The winter signing that Hansi Flick would have liked to make to reinforce Barcelona's pivot

When Hansi Flick arrived at FC Barcelona last July, the premise was quite clear for the club regarding the summer 2024-25 transfer window: finding a top-notch central midfielder and a stellar left winger.  

However, amidst the numerous twists in the sporting planning, the team failed to reinforce either of those two positions, opting instead to hire a attacking midfielder (Dani Olmo) and a center forward (Pau Víctor). The firm hope was that the existing assets in the club could perfectly meet the previously detected needs.

Nevertheless, despite Hansi Flick vigorously defending that he has a complete squad to compete at the highest level and has so far shown the ability to do so, certain 'grey' areas have highlighted the idea that perhaps the German coach has considered an addition that, in his view, would bring an extra demanded quality in Barcelona's midfield. However, this option apparently will not be feasible economically, at least in this winter market.

The central midfielder that Hansi Flick liked to reinforce Barcelona's midfield in January 

Now, as reported by 'SPORT', if it had been possible to make an addition, Hansi Flick had in mind his favorite to join Barcelona on loan in January: Leon Goretzka from Bayern Munich,  a central midfielder with great physicality and power, capable of providing 'muscle' and work in the holding midfield position.

At this point, it is evident that Barcelona has a wide range of players who can play as pivots. However, most of them have a more technically and creatively oriented profile,  lacking depth in terms of defensive midfielders who know how to 'scrape' and sacrifice, a role similar to that of Marc Casadó,  who has become a complete 'box to box' player, currently without a natural substitute to rotate in certain matches.

In this sense, Hansi Flick apparently considered Leon Goretzka as an experienced option to provide depth and adapt to that 'box to box' style, refreshing the midfield in the final stages of matches and managing the 'timing' in the most challenging encounters.

Goretzka, economically and sportively challenging option for the Blaugrana team

However, currently this option does not seem to be the most viable of all, why? In addition to economic considerations, given that Goretzka has a gross salary of €13 million per season, it has also become challenging on a sporting level, as the central midfielder has taken on a fairly important role in the sporting project of Vincent Kompany due to the injury of João Palhinha, the usual pivot of the Munich team. In light of this, it doesn't seem that Bayern Munich is willing to open the doors mid-season and without having too many alternatives in his position.