Barcelona transfer window review: Forward frustrations put pressure on Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi will have to do some heavy lifting for the rest of the season
AFP via Getty Images
Ben Hayward1 February 2020

Last January, Barcelona signed one of the world’s most talented midfielders. It was fairly obvious, even then, that Frenkie de Jong would go on to be an important part of the first team at Camp Nou when he arrived in the summer.

A year on, the Catalan club have added two players in similar deals. Winger Francisco Trincao and midfielder Matheus Fernandes have both been signed now and will link up with the Blaugrana in time for next season.

Trincao is a tricky and talented winger, a Portuguese Under-21 international who has earned positive reviews in his homeland with Braga, but Barca appear to have paid well over his market value in the €31million deal. A loan for next season also cannot be ruled out, either.

The other new signing, Matheus Fernandes, is a physically strong holding midfielder who joins from Palmeiras in a transfer rising to €10m.

He is a Brazilian under-20 international and will spend the rest of the season on loan at Valladolid. Time will tell whether he is good enough for Barca’s first team, but early impressions would suggest he is not.

Getty Images

Meanwhile, there are no new arrivals for now, even though the priority was to sign a new striker as cover for the injured Luis Suarez.

Barca tried to bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and also Rodrigo Moreno, but failed to recruit a centre-forward in the end and left Cedric Bakambu in limbo at the airport out in Hong Kong after going back on a deal.

Meanwhile, both Carles Perez and Abel Ruiz have been allowed to leave, to Roma and Braga respectively. The latter was not good enough for Barca, but the former has done well this season and may have been useful in the absence of Suarez and with no new striker arriving in the end.

The success of this month’s deals will depend on how Trincao and Fernandes adapt in future, but Barca have not strengthened in the short term and in the long run, the jury is also very much out on the two new signings as well.

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