The 2015-16 season has barely ended for Spanish sides, but Barcelona are already making the first moves to defend the Liga title they won on the final day by preparing their squad for next term.

While transfer rumours will be ongoing throughout June and July as to who the Catalan outfit will bring in to reinforce one of Europe’s strongest squads, outgoing movements will be equally as important, freeing up squad spaces and wages, bringing in immediate cash for new signings and allowing Luis Enrique to shape the side for another assault on the treble.

One of the likely outgoing players is Alen Halilovic, the Croatian teenager who spent last season on loan at Sporting Gijon. While he helped Sporting avoid relegation, Halilovic is not likely to feature for the first team at Barca next season, and Valencia have made their wishes to sign him perfectly clear, per Spanish outlet Sport.

It isn’t the route to success at the Camp Nou that Halilovic would have envisaged upon when signing, but a permanent move to Los Che doesn’t have to be the end of his dream, and it could work out best for all three parties.

 

15-16

Halilovic spent the past year in La Liga fighting the drop, which he helped Sporting do on the final day. Throughout the campaign, he played as an attacking midfielder, often centrally in a No. 10 role, though also on the right flank from time to time.

His best traits are well known by now: dribbling and accelerating through the centre of defence and running at opposition defenders and trying to create gaps for team-mates, which he exploits with either incisive through passes or shooting from long range.

Halilovic certainly has a good strike on him, but he doesn’t always make the best choices as to when to shoot and when to release the ball early.

As a young playmaker, that isn’t exactly an exclusive trait to him, and the realisation of when to move the ball should come with further experience and game time.

Indeed, his all-round game suffers from that same inconsistency in execution, with spells of matches often passing the 19-year-old by before he can find time and space to make an impact.

There can be no doubting his commitment and aggression, as he is always willing to fight for the ball and position himself in defensive areas when required to. However, the main focus of his game is very much in the attacking half—and here he did not always shine in a team with admittedly low-quality players but plenty of pace and movement to take advantage of, from the likes of Jony at left wing and Tonny Sanabria in attack.

 

Barca prospects and summer

In short, Halilovic doesn’t possess the consistency in his game nor the experience in a regular role to suit the Barcelona setup.

It isn’t always easy to immediately transition from a No. 10 role to being similarly creative and influential from the sides of the attack, and while Halilovic could feasibly represent an offensive-minded central midfield option for the team, the gulf in class between himself and Ivan Rakitic is enormous.

It would represent far too big of a step-down in quality and, perhaps more importantly, assurance of a good performance for Barcelona to take that risk.

Put into context, while Rakitic will be championing Croatia’s hopes at UEFA Euro 2016 this summer, Halilovic failed to make the squad.

His agent said the player was “devastated” by the decision, per Sport, but it shouldn’t have been a shock; Halilovic played most of the year with the under-21 national team and didn’t feature in the qualifiers after a half-hour sub appearance in the third group game against Azerbaijan, back in October 2014. In 2016, he has played twice as a sub for the seniors in friendly fixtures.

 

Ayestaran and Los Che

Being a teenager and not quite being good enough for an international tournament or Barcelona is one thing, but Halilovic does possess talent. 

Rakitic, Luka Modric and Inter Milan‘s (on-loan) Marcelo Brozovic have plenty of talent themselves, so it’s not the be-all and end-all that he isn’t included this time around.

Plenty of other clubs would love to have him at their disposal next season, and despite not being as consistent as he could be, Halilovic showed in plenty of games during the season with Sporting that he was more than capable of having an impact in Spain’s top flight.

Valencia have a long-standing interest in Halilovic, and now that Pako Ayestaran—the club’s third head coach of 15-16—has been confirmed as permanent boss, plans can begin in earnest for next year.

Too many of the Los Che squad flattered to deceive last year, struggling in the bottom half of the table for much of it, and the creative, attack-minded players bear more than a little of that responsibility.

Dani Parejo was well below his best, Andre Gomes was even more maddeningly inconsistent than Halilovic and has been linked with a move away, per the Express, while Denis Cheryshev’s loan has ended and Sofiane Feghouli is out of contract.

A period of upheaval and revamping of the front line is to be expected, and Halilovic would be an intriguing addition to a squad that is largely youthful and exciting but in need of more determination, aggression and self-belief.

Clearly, there is no lack of any of those characteristics in Halilovic.

 

Future

Still regarded as one of the top young talents in Europe as he is, there’s little chance that Barcelona want to give up on Halilovic at this stage.

He is clear in wanting to be a success at the Camp Nou, too, reportedly preferring to stay as a squad option than move to be a starter elsewhere next season, but common sense must also prevail.

Halilovic simply isn’t going to start games ahead of the likes of Rakitic or Neymar at present, or even Denis Suarez if Barcelona complete that deal, as Sport expects. If Halilovic doesn’t get in his national team’s squad when playing, what are the chances of him doing so when he is benched?

The current preference for big Spanish clubs is to insert buy-back clauses into the contracts of young players sold on elsewhere, allowing a return in the future after progression has been made over a period of one or two seasons.

The upside from a permanent deal as opposed to a loan over this period is, of course, a regular home for the player rather than always looking to the future and wondering where he’ll play the following season, while the selling club—Barcelona, in this case—can immediately invest funds they otherwise wouldn’t receive.

Retaining that ability to call upon Halilovic‘s talent in future, though, seems to remain a core part of Barca‘s plans—and given the inclination of the player himself to make a success at the Camp Nou, it would be no surprise if he continued his progression at the Mestalla before returning to Catalonia after a successful couple of years away.

 

Follow @karlmatchett

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1Y6bIYu
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J