Not one step back: the profile of the defender Barça is looking for to finish the season

BarcelonaContrary to what many thought, when Hansi Flick surprised everyone by playing Gerard Martín at centre-back on the last Asian tour, he didn't yet know he would stay. without Iñigo Martínez, Barça's best defender last season. The German coach improvised this solution because the Basque player was experiencing discomfort, and the only left-footed player adaptable to the center-back position was the Barcelona native, who until then had only performed adequately as an alternative to Alejandro Balde. Flick had considered Iñigo his first choice, but on the plane back from South Korea, he received the news that Iñigo was leaving for Saudi Arabia. His reaction was a mixture of understanding, disappointment, and concern. As he was losing a key player both on the pitch and in the locker room, the coach asked the sporting director to explore the transfer market to fill the gap. However, with the Marc-André ter Stegen saga—and the registrations of Joan Garcia, Marcus Rashford, and Roony Bardghji—still unresolved, the response at that time was to make do with Andreas Christensen, who went from being on the verge of leaving to being listed as the fourth natural center-back in the squad. Now, however, the Danish footballer has partially torn his cruciate ligament and will be out for at least the next four months. While he wasn't playing much, he guaranteed reliability in the heart of the defense and posed a threat to the opposing penalty area thanks to his aerial ability. as he clearly demonstrated on the field in Guadalajara.

With Christensen ruled out until well into spring and Ronald Araujo still sidelined with mental health issues, Flick and the sporting directorate, led by Deco, have returned to the summer's pressing needs. It's true that they've seen Eric Garcia take two steps forward and that Gerard Martín can perform at a high level as a center-back, but both the coaching staff and the management agree that the squad's defensive depth needs to be increased. The season is very long, injuries won't disappear despite better prevention measures, and, moreover, of the three available natural center-backs, only one is currently playing in his position: Pau Cubarsí. The other two, Eric and Jules Koundé, are currently starting at defensive midfielder and right back, respectively. All of this means that Barça is exploring market opportunities to address this lack of squad depth. The first condition imposed by the Barcelona offices is that the operation in question be free of charge; that is, a loan where only the player's salary until June needs to be paid. The second condition is more related to the player's technical profile. "He should adapt to our style of defending with a high defensive line and have good ball distribution," sources at the club told ARA, also emphasizing the difficulty of finding suitable candidates mid-season and the ease with which their parent clubs can negotiate.

Outstanding guarantees, a crutch for Laporta

However, both experienced players – for simple loan deals – and more promising youngsters – on loan with an option to buy – are being considered. In the first group are Nicolás Otamendi (37 years old) and Stefan de Vrij (33). Both are out of contract this summer with Benfica and Inter Milan, respectively. At the moment, signing Nico Schlotterbeck, a left-sided center-back highly regarded by Flick, is unthinkable. His contract with Borussia Dortmund expires in 2027. The club's current targets are more modest.

In fact, the third condition is that the new signing must be finalized within twenty days of Christensen's injury. This is the deadline Barça has to send a medical report to La Liga to use 80% of the Danish player's salary cap space. The same procedure was followed with Christensen to register Dani Olmo and with Ter Stegen to register Joan Garcia. It's a solution within the rules to make things easier for football clubs. fair play The club has been in a surplus since 2021 and will remain so until the transfer window closes at the end of January, barring any extraordinary deals. The solution proposed by the league can also be used to recover personal guarantees for registering players, which is precisely what was done with Pablo Gavi's long-term absence. Therefore, it's possible that Joan Laporta's board will also use Christensen's situation to cancel the guarantees deposited a few months ago to register Rashford and Bardghji.