The arrival of Luis Enrique at Barcelona is set to release a ‘new’ Lionel Messi with the Argentine forward set to play in various positions next season.
Messi, has been pinnacle to Barcelona’s recent successes and has hit the headlines for his incredible goalscoring ability, but with the addition of Luis Suarez (a number nine) this summer at Camp Nou, Catalan daily Mundo Deportivo believe Messi will adapt to different roles in the team.
New boss Enrique has been quizzed several times already during his short reign as boss about the tactical and formative style next season, saying that despite a reliance on the 4-3-3 system, his side will experiment with several different tactics.
Some still believe that Messi will adopt his usual ‘false 9’ role with Suarez and Neymar playing on the flanks, however, Mundo Deportivo believe that both Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets will play in a double holding midfielder role, allowing Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta and Messi to play across the forward line.
One role that Messi is being dubbed to take is the role of Xavi Hernandez, who is yet to decide his future.
Barca’s number ten has enjoyed a fruitful career thus far in terms of goals and assists but many believe that last season he attempted to drop deeper and become an orchestrator, rather than a finisher.
The arrival of Luis Suarez has caused some doubt with many Barca fans reminded of the situation that saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed and then sold due to Messi’s wishes to play as the lead striker.
Luis Enrique certainly has a big task at hand to get three of football’s top class forwards working together. Fail to do so – one of them will have to leave and it will not be Lionel Messi.