Watch last week's Hablaliga here.
Hi, I’m Giselle Cesin with The18, and this is Hablaliga.
Barcelona bought Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool for all the money in the world, and it’s not really clear why. Barcelona are running away with La Liga, in the knockout stage of the Champions League (which Coutinho isn’t allowed to compete in because he played for Liverpool during the group stage) and no one cares about Copa del Rey.
So why did they do it? Coutinho could be a long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta and also can play the same position Neymar vacated, that Ousmane Dembele currently occupies, but Barcelona have more prominent needs than that.
It occurs to us that much of Barcelona’s aging first team is made up of La Masia graduates, such as Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets. Those players will have to be replaced with quality players in die time, but it seems that, rather than going to the academy for reinforcements, they’re throwing money around like their rivals, Real Madrid, have a reputation for doing.
Is there even a difference between the two clubs any more? Barcelona have paid two out of the three biggest transfer fees ever (until Kylian Mbappe officially gets to PSG). Are Barcelona and Real Madrid switching places? It’s a brave new world.
