Barcelona Transfer Rumors: Barca Target Thiago Silva and David Luiz

After Bayern Munich completely exposed Barcelona, and in particular their defense,  in last season’s UEFA Champions League semifinals, it became clear that the Spanish side, widely considered to be the best team in the world before the two-legged embarrassment dealt by Bayern, was far from complete.
The Catalan giants cruised to yet another La Liga title last season, finishing on an impressive 100 points, 15 points above their eternal rivals Real Madrid. They allowed 40 goals in 38 league matches, not a bad number by any means, but that same defense let them down in the Champions League.
AC Milan scored two goals in the first leg of their Round of 16 match, putting Barca in danger of not advancing to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Barcelona narrowly edged out PSG on away goals, but allowed three goals over two legs. In that second match, PSG were without one of world football’s most prolific strikers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and should Ibra have been present, it could very well have been PSG advancing to play Bayern Munich in the semifinals. In the semifinals, the lost 7-0 on aggregate against Bayern Munich, and looked helpless against the fearsome Bayern attack.
La Blaugrana play a unique style of football, placing a huge emphasis on possession-based football. Last season, they led La Liga by a considerable margin in the possession statistic, controlling the ball for an average of 69 percent of the match. That much possession limits the opposition’s chances and in truth, while Barcelona’s goals conceded per game average is quite solid, it should be better considering the opposing team can’t score without the ball, the same ball that’s controlled by Barcelona for a huge portion of the match.

Tito Vilanova’s current options at centre-back include Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Marc Bartra. Adriano and Alex Song both played the role last season when it was needed, however, their natural positions are left-back and central midfielder respectively.
Pique, who is perhaps overrated, is the best of the bunch, but can struggle with inconsistency. Captain Carles Puyol is in the twilight of his legendary career, and at 35 years old, he’s unfortunately unable to be an every week starter. Mascherano rose to prominence as a defensive-midfielder, but because Barca already have a world-class holding midfielder in Sergio Busquets, the Argentina international has had to adapt and become a centre-half. The 22-year-old Bartra, a La Masia product, has made only 24 first-team appearances since 2009 and will continue to struggle with finding consistent first-team run-outs.
Enter Thiago Silva and David Luiz. Silva is arguably the world’s best centre-back and David Luiz is a burgeoning superstar. They form the starting centre-back partnership for the Brazilian national team, a side that Silva captains.
Thiago Silva left Milan after three brilliant seasons with the Rossoneri, joining Carlo Ancelotti at French side PSG. He has a fantastic footballing mind and reads the game very well, quelling a move before it becomes truly dangerous. He’s a very efficient tackler and has the passing ability that would allow him to seamlessly integrate into the Barca style of play.
David Luiz, 26, joined Chelsea back in 2011 and after a few seasons of questionable positioning and decision making, Luiz looks to have finally blossomed into the player he was expected to be. He’s most known for of course his afro, but also some golazos that certainly don’t look like they came off the foot of a defender. He has a penchant for making surging runs into the attacking third and looks to have finally sorted out his defensive shortcomings.
The talkSPORT report states that Thiago Silva is the preferred option, with Luiz the second option. It will be very difficult for Barca to pry either player away from their clubs as Silva has been at PSG for just a year and Luiz was Chelsea’s best defender last season. Both PSG and Chelsea wish to be competitive domestically and in Europe, and neither club needs the money that the sale of their best defender would bring.  Thiago Silva looks set for a long-term stay in Paris and unless Jose Mourinho chooses to sell Luiz for tactical reasons, expect the afro-donning Brazilian to be wearing blue next season.