There can’t have been too many more successful transfer windows for a top flight club than the one that Barcelona are in the midst of, and one that still has time to run — giving the Blaugrana ample time to secure more talent.
For once, the Catalans have strengthened in all of the key positions and, more importantly, with the type of quality that’s expected of a team that habitually is regarded as the world’s finest.
An area where they’ve had inconsistent performers and performances over the recent past is in the centre of defence.
Gerard Pique continues to be a shoo-in for the right-hand side of the pairing but the clearest indication of the problem is that, since Carles Puyol’s retirement, Javier Mascherano — a defensive midfielder by trade — has been preferred to the likes of Jeremy Mathieu, Thomas Vermaelen and Marc Bartra. All of whom are natural centre-backs.
The latter two have now departed, the former is injured along with Masche.
That almost unique set of circumstances allowed Samuel Umtiti an early taste of competitive action in La Liga and, as he showed a few days earlier in the Supercopa de Espana, this is a young man born to wear the shirt.
Strong, powerful, with excellent distribution and passing accuracy, sporting director Robert Fernandez has virtually stolen him from Lyon at just 25 million euros (Dh104 million). There can be little doubt that, injuries aside, the Frenchman is the future as far as that area of the team is concerned.
Ditto Lucas Digne who arrived from Paris Saint-Germain for another bargain price of just 16.5 million euros.
There was no expectation that he too would find himself challenging for a starting role from the get-go but another injury, this time to Jordi Alba, saw Digne also find his feet in the Supercopa.
He responded as though he’d played there all his life and Alba will have seen from his watching brief on the touchline that he now has genuine competition for his left-back slot.
Former cover in the position, Adriano, was recently shipped out to Besiktas, but with the greatest of respect, the Brazilian was only ever going to get a look-in if there were no other options available. Digne’s style and current form demand that he is given appropriate respect.
Denis Suarez has been here before of course. A star in Barca’s B team from a couple of seasons ago, brief sojourns to Sevilla and Villarreal have seen the player come back as a more rounded and technically competent midfielder, and one to rival the Ivan Rakitics and Andres Iniestas of this world.
Even if a slight ‘overbooking’ in that area exists at present, it can’t be overlooked that El Ilusionista is the wrong side of 30 and won’t now play every game.
Indeed, another injury saw the captain miss out just this past weekend, and should he not be at the top of his game at any point in 2016/17, Luis Enrique has the luxury of knowing that he can place Suarez or this summer’s big capture, Andre Gomes, into the breech, with no drop off in quality.
Destined for Real Madrid, that Fernandez was able to engineer an 11th hour switch for Gomes shows that the Catalans also have a sporting director who’s at the top of his game.
If Paco Alcacer and Jasper Cillesen follow Gomes from Valencia and Ajax respectively, in a flash Barcelona will have solved their fourth striker and goalkeeper problem as well.
Trophies are almost guaranteed.