The footballer’s life is based on playing and competing. Nobody likes to be on the bench. For new signings , adapting to their new team is always a challenge and, many times, it is not easy to gain the coach’s trust. In the end, it is the coach who decides which footballers will take to the pitch and performance is the essential element to be able to have continuity
Being prominent in the Barça first team is not an easy task, and even more so when there is a demanding coach in charge, as is the case with Xavi Hernández . The revolution that the Barcelona board, headed by president Joan Laporta , made last summer, allowed the arrival of several players, most of them in the defensive area. For years, the Cullers have been trying to strengthen the full-back position and, for this reason, the club incorporated two footballers from the Premier League: Marcos Alonso and Héctor Bellerín . With the suspension of the World Cup in Qatar and, after the first few months of competition, the two new Blaugrana full-backs are experiencing completely opposite situations
Marcos Alonso ‘s arrival at Barça raised many questions. The left back , who arrived at the Camp Nou after great seasons at Chelsea , became a guaranteed and experienced reinforcement to give rest to Jordi Alba and the young Alejandro Balde, who had started the season with great performances since left side Alonso’s debut with the culer outfit was a very high-level test, in the field of Bayern Munich. But the Madrid defender’s performance has been remarkable and Xavi has even used him as a central defender due to the many casualties in the center of the defence
Bearing in mind that Jordi Alba’s future could be far away from the Catalan capital, the Barça board and the coaching staff have shown that they are satisfied with the performance that Alonso has given in this first part of the course and, his continuation at Barça would be much more feasible . The complicated financial situation of the defenders in the summer and the uncertainty ended up influencing Alonso’s contract with Barça until June 2023 , but Laporta could extend the Madrid full-back’s relationship with the Blaugrana for another season
If Alonso’s situation is very optimistic for the future, Héctor Bellerín is not in an ideal moment for Barça to think about his renewal . Also a lateral, but from the right side, Bellerín has not had as much prominence and his link with the Cullers has an expiration date , because like Alonso, his contract ends once this 2022/23 school year ends
Bellerín arrived at Barça from Arsenal , returning to the club where he had formed , but injuries have prevented him from having continuity and he has only appeared in the starting eleven on three occasions. Although the Catalan full-back was optimistic about continuing to wear the Blaugrana shirt, his performance has been very poor and, despite being available to play in the final games before the World Cup, Xavi preferred to line up other players, such as Koundé or Balde Bellerín’s situation is more complicated than Alonso’s, but both will have to wait to play, as Luis Enrique did not call them up to travel to Qatar with the Spanish national team
