Barcelona set to begin new era without Lionel Messi

Barcelona face many questions ahead of season opener against Real Sociedad

For the first time in nearly two decades, Barcelona are set to start a new LaLiga season without Lionel Messi. The club was unable to reach an agreement with LaLiga to register Messi who has since joined PSG.

There is no sugarcoating here. Losing Messi is a significant blow both on the pitch and off it. The club no longer has a cheat code and everyone is interested to see how Ronald Koeman and his team handle the situation.

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The talk over the last couple of weeks has focused on the club’s wage bill and its impact on the new signings. They were in a race against time to register both Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia. But it looks like they should be available for the Real Sociedad match after being given the okay by LaLiga.

Sergio Agüero should be able to be registered once he recovers from his injury. Until then, the club is no hurry and calm regarding his availability down the line.

Memphis has impressed during preseason and is going to be relied upon, alongside Antoine Griezmann, to carry the attack. He’s developed a decent understanding with the Frenchman and is something Koeman is going to count on.

Along with the aforementioned players, Barcelona has also signed Yusef Demir. The 18-year-old forward, on loan Rapid Wien, impressed as well and despite being registered for Barça B, is expected to be called-up for the Sociedad match.

There are a number of academy players likely to feature for the senior team given the injuries and the fact no new signings will be made. In essence, some optimism exists even with Messi’s exit.

However, the problem remains in defense. Barcelona was unable to find a back-up for Jordi Alba and one of the few players sales they were able to make was with Junior Firpo. Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti are still at the club and look to be expensive bench warmers as Gerard Pique and Ronald Araujo look set to be the starting center-backs.

What this means is even with a quicker Araujo and another year of Sergiño Dest, the backline is going to remain susceptible to counter-attacks. As we saw last season, that and a lack of concentration cost Barcelona a chance at the title.

If there is any silver lining on the pitch with Messi’s absence is whoever takes his spot on the pitch is going to track back and put a shift in defensively.

The onus is going to be on Koeman to be able to field a cohesive unit on the field. It’s an opportunity he and the players need to take advantage of.

For far too long, some of the discussion surrounding Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho was that they were unable to display their qualities because they were being played out of position and were essentially being block because of where Messi liked to play on the pitch.

Messi is gone now so these players now need to step up. The Brazilian looks to get one more shot to prove himself as it’s no longer a secret Barcelona want to get rid of him despite Koeman willing to keep him.

A lot of questions exist regarding how good this Barcelona side can be. On paper, they do have a number of good players who could battle for a title. Whether they do so or not is something we’ll figure out once the season fully gets underway.

Until then, it’s a lot of speculation and wait-and-see. One thing is for sure. The pressure is on and some players, like Umtiti, seem to be showing signs of crumbling. Barcelona need to get off to a fast start or else that pressure, with fans back in the stadium, will only get worse.