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If Xavi thinks bringing success to Barcelona was difficult this season, wait until he sees the challenge that awaits him in the next campaign.
Barcelona’s coach won’t want to think about it too much as he travels around the city on an open top bus on Monday afternoon and he enjoys a moment to savour winning his first league as a coach after winning eight as a player.
But with his president Joan Laporta again talking up the return of Lionel Messi, the club preparing to move to a largely unused stadium that has needed a €20million [£17.4m] upgrade just to make it match-ready and the huge pressure to play better, win by more goals, and deliver in Europe, it won’t be long before his attention turns to the monumental tasks ahead.
The 2023-24 season could be Barça’s toughest yet, with or without Messi.
The PSG forward appeared to join Alejandro Balde’s Instagram Live on Sunday night as the Barcelona defender recorded the team’s dressing room celebrations.
On Monday morning Joan Laporta was doing his round of post-title interviews and he claimed he had made peace with Messi removing at least one of the obstacles to him returning.
‘I’ve spoken to him to put things right,’ he told Catalan television. He can’t stretch teams as a wide forward, he has long since stopped operating as a false nine and he certainly does have the box-to-box energy of one of the lateral midfielders.
Xavi’s plan is to use the ‘magic square’ midfield he has favoured at times this season with Pedri and Gavi at the top two corners and Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets at the bottom two corners may be the solution.
A future quartet would have Messi in place of Gavi who could drop back alongside Frenkie de Jong who will replace Sergio Busquets.
It doesn’t sound like a bad midfield behind Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele but there will be concerns that against the more physical sides Barcelona are likely to encounter in Europe it will just be overrun.
There are also more pressing needs at the club. Gavi and the brilliant 19-year-old left-back Alejandro Balde need their contracts registered and the club must sign a new right back and a replacement for Busquets – and they must do it all having lost director of football Mateu Alemany to Aston Villa.
The club’s Economic vice-president Eduard Romeu said last week: ‘We are not in intensive care anymore but we are still in hospital referring to the ongoing problems with LaLiga’s maximum squad spend restrictions.
Barcelona need to reduce the wage bill by €200m [£174m], in order to be allowed to trade on a 1:1 basis in the transfer market.
If they fail to do that then LaLiga will apply the 40 per cent rule on the club meaning they will have to make €100m [£87m] to spend €40m [£34.8m]. Last season Frenkie de Jong would have been sold to Manchester United but he refused to move.
Now Ansu Fati, another who has been offered around the Premier League, has also told the club he wants to stay put.
With no one leaving it’s hard to see how Barcelona reduce their wage bill by the necessary €200m and so the new Director of Football – most likely to be Deco – will have to work the market with one arm firmly tied behind his back.
And if all this is not headache enough Barcelona’s move to the city’s old Olympic Stadium with its 49,000 capacity will reduce matchday income by €94m [£81.75m] across the season and serious reduce home advantage.
In a bid to get tourists in the temporary arena, and therefore hike ticket prices, only around 22,000 season ticket holders will have the chance to watch the team at home next season.
The potential for a cold arena where a running track separates the fans from the players does not bode well.
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