Football Special Report: Is Javier Mascherano more important than Zlatan Ibrahimovic? (Part 1)
Just when the time came when the Spanish giants started to settle with their new squad for the 2010-2011 season; the current La Liga champions saw things going wrong all of a sudden. With Fabregas’s move not making grounds, Barcelona made two key changes in their squad. They added one of the best holding midfielders, Javier Mascherano to their squad, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic took leave from the Spanish club to join Milan; the rival club of his former Italian side, Inter Milan.
However, the question still remains; whether the “Blaugrana” made the correct decision for themselves? Was sacrificing a world class striker like Ibrahimovic for a holding midfielder right for the Spanish champions?
There are definitely going to be mixed reviews about this; some are going to say that Barcelona picked the right cards while the others are going to think otherwise. Coming to think of it, Barcelona absolutely made the correct call, as they discarded the Swedish striker Ibrahimovic. He had a very disappointing last season at Barcelona and the “very expensive” 54 million pounds striker did not manage to score too many goals for the Catalan giants. However, some might disagree and would say that he deserved a second chance at the Nou Camp.
“Big names” are definitely a good addition to the squad but Ibrahimovic’s addition was never needed by Barcelona in the first place.
As Ibracadabra made his way to Spain from Italy, some thought that the “swap deal” for the amazing goal scorer Samuel Eto’o was plain stupid; but it definitely looked to be a genius signing. He looked to be a player who could simply just add to the striking force of Barcelona, along with Theirry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and the little Argentinean Lionel Messi. He could simply add a different dimension to the team with his height and his strength, which he could utilize easily, while playing as a centre forward.
However, the same characteristics of the Swedish striker became a part of his downfall, as they did not match his team-mates in Barcelona. He could not really fit in with Pep Guardiola’s style-of-play, as he could not really utilize his main asset throughout the game. Barcelona’s quick passing was too different for Ibrahimovic and the former Inter Milan sensation was too slow to adapt with the new style of play. Wearing the number 9 jersey, which Samuel Eto’o used to wear, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was immobile throughout the playing time and while his team-mates were sticking to their quick passing, the Swedish striker could not really keep up with their pace; especially with Dani Alves, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez involved in the team, the game had to be fast. However, it was always the newly signed player who lacked that charm that every other player in the team had. For the same reasons, he was pretty much irrelevant in the team.
Therefore, when the Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola decided that Samuel Eto’o is going to leave after the 2008-2009 season, he definitely needed someone to replace him. Definitely, a normal striker wouldn’t replace the aggressive Cameroonian, Samuel Eto’o, therefore, a world class marksman had to take his place. It is a known fact that such world class players are not available for transfer.
The Valencia striker, David Villa was definitely one of those players that were world class and also available in the transfer market. Many would say that Barcelona should’ve pushed for the Spaniard last summer but Sameul Eto’o could not just go to any team. Inter Milan were willing to sell off their priced possession, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a player-plus-cash swap was the best option that Barcelona had. Eto’o was swapped with the Swedish striker and Barcelona even paid cash to bring him to Nou Camp. This was the only solution that the Catalan giants had last summer and they made good use of it as they struck the deal and brought in the Swedish striker and made the third biggest signing in the summer of 2009. First, of course, was Cristiano Ronaldo who signed a record deal with Real Madrid, with a buy-out clause of 1 billion pounds.
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