Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has backed up President Joan Laporta in stating that they will look to sign a new midfielder in the winter transfer window. However he admitted that finding what he wanted, would be tricky.
After losing Gavi to a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury, the Blaugrana are down to five midifelders for the rest of the season, including Fermin Lopez who has just come up from the Barca Atletic side.
On Monday, Laporta declared that they were looking for an Edgar Davids-style signing in January, with many assuming that he was referring to someone to kickstart their season. However Xavi believes that similar sort of bite and aggressiveness would be good too.
“What we are looking for is to always strengthen the squad, in every window if we can. With Gavi’s injury we need a profile of his type but it’s not easy to find another Gavi on the market. We will see the famous ‘fair play’. If we have space, we will sign a central midfielder in January. We are working with Deco and the president.”
It’s a subject that will cause much debate. It seems that Ilkay Gundogan, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri are the clear starters currently, and have been sharing the role of the deepest midfielder, with Oriol Romeu sidelined. Davids or Gavi are generally players that operate further forward, but many would point to the absence of Sergio Busquets that needs to be addressed. Deco appears set on a player that will add a better physical profile to the team. That said, Gavi has been missed in terms of pure attitude and character.
