Barcelona always wants more. A week ago he lifted the Champions League against a supposedly invincible team (Lyon), and he made history with the first poker of titles. With two League games left to finish the season and a summer where the Spanish team will compete in the Paris Olympic Games, some challenges resonate in September. The Barça club’s board assures that the objective is to continue working continuously, with a clear challenge: to achieve the four titles again. “We must continue building this magical team and continue growing with the project,” they confess from the club. Although players and staff always talk about not normalizing the extraordinary. At the end of the season, Jonatan Giráldez will leave for the Washington Spirit, and in the absence of being official, Pere Romeu, his assistant, will be his replacement, a common line in the women’s section for years. But they still have two folders to close after the renewal of Alexia Putellas a few weeks ago: that of Mariona Caldentey and that of Lucy Bronze. Both end their contracts on June 30. The more than possible departure of the first, versatile forward, would leave a gap that would be difficult to replace. And to add to everything, Barcelona finds itself with a vacant position: that of nine.
In 2020, Jennifer Hermoso and Asisat Oshoala had the hegemony of the Barça goal. After the departure of both, Barça was left without an attacking forward. The position was filled between Salma Paralluelo, more effective as a winger due to her speed and overflow than because she was a finisher, Esmee Brugts, a newcomer to the team, and Mariona, the most complete forward on the squad. In the final of the Queen’s Cup, she was the MVP: she participated in five of the eight Barça goals, with two goals and three assists. And in the Champions League match against Lyon, her performance with and without the ball was brilliant, although all eyes fell on Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí. This season, the Spaniard has played in all the games, except one, and has scored 17 assists and 19 goals.
But his future points outside of Barcelona. Mariona is in the Spanish team’s concentration for the qualifying matches for the Euro Cup, so her decision will be known when she returns, before the last game at the home of the culé team. “She has offers from all over the world,” they confessed to Morning Express a few months ago. Her march, getting closer. Her decision has always responded to a sporting and personal project, not an economic one. As it progressed TV3, Arsenal would already have his signing on track. He would leave after completing 10 seasons at Barça and winning 17 titles.
“Reinforcements are going to arrive this summer,” they say from Barcelona. In addition to the player who could fill Mariona’s gap, the nine position could finally be filled with Ewa Pajor. The German media Wolfsburger Allgemeinen reported last April that Pajor would arrive this summer from Wolfsburg with a prior payment of 500,000 euros of his termination clause, which would exceed the 400,000 that were paid for Keira Walsh two years ago. The Polish forward announced a few weeks ago that she will leave the club after nine seasons and 131 goals. A goodbye that increased the rumors about one of the most desired attackers.
On the horizon, a continuing project led by Pere Romeu, Giráldez’s second, and a budget that will continue to grow in line with his income. A few years ago, the team generated four million euros, but the 2022-23 season was catapulted to 14 and the forecast for this year is 17.5 million, explained Xavier Budó in an interview with Sports world. According to 2Playbooklast season closed with a deficit of 129,000 euros, and this one that is about to end could be the first to generate profits.
Barcelona once again has a major challenge, but despite the changes, continuity lies in its objective of continuing to reign.
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