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Two days ago, it was confirmed that Barcelona's transfer ban will indeed hold up after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the Blaugrana's appeal and supported FIFA's decision to prohibit Barça of signing players until 2016 due to irregularities on the acquisition of under-18 players.
Therefore, from now until next year, Luis Enrique will have to work with the same squad in pursuit of a title. When Enrique took over, he asked for a few signings, so Andoni Zubizarreta and his staff went out and spent the most money ever by Barça on a single transfer window, acquiring a total of seven players (ter Stegen, Bravo, Rakitic, Douglas, Vermaelen, Mathieu and Suárez) for almost €200 million. The board was most likely anticipating the ban to be enforced in 2015, so they made their best to strengthen the squad.
So the question is, was all of this effort enough? If the current roster underperforms and fails to win a trophy, it will be another disappointing year for the club and its fans. The only option to "sign" new players is to call back the ones loaned to other teams (Denis Suárez, Deulofeu and Tello) or to promote promising Barça B youngsters (Sergi Samper, Munir El-Haddadi and others), but would that also be enough? Or will the ban impose another down year?
It's time for you guys to give your opinion. Is this current Barça squad strong enough to compete in 2015 or does the ban decrease the team's chances to win big? Let's discuss this!
