On Barcelona: Holes that need to be filled.

Barca needs to sign some people. In the offseason, they've lost Yaya Toure to Manchester City (which is good, in my book) and they've lost Rafa Marquez to the New York Red Bulls. This might not be so bad if center mid and center back were the two positions that Barca will shallow at all along.

With those two guys leaving, you've basically got Busquets and Xavi at center mid, and that's really it. Sure they can call guys up, but you need production in every game, especially if you're Barca and especially if you're competing with Real this season. And Busquets is 20 years old and has, in my mind, yet to prove himself as a legitamate starter.

Barca kept a spot warm for Fabregas all offseason, but now that the preverbial cow has stayed home, Barca's a few CMs short. So what to do? Barca is apparently in the money for Mesut Ozil, even though Soccernet has said that has been "rubbished." Apparently Mascherano wants to go there too, which would be great because he could link up with fellow argentine Messi. If it's not Ozil or Mascherano, Barca needs to find somebody else to fill the gap. Someone to maybe even push Busquets onto the bench, at least until he doesn't look like a kid who can't find his mom in a crowded mall.

But there are other problems. In the back, Barca have Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, and Eric Abidal. This is one of the best back fours in the world. However, Puyol is a hot head and is also getting up there in age, so he won't be available all of the time. Pique already played more than anyone else as it was and Abidal has trouble finishing games a lot of the time. Behind them, there are a bunch of nameless drones some of whom haven't even been assigned numbers they're so worthless.

This is the area where I truly fear for Barca. Quality center backs are a little hard to come by these days and they've spent so much time and so many resources trying to get Fabregas to come to the Camp Nou, that I think they may have a difficult time getting someone with quality in. I'd go for Mertesacker, even though Werder Bremen have stoutly said he isn't for sale.

Even if Barca has a laundry list of extremely talented players up top (Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro, Villa, Bojan, Iniesta) if they don't have the support play, they're too top heavy. They may be good for a 8-0 thrashing of Real Sporting, but if you put them in the Champions League against a team with depth like Liverpool, they will surely crash out.

These are my thoughts on Barcelona's needs going into this season. What do you think?