In what was for the most part a tough watch if you’re a Barcelona fan, there was one intriguing storyline to come out of the loss to Alavés.
Álvaro Cortés is a player to monitor going forward.
Hansi Flick looks like he’s going to prioritize using the final games of this La Liga season as a tryout for next year, rather than chasing more wins and goals. That’s the right call.
We know that there will be a few positional areas of needs heading into the summer. A center back and a striker are right at the top of the list.
It’s hard to see a center forward emerging from the ranks of Barca Atlètic, but Cortés may have a golden opportunity in front of him to prove he can provide much needed depth defensively.
The young defender is not a bright eyed teenager the way Pau Cubarsí was when he broke through to the first time from the academy. It’s incredible to believe the star defender is still just 19 years old.
Cortés is 21 years old, and the current captain of Barca Atlètic. He was an academy player at Real Zaragoza until 2021, when he moved to Barcelona, and even spent a season on loan before coming back to play for Barca’s second team.
We don’t know what his ceiling is, but his experience and relative maturity as a player with years under his belt suggests he could be trusted to do a job as a backup, and perhaps even more. In a way, similar to what Marc Casadó has contributed over the past two seasons as a depth piece in the midfield.
If Cortés can earn the trust of Flick, it frees up Deco to really focus on making an investment on the attacking end.
Against Alavés, we saw more evidence that Robert Lewandowski is well past his glory days, and that Roony Bardghji may not be on the level that Barcelona requires from its rostered play makers. Going into next season, the Blaugrana may need to go to the market to find solutions.
For now, it looks like Cortés, more than Xavi Espart, Tommy Marqués, or any other academy player, is the one with a clear path to the first team, with a chance to earn meaningful minutes too.
In the final two matches against Real Betis and Valencia, don’t be surprised if you see more of him.
If Flick knows one thing, it’s that he can’t count on the club for backing this summer.
As he has done in the past, the first place to look is at the players who are right there in front of him.