Will Barcelona regret settling for Max Aarons?
Max Aarons could develop into a quality right back in time, but he’s nowhere near ready to play a meaningful role for Barcelona.
Barcelona are smart to target a new right back to help Ronald Koeman in his first season with the club. Unfortunately for fans of the La Liga giants, their most recent signing isn’t ready to help them win important matches right away.
According to Sport, Barcelona have already come to terms with Norwich youngster Max Aarons on the personal terms of a five-year contract. The two clubs still need to come to a final agreement on a transfer fee for the English starlet, but that isn’t expected to be a significant impediment to the deal’s ultimate completion.
What can Aarons do for Barcelona?
Aarons is a talented young player who has a bright future ahead of him. He’s been a regular participant in England’s youth setup at various different age groups. He played a ton of football for Norwich last season in the Premier League until the Canaries ultimately were relegated to the Championship.
Barcelona clearly wanted to purchase a right back capable of bombing forward and helping aid their attack in the final third. Aarons excels when he’s given the freedom to carry the ball forward. He has more than enough pace and skill on the ball to cause serious problems for La Liga defenders.
The problem with Aarons is that he’s relatively weak when asked to defend quality players. His lack of size caused him serious problems against mediocre Premier League forwards and wingers. That’s the real reason a host of English clubs were reluctant to meet Norwich’s asking price even after it became obvious Aarons would move on due to the club’s relegation.
As it stands, Aarons is ready to help Barcelona pummel inferior opposition inside the league. He is not, however, ready to help the club compete against the best teams in Spain. His lack of defensive prowess also makes him a poor choice to deploy in high-intensity Champions League matches. Those are just the sorts of matches that Koeman needs to be recruiting players for at this stage of his rebuild.
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Barcelona should have taken the steps required to recruit Sergino Dest before he ultimately cast his lot with Bayern Munich. Instead, they hesitated and now they’ve been forced to sign a backup option. Expect the club to be shopping for another right back next summer. It’s much too soon for Aarons to be entrusted with serious game time at a club of Barcelona’s stature.