By Joe Meloni

There’s an outcry echoing from Catalonia at the moment. After Real Madrid spent more than $200 million on its new attacking midfield duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká, the soccer world shifted its eyes toward Barcelona, wondering if Joan Laporta would try one up his rival to the west. The club’s supporters are waiting in anticipation for the same thing.

It’s troubling and sort of funny how short some soccer fans’ memories are.

While Real Madrid president Fiorentino Perez parades his new toys in front of the media and the club’s supporters, Barça fans must remember he spent that money because his club just wasn’t good enough, that is, to compete with Barcelona last season. Even now, with two of the world’s best roaming the Bernabeu’s storied grass plot, Barça is still the favorite in La Liga.

Common sense demands Barça must counter punch with a signing on par with Madrid’s first two of the summer – I think we all expect a couple more. Still, Barcelona is the reigning champion of both Europe and Spain. They have a player to dream on in Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, a classy striker who does nothing but score goals, and a talented corps of veteran players who have more championships than their rivals in the Spanish capital. Not to mention, a fiery young coach who loves the club he manages and longs to guide it to glory.

Among the rumors are the departure of Eto’o and the arrival of Inter Milan’s Zlatan Imbrahimovi? or Valencia dynamo David Villa. Based solely on talent, replacing Eto’o with either would likely prove an even trade. It wasn’t Ibrahimovich who paired brilliantly with Messi during Barça’s run to the top of Europe, and it wasn’t Villa who finished the La Liga season with 30 goals.

The problems Barça experienced during the 2007-08 campaign developed because the players, however talented, didn’t know how to play with each other. The signing of Thierry Henry prior to the season excited fans, but his failure to assimilate quickly to then-coach Frank Rijkaard’s system paralyzed the Barça offense frequently enough to limit it to a disappointing third-place finish – 18 points behind then-champion Real Madrid.

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, pictured here against Villareal, scored 30 goals for the Catalan side during the 2008-09 season. (Courtesy amnesia_x/Flckr)

Team chemistry is often overlooked in European soccer with the results often proving disastrous. Even current Real Madrid center back Christoph Medtzelder is weary of his club’s most recent signings. While his reservations lie mostly with the club’s spending in the current global financial crisis, departed center back Fabio Cannavaro believes money can’t fill the void created by the club’s lack of unity.

“The club is going to have to do more because these players will not solve the internal problems,” Cannavaro told ESPN’s Soccernet on June 13. “The most important thing is for the team to achieve a group mentality.”

Recently, Barcelona announced that its transfer budget for the summer lies somewhere between €30-35 million. Rather than overpay for a world-class striker like Villa or midfielder like Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribéry like some sources are reporting, Laporta and Guardiola will likely use their available cash to plug the few holes last year’s team had or get younger at certain positions. Current players like Messi, Gerard Piqué and Bojan Krki? have hardly realized the potential they will in the coming years. Buying established stars will only hamper their growth and push Barça down the La Liga table next season.

In the lead up to 2009-10 season, Spanish media and Real Madrid supporters will wax anxiously about Ronaldo and Kaká’s effect on Los Blancos. Pundits will claim the club is unstoppable and praise Perez for sparing no expense in guiding his club back to glory. Not once will they even consider that this entire experiment in desperation could fail more easily than it could succeed.

The squad Laporta assembled before the 2008-09 campaign proved enough to win every competition it entered. The soccer world is going crazy at the moment with outlandish spending and enough rumors to break bloggers’ fingers. Ignoring the fervor and focusing on nothing but championships will leave Barça with a few more trophies to polish come May 2010.

And Real Madrid with a few million more Euros to blow next summer.

Joe Meloni is a contributing writer and editor for The Soccer Guys. He can be reached at joe.meloni@gmail.com. [polldaddy poll=1727844]

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