Barcelona have been linked to defensive midfield help since the start of the 2023/24 season, as the club knew they would have impossibly big shoes to fill after club legend Sergio Busquets left for Inter Miami in MLS.
The Blaugrana actually did bring in someone at the defensive midfield position, signing Girona veteran Oriol Romeu after a strong 2022/23 campaign. Predictably, Romeu wasn’t at the level of Barcelona and quickly fizzled out.
Barcelona have even tried Andreas Christensen in the defensive midfield. But at the start of the 2024/25 season, they unearthed a real gem in Marc Bernal, the latest academy product to show world-class potential and the right attributes to fit the style of Barcelona.
Unfortunately, Bernal tore his ACL after just three games. You’d bet on the 17-year-old recovering fully for the 2025/26 season and being a long-term solution as the coveted “pivot”, though.
So while it feels like back to square one for Barcelona in the short-term, Hansi Flick and the club seem to have their biggest position of need squared away in the long run if they keep believing in Bernal.
According to a report from Diario Sport, that’s exactly what Barcelona plan to do, as Flick himself has put the kibosh on the all-out pursuit of a new No. 6 because of Bernal’s brief breakout.
Flick likes his midfield, per the report, and is not planning on signing anyone in the January 2025 transfer window at this time. Bernal is his guy, and he’s going to bet on Barca’s latest teenage sensation.
Barcelona should praise Flick for showing faith in a young star instead of wanting to waste money on players who wouldn’t fit the club anyway.
Think of how many times have Barcelona been suckered into a bad signing out of desperation when they would have been better off trusting a homegrown star.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.