Well, no hay Liga. Even if Barca won yesterday's Clasico it would have been unlikely that they could have come back and won La Liga. Now the attention will probably go to the battles for European places with a gap developing between 18th place Cadiz and the rest at the bottom. I'm not sure what the impact of a Real Madrid Champions League title would be on qualification for the rest of the clubs given the new format, but I believe Spain would get a fifth slot in that case, which would make things very interesting for Europa League and Conference League qualification.
For Madrid, Lucas Vazquez had himself a week. I know a lot of the recognition will go to Bellingham, but Vazquez made the difference in both Manchester and Madrid. He can play RB now which gives them some cover for Carvajal. Looking forward, the Mbappe saga looks to be winding up in their favor. They can wait out Munich on Davies if they want. I'm guessing that Nacho and Modric have played their last Clasico, Modric pretty much already ably replaced. Real Madrid can look to add a CB or not as they can bring Rafa Marin back from Alaves. In short, they are stacked now and have options going forward.
For Barca, I am not sure what direction they take. I continue to hope that they build through La Masia. Obviously Cubarsi and Yamal have been spectacular. Fort and Guiu have played well in spurts. They are tying up more of their young stars up long-term. Then they spend their resources on older players and loan moves. Joao Cancelo is under fire for his awful week. Deco was sitting down with Valladolid to buy Spanish youth international Ivan Fresneda, a teenage right back, when news broke that Cancelo might be available. Deco essentially dropped everything for Cancelo I understand the reputation of Cancelo, but looking forward it would be nice to have Fresneda anchored in a right back for the foreseeable future- admittedly I have lost track of him as he was sold to Sporting- instead of a loan for Cancelo who likely will be gone after this season. Add to that the Dest and FDJ injuries, two players the club can and is willing to sell, and I’m not sure what the direction of the club is. It feels like they’re paying expensive players to hit certain financial benchmarks so that they can continue to overpay for expensive players.
Yeah, pretty depressing how well Madrid are setup for the near and medium term. Only thing I can see being problems for them (if I squint--I feel like Mel Gibson grasping at straws re Cornwallis in The Patriot) is too many egos in the forward line, or Carlo moving on (he's such an OG and one of the best man managers around).
Re Barca, I think the whole squad looks differently if they can bring in a capable DMF. FDJ, Gundo, et al are just so much better playing ahead of someone who can handle that role, and that frees a lot of the ability of the other mids (Pedri, Fermin) and the wingers. Getting Gavi back will also help a great deal.
This season has been a huge step back for some marquee players at Barca. I'm thinking specifically of Pedri and Araujo. Both have been plagued by injuries this year, but these are guys I was sure would be staples in the XI for the next decade. Now, I'm not sure Kounde didn't have a better season than Araujo (something I NEVER thought I'd say) and Pedri stalled out. Maybe it's as simple as Gavi frees Pedri to his thing, Pedri is following a fairly typical trajectory of a star at 21, but it's a bit discouraging nonetheless.
The other obvious key to the offseason is getting the right manager. The squad is still insanely strong (albeit with a LARGE gap at DMF, and possibly both FB spots), and I do have some concerns about Lewa (age) and MATS (performance in big games, age) but a real manager gets a lot out of this squad.
There are plenty of good manager options out there, so I'm honestly a bit less concerned about that. It's obviously important and getting it right is easier said than done, but the talent is there and it won't cost as much as players.
OTOH, the free agent list of DMFs this summer to me looks like Guido Rodriguez (Betis, Argentino!), Ndidi (LCFC), Gueye (Marseille), Sissoko (Strasbourg, no idea if he's good), and Tapia (Celta). There are others, but they're 32+ years old. Even though that list isn't AMAZING, I think they need to sign at least one to establish a baseline for performance. I don't think much of Guido but he can do a job. If Barca get approval to spend even a bit of money, perhaps they can buy someone line Amrabat, Varela (Porto, Argentino!), a young player from the Portugal/Dutch/French league, or shit even Hojbjerg for $20M.
