Deco and Hansi Flick’s summer gamble on Andreas Christensen has backfired at the worst time
FC Barcelona are currently facing a defensive crisis ahead of their El Clasico clash with Real Madrid and have no one to blame but themselves. In a bid to not strengthen their central defence over the summer transfer window, sporting director Deco and Hansi Flick decided to sit tight and put their faith in Andreas Christensen. The Dane was given a new contract up to 2028, however, it was a terrible mistake to make as Barcelona's hopes were shattered during the toughest week of Autumn against Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.
Talent is worthless if you can't play
No-one disputes Christensen's talents, but his injury problems mean he is barely playing. He suffered an incomplete tear to his left ACL last season and missed 158 days of action. To then rely on him to get fit for a 60 game season was extremely short-sighted.
Christensen has played 6 games this season totalling a mere 402 minutes. He suffered another injury, this time a left thigh strain, during the 3-1 victory against Sevilla on September 20. A month later and he is still injured meaning Barcelona have nobody to turn to as they suffer against Europe's best. At this level, you can't afford to have an injury prone centre back.
Arrogant move by the board has weakened centre backs
The worst thing about this situation is that Barcelona didn't just miss out on a world class centre back, they have actually weakened their squad. Deco and the board tried to be too clever and let Ronald Araujo go on loan to Liverpool for the season.
They also sold 21 year old centre back Alvaro Cortes from La Masia. Although he wasn't going to be a regular starter, he would have come off the bench and provided plenty of value with his physicality, aerial ability and left foot.
After Eric Garcia (3-4 weeks out) and Jules Kounde (ankle sprain) both got injured, Flick is now left with just two fit centre backs in Pau Cubarsi and Gerard Martin, one of whom is just a makeshift centre-back.
Must go into January with a mandate
The 4-2 defeat at the Parc des Princes was a warning of what would happen if their fragile defence ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes. They have no senior centre backs on the bench ahead of the big game against Real Madrid. If Cubarsi and Martin suffer any more injuries (muscle tweak, twisted ankle or red card) then Barcelona could fall apart completely.
Deco and the board made a terrible gamble by risking their defensive stability on a chronic injury prone player. They have now paid the price. Barcelona can't wait until next summer to sort this problem out. They need to go into January and sign a world class centre back who can play alongside Cubarsi to try and save their title hopes.
