June 30 was an important date for Barcelona B. The pandemic has delayed business and leagues everywhere, but contracts that ended on that date still ended and the Segunda Division B playoffs are still happening.
Fortunately for the club, Francesc Xavier García Pimienta agreed to a one-year extension to continue on as the manager of Barcelona B, with an option for an additional season. So at least there is a manager.
Keeping Pimienta on prevents one big problem, but the Barça B squad that he has for the upcoming playoff with Real Valladolid B on July 19th looks a lot different from the one he had prior to the pandemic.
In recent seasons, Barcelona B hasn’t had to be the feeder team to the first team that it should be. Yet, Pimienta probably won’t get to rely on Riqui Puig because the first team finish up their La Liga campaign against Alavés on the same day of the playoff. Ansu Fati was suspended against Real Valladolid and trained with Barcelona B, so his availability in the play-off is the largest unknown moving forward. If the 17-year-old is made available for Pimienta, Barcelona B’s chances of moving on double.
Monchu, Jorge Cuenca, Iñaki Peña, Álex Collado, Dani Morer, and Ronald Araújo have all been hanging out on the first team bench since La Liga returned with five substitutes, and other than Araújo, expect all of these players to return to Pimienta’s side.
However, the squad will be without mainstays Chumi (16 apps), Kike Saverio (22 apps, 5 goals, 3 assists), Guillem JaimeGee-em Jow-muh (22 apps, 1 goal, 2 assists), and Sergi Puig (back-up goalkeeper). All four did not renew with the club and had their contracts expire on June 30th.
Four those keeping track at home, that means that Pimienta will be without four of his most used XI (Chumi, Puig, Jaime, and Saverio). In addition, Hiroki Abe is still injured. Winning without some many regulars would be a task for any manager, but is amplified when working with a squad full of teenagers.
The XI that Pimienta will have at his disposal picks itself based on the current squad, assuming Fati and Puig are unavailable. The line-up below features 8 of the 11 players that started against UE Llagostera prior to the break, so I mean, there could be a little chemistry remaining.
Santiago Ramos Mingo (arrived in January from Boca Juniors) and Matheus Pereira (returns to Juventus on July 27th) could replace Mingueza and Reis respectively, but I don’t think this is likely since neither player received a single minute under Pimienta. Issues in paperwork delayed their registration, and it’s a wonder why Pereira would suit up for one match just to leave the following week.
The real wildcard is what Pimienta will do with the Juvenil A promoted players that should make up the core of Barcelona B next season. Igor (CB), Mika Mármol (LB/CB), Nils Mortimer (LW/RW), Sergi Rosanas (RB), Konrad de la Fuente (LW/RW), Álvaro Sanz (CDM/CM), Arnau Tenas (GK), and Iliax Moriba (CM) have all been on the radar of the B team this season and should be regulars in a few months. Gerard ‘Peque’ Fernández should be on this list too, but he became a Barcelona B starter by the time the pandemic came, making five appearances with one goal.
This makeshift squad of last year’s team and next year’s team has three matches go get through the gauntlet and earn promotion. Real Valladolid B is a match that even with this squad should be a win, but the road only gets harder from there.
This was all explained on the latest edition of The Barcelona Podcast, plus all that first team talk people come for.
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Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017.
