Ask most Barcelona supporters who they would prefer the club to sign this summer and the answer would probably be Lautaro Martinez and Thiago Alcantara.
Ask Ronald Koeman and he might be more inclined to say Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Ask the president and he’d probably say: whichever costs the club less.
With Lionel Messi now on-board for next season Barcelona are still tied to his 100m euros gross salary and the dream that some in the boardroom had, that a club would whisk him off leaving 150m euros on the table is gone.
The money is still not there for a lavish rebuild even if Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal complete their moves away and open up around 21m euros worth of salary.
Most of the talk is of offensive reinforcements with a striker reported as the priority. But Koeman watched the 8-2 against Bayern in Lisbon; he knows there are problems in defence too.
Koeman will not be afraid to be his own man. Philippe Coutinho has, for the most part, been considered a winger since he joined from Liverpool but Koeman wants to use him as his third midfielder, when he plays three in midfield, and so long as the other two players in the trio are better defensively than the Brazilian.
He won’t be afraid to play with a false nine, and in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. He seems committed to making Griezmann a success by moving him into a more central position.
Ansu Fati will be hard to ignore but Martin Braithwaite and even Ousmane Dembele might find it hard to get the coach’s attention.
Francisco Trincao and Pedri join for their first season having impressed last year but like La Masia midfield gem Riqui Puig it might be difficult for them to get minutes early in the Koeman reign.
Here’s Koeman’s squad line-by-line and some of the possible starting XIs for when the team plays its first competitive game at the end of this month.
GOALKEEPERS
His only problem here is that Marc Andre ter-Stegen is out until October so Neto will have to stand in.
DEFENDERS
At right-back the feeling is that Koeman prefers Sergi Roberto in midfield which leaves Nelson Semedo, who had a tough time of things in the second half against Bayern, as the only option.
At left-back Jordi Alba remains first choice unless Koeman can improve Junior Firpo who struggled last season.
Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet are the first and second picks. Samuel Umtiti is proving difficult to sell because of his injury problems so looks set to remain as third choice.
Koeman will then have to decide if he wants to keep Jean-Clair Todibo or Ronald Araujo as his fourth choice.
The former has a market in England so could leave. Manchester City’s Eric Garcia will end up at Barcelona, the only question is if the club can buy him now or take him free next year.
MIDFIELDERS
With Arthur Melo, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic all gone, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Riqui Puig, Miralem Pjanic and Frenkie de Jong will be the five to contest what will be two or three places in Koeman’s system.
It’s not enough and it’s why he wants Wijnaldum in and he prefers Coutinho in midfield.
A late move for Thiago would be popular and president Bartomeu is a populist at heart but Wijnaldum looks more likely.
STRIKERS
Luis Suarez’ departure still leaves the seams bursting with forward players.
If Koeman opts to play 4-2-3-1 then he can fit four instead of three into his team but all the same this looks like overbooking and with another player – Memphis or Lautaro – on the way it will be Koeman’s job to find a combination from Messi, Griezmann, Coutinho, Dembele, Trincao, Fati, Braithwaite and Pedri that works.
