I agree with. I also wish we would focus more on bringing young quality wingers for Barca B. We do not seem to have enough of them.
It's true we lack quality wingers in B team but with Dembele already a star in the first team, Malcom not getting minutes and EV seeing Coutinho as a winger I don't expect us investing a lot of money to buy talented wingers for Barça B with intention to make it to the first team in a year or two (which you should absolutely believe in if you're investing 5M+ in Barça B player). If we'll sell Malcom and/or Coutinho we'll probably just buy someone directly for the first team. As for Barça B we'll continue to look for cheap options like Ballou and Ndockyt and promote our kids from younger teams when they are ready. For the rest of the season we'll have to stay with C. Perez, Ndockyt and Mojica and then maybe De La Fuente and Fati will get a chance next season. But if we'll get promoted to Segunda we'll probably bring some more experienced players (I'd like to find another Arnaiz somewhere but less injury prone). Another thing to mention here is that forwards are by default usually more expensive than defenders so it's harder to gamble on them.
Club's focus over the last few years was finding young cheap CBs both for Barça and B team because we didn't have a lot of own talents there (and our most talented CB Eric Garcia has left). With Umtiti (if he'll stay healthy), Lenglet and Todibo (if he'll make it) we have some talented young players in the first team and we might still bring De Ligt or another talented but already proven CB. We'll probably continue to look for Marlon/Cuencas for Barça B and Mina/Todibos for the first team but probably not as much if we'll feel we are good at the position for at least a few years so we'll spend more money on other positions.
Our other focus lately seems to be a right back position. I don't think the club is totally content with Semedo/Roberto longterm (and they shouldn't be) and that's why they invested 6M in Wague and 12M in Emerson. Both of them are longshots to become our starters but there are no proven RBs realistically available on the market who would be a sure bet to invest big money in.
On the other side I think Alba has 2-3 years at the top level left in him and Barça still believes in longterm potential of Miranda. Cucu could be bought back with some La Liga experience as a backup/bridge gap until Miranda is more ready. Or we'll just invest big money in LB when needed but I just don't see us spending big on someone like Ferland Mendy/Firpo now because he'll probably get fed up with his playing time (and he wouldn't play much with the way Alba has been playing) and want to leave before he'll even have a chance to become a starter. Ideally we would find another Digne for 20M who would do his job for 2 seasons and then we'll recuperate that money when we'd sell him and we could invest in buying a longterm new starting LB around 2021. Until then new players will emerge and we'll also see how Miranda/Cucu will develop. But I just don't see another Digne on the market so bringing back Cucu seems like the best choice to me. Let's give him next season to see what he can do. I think he's good enough to give some rest to Alba and that's what we need now because no player will take his first XI spot away.
Further it's obvious we are looking for a longterm Suarez's replacement. We'll spend pretty serious money (around 40-60M I'd say) on a new striker in summer. We have bad history of developing strikers in La Masia as all of our once hyped top talents like Bojan, Dongou, Sandro and Munir as the latest example never really made it and I suspect Abel Ruiz will go the same way but I obviously hope to be wrong. So it's like 99% our next #9 will have to come from the outside. But preferably we'll find that player for 50M now instead of spending 200M on him in a year or two. It's possible we'll have to do that down the road anyway if our 50M signing won't turn out as expected.
That's why trying out cheaper options like Gabriel Novaes in Barça B makes sense. He'll probably be here just 18 months or not even that long. It's unlikely he'll ever become a starter but if he's good enough to be at least a useful backup for Jović/Maxi/... after Suarez leaves I would be more than happy. Paying just a loan fee and wages for a "free trial" is still better than paying 10 or 20M for unknown quality.
