After a year of political turmoil in the board, battles in courtrooms and disappointment on the pitch, Barcelona have not taken their first trophy-less season in six years lying down.
Facing two transfer window signing bans, a summer of revolution in the Catalan capital saw former captain Luis Enrique installed as coach and more than 150 million euros (US$200 million) invested in the squad.
However, doubts remain over how wisely that money has been spent and whether the La Liga giants have truly addressed their weaknesses from last season.
The headline purchase has been the 81 million euro-capture of Luis Suarez from Liverpool. However, the Uruguayan will not even be able to play a minute of competitive action until late October as he serves a four-month play ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the FIFA WorlRTSd Cup in Brazil in June.
Moreover, while the trio of Suarez, four-time FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Brazil superstar Neymar is beyond the budgets of even the majority of fantasy soccer managers, it remains to be seen how the three will dovetail.
All are coming off bitter disappointment at the World Cup in their own way:
Suarez’s tournament ended in disgrace, Neymar’s in a very nearly crippling back injury and, despite being named player of the tournament, Messi failed to secure his place as one of the best of all time as his Argentina side lost out to Germany in the final.
Yet Barca need the triumvirate to work if they are to have any chance of challenging European champions Real Madrid and La Liga title holders Atletico Madrid over the course of the season, with more serious concerns in other areas of the pitch.
Veterans Victor Valdes and Carles Puyol ended their playing days with the club at the end of last season, signifying the breakup of the side coached by Pep Guardiola — now of Bayern Munich — that dominated Europe in his first few years in charge.
Chile captain Claudio Bravo and 22-year-old Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will battle it out to be Enrique’s No. 1 goalkeeper after being signed for 12 million euros each, with Bravo set to start the campaign after the German picked up a back injury.
Of even more concern has been the recruitment of two new centerbacks in 30-year-old Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia and Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen for nearly 40 million euros.
Mathieu spent most of his career at leftback before moving to a central position last season, while Vermaelen had lost his place in the Premier League side over the past two years.
Despite these concerns, both signings give Barca some much needed depth at the heart of the defense and should allow Javier Mascherano to return to his favored position in midfield, where he shone at the World Cup for Argentina.
Mascherano’s own future has been secured by a new contract that will run until 2018 and his aggression is what Enrique hopes to return to a midfield that has become lethargic in recent seasons.
“I am very happy with the desire and ambition with which the players are training. That makes me optimistic,” Enrique said of his preparation for the new season. “We need to press in an organized and concrete manner. Obviously it is important to have the ball, but so is to recover it as quickly as possible.”
Enrique has already had coaching success at Barca when he succeeded Guardiola as Barca B coach and led them into the second-tier of Spanish soccer in 2010.
However, his coaching style is a little more pragmatic than his former teammate.
Former boss Gerardo Martino was criticized throughout his sole season in charge for not being loyal to the Barca style of play, but with “tiki-taka” figurehead Xavi Hernandez also likely to play a much reduced role this season, Enrique will continue a trend toward moving the ball quicker into the final third.
A style and season that will succeed or fail by how their star attacking trio click.
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