With Barcelona in desperate need of a backup left-back for Jordi Alba, the club may need to find an unconventional solution - much like they found in Sergi Roberto at right-back.
Let's start with a simple fact: FC Barcelona's backup left fullback is bad. Regardless of who you deem to be the first backup, it's a bad choice. At the start of the season, it was Adriano who Luis Enrique called upon to fill in when Jordi Alba was recovering from a neck injury. After a few matches of seeing the effects of age first hand, Enrique quickly opted for Jeremy Mathieu to play as the first reserve left-back - despite having told the coach he no longer feels comfortable on the left flank. As Mathieu started taking more of the rotation minutes on the left flank, it became increasingly obvious that he was no longer comfortable in his former position - and the numbers speak for themselves.
With Adriano and Mathieu at left-back this season, Barcelona are outscoring opponents 11-8. With Alba at left-back, the team is outscoring opponents 29-7. While one should reasonably expect a drop in performance when the starter goes out, it's not reasonable to expect a 67% drop in production against teams like Levante and Deportivo La Coruna. Something has to change.
Fortunately, it appears something will change. Recent reports suggest that Barcelona will target Fiorentina left-back Marcos Alonso in the summer - when his contract runs out. Unfortunately, that leaves the club with five more months of a Mathieu/Adriano combination on the left flank. With an abysmal goal differential and the club having dropped the same number of points in about half the matches with those two covering the area, something has to change now - with an ability to be adjusted later.
One plan is simple: try to buy Marcos Alonso now. Instead of merely waiting six months to get him for free, offer Fiorentina a low price to get him now. At that point, Barcelona get their man when they need him and Fiorentina get money rather than nothing. There's a bit of a kink in that plan, though. Alonso currently starts for the Italian club, and they're doing quite well - sitting just a point off of first place in Serie A. It's possible they'd value a few million euros over the competition, but with some reports suggesting that the top two teams in Serie A win over €8.000.000 they may take their chances at getting the prize money over the transfer money.
With reports coming out that the club is strapped for cash and trying to avoid paying millions of euros in January, it seems unlikely that they would be willing to shell out nearly ten million euros for a player who would be free in July, that will spend roughly two thirds of the matches on the bench. So perhaps it's time to find a new solution - and I think I've found one.
The best solution is almost definitely going to have to come from within the club. Someone that knows the system, that won't add anything else to the already maxed out wage bill, and (best of all) someone that's free. That someone is going to have to be very attack minded to fill in for Jordi Alba. That someone will have to be able to pass well, be able to fill in space, and be willing to constantly be moving after the ball when possession is lost.
That someone is Munir El Haddadi.
The young Spanish forward has struggled in his time with Barcelona, with just three assists and zero goals in his last 20 appearances in La Liga and the Champions League. Through his struggles, he's become somewhat of a joke among the fans, ridiculed for his inability to score, and his tendencies to stay wide and out of play - but its those skills that have him primed to be a valuable player from a deeper position.
Munir provides width consistently throughout the front line, and is very good at occupying space to keep defenders at home. He links up with the team well, too. He's not one that provides flashy assists and through balls, but Munir consistently recycles possession back into the midfield or to one of the more creative forwards. Best of all, Munir tracks back incredibly well. This season, Munir has the second highest tackles+interceptions per 90 among forwards in La Liga at nearly 3 per match. To put his work in perspective, Jordi Alba currently averages 3.15 balls won per 90. That's not to say that Munir is already as good as Alba as a fullback, or even close to him. Instead, it merely suggests that Munir possesses the skills and mind set necessary to succeed as a fullback in Barcelona's system.
It's also worth noting that both of the current starting fullbacks for FC Barcelona were naturally wingers that didn't possess the ability in the final third to stick in the area, and got pushed back to act as wing-backs when injury necessitated. The player Barcelona just bought to replace Dani Alves has a similar story. Barcelona has a history of taking wingers that possess all the talents to play in a wide area but none of the skills required to be a winger in Barca's system and turning them into something special - and it's time we find out if Munir can do the same.
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