This Success Is No Accident: How Barcelona Became the World's Most Feared Team

Barcelona has had an outstanding start to the current season. The statistics reflect this team's strong performance and leave no room for doubt.

Barça have won all the games they have played this season, eight in the league and two in the Champions League, and they have done so decisively, with a total of 43 goals and some brilliant moments of football. At the moment, Barcelona is clearly one of the main contenders for the championship in all competitions. This situation is not a passing event, but the result of very good planning and execution over the past few years.

The sports management of the club has faced many economic problems. The club was under financial pressure and had limited funds to buy new players. Deco devised a careful strategy to recruit new players that worked well. His first and most important goal was to keep the current players. When he came to Barcelona, ​​he realized that there was a group of incredibly talented young players in the team who were developing.

Big European clubs paid special attention to these players. The main goal of Barcelona was to extend the contract with all of them: Lamine Yamal, Cobarsi, Gavi, Pedri, Fermin, Bernal, etc. The club gradually prevented the departure of these players by offering new contracts and setting very high contract termination amounts, which prevented them from transferring to other teams without negotiating with Barcelona. In this way, the core of the team was preserved.

Due to the economic problems, the policy of buying players during the last two years was the policy of survival. In one season, the team was strengthened by the signing of Dani Olmo, who cost him 48 million euros; And in the next season, Juan Garcia joined the team for 25 million euros and the team's composition was completed with players who joined the team on loan, such as Cancelo or Rashford. No additional funds were available. This issue shows the forward-looking view of sports management. They signed the former Espanyol man even though Terstegen was still in the squad, and the decision paid off.

The same thing can be said about the purchase of Rudari. He wasn't an essential player as the team already had plenty of midfielders in their squad, but Flick and Deco saw an opportunity in the transfer market that they couldn't pass up. The presence of these two players has been very important, as it has significantly increased the team's potential. Barcelona was able to address these needs before they became apparent.

This summer was also very important. For the first time, the club was not under financial pressure and was able to sign new players by spending 158 million euros. Gordon, Adeyemi, Gabriel Jesus and Rhodri joined the team. The first three players came to the team to replace Lewandowski, Fran and Rashford. No one remembers them anymore, even though they performed very well in the Barcelona team.

But Barcelona's success is not limited to the selection of new players. After that, these players need to be well coordinated in the team, and this is where Hansi Flick's valuable role becomes clear. He has been able to win the trust of the players. He did this by showing warmth and affection, especially to the younger players, as well as by respecting meritocracy. The player who has the best performance plays. And this has given him a lot of authority in the dressing room. He has been able to treat every player the way he deserves, and he is well aware that players like Lamina cannot be treated like any other player.

Distributing playing time to the players has been key, first of all, because it is the best way to keep them fit. Flick skillfully distributes playing time among players so that everyone knows they will get a chance to play. Except Baldeh, everyone has a chance to play. This distribution of playing time is also very important to avoid injury. Due to the tight schedule of the games, it is important not to put too much pressure on the players.

This German coach fully implements this policy. And no one is exempt from this rule. This can be seen in Rafinha's injury management. He doesn't want the injury to recur like it did last season. For this reason, with the player's agreement and through an ongoing conversation, they both decided to wait a little longer for him to fully recover and be able to return to the field with full fitness.