Gerard Piqué
Piqué was once again the rock for Barça as the team relied on its defense more than usual to win games. Piqué is sometimes a controversial player, though apart from his outspoken personality, I have to say I’m not sure why exactly. He’s an amazing defender. One key problem though was he seemed to injure his knee during that fateful match against Espanyol, and he never looked quite right after that. He had a torrid time in the fateful loss to AS Roma, as well. Yes, it was just one game, but its importance was monumentous.
Grade: B+
Samuel Umtiti
Umtiti was having a great season, until, arguably, in the past few months he’s gone a little off the boil. The hype surrounding him went a little quiet, even. This is being harsh though, because as a whole, Umtiti has been a huge bonus for Barça. He was bought relatively cheap and he’s slotted in incredibly well. But he was also having a really bad night in that loss to Roma, to the point that some said he was the main culprit. Let’s hope Umtiti continues his upward trajectory next season.
Grade: B
Thomas Vermaelen
Vermaelen did an amazing job filling in considering he was more or less a forgotten man for a while. He played his first clásico ever, which was a total success. In fact, he seemed incredibly steady. It’s fair to say the Verminator was the best surprise of the season, particularly, being healthy at the right times. On the other hand, he’s getting up there in age. And he did get injured a bit this year. Is it time to sell him?
Grade: A
Yerry Mina
Mina came in to the middle of the season, and he’s had some ups and downs. The youngster is clearly talented, but he also is way too mistake prone for a Barcelona defender. To be fair to him, it’s a really tough transition going from South America to Europe, and particularly Barcelona, in the middle of the season. Still, his shakiness at times means he’s likely to end up on loan next season.
Grade: C
Javier Mascherano
He actually didn’t play much, being third in the pecking order behind Piqué and Umtiti. He got injured and missed a few games, too, and eventually left in the winter transfer window. When he did play, he was all right. Not a lot jumps out, to be honest. Maybe this is harsh but I feel like most people expected to get a bit more from Masche before he left.
Grade: C+
Note: Grades are based on how the player did compared to what was expected. They are not absolute values, but relative ones.