We trust that Deco will be James Bond
Hansi Flick went on vacation describing the desire that would define the summer: to fill the place left by Robert Lewandowski, he wanted a new striker, with associative ability and who could score goals. The letter to the Three Wise Men was no secret, and the card of Julián Álvarez was everywhere. Even at the traditional Christmas dinner that Barça organizes every year with the press, the name of the Argentine forward had already been the main protagonist of the conversations before the toasts with president Joan Laporta. The highest manager found him expensive and, during the electoral campaign, said he wanted to extend the Pole's contract for one more season, an idea that Deco never valued. The priority was Julián. What we didn't expect was that Barça would start the League without having resolved the issue and having also parted ways with Ferran Torres.
The sporting leadership of Barça has long thought that a new classic, one who can finish off a melon with his backside, is not key to winning the Champions League. The example they give, internally, is Luis Enrique's PSG: you can dominate European football without a pure new striker and with forwards who occupy all attacking positions. With this background, Deco has incorporated profiles like those of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi, options consistent with Flick's ideology. Of course, the coach expects the squad not to be finalized without being reinforced with a top-level figure who guarantees part of the 40 goals that Lewandowski and Ferran shared last season. And the Julián case is dragging on. Beyond the fact that Atlético de Madrid's intransigence is difficult to understand, so is how the Barça club has insisted so much on an implausible plot twist.
It is time to continue trusting Deco's work and believe that, indeed, there is a long-worked-on alternative that can be executed in ten days without anyone getting ruffled. For now, he is managing a market that will always be remembered for Rodri's surprising arrival, a major signing that can change the way the whole team plays and who will be the influential leader that Flick has so missed in complicated moments when Frenkies disappeared. Now, however, the pressure is on to pull someone out of the hat who can break through the opposing goal effectively and who, at the same time, is similar to what they were looking for with Julián. Let's hope we are witnessing an operation as secret as a James Bond movie and are left with a surprise before September 1st... in a good way.