Barcelona dominated Real Sociedad, but big summer spend makes long-term success the goal that really matters

The major story of European soccer this summer has been Barcelona’s incredible reemergence as a transfer superpower.

The La Liga outfit landed Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, Raphinha from Leeds United and Jules Kounde from Sevilla for sizable fees while Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen arrived on free transfers from AC Milan and Chelsea respectively. All five checked in at Camp Nou this summer as part of Barca’s revolution with the new star quintet all commanding significant pay packets.

This has prompted a major squad reshuffle which is not yet complete given that Kounde remains unregistered, and it will take approximately $20 million for the Blaugrana to unblock that situation so that the France international can take to the pitch. Barca have tried to move on the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay, Samuel Umtiti and now Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with none of the quartet officially out of the door yet.

The moves mean that Barca can, and likely will, play great soccer regularly given their impressive star power.  Despite somehow starting off the season with a 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano, a match in which Barca outshot their opponents 21-4 and won the expected goal battle 1.95-0.50, Xavi’s men are clearly capable of breathtaking performances. On Sunday they delivered one with a 4-1 win away at a good Real Sociedad side with Lewandowski grabbing a brace. But great performances getting the side back into Spanish title contention and a deep Champions League run is not enough. The new reality for the club having chosen to go down this road is that they now require sustained domestic and continental glory to avoid the potentially crippling repercussions which await if they are anything other than perfect in the coming years.  

However, the Catalan giants’ situation is not quite as simple a player trading and getting undesirable players off the books to register the desire new arrivals. To make their recent transfer flurry possible, Barca have bet heavily on long-term future success by selling off packages of its television rights with a licensing and merchandising deal also envisaged and their spiritual home already renamed Spotify Camp Nou after a commercial deal was struck.

Put in difficulty by the previous regime under former president Josep Bartomeu, the 26-time Spanish champions are seeking a return to the glory days of their golden generation under returning supremo Joan Laporta. Unlike the era of Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes, though, there is less of a focus on organic growth from within the famed La Masia academy and more emphasis on a quick fix strategy in the transfer market.

There is token homegrown representation within the current group provided by Ansu Fati while Eric Garcia is a youth academy product who surfaced with Manchester City. However, the main bridges with Barca’s glorious past are provided by current coach Xavi and veterans Pique and Busquets since Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain because of previous financial hardships.

Culers may well be delighted with their newfound financial powers and the facelift which those fresh funds have afforded the club right now but there should be no mistaking that their recent maneuverings come with no shortage of risk. Unless Barca embark upon a run arguably even more successful than the one the likes of Pep Guardiola, Messi, and Xavi the player helped to oversee, further financial ramifications seem inevitable and potentially more brutal than the situation Laporta walked into upon reelection.

With two Spanish titles from the last three (the other won by Atletico Madrid) and a UEFA Champions League success going to bitter rivals Real Madrid since Barca last triumphed in La Liga, there is only a 2020-21 Copa del Rey win to point to which hardly screams that they are primed to dominate. On top of that, La Liga itself is currently struggling in financial terms with few clubs able to compete with even non-elite Premier League clubs on the transfer market and a salary cap providing the sorts of obstacles which the Blaugrana are trying to navigate.

Barca is an exciting place to be and a majorly intriguing project to watch unfold this season and beyond, but it comes with no shortage of potential and even probable jeopardy if they cannot sweep all before them in a very short space of time.