Valdes (Pinto)
Alves Pique Puyol Abidal (Adriano, Mascherano, Fontas) Milito out, Maxwell?, moderate acquisition of one defender
Xavi Busquets Iniesta (Cesc, Masch, Thiago, Keita, Afellay)
Pedro Messi Villa (Iniesta, Afellay) Bojan to Arsenal. If Jeffren goes or is loaned, moderate acquisition of one forward.
Mes que un club: Cesc returns because he is so important to Catalonia. Bojan helps to pay the huge price, which has gone down a bit this spring.
After this year's CL and Liga crowns, management will add no more than one star, and no stars will leave. Lessor acquisitions will be for skillful players whose egos can handle non-starter playing time.
Pep does not care as much as most coaches do about what position a player is used to playing. He just puts his favorite Barca-type players on the field. He will go with a very small squad again, using almost everyone.
This 2011-2012 team could definitely be better than the 2010-2011 team, even if a lessor player than Cesc is the biggest acquisition. Adriano, Mascherano, Villa and Pedro will likely all contribute more as they complete their intergration. Thiago will become at least a semi-regular, and will provide more offense than any midfielder does now. Iniesta will excel as a frequent forward. Afellay will be a valuable squad player, Fontas will become more useful. Of course, if Messi misses much time, the team will not be as good. If the next 6-8 core players combined miss more than one year, the record will suffer.