Pep Guardiola: a man of his word, the successful coach signed a contract extension for one year as he had promised at the beginning of the year. Despite the fact that the new president Sandro Rosell had offered him a 6 years contract Guardiola opted to go for one more year only. The reading of this move is clear, the coach wants to see how the new administration works, how involved they are, and also how much freedom he will have with his team. For two years Guardiola has been able to have his way with everything that regarded his team. If Guardiola feel respected, appreciated, and in control of the team he will stay for another year. Sandro Rosell has already made a decision against the coach’s will with the transfer of Dimitro Chygrinsky. The new president claims economical reasons for the move and Guardiola accepted the move but the idea of the coach was to keep the player. The relationship between president and coach is in the beginning stage but tiny mistakes like this can make Pep’s future away from Camp Nou.
More signings to come: with Thierry Henry, Toure Yaya and Chygrinsky gone the team needs to reinforce some positions. The general belief is that the team needs to go for a winger but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic staying in the club David Villa will be in charge of the left wing formerly occupied by Henry. Sevilla’s player Adriano Correiro has been signed and will most likely play as a left back sending Abidal to the center of the defensive line. Due to his versatility Adriano can also play as a right back or a winger in both sides. The efforts are clearly set upon Cesc Fabregas; bringing back the Catalan would give the team a lot of tactical options and Guardiola could rotate players easily as he did in his first season. If Arsenal refuses to sell Cesc, F.C. Barcelona will look for other options; the most attractive option on the market is the young German Ozil. Regardless of the result of the Fabregas operation a defensive midfielder will come to the team to cover for Toure’s departure. The main concern of the fans is seeing how short the squad is and how this is a similar situation to last year. The main hope comes from the junior division which, as proven, can bring a lot to the table. Keep an eye on Jonathan Dos Santos; Andreu Fontas and Thiago Alcantara.