Spanish Inquisition: Why Barca Should Sign A Galactico Of Their Own

This past season Barcelona broke a multitude of records that were previously thought certain to forever withstand the test of time — all on the way to winning an unprecedented ‘triplete’. Barca claimed the Liga championship, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League trophy.

Pep Guardiola’s Blaugrana side was hailed as one of the greatest footballing outfits in history, not only winning consistently, but also winning in style, with 5-0 scorelines serving as the norm rather than the surprising exception.

But reading the Spanish sports tabloids, one would be hard pressed (no pun intended) to notice a single Barcelona-related story of significance this summer. Despite an incredible season of grand proportions, the buzz in the Barcelona camp has fallen curiously flat and silent.

Instead, the summer has been dominated by archrivals Real Madrid, as Florentino Perez’s second Galactico empire begins to take shape with Kaka, Raul Albiol, Cristiano Ronaldo and soon Karim Benzema claiming the White-hot spotlight of the summer’s headlines.

Even the Barcelona-based tabloid Sport has been stretching to find storylines this summer as Barca have yet to make waves in the summer transfer market, despite being linked to a number of players.

Almost begrudgingly, Sport reported on the record Cristiano Ronaldo presentation with a nondescript headline and a diminutive image near the bottom of their homepage.

The tabloid’s top story that day? A story arguing that even though Real Madrid had signed some of the greatest players in football, Messi was still the best player in the world.

As much as we, the fans of football, attempt to tout the glory that surrounds our beloved athletes, the honour of playing for the love of the game, and the illustrious history of our favourite football clubs, the world of professional sports is, first and foremost, a business.

A successful organisation is not only one that wins (thus filling more seats in a stadium), but also one that wins the battle off the pitch in the form of marketing. In effect, football clubs are a brand that must be carefully and strategically placed in the public eye in order to succeed as a business.

Last summer, Barca president Joan Laporta effectively reinvented the Barcelona brand by taking the calculated risk of offloading Ronaldinho, Deco and a few others, while signing dynamic additions to his squad in the form of coach Pep Guardiola, right-back Dani Alves, central defender Gerard Pique, among others.

Centralising his business around Argentine starlet Lionel Messi, Laporta effectively succeeded in building Barcelona back up as a successful enterprise and the Blaugrana once again rose to the pinnacle of world football.

But somehow, despite Barcelona’s incredible successes this past season, Real Madrid supremo Florentino Perez has stolen the Catalan fervour and with his famous sense of business acumen has brought Real Madrid back to the footballing forefront, all without having played a single match.

With the signings of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Albiol and Benzema, Perez has turned Madrid into a marketing machine—giving the club extraordinary leverage in advertising deals (the club has recently demanded a renegotiation of its contract with Adidas in the hope of collecting a greater share of ad revenues) and selling shirts faster than they can be printed.

Even Madrid sports daily Marca has enjoyed a share of the spoils, recently beating all its previous records in daily readers and visitors to the website.

Madrid and Barcelona have a peculiar relationship in that it tends to follow an inverse correlation — when Barcelona do well, Madrid tend to falter, whereas when Madrid exhibit favourable results, Barca tend to sink.

This summer, solely using the immense power of media perception and public attention, Florentino Perez has attempted to swing the pendulum back in the favour of the capital club. Madridistas are now excited for their team, generating a buzz that engenders fan support. The energy is fed into the squad, and while pressure is a concern, the new-found confidence should re-energise a Madrid team that looked as if it had reached rock bottom.

It is for this reason that Barcelona would do well to take a page out of Real Madrid’s book and attempt to secure the signature of a Galactico of their own. From a business standpoint, investing in a world class player such as David Villa, Javier Mascherano, Cesc Fabregas, or even Andrey Arshavin would not only re-invigorate fan interest in the team, but also provide a welcome source of revenue in new merchandise sales.

But the reasons for signing a Galactico are not just to fill a few more seats in the Camp Nou or get a few more Cules in Barca apparel next season. In signing Kaka, CR9 and Benzema, Florentino Perez has also signed some of the best players in the world, who will improve his squad by leaps and bounds.

For Barcelona, signing a high-profile player makes sense in that it will maintain or improve the quality of an already-superb squad. Should David Villa, Cesc Fabregas, or another big name be brought to the Catalunyan capital, Barcelona would once again stake a claim to media promotion while significantly upgrading a squad that may find motivation difficult to find after winning all there was to win last season.

An injection of talented new blood may be just what Guardiola’s squad needs to overcome any complacency that may have settled in during the summer respite and urge players to renew their focus on winning in the upcoming season.

Furthermore, Barcelona turned out to be very fortuitous last season in that their pivotal players, namely Messi and Xavi, were both able to avoid major injuries. Statistically speaking, a repeat of such good health throughout another campaign is unlikely, making the addition of a top-shelf player an important cover in the absence of one of Barca’s current stars.

Should Barcelona manage to pull off a big name signing by the end of the summer, the pressure will again fall on the shoulders of the Merengue squad to prove that they can compete with a Barcelona that will only have gotten better (if such a thing can be imagined).

Joan Laporta would also be able to rest easy as his club’s hegemony would be reclaimed, not only in terms of ability, but also in terms of media attention. But perhaps most importantly, Sport would finally have a story that would be worthy of attracting a few more readers, thus increasing the demand for a Blaugrana team that has been far too anonymous this summer.

Cyrus C. Malek, Goal.com