Barcelona must now search for a new centre-back, given that Marc Bartra is leaving the Camp Nou.
Sporting director Robert Fernandez will be looking for a centre-back with a good touch, who can play out from the back, who is strong in the air, who has the ability to score from set pieces, who can join in with attacks, who understands the Barcelona philosophy and who has Barcelona DNA.
In Marc Bartra, he had a player who met all of those requirements, but must now find a replacement after the La Masia graduate left to find more playing time elsewhere.
The Catalan departs the club that made him in order to find a team which will give him the necessary minutes to become one of the best defenders in Europe.
Gerard Pique may have been an unquestionable starter at centre-back, with Javier Mascherano as his sidekick, but it was always surprising that Luis Enrique opted for Jeremy Mathieu over Bartra when it came to making rotations.
The young centre-back not only missed out on the starting XI, but he often didn’t even make the squad.
Fans at the Camp Nou were rarely convinced by the former Valencia player, but Enrique did not seem to care as he continued to play the Frenchman, even after publically backing the 25-year-old in his press conferences.
As a result, the player only found confidence from his repeated inclusions in the Spain squad.
Vicente del Bosque never hesitated to call the player – who had been a regular at all youth levels of the national team – up to his squads, even when the centre-back lacked regular playing time.
The national team coach preferred to look at Bartra’s underlying qualities as a player, rather than at his playing time statistics, and the Barcelona man played well for his country in those matches.
Now, without the pressure of having to do in 10 minutes what most players are given 90 to do, Bartra can get back to enjoying his football.
He can show that with 103 Barcelona appearances under his belt, he possesses the necessary skills to become one of the best defenders in world football.
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