• 2016/17 La Liga preview:
Atletico Madrid | Real Madrid | The rest | 5 players to watch
The Catalans have lost the hugely influential Daniel Alves to Valencia, but the Brazilian is 33 and was a declining force in last season’s title win. The best right-back in the world for close on a decade, his 14-year contribution to Spanish football has been epic.
Barca’s defence saw other changes as Marc Bartra also left, for Borussia Dortmund, plus Adriano and Marc Montoya. Bartra is talented, but he was not trusted by manager Luis Enrique.
The biggest incoming signing is Andre Gomes, Valencia’s superb Portuguese playmaker, 23, arrived for a not insubstantial €50 million (Dh206.7m) fee. Gomes was set for Real Madrid until Barca convinced him to move north, not west.
Samuel Umtiti, France and Lyon’s 22-year-old central defender, also signed for €25m, but do not expect the champions to look much different.
Last season’s No 1 Claudio Bravo is set to join Manchester City, to be replaced by Marc-Andre ter Stegen who played cup games last term. Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano will likely be central defenders, with Jordi Alba as left-back and Sergi Roberto given a chance at right-back. The versatile Catalan was excellent in last season’s clasico triumph at the Bernabeu.
Up front in Barca’s famed 4-3-3 system, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta would expect to be first choice. The three forwards ahead of them are the best in the world – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
Enrique, who is now in his third season as manager – he won the league in each of his first two – was criticised last season for using the same players too frequently. His side slumped in April when they were eliminated from the Uefa Champions League and nearly lost the title before recovering for the final sprint.
It was not that he did not have enough players. He did not appear to trust squad members, such as Bartra, and new signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal. This term, he also has Rafinha, Munir El Haddadi, Denis Suarez, Jeremy Mathieu, Sergi Samper, Thomas Vermaelen and another new signing Lucas Digne, the 23-year old France left-back who was at Roma last season.
Munir has played well pre-season and is the fans’ favourite to be Barca’s fourth striker, though the club continued to be linked with Valencia’s Paco Alcacer.
Expectations remain high. Only a Primera Liga title or Uefa Champions League win will be counted as a success.
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