Messi983
Senior Member
I've thought about post-Messi era a lot lately and after I've seen this video yesterday I'm curious to see what other people think about how our team will look after Messi (and his amigos) will retire/leave. I think it will happen in 2023 but for this thread I'll stay with a 2025 timeline.
I could see Font become our next president with Xavi as his prefered coach. But assuming he'd take over next year (I actually don't want him back until most of his former teammates are still at the club) I don't think Xavi would still be here in 2025. As a Pep disciple he also believes in cycles in football so don't see him staying for more than 3-4 years regardless of his success. If he'll fail he'll be gone because no coach has survived more than one trophy-less season. If he'll turn out to be the next Pep like many people wish (I don't have as high expectations) and win a lot with a worse team than we had in 2008-12 then great but he'll probably want to leave as well in that case when he'll feel he can't get much more out of his players.
Now about the lineup.
GK - I believe MATS should still be here as our captain. If not then someone like Onana could be an option. Or more likely a third GK we don't know much about right now.
RB - Adama as a RB, no thanks. I really like Emerson and hope he can be a longterm solution but probably won't. So likely some player who will emerge over the next few years will play at RB at that time.
CB - don't see us having De Ligt as a starter and Upamecano as his backup. They could possibly be our starters but it's unlikely again. I really like Upamecano so I'll still pencil him in as our starter in 2025.
CB - replacing Umtiti with another injury prone player like Laporte doesn't make much sense. City will probably keep Eric Garcia as well as long as Pep is there but since I don't see him staying for more than 2-3 seasons maybe we could get him back (I like his return the most of all former La Masia players mentioned in the video) and he can become the next Pique. Todibo could be an option as well but I have a feeling we'll permanently sell him this year. I'm not as high on him as most people but we'll probably still regret if this will happen.
LB - Grimaldo is very overrated by Barca fans imo. With a lack of quality LBs on the market I'd think he'd already be playing for a top team at 24 if he'd be really as good. Angelino looked solid in RBL games I've watched but not quite a future starting LB at the top club IMO. As of who will be our starting LB in 2025 I have no idea. Maybe Alejandro Balde will develop well. He's only 17 so let him stay in Barca B for a season or two, then loan him to get top level experience before he can get a chance to take over from Alba (whom I sadly don't expect to leave before his contract expires in 2024; he'll most likely be the last amigo standing). But I think we'll just buy a LB in 2022-23 who we'll hope can take over for Alba. Now if whoever that player will be will stay longterm is another question.
DM - yeah, I could see FDJ being here in 5 years though I still hold out hope we'll get Camavinga and play him in a double pivot with FDJ in a 4-2-3-1. But if Xavi will be our coach he'll stick to 4-3-3.
CM - Fabian wouldn't be the worst option but see above what I'd prefer us to do. Would also really love to see Ilaix succeed at the club.
CM - Arthur with Puig as his backup.
I know this are wet dreams of many Barca fans but I think they'll both be out of the club long before 2025. They've forgotten to include Pedri in the above video. I really like him and hope he can make it but more likely we'll buy 4-5 new midfielders over the next few years and it will be one (or two) of them who will start for us at that time. But for now I'll stay with Pedri who can be used as a LCM in 4-3-3 or as an AMC in 4-2-3-1.
RW - can't believe people still hope Dembele can stay fit. He'll be long gone by 2025. Hopefully Trincao can make an impact. If he doesn't pan out maybe spend big money on Sancho (he'll probably go to United so this won't be easy/cheap). Most likely our starting 2025 RW is someone we still don't know much about but for now I'll gamble with Trincao.
ST - we'll buy Lautaro this year but don't see him really staying long time (I'll be very happy if he'll prove me wrong and turn out much better than our other 100m signings). After being misused to accomodate Suarez into lineup we'll probably consider him a flop and sell him for half the price in 2022-23. Hopefully Haaland won't go to Madrid next year and Raiola will include a buy-out clause in his next contract wherever he goes so we can get him in 3-4 years to be our future striker.
LW - please just stay far away from Neymar. But if we'll buy him in 2025 he'll be 33, even more injury prone and with his mind set on partying so not really someone you want as a leader of your team, especially with a lot of younger players around. Don't really see any other available option for that position I consider as a must have/can't miss player so I'll stick with Fati.
So my (hopeful) lineup (with no yet "unknown" future possible players involved) would look something like this.
MATS
Emerson-E.Garcia-Upamecano-Balde
FDJ-Camavinga
Trincao-Pedri-Fati
Haaland
I didn't really bother too much thinking about the backups /full squad because I'd be even more wrong than I probably am with this lineup.
We wouldn't really need to invest much for this lineup and that was one of my goals in this "rebuild" because I don't think we'll actually have all that much money to spend over the next few years with the club losing tens of milions due to corona crisis (which will have negative influence on our revenues for more than just current season) and even more so if the new board will also try to go through with the Camp Nou renovation (probably not immediately when they took over but by 2025 could easily happen). Well, unless we'll still buy tons of players who won't make it and will be sold for half the price a year or two later to get (close to) that lineup I've mentioned which is very likely to happen. We've been doing it for 20+ years I'm following Barca so it's unrealistic to expect we'll suddenly start to hit on more than average 30-40% of our transfers.
I'm surely way off and we'll look totaly different in 2025 but it's still fun (on one side, on the other it was pretty sad writing the lineup without Messi in it; I won't miss any of his amigos too much though
) to think about this and I'll have even more fun laughing at my projected lineup in 5 years. Or maybe not if it will turn out I was right about most players who could/should be here but won't be because we'll go a different way which won't be as successful.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
I could see Font become our next president with Xavi as his prefered coach. But assuming he'd take over next year (I actually don't want him back until most of his former teammates are still at the club) I don't think Xavi would still be here in 2025. As a Pep disciple he also believes in cycles in football so don't see him staying for more than 3-4 years regardless of his success. If he'll fail he'll be gone because no coach has survived more than one trophy-less season. If he'll turn out to be the next Pep like many people wish (I don't have as high expectations) and win a lot with a worse team than we had in 2008-12 then great but he'll probably want to leave as well in that case when he'll feel he can't get much more out of his players.
Now about the lineup.
GK - I believe MATS should still be here as our captain. If not then someone like Onana could be an option. Or more likely a third GK we don't know much about right now.
RB - Adama as a RB, no thanks. I really like Emerson and hope he can be a longterm solution but probably won't. So likely some player who will emerge over the next few years will play at RB at that time.
CB - don't see us having De Ligt as a starter and Upamecano as his backup. They could possibly be our starters but it's unlikely again. I really like Upamecano so I'll still pencil him in as our starter in 2025.
CB - replacing Umtiti with another injury prone player like Laporte doesn't make much sense. City will probably keep Eric Garcia as well as long as Pep is there but since I don't see him staying for more than 2-3 seasons maybe we could get him back (I like his return the most of all former La Masia players mentioned in the video) and he can become the next Pique. Todibo could be an option as well but I have a feeling we'll permanently sell him this year. I'm not as high on him as most people but we'll probably still regret if this will happen.
LB - Grimaldo is very overrated by Barca fans imo. With a lack of quality LBs on the market I'd think he'd already be playing for a top team at 24 if he'd be really as good. Angelino looked solid in RBL games I've watched but not quite a future starting LB at the top club IMO. As of who will be our starting LB in 2025 I have no idea. Maybe Alejandro Balde will develop well. He's only 17 so let him stay in Barca B for a season or two, then loan him to get top level experience before he can get a chance to take over from Alba (whom I sadly don't expect to leave before his contract expires in 2024; he'll most likely be the last amigo standing). But I think we'll just buy a LB in 2022-23 who we'll hope can take over for Alba. Now if whoever that player will be will stay longterm is another question.
DM - yeah, I could see FDJ being here in 5 years though I still hold out hope we'll get Camavinga and play him in a double pivot with FDJ in a 4-2-3-1. But if Xavi will be our coach he'll stick to 4-3-3.
CM - Fabian wouldn't be the worst option but see above what I'd prefer us to do. Would also really love to see Ilaix succeed at the club.
CM - Arthur with Puig as his backup.
I know this are wet dreams of many Barca fans but I think they'll both be out of the club long before 2025. They've forgotten to include Pedri in the above video. I really like him and hope he can make it but more likely we'll buy 4-5 new midfielders over the next few years and it will be one (or two) of them who will start for us at that time. But for now I'll stay with Pedri who can be used as a LCM in 4-3-3 or as an AMC in 4-2-3-1.RW - can't believe people still hope Dembele can stay fit. He'll be long gone by 2025. Hopefully Trincao can make an impact. If he doesn't pan out maybe spend big money on Sancho (he'll probably go to United so this won't be easy/cheap). Most likely our starting 2025 RW is someone we still don't know much about but for now I'll gamble with Trincao.
ST - we'll buy Lautaro this year but don't see him really staying long time (I'll be very happy if he'll prove me wrong and turn out much better than our other 100m signings). After being misused to accomodate Suarez into lineup we'll probably consider him a flop and sell him for half the price in 2022-23. Hopefully Haaland won't go to Madrid next year and Raiola will include a buy-out clause in his next contract wherever he goes so we can get him in 3-4 years to be our future striker.
LW - please just stay far away from Neymar. But if we'll buy him in 2025 he'll be 33, even more injury prone and with his mind set on partying so not really someone you want as a leader of your team, especially with a lot of younger players around. Don't really see any other available option for that position I consider as a must have/can't miss player so I'll stick with Fati.
So my (hopeful) lineup (with no yet "unknown" future possible players involved) would look something like this.
MATS
Emerson-E.Garcia-Upamecano-Balde
FDJ-Camavinga
Trincao-Pedri-Fati
Haaland
I didn't really bother too much thinking about the backups /full squad because I'd be even more wrong than I probably am with this lineup.
We wouldn't really need to invest much for this lineup and that was one of my goals in this "rebuild" because I don't think we'll actually have all that much money to spend over the next few years with the club losing tens of milions due to corona crisis (which will have negative influence on our revenues for more than just current season) and even more so if the new board will also try to go through with the Camp Nou renovation (probably not immediately when they took over but by 2025 could easily happen). Well, unless we'll still buy tons of players who won't make it and will be sold for half the price a year or two later to get (close to) that lineup I've mentioned which is very likely to happen. We've been doing it for 20+ years I'm following Barca so it's unrealistic to expect we'll suddenly start to hit on more than average 30-40% of our transfers.
I'm surely way off and we'll look totaly different in 2025 but it's still fun (on one side, on the other it was pretty sad writing the lineup without Messi in it; I won't miss any of his amigos too much though
) to think about this and I'll have even more fun laughing at my projected lineup in 5 years. Or maybe not if it will turn out I was right about most players who could/should be here but won't be because we'll go a different way which won't be as successful. Anyway, what are your thoughts?
