Ferran has to come good. It will be a blow for us if he flops too. Just another hit in the knee on the way back. A bad one. We can not afford to spend 50-60m on players only to see them flop because they don't have the required skills. That was Bartomeu's mo (actually way worse but you get the idea), this shit should be behind us and the top signings we make from now on have to deliver the goods, almost all of them with no exception.
The responsibility of Laporta, Alemany, and Xavi working with the scouting network is huge at this point. Both in generating income and in spending wisely.
So far he's a mixed bag.
Things I like: he's not lazy, works hard, his ball control is usually good, he's a smart player in terms of movement and linking up with his teammates.
Things I don't like: finishing is off and has to get a lot better, he doesn't have 1 vs 1 ability to beat his man which would make his job harder playing in the wing. His pace is not bad, but not great either, I'd say he has medium speed – also not ideal for classic wing play.
Ferran could work if you vary the wing play a lot, something which Xavi is not doing enough. He prefers, so far, classical wingers tasked with playing wide and putting in crosses after they gain space by beating their markers and forcing the individual duels. He has to give the wingers more freedom and work on more positional fluidity between them. It takes time to develop that, but that's the path forward.
Fati, Ferran, Raphinha is a solid young core to start with. Plenty of upside for improvement and forming a top partnership in the not too distant future.