Former Barcelona midfielder, Xavi Hernandez has criticised his former club’s dealings in the just concluded transfer market.
The Catalan giants have seen four bids for Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho rejected this summer and multiple reports suggest they have finally given up hope of talking Liverpool into selling.
The Spanish transfer window is due to close on Friday.
Despite the likely failure sign Coutinho, Barca have alreday made five signings which includes breaking the club’s transfer record to bring in Ousmane Dembele from Dortmund.
However, Xavi feels the majority of players that have been signed aren’t suited to the club’s style of play.
He told Marca, “Barca still play really good football but they could have signed better.
“They’ve fallen asleep because five or six years ago they had the best players in the world for Barca’s system.
“Now, for that system, they have five or six players: [Andres] Iniesta, [Jordi] Alba, [Lionel] Messi, [Gerard] Pique, Luis Suarez, [Sergio] Busquets.
“But Barca should have 11 for that system. Before, you wouldn’t see anyone play and say: ‘He’d be good at Barca.’ That’s because they were already there. They have signed players that don’t fit that system.
“The academy has to be strengthened. If there are doubts, look at what you have in-house. In Barca’s best era, at least 60 percent of the players came from the academy.
“Patience [is needed]. In the year of our Treble, everyone wanted Luis Enrique out in January. Madrid won I don’t know how many games in a row.
“They seemed invincible, but they lost in Valencia and then again at home and we ended up winning three trophies.
“The beauty of football is that you never know. With [Pep] Guardiola, I had a feeling of superiority on the pitch that I’ve not felt since, but of the four Champions Leagues that we deserved to win, we only won two.
“Madrid are a winning team at the moment, they have that habit of winning. The feeling is that they’re a much more established team and that Barca are beginning a new era, but that doesn’t mean to say they can’t win La Liga.”
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