The average age of the starting team that fell to Bayern (29.54) contrasts with that of the day of Nàstic (27.63)
Luis Suárez finishes his cycle at Barça and Pedri starts with enthusiasm
After the painful elimination in the quarterfinals of the Champions at the hands of Bayern Munich, one of the many data that came out after the debacle was the high average age of the Barça starters . In Lisbon, Messi , Suárez , Piqué and Arturo Vidal started , all of them with 33 years, in addition to Busquets (32) and Jordi Alba (31), leaving an average of 29.54 years that was the oldest in the history of the highest continental competition.
After an unmitigated elimination it was evident that the squad needed a major rebuilding, where the commitment to young talents should be one of the priorities. Quique Setién was dispensed with , who did not quite trust Ansu Fati (17) or Riqui Puig (21) despite his good performance every time they jumped onto the field, and now Ronald Koeman arrives , a technician who has not trembled hand when giving the alternative to promising players during his career as a coach.
While waiting for the departures of two veterans such as Suárez and Vidal, whose future points to Italy, this summer Barça already closed the transfer of Ivan Rakitic (32) to Sevilla and that of Arthur Melo (24) to La Juventus and has incorporated Pedri González (17), Francisco Trincao (20) and Miralem Pjanic (30), reducing the average age of the squad significantly. This was evident in the first line-up that Koeman took outin the friendly against Nàstic de Tarragona, in which several players who were in the elimination of Lisbon repeated, especially in the defensive field, but there were news from the recently mentioned Pedri , the already recovered Ousmane Dembélé (23) and Carles Aleñá ( 22), in addition to the entry of Antoine Griezmann (29) in the place of Suárez .
Talent asks for step
The average age of the starting team at the pre-season premiere was 27.63 years, almost two years younger than in the match against Bayern, and it should be noted that Neto (31) was chosen under sticks due to the injury of Marc-André Ter Stegen (28), the titular theorist, so this data could have been further reduced. In addition, Ansu Fati , a footballer called to play a leading role this campaign, was not available for Koeman and Frenkie de Jong (23), who after their first season of adaptation at the club must take a step forward, came out in the second part and was one of the prominent alongside the Portuguese Trincao . The centralRonald Araujo (21), another who rises to the first team, was also very solvent.
The commitment to young people was not yet complete against Nàstic, but there were already some samples of what they can contribute to this new Barça. They generate illusion and hope after a year of oblivion. We will see if Koeman decides to give ownership to any of them in the duel against Girona and, most importantly, if he transfers this confidence when the season really starts.
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