Barcelona is not for everyone. Regardless of whether they want to be, the Blaugrana are stuck in a permanent circle of life, instructed by an approach which persists from infancy to retirement. It more resembles a washing machine if you don’t fit in. You could be at the top of the game, you might be willing to sacrifice ego entirely, but it is not infrequent for players and managers to be left several pieces short of the explanatory puzzle. Why do the skills that serve them everywhere else constantly clash with their environment in Catalonia? Former Barcelona star Emmanuel Petit reasons that the club famed for free-flowing football robs its entire structure of any freedom.
Even incumbent manager Xavi Hernandez has had his difficulties in the role, despite being preaching their teachings more fervently than anyone else as a player. Barcelona wrestled the title back for the first time in four years from Real Madrid last season. This one has started with recriminations against him for not being able to produce the same style of football he played during his career on a regular basis. Yet Petit, one of the few players to have played with Xavi, Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, told Football España that Xavi came across as similar to Guardiola – the prodigal son – at close range.
“For me he is just like Guardiola. Luis Enrique is different because he was an attacking midfielder. Xavi and Guardiola played in a different position, they used to play in the position that was so important, especially now, but back then it was also the case. In midfield, trying to organise the team, to be the balance for the team, to put the rhythm into the game. They were responsible for so many things. So I’m not surprised that Xavi and Guardiola became managers, because they were already coaches on the pitch.”
Xavi’s Barcelona has fired in stops and starts, showing hints of blistering football, but the taste has often been soured by long stretches of rather rice-cake performances. While results hold, Xavi will hold onto his job. Yet his time at the club has been more difficult to compare to any other manager in the last two decades, dealing with a team in re-construction, filled with green shoots, and veterans seeking a new challenge, such as Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo.
Luis Enrique has his own issues at Paris Saint-Germain, as Petit explained, but having arrived at Barcelona at the age of 30, an established star from Arsenal, the ex-Monaco man was clear that it is a tricky for veterans to come into the club.
“As a foreign player, when you come and you sign for Barcelona, you know straight away, that this club is a specific club. Because of the history, as I said before the identity, but on top of it the way they play. Since Cruyff, La Masia, they always play a specific way.”
“It doesn’t matter where the player comes from, they don’t give any importance to the kind of player you can be, or what titles you have won, or how important you are before you sign for them. At Barcelona you need to adapt your style for Barcelona. The players have a tradition, especially in specific positions, in midfield, you play in your own area, there’s not a lot of players that can have freedom. Only the likes of Messi, Neymar recently, but the rest of the team has specific duties in their area all the time.”
Petit had his own struggles. Used to having more licence to roam, he admitted that he couldn’t adapt his game to what Barcelona required. One of four major signings alongside Alfonso Perez, Gerard Lopez and Marc Overmars, as Barcelona tried to soften the blow of losing Luis Figo to Real Madrid with a €106m spending spree, the French World Cup-winner explained how that lack of freedom impacted his game.
“For me it was very difficult to adapt to this style, because as a midfield player – I played different positions, but I finished my career as a midfielder – and I wanted to do different things. I needed freedom. I wanted to attack, to defend, to get the ball back, I wanted to organise, to be free, I needed to be a full midfielder, but that was not the case at Barcelona. It was not really the case in Barcelona, you stay in this area, you do your specific duty, when you receive the ball, you do this, you do that, it’s the way Barcelona have been playing for ages.”
Casting back over recent years, that lack of freedom has frustrated a number of players recent times. Even Frenkie de Jong struggled to adapt early on after his move, despite coming from Ajax, while the likes of Arda Turan, Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele have all had trouble to varying degrees, although Petit maintains that midfield is the trickiest position to adapt to.
“So I can understand when big foreign players struggle when they go to Barcelona, because all of a sudden, you have to learn a different way of playing, even at 30, 31. It doesn’t matter what trophies you have won. It’s not the same at different top clubs in Europe, because there is not the same identity. [Elsewhere] The identity is set by the manager.”
“Whereas at Barcelona, the manager is following the same style as the ones that came before them. This is why it is no surprise to me that the best seasons at Barcelona have come from former players.”
This interview was conducted with King Casino Bonus.
