could generate more revenue.

Barcelona recently sold 25% of the TV rights to La Liga for the next 25 years for approximately 670 million euros ($682.1 million), and sold a 25% stake in its production center for 100 million euros ($101.8 million). On Sunday, it played its first game at Camp Nou since it was rebranded after a sponsorship and naming rights deal with Spotify.

“There is no time to wait in football, there is no transitional season,” Laporta told Spanish media. “We did what we had to do to make Barcelona a reference again.”

After a title-less season in which Lionel Messi was not for the first time in nearly two decades, the club took to the market and quickly became the biggest spender of the season in Europe.

Lewandowski arrived from Bayern Munich in a deal worth around 50 million euros ($50.9 million), while Ravenha came from Leeds United for nearly 60 million euros ($61.1 million) and Conde from Seville for nearly 50 million euros (50.9 million). dollar).

Barcelona also added young midfielder Frank Kessie and defender Andreas Christensen, and renewed Dembele’s contract who had already shown during pre-season that he would be an important part of coach Xavi Hernandez’s attack.

The team’s attack also caused talented youngster Ansu Fati, Dutch international Memphis Depay, Denmark international Martin Braithwaite, and Spain international Ferran Torres. In midfield, he still has the likes of Jaffe Baez and Pedri, who scored his two goals against Pumas from assists from Lewandowski.

“This Barcelona is scary,” said the headline of Monday’s sports daily Marca.

“Amazing,” said the front page headline of the sports newspaper, above Lewandowski’s photo.

The Camp Nou is expected to be full again for the team’s league debut on Saturday against Rayo Vallecano, when another good performance helps Laporta make his case that the club’s high spending will ultimately be justified.

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