Barcelona's Next Center-Back Might Already Be Here
The attention has rightly been on Barcelona's attack to start the season, but is the defense still missing something? The lack of a left-footed centre-back signing in the summer was a point of frustration for Culers, but just like other positions, is the answer inside the club? 0:00 A Centre-Back Short 4:39 Hafiz Gariba 7:21 Other Names to Know 9:56 Still Searching 🎧 Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen. 💬 Comment with your favorite goal from the match and a nickname for podcast supporters 🔔 Subscribe for more Barcelona breakdowns every matchday Listen to the full podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast ... 📲 Join the BigUp Watchalongs every matchday + play our free fantasy lineup game! 🔵🔴 Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Patreon for ad-free episodes. BlueWireVideo
Transcript
Most of the attention this season so far has been about Barcelona's attack. An attack that has scored 31 goals and conceded just seven in the league. Through seven matches, Barcelona is five points up on second place Atletico Madrid and third place Real Betis and six up on Real Madrid after their controversial loss in the Madrid derby. While those seven goals conceded are tied for second with Atleti, Bettis and Haddafé trailing just atletic club Alves and Sto with six, it has still been the one point of frustration for Koul to start this season. I will admit, even for me, it does feel a bit like that unnamed top center back might just have been the missing piece for this squad. But the other part of me, as is the case when I watch Lamasia, is always just like with the center forward spot, which was filled internally, at least in the first team. What if the answer at center back is within the club just the same? Welcome to episode 856 of the Barcelona podcast brought to you by a Blue Wire Podcast Network. I'm Dan Hilton. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. Help me out on the podcast apps. Help me make more shows like this for as low as $3 on Patreon where there is now officially Patreon exclusive content. And without further ado, no more preamble, anything like that. It's the international break. I know I'm going to lose you. So, let's dive in. Here are all the different options to answer that question of internal left foot center back stuff. Let me start by saying before we do get to the back line that the signing of Rodri was and will continue to be transformational for both this team in transition, that being defensive transition and offensive transition of course, but also in rest defense and preparing themselves to have to defend in difficult situations. We will get to more of that conversation in about the next week or so. Did someone say tactics lab? So, in the meantime, let's just focus on the two center back spots. While Pa Gubarci has been rotated to start the season, which is exactly what you want, Jar Martin and Andres Christensen are good enough to either partner with him or partner each other to win the league of this season if that attack is doing what it's doing. And I say if for all those three staying healthy, but having a nice healthy league three center back rotation is going to be good enough when Eric Garcia and Jul Kundai can also play center back. Unfortunately, as expected and entirely not his fault, Christensen has gone down to injury and he will be now missing the next four to six weeks. But because it is Christensen, a player that has missed so much time since suiting up with Bana, we don't want another case of Thomas Mlan on our hands. I would say that that six week thing is just even being a bit conservative. I could see him coming back even after that which even assuming that it is closer to six weeks and four weeks that has him missing both PSG in the Champions League and Real Madrid fellow Classico and if nobody else gets hurt I would 98% expect Jared Martin to start both of those matches. Even if Christensen was fit, Hanzi Flick may have gone with Martin for those matches because his left footedness has given him the slight edge with the ball on Christensen at that same left center back spot where Barcelona is most dangerous and they have both had good games and average games so far this season. The wild card in the next few weeks is Jules Kundai who in theory would play center back and Kubarci would just shift to the left center back spot. But Flick doesn't seem to like that setup, opting to play Martin next to the right foot dominant Kundai in the rare moments at center back. We haven't really seen too much of Kundai and Kubarci together. But even if we are slotting Gerard Martin into those matches against PSG and Real Madrid in that week, there are other games and Hundi Flick has wanted to rotate this squad with the big picture being March, April, May, and hopefully even June. So these other matches could be a great opportunity to test out other left- footed center backs. The spot obviously would have gone to Alvaro Cortez, but he was shipped out to Anworp this summer. He's looked excellent, by the way, there in Belgium, which is great to see with him actually getting playing time, which I would assume he would have not gotten in Catalonia. He currently leads the Belgian League with 16.7 defensive contributions per 90 and 10.7 clearances per 90. So, I will also say with those kind of advanced metrics, I know it is just a Belgian league and the attack and the defense are a little bit different there, but I wouldn't completely rule out possible return for Cortez in the future. For now though, let's run through the other options and maybe even Alejandro Balde. Let's throw him into the mix here that have something to prove in first team training under Hani Flick over the next few weeks. And lastly, before we do start, I also think it is really interesting that Barcelona at the moment, they did not sign a left center back when they have possibly the deepest crop of left- footed center backs in the academy that I've seen in a while. Albeit, as you're about to learn, many of them are just a year or two or three away and not yet ready actually for this kind of first team action. The exception to that statement though and the one name that you're probably already seeing and I would expect we'll see more of in the coming weeks is Safi Geriva. He is the one that feels most ready to step into first team time with Christensen out right now. He would have already been with the first team for preseason, but he was unfortunately injured so he didn't get to go on the tour. Instead, Flick brought nobody in that spot instead opting for Jordi Pasc at left back because Canelo wasn't resigned yet. Instead, Gordiva showed up for Barca Athletic and has been a mainstay in Juliano Bleti's starting lineup this year. While he was born in the greater Aqua region in Ghana, he moved to Spain as a teenager after playing with Bilal Africa. He arrived in Barcelona with CE Kodelar and then Escola Marett, both smaller clubs in the city of Barcelona. Despite being scouted by Barca and Real Madrid, he had to wait until turning 18 to sign, which he did with Barcelona on a three-year deal. His already having spent time in Spain, I think certainly helped his adaptation with Barcelona. and then he joined up with the U18's Huvenel Bay in February of 2025. Last summer he was promoted to Huvenel A the9s where he played in the great Youth League while getting one appearance on the Barca Athletic bench. This year though he's taken another step forward and he is now, as I said, the consumate starter for Barca Athletic. And I should be more specific, he is a starter for Barca Athletic, but not even at left center back despite being leftooted naturally. He's starting at right center back and he is legitimately two-footed. Even more interesting with that is that Bleti is pairing him with Alice Compo at center back who is actually right footed and he's playing at left center back. So maybe Bleti is cooking up something a little bit different here or you are again silver lining here just seeing that Gibba is so comfortable with both where you don't really lose anything with him at either center back spot. He also stands now 6'2 or about 1.88 m and that more physical side of his game is something we're seeing more of this season as his body continues to fill out. that was kind of the physical part of things that had to kind of jump forward for him to make that next step. So, this year is going to be huge for him to kind of figure out as he again continues to fill out, put on more weight and things like that at the age of 19. He's turning 20 soon. So, we'll have to see with Gordiva how he continues to progress this season. But, I think a spot in the first team with a bit of training is going to be useful for him, too. Next to those two center backs is the left back and one of the Bars athletic captains. It's Landy Feet. I've talked about him a lot through the years. He was in the same youth teams as Lamin, Mark Bernol, and Pogba, but it just hasn't happened for him yet due to injuries and other things with his development slowing. His positional versatility is a huge benefit. He's been playing left back this season, but even at 19 now, I don't know which position Flick would call him up to play where he says, "Yeah, that kid is definitely better than this other option I have, even slightly playing out of position." Gerba was the name for you to know, but I want to run through all the other options that you shouldn't be surprised with if you see in first team training and potentially getting a spot on the bench if there's a big Barca Athletic match or whatever it is that Grieva is needed for for Barca Athletic. And all of the players I'm about to name are left footed by the way. Starting with 18-year-old Joenzie Onstein with Barca Athletic, he is injured again, which has kind of been the story of his career since he arrived last January. It has been so start and stop for him. He's slated to miss the next month plus, which is a bummer because yeah, he's also going to miss the opportunity to get some reps in first team training. 18-year-old Nico Marcipar is with the 19s. He isn't necessarily a guaranteed starter for that team, so I wouldn't expect to see too much of him in first team training, but he is also spending some time with the Argentina youth teams, which is also good for his development. 17-year-old Baba Karuma. He's with the9s and along with His Kuriba, he is the pick for me, especially if we're going to jump ahead three years in the future. After being a positional plugin in so many places through the years in the academy, he has settled in to start this season with the Huvenel A, the 19s as a starter left center back. And we have seen many, many cases where players who are ready for the first team go right from the 19s right into the first team. And so if you see him on the preseason tour next year, not so crazy at all. I do hope with him settling in at left center back, that means that the club has landed on his best way to get into the first team in the future. 17-year-old Sergy Mayans is also with the 19s and by the end of the year, I think he has jumped somewhere between the 19s and Barca Athletic. And he for me is the immediate fillin for Gibba with Barca Athletic. He has been phenomenal with the Spanish youth teams over the last year and he continues to get better as his side is filling out quickly. 16-year-old Mikuel Basa just arrived with the 19s. That's where he'll be this season as one of the youngest players in that squad as he acclimates to the club, the language, and all those things in between. But there is a reason why Barcelona wanted to bring him in as a big prospect from Hoffenheim. He already does have the height and the ball playing stuff. Now, it's all about the reps and continuing that development. As again, he is still 16, but he does feel pretty close to the first team if all things go right for him over the next year or two. Lastly, while he does play at left back, can also play at left center back. 20-year-old Patricio Pacifico is out for the season with an ACL injury. Though, Barcelona did make the move permanent. So, yes, while an ACL injury like that can derail a talent, there's a reason they brought him in. And physically, as I mentioned when he signed, he's kind of almost already there. And if he can get back on track with his development, there's no shame, just like Jar Martin showed us in coming up to the first team when you're 22 years old. I think that's about the timeline for Pacificico at this point. And with all those internal options, I do find it quite interesting that the club during the summertime was so heavily linked to 18-year-old Rud Nishad this summer. He is a first team player already, unlike all the other names I just went through. Tvent reportedly turned down the 8 million that Barcelona offered and it sounded like there was no wiggle room to go to the 10 mil for Tvent either which means that they very correctly are banking on the terrific start to the season he has already had to sell probably next summer for somewhere closer to 30 mil which I do not think Barcelona is going to come back in the market for that is just my guess as far as the number but with all of Barcel's other options I think that 30 mil or something is going to price them out so they'll pass and 30 mil for potential that does sound to me like EPL So there it is. Those are the left back options that you need to know over the next few weeks to come in for Christensen. But again, in the future too, maybe the long-term future if there is some other stop gap coming at left center back in January. I don't know. The market looks pretty dry at that position. And so maybe Barcelona are banking on the next player to really take that step forward. And if they want the starting spot from Jar Martin, well then they're going to have to take it from him. So, not only get used to it, but let's see how he continues to progress this season. And if he can make even the small steps that we've seen Pagabarci take, I know there's between a generational talent and a Jared Martin. But if Martine can continue to improve, he might just be good enough to merit a defense that can survive if the attack is that good. We'll have to see. I will talk to you before even the next Barcelona match, of course. So subscribe to the YouTube channel, do all that good stuff. And until then, we're sparing.