The players who replace each of the disappeared stars of Barcelona

The infamous summer of 2020. This is how Barcelona fans will remember it.

From 8-2 outbursts to managerial firings – and lawsuits, from Lionel Messi’s burofax to the departure of Luis Suárez. It has been nothing less than chaos in Catalonia.

Things, however, are starting to settle down a bit as Ronald Koeman prepares to oversee his first game as a Blaugrana manager on Sunday night against Unai Emery’s Villarreal.

Despite Messi’s eventual change of direction regarding his future, this is undoubtedly a renewed Barça with the Dutchman at the helm, although for what is meant to be a mere season before Xavi takes the reins under the new presidency. .

We’ve seen five, six would be an exaggeration, you see, prominent figures in the respective reigns of Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien leaving the Camp Nou this summer, but who will fill each of these gaps under Koeman?

We’ll see…

It was certainly a surprise to see Barcelona allow Nelson Semedo to depart the Wolves for the week considering his impressive skill set, but if La Blaugrana can add the young Ajax Sergiño Dest to their ranks this summer, Semedo will be quickly forgotten.

The Dutchman has a lot of potential, with his unique but always dynamic style of play that he establishes the 19-year-old as a true right-back artist.

It would be a huge blow to Barcelona if they could secure Dest’s services for the £ 18.4 million, considering they could earn up to £ 37 million from the sale of Semedo.

Bayern are still on the hunt for the teenager, but Barça firmly lead the race as it is.

Oh yeah, the deal that made absolutely no sense from a Barcelona perspective.

Good work, Bartomeu!

The partial exchange agreement between Juventus and Barcelona was agreed in June, and the Bianconeri paid an additional 15 million euros on top of the Bosnian to bring Arthur to Turin.

Pjanic’s skill set is different very slightly of the Brazilians, but they are certainly capable of performing similar functions in the first and second phases. Both are metronomic figures blessed with supreme technique, although Pjanic’s decline during Maurizio Sarri’s lone season at Juve will be a concern for Koeman.

So, with Frenkie de Jong set to be a prominent member of the Dutchman’s Barça and the demise of Sergio Busquets not being as harsh as that of the Bosnian, Pjanic may have to settle for a rotating role in 2020/21.

Carles Aleñá’s loan to Betis last season was not as productive as it should have been, but the talented Spaniard returns to the Camp Nou with more first-team minutes under his belt.

Aleñá impressed when he was given opportunities during Valverde’s reign, especially in the win over Inter last December, and he will surely get his fair share of opportunities in 2020/21.

The Spaniard is blessed with a wonderful technique; his passing weight is always on point and his ability to stay cool under pressure is very impressive.

Aleñá may not be as hard-working or tactically adept as the late Ivan Rakitić, who rejoined former club Sevilla, but the Spaniard can be expected to win similar minutes to the Croatian last season.

In reality, Barcelona has yet to replace the active Arturo Vidal, who met Antonio Conte at Inter this summer.

Matheus Fernandes, however, a £ 6m signing from Palmeiras, is perhaps the closest they have.

Although conservative in possession, Fernandes physically stands out among his teammates and is also an excellent defender; Impressive in one-on-one situations particularly.

The 22-year-old won’t be a big part of Koeman’s plans in any way this season and instead a loan or regular action to the reserve side seems likely.

Koeman’s intentions with the undoubted decline Luis Suárez were exposed from the beginning. I wanted him out of Barcelona’s wage bill as soon as possible.

Thus, the Uruguayan is heading to become David Villa 2.0 with Diego Simeone -and with Diego Costa- at Atlético; he inevitably spearheaded Los Rojiblancos’ triumph in La Liga and removed his former club from the Champions League in 2020/21.

However, Lyon captain Memphis Depay will be Suarez’s replacement at the Camp Nou.

While on the surface it may seem that going from one of the current generation’s top nine numbers to a Manchester United failure may be the latest demotion, there is no question that Depay could add something to Barcelona that was previously missing.

Depay’s ability to penetrate opponents’ defenses is something Suarez simply could no longer do after his knee surgery in early 2020. The Dutchman’s versatility also gives Koeman greater scope for tactical flexibility.

In reality, this could be a canny move by the Barcelona board, even if Koeman is likely pushing to close the deal.