Loaning Coutinho can certainly be seen as a failure for Barcelona, especially due to his excessive price.
Nevertheless, thanks to the presence of Messi this team is once again the favorite to win laliga and the national cup, not the champions in my opinion though.
I am interested in seeing if Barcelona can still be a competitive team once Messi aging begins to take effect.
Real Madrid seems more prepared for the long term thanks to the young players like Vinicius, Kubo, Rodrygo, Odeggart, Jovic... although in the present Barcelona does have a better squad, and with squad I actually mean just Messi.
I wonder if Neymar will return to Spain, but I don’t see think this player is worth the enormous financial risk. He gets injured a lot, he isn’t really disciplined, he can be a conflictive player, and his price is excessive. If Real Madrid or Barcelona decide to sign this player they will be making a huge mistake that will negatively affect their coming years because signing Neymar will condition future signings and there will surely be better opportunities for big investments in the coming years.
I quite agree with your views and analysis @dedicatedguy. In truth, Barcelona is just about Messi. When he begins to fizzled out, then we will know the real Barcelona and what the team is made of. But for now they are still riding on his exploits.
As for Real Madrid, they can only have a long term future, if the club relaxes and reduces the excessive pressure being put on managers to deliver trophies. As it stands, Zidane seems to be under pressure, due to the team's ridiculous pre-season. There are even talks that he may walk out soon.
Madrid currently have a decent crop f players, but Zidane is yet to structure a pattern of play and a line-up that would compliment the quality of players that he has.
For Neymar, I see him ending like a certain Mario Balotelli in the next few years, because players who think they are so good, and love to court controversy always end up in the ditch.
His advisers had better do a good job of keeping him in check or else, he would still not be effective at Barcelona if he returns. For him to go to Madrid would be even more controversial for him and his career.
Let's see how things eventually turn out though in the coming days....but I feel he may end up at Barcelona, seeing as the team would be looking for some kind of replacement for Messi sooner than later.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts @dedicatedguy.
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