We should just lean into seeing the turnover that should have been for next year coming this year. the only question is if koeman will embrace the youth movement and if Laporta can force his hand by getting rid of some unnecessary vets.

Accepting that Riqui Puig is just buried in Koeman's doghouse, it's still easy to see the "next gen" of barca take over this year

to me:
attack: ansu/memphis/griez with braithwaite, aguero, and dembele for depth/rotation. and collado sticking around because he's la masia through and through

mid: Fdj/busi/pedri with roberto, demir, and..sigh...coutinho and pjanic along with Puig

CB: Pique/Araujo with Minqueza and Garcia as primary backups and Lenglet and Umtiti as just excess on excess.

wingbacks: Alba/Dest with Emerson equal playing time (and Dest can play LB) until Balde gets time at LB. and minqueza if necessary

that's not a bad squad--comfortably in the UCL spots and depending on if atletico looks any weaker than last year, could compete for la liga. it'd be a lot better with messi, but if having messi get replaced with someone who brings more defensive effort and the squad stops just assuming it's better than its competition, the drop off might not be as bad. but, honestly, it's youth movement time. it's been youth movement time, but now the squad has the youth talent in bulk.

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you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia