Barcelona wasted no time in hitting the transfer market as they announced the signing of right-sided player Aleix Vidal from Sevilla just hours after their Champions League triumph
The 25-year-old was officially unveiled at the Nou Camp on Monday after signing a five-year contract with the club, but he will have to wait until January to make his debut because of the Catalan side’s FIFA ban.
Here, we give you the lowdown on Barcelona’s newest addition with the help of Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.
What’s his background?
Vidal was born in Catalonia and had a brief spell with Barcelona as a schoolboy, but he signed his first professional contract with rivals Espanyol in 2008. He never made a first team appearance for the club, however, and had a loan spell at Greek side Panthrakikos before moving to Spanish second division outfit Gimnástic, where he mostly represented their feeder club Pobla Mafumet.
He was on the move again a year later when he signed for Mallorca B, and in 2011 he joined Almeria, where he finally became a first team regular. After helping the Andalusian side win promotion from the second division and consolidate their place in La Liga, Vidal moved to Sevilla for a reported €3 million fee last summer.
Despite having only played one season in the top flight, Vidal quickly became an important player for Unai Emery’s side. Primarily operating as a right winger, he scored six goals in 45 appearances and completed the full 90 minutes in their Europa League final win over Dnipro. He was also called up to the Spain squad for the first time.
"I've played for a lot of teams before arriving at Barca, but I hope this one's the last,” Vidal said at his official unveiling. "I went through a lot to get here and I'm living a dream.”
Can he replace Dani Alves?
Vidal is seen as a long-term replacement for 32-year-old right-back Dani Alves, who looks set to leave Barcelona when his contract expires this summer. Balague believes he is a good fit for the role.
“He’s seen as a right-back as well as a winger, he can definitely play that role,” Balague told Sky Sports. “In any case, for Barcelona’s right-back, as long as he is defensively strong, he needs to be almost a forward. Aleix is more than happy with the move, Sevilla are more than happy and Barcelona have got a replacement for Dani Alves if he decides to go.”A big feature of Alves’ role at Barcelona is his non-stop running. The Brazilian bombs up the right flank to provide constant support for Barcelona’s front three. While Vidal does not possess quite the same level of technical ability, Balague believes he has the same work ethic and similar energy.
“He is a very Luis Enrique kind of player,” he said. “He doesn’t stop running, he’s very good at recovering the ball and he's aggressive if he needs to be. He’s just a hard-working player. He won’t have the finesse of Alves or Jordi Alba, but he can go forward with the same kind of danger.”
According to Balague, Barcelona had been tracking Vidal throughout the campaign. “They followed him all season,” he said. “He was on a list with a couple of other full-backs. He was actually the cheapest of the ones they looked into. Danilo [the new Real Madrid signing] was another option.”
What are his strengths and weaknesses?
Vidal’s versatility and work rate are two of his strongest attributes, and he is also defensively solid and a threat going forward. In 42 La Liga and European appearances for Sevilla last season, he scored six goals and contributed nine assists.
“At the beginning of the season, Luis Enrique asked his full-backs to be the only ones using the wings. Dani Alves could do that, and Aleix could do that too,” said Balague. “Vidal could have the whole wing for him, he could just play as a winger or he could just play as a full-back.”
As for weaknesses, Balague feels Vidal may have to curb his natural instincts to attack. “The only question mark is defensively, as a team like Barcelona exposes so much,” he said. “It’s a completely different way of playing than Sevilla, of course. He is going to have to pick his fights and his runs but he can be taught that.”
He added: “One v one, defensively, he is not too bad, and he works really hard in helping others. He’s got to improve on the kind of instincts you get as a defender, but he can do it.”
What happens now?
Vidal will have a long wait for his Barcelona debut regardless of what happens with Alves, but he will be able to feature in pre-season friendlies and Balague feels the spell on the sidelines will give him time to adapt to his new surroundings.
“It’s not a problem,” Balague said. “It gives you a possibility of understanding what kind of club it is, even though he knows it quite well. He was an Espanyol player so he knows the city and so on, it’s just time to adapt. He can train with the team, and look at Luis Suarez – he has finished very sharply having missed until October.”
Vidal agrees. “When I realised it was going to happen, I didn’t think it would be a problem being out until January,” he said. “Positives come with that – I can concentrate on getting ready for where I’m going to play.”
Vidal also insists he would welcome competition from Alves if the Brazilian ends up signing a new contract at the Nou Camp. “One of the keys to playing in a team like this is you’re going to have lots of competition for places,” he said. If Dani stays, then it’s wonderful.”
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