I am of the view that Barca have great potential in Marc Batra, and he would need playing time at Barca to slodify his place in the team. Buying a quality CB would be good but IMHO we kinda messed up when we got Song. I think he is a great player now that we have him, but it was more urgent for Barca to have gotten a CB and a striker. We could have gotten Matts Hummels in a cash plus player deal(Offering Sanchez ofcourse). Matts Hummels has proved to be pivotal to Borussia Dortmund's campaign and is a defender of the Pique mold. But lets leave that in the past and look at what we have;

Currently we have the following players that could play in the CB position well:

Pique,

Mascherano: but he is short

Batra: but he is still inexperienced

Puyol: cannot play a full season anymore

Song: Fastest one of the lot(minus Adriano), has proved to play well in the position but needs more games in the position. Time that would better be spent on giving Batra experience

Adriano: Has the mindset but not the physical qualities of strength and height.

Busquets: Lacks the strength and speed needed for the position

Muniesa: I have no Idea what this kid can do

via i1286.photobucket.com

But in all this we forget that Eric Abidal can play in the CB position. I have watched him play in a 3-4-3 where he has done exceptionally well. He is fairly fast due to his long legs and knows what it takes to be a CB unlike Song. He can definitely fill the quality void we have and would add serious depth to the position. But the biggest positive about this is having Pique and Abidal instead of Pique and Mascherano playing; Two Tall CBs. With the acquisition of Alba, it would also give Abidal a respectable place in the team and MOST IMPORTANTLY; Enable us to carefully ease Batra into 1st team play and gain experience. A new quality CB wouldn't be happy at being subbed for Batra.

So that's my take, and I also think Tito and the team are considering it.

What do you guys think??