COMMENT: The club are banned from registering new signings until January but that has not stopped some of football’s top talents from agreeing to move to Camp Nou
By Rich Jolly
Remember this the next time a player moves to a new club because of his desire to play first team football. A player – and not just any player, but one of Europe’s most coveted attacking midfielders – has found new employers knowing he won’t be able to play for six months.
Barcelona’s transfer ban means Arda Turan will have to wait until January 2016 to wear the Blaugrana jersey after joining the club from Atletico Madrid in a €41 million deal. It is a strange state of affairs and one that leaves both the European champions and Fifa with questions to answer about the nature of their ‘transfer ban’ and its implications.
The only clarity provided is the proof of Barcelona’s pulling power. Turan could have stayed at Atletico or perhaps decamped to Chelsea or Manchester United.
He opted for Barcelona even though there is the possibility of an undignified return to Atletico later this month should Josep Maria Bartomeu lose the presidential election at Camp Nou and his successor not ratify Turan’s transfer.
But players are willing to make sacrifices to sign for Barcelona. Perhaps they always were. Javier Mascherano took a pay cut to join them five years ago. Sevilla’s Aleix Vidal had already signed this summer when he, like Turan, will be ineligible until January.
The greatest coup of all would be if Paul Pogba follows Turan to Camp Nou. The Frenchman represents the crown jewel in the current transfer market, though the club revealed on Monday that they don’t intend on signing him this year.
If even the best are willing to accept life in limbo as the price to pay to play for Barcelona, their status as football’s most glamorous club would be cemented.
The winners of an extraordinary treble boast a holy trinity in attack in the shape of their 122-goal strike trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. They have given Barcelona an added allure, allying potency to their trademark passing. The stylists are even more seductive in the transfer market now.
They have the closest thing to a dynasty in the Champions League era. Yet purist principles can camouflage improper behaviour. Their ban on player registrations was imposed for breaking regulations by signing Under-18 players. Barcelona, many argue, should be barred from signing anyone in 2015.
Thus far, it ranks as one of the least successful punishments in history. It did even before Turan made his decision. Far from suffering, Barcelona have flourished. Perhaps, perverse as it sounds, their ban actually helped. They stockpiled recruits in the summer of 2014. Thomas Vermaelen was a highly-paid spectator, but others were catalysts as Luis Enrique, seemingly on the brink of the sack at the start of the calendar year, produced a staggering turnaround to complete one of the greatest of all seasons.
Claudio Bravo helped Barcelona record the best defensive record in La Liga and the other goalkeeping newcomer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, excelled in the Champions League. Ivan Rakitic scored the opening goal in the final, Suarez the pivotal second to prove he belonged alongside Messi and Neymar. Others could only envy their decisiveness and effectiveness in the summer 2014 window, especially after years of criticism.
Now, 12 months on, they have agreed to sign more players than Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City or Manchester United, none of whom are under any restrictions. It may be against the spirit of their punishment, but that does not make it illegal. Barcelona have planned for the long term without announcing what their short-term intentions are; will Turan, as some are suggesting, be loaned back to Atletico or out to Galatasaray?
If so, Barcelona would presumably ensure he does not play in the Champions League, meaning he would not be cup-tied, but would run the risk of a €34 million buy getting injured helping someone else. If not, a player at his peak is voluntarily opting out of football for half a campaign. In terms of club games, it would be around twice as long as Suarez was suspended for biting Giorgio Chiellini last year.
What Turan’s sale does show is that Atletico, seconds away from becoming Champions League winners 14 months ago, have now become a deluxe feeder club. Thibaut Courtois, Diego Costa and Filipe Luis are at Chelsea, and now Turan is headed for Barcelona.
It confirms Catalonia remains the dream destination for many a player. They will go to Camp Nou, even if they cannot play there right now.