Barcelona’s announcement of Xavi Hernandez as their new head coach was an expected one but nonetheless, it grabbed the attention of the footballing world and put the Blaugrana back in the minds of the European elite through potential alone.
Arsenal supporters have had little sympathy for the plight of the Catalans due to their well-travelled history with one another. The Arsenal Way previously highlighted all the controversial clashes the two clubs have been caught in.
However, it appears that the Barcelona recruitment strategy is beginning to evolve and is taking on many similar characteristics to the shifting style of Arsenal’s transfer department headed up by technical director Edu.
Both clubs have spent poorly across the previous decade. Big fees and high wages have been given to players who simply have not been able to return on the investment of the clubs.
New contracts from Arsenal given to Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang breaking the £300,000 per week barrier failed, in the case of the German, to mirror their output after the signature or, in the case of the club captain, still remains to be justified.
Barcelona meanwhile spent huge figures and players such as Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho with neither returning on the monumental outlays.
Arsenal too invested big fees into players such as Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka. In fact, the quartet amount to a combined fee which reaches nearly £200 million. To say the contribution does not equal that is an understatement and like Barcelona, the club has regressed.
However, the work of Edu has seen a turnaround. The previous two summer windows have seen eight permanent signings which all are contributing to a much-improved start to the current campaign.
Edu along with manager Mikel Arteta worked to sign Gabriel Magalhaes, Thomas Partey, Nuno Tavares, Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Seven of the eight players were all of or under the age of 23 when signed. Partey provided world-class quality to the midfield and the Gunners have the opportunity to overtake Liverpool this weekend with a win at Anfield.
At Barcelona, Xavi’s arrival has brought with it links to some of Europe’s top young talents also. Red Bull Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi reportedly tops the Spaniard’s striker search.
Having seen the rise of players like Ansu Fati, Gavi and Pedri, Xavi clearly is looking to put faith in young investments to preserve a successful long-term future.
Experience is key and the balance must be found. Xavi brought in former Barcelona right-back Dani Alves to combine with Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. The blend of world-class experience and high youth talent is something akin to what Edu is implementing at Arsenal.
With both sleeping giants of the European game, the race is on as to who can return to their title challenging perch fastest.
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